SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Notice of Intent to Sole Source
- Notice Date
- 10/9/2008
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- Contracting Office
- Department of Energy, Federal Locations, All DOE Federal Contracting Offices, P.O. Box A Aiken, SC
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- DE-AC09-08SR22470(B)
- Response Due
- 10/24/2008
- Archive Date
- 4/24/2009
- Point of Contact
- Angela Sistrunk, Contracting Officer, 803-952-9236,a.sistrunk@srs.gov;Angela Sistrunk, Contract Specialist, 803-952-9236,<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SYNOPSIS: NOTICE OF INTENT Incorporation of the Information Technology and Management Services Scope of Work Into the Savannah River Site Management and Operation Contract U. S. Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office Office of Acquisition Management P.O. Box A, Aiken SC, 29802-0900 The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Operations Office (SR) Office of Acquisition Management intends to non-competitively incorporate Information Technology and Management Services work into its recently awarded Management and Operating (M&O) contract with Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC (SRNS). In 2006, the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work, historically performed by the M&O contractor, was excluded from the Departments M&O contract solicitation in support of a DOE Complex-wide effort to increase the number of prime contracts awarded to small businesses. DOEs intent was to award this scope of work to a small business. The action represents a continuing service requirement for the entire aggregate performance term of the M&O contract with SRNS, which has a base period of five (5) years and includes an option to extend the contract for up to five (5) additional years. Description of the service: Information Technology and Management Services, which includes information strategic planning, information systems development, systems engineering infrastructure upgrades and improvements, system integration and configuration management, desktop/WAN production (operations, help desk, maintenance), cyber security program management, communications infrastructure including maintenance of radios, pagers, radio towers, conferencing (video and telephone) and cellular communications. The statutory sole-source authority to non-competitively incorporate the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work listed above is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1); only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the Agencys requirements. The Information Technology and Management Services scope of work is presently being performed by the former SRS M&O contractor, Washington Savannah River Company, LLC, (WSRC), under a contract extension to provide liquid waste cleanup operations until the award of the new SRS Liquid Waste contract. The WSRC contract expires in March 2009. WSRC, SRNS and three other contractors who perform work at SRS are sponsors of a Multiple Employer Pension Plan (SRS MEPP), which is a tax-qualified defined-benefit pension plan. The SRS MEPP has approximately 8,000 active participants. The active participants in the SRS MEPP include all of the current WSRC employees and SRNS employees who are considered to be incumbent employees under the terms of the SRNS M&O contract. DOE practice is for incumbent employees of DOE contractors who participate in contractor-sponsored defined benefit pension plans at a given DOE site to be able to continue to participate in those plans if they are hired by a successor DOE contractor at that site, subject to applicable contract and benefit plans terms and conditions and legal requirements. In this regard, new DOE contractors at a given site are required to sponsor an entire existing defined benefit pension plan or a new segment of an existing defined benefit pension plan. This is so that incumbent employees hired by the new employer are able to continue to participate in their existing defined benefit pension plans in accordance with the terms of those plans. Any new Information Technology and Management Services contractor would have to become a sponsor of the SRS MEPP so that WSRC employees hired by the Information Technology and Management Services contractor could continue to participate in the SRS MEPP. To become a sponsor of a MEPP, any individual employer must meet rigorous Internal Revenue Service (IRS) testing requirements on an individual employer basis. This is because if only one employer/contractor sponsoring a segment of the MEPP cannot meet the IRS testing requirements, the entire MEPP will be disqualified. If a MEPP is disqualified, all of the employer sponsors may lose the tax-deductibility of their contributions and, in addition, certain plan earnings may become taxable income for all of the plan participants. In 2007, a small business contractor was identified to perform the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work. In order to ensure that the prospective small business Information Technology and Management Services contractor could sponsor a new qualified segment of the SRS MEPP, DOE and the contractor performed extensive legal and actuarial analyses to determine whether the contractor could meet IRS coverage testing requirements set forth at 26 U.S.C. 410(b). Qualified pension plans can satisfy one of two alternative coverage tests under IRS regulations: a coverage test on an employer-wide basis test, or coverage testing on a Qualified Separate Line of Business basis (QSLOB). These IRS coverage tests are administered to prevent employers from providing better retirement benefits to its highly compensated employees than to its non-highly compensated employees, as those terms are defined in IRS regulations. The actuarial and legal analyses showed that the prospective small business Information Technology and Management Services contractor could not pass coverage testing on either basis. Based on these facts, DOE is not aware of any responsible source, other than the M&O contractor, that could satisfy the coverage testing requirements for a stand-alone Information Technology and Management Services segment of the SRS MEPP. DOE, therefore, intends to execute a bilateral modification with SRNS that incorporates the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work into the M&O contract. There are no solicitation documents available for these requirements. Interested responsible sources may submit information regarding its capability to perform the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work and its capability to sponsor a new qualified segment of the SRS MEