SOLICITATION NOTICE
D -- Supplies and Services for Alaska Centrex-like Technology
- Notice Date
- 3/3/2014
- Notice Type
- Justification and Approval (J&A)
- NAICS
- 517110
— Wired Telecommunications Carriers
- Contracting Office
- General Services Administration, Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Management Service Center (AQSA), 400 15 St SW, Room 2757, Auburn, Washington, 98001, United States
- ZIP Code
- 98001
- Solicitation Number
- GS10T05ECC0010
- Archive Date
- 3/27/2014
- Point of Contact
- Kayleen M. Huggart, Phone: 253-931-7530
- E-Mail Address
-
kayleen.huggart@gsa.gov
(kayleen.huggart@gsa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- GS10T05ECC0010
- Award Date
- 9/15/2005
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOTFOC) ~Sanitized~ 1. Agency and Contracting Activity: Requesting Agency General Services Administration Network Services Division 400 15th St SW Auburn, WA 98001 Servicing Agency/Contracting Activity General Services Administration Federal Acquisition Service Acquisition Solutions Team 400 15th Street SW Auburn, WA 98001 NOTE: The Servicing Agency identified herein is responsible to procure the required services and supplies necessary for Services that include: Analog and Digital Centrex-like technology, individual business lines, data services and broadband services. As required, the Servicing Agency shall act in the capacity of contracting activity for the resultant bridge contract to cover services as needed. As a result, this Justification is hereby prepared and approved by the Servicing Agency Contracting Officer responsible for the execution of the services and supplies required. 2. Nature and Description of Action Being Approved: On Thursday October 31, 2013, a contract was awarded by ~Sanitized~ for the State of Alaska Local Services Agreement (SALSA) (Contract # ~Sanitized~) which provides telecommunications services currently offered under two (2) Network Services contracts, Alaska Centrex and Alaska State Wide (Contract # ~Sanitized~), which both expire 10 March 2014. This Alaska Centrex contract has been extended six (6) months from 15 September 2013 to 10 March 2014 to coincide with the expiration of Alaska Statewide and accommodate the award of SALSA and subsequent 180-days to transition more than 20,000 lines from Centrex to Salsa under the GSA TOPS System. This requires manual entry of each line, individually, and is exorbitantly time consuming. Failure to adequately transition these lines will result in billing and payment problems, and a lapse in service for numerous GSA customers requiring local access telecommunication services. ~Sanitized~ and I worked together to coordinate expiration dates of Alaska Centrex and final transition of SALSA, anticipating that all lines could be transitioned by expiration 10 March 2014, and discussed the possibility of a potential short-term bridge under Centrex, if the transition could not be complete in time. On 15 January 2014 ~Sanitized~ informed me that, due to Governmental delays, transition of the Centrex lines likely cannot be complete by expiration 10 March 2014. Delays in transition are due to internal TOPS system input complexities, which results in a delay on the Contractor's end to input data on their end once the Government gets individual lines transitioned. Therefore, the requirement for a bridge contract action (to include an initial 120-day period with two (2) additional 30-day periods thereafter, if so needed) is necessary to fully transition all lines from Centrex to Salsa and maintain continuity of services to the Government. This will allow for all lines to be fully transitioned and sufficient time to assure that both Alaska Centrex and Alaska Statewide contracts transition synchronously, and to assure there are no problems. A justification for other than full and open competition (JOTFOC) in accordance with FAR 6.303 is hereby submitted. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1, a sole source acquisition is required because only one responsible source is available to satisfy agency requirements. 3. Description and Estimated Value of Supplies or Services Required Based on expenditures from January through December 2013 under the existing Contract, at a cost of ~Sanitized~, funding in the Not To Exceed amount of ~Sanitized~ will be added to this Contract to cover the initial 120-day bridge. This bridge will contain two (2) additional 30-day periods, to be funded in the amount of ~Sanitized~ each as required, in the event the Contractor is unable to complete transition of lines due to continued governmental delays. Funding originates from a revolving fund which has been utilized for all previous options, and will be used for this bridge, therefore, there will be no requirement to deobligate funding from previous option years or the end of this bridge. This 180-day bridge will coincide with the extension of the Alaska Statewide Contract and transition of SALSA and consist of the following: Bridge Base 120 days (10 Mar - 8 July 2014) Additional Period 1 (if needed) - 30 days (9 July - 8 Aug 2014) Additional Period 2 (if needed) - 30 days (9 Aug - 8 Sep 2014) 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition: 41.U.S.C. 253(c)(1); FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii) Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements as the award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. 5. Demonstration That the Proposed Contractor's Unique Qualifications or the Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited: This bridge will cover continuing services required under this contract and is determined to be the most advantageous method, providing best value to the Government, to fulfill the Government's need; price, continuity of operations, and other factors considered. Alaska Centrex ID/IQ Contract Number ~Sanitized~, was awarded to ACS MESSAGING, INC. (ACS), a Small Disadvantaged Business. This bridge will continue to provide integration telecommunications services, and associated management for GSA customers at various locations throughout the State of Alaska. Services will include: Analog and Digital Centrex-like technology, individual business lines, data services and broadband services. Centrex is a Private Branch Exchange (PBX)-type service providing switching at the phone company's (service provider's) central office, as opposed to the customer's premises, as would be required if using a true PBX system. Normally, the telephone company that provides the service owns and manages all communications equipment and software necessary to implement the Centrex service, then sells various related services to the end-users. In this case, the telephone sets that are required for use with the Centrex service are Nortel Networks Meridian proprietary sets that are specifically designed for use with Centrex service. Pricing under this contract was reviewed and determined fair and reasonable based on the current Alaska State Regulated Tariff Rates. Therefore, it is not likely that a new solicitation to cover short-term services would produce better pricing or a more advantageous offer than that offered by this bridge. This bridge offers the best prices available for the State of Alaska, along with fair and reasonable reductions in pricing as required. In preparation for final transition of Centrex to SALSA, the service offerings under the Alaska Centrex Contract will offer a smooth transition and continuity of operations without lapse in services. Current service offerings under this Contract are available only by ACS (who was also awarded the SALSA Contract, competitively), as they are currently the only company capable of providing required services to all remote site locations under this contract, which have been found to not be available by any other single provider throughout the State of Alaska at this time. This contract was awarded on 15 September 2005 with one four-year base period of performance, and four (4), one-year options to provide Centrex phone services to customers in the cities of Anchorage, Juneau, and Kodiak. 6. Description of Any Efforts Made to Ensure Offers Were Solicited From As Many Potential Sources As Practical: Offers were not solicited from additional sources due to the determination that only one responsible source, ACS, is capable of providing the services necessary to satisfy the Government requirements, based on award of a fully competitive solicitation for SALSA which covers these services, and ACS being the resultant Awardee of that contract. This justification will be posted on the Government Point of Entry to fulfill the requirements in FAR 5.201. 7. Determination That Anticipated Cost Will Be Fair and Reasonable: Pricing under the solicitation was reviewed and determined fair and reasonable based the current Alaska State Regulated Tariff Rates. Therefore, it is not likely that a new solicitation would produce better pricing or a more advantageous offer than that offered by this bridge. 8. Description of Market Research Conducted and Results: Market Research was conducted by reviewing the recently awarded SALSA Contract which was fully competed and awarded to ACS who provided the lowest price for all services offered under Alaska Centrex, therefore it is determined that no other vendor can provide these services at a lower price than that offered by this bridge contract. 9. Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition: State of Alaska Local Services Agreement (SALSA) was awarded 31 October 2013 to ACS and provides for the same telecommunications services currently offered under two (2) separate Network Services contracts, Alaska Centrex and Alaska Statewide, both expiring 10 March 2014. In preparation for final transition of Centrex to SALSA, the service offerings under the Alaska Centrex Contract will offer a smooth transition and continuity of operations. Current service offerings under this Contract are available only by ACS as they are currently the only company capable of providing required services to all remote site locations under this contract, which have been found to not be available by any other single provider throughout the State of Alaska at this time. 10. List of Sources Expressing Written Interest In This Acquisition, If Any: None. 11. Statement of Actions the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Taking Any Subsequent Acquisition for the Supplies or Services: Use of GSA's financial system, TOPS, requires manual entry of line items which can be very time consuming. Award of SALSA requires transition of all service lines from Alaska Centrex and Alaska Statewide Contracts to SALSA, more than 20,000 lines for both contracts, which requires an exorbitant amount of time. Failure to transition all lines effectively will result in billing and payment problems and could result in a lapse in service for GSA customers in Alaska. The only way to overcome this barrier is to utilize a different financial system, for which there is no other system available to use for this contract. 12. Approvals: In accordance with FAR 6.304(a)(1), this JOTFOC is hereby submitted for a proposed contract not exceeding ~Sanitized~, the contracting officer's certification required by 6.303-2(b)(12) will serve as approval as no higher approving level has been established by agency procedures. Technical Cognizance (Requestor): I hereby certify that any supporting data (e.g. verifying the Government's minimum needs or scheduled requirements or other rationale for other than full and open competition), which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate. ~Sanitized~
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/4163da1e43d101eb56bc7e5047263b18)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Remote areas of Alaska, United States
- Record
- SN03300324-W 20140305/140303233805-4163da1e43d101eb56bc7e5047263b18 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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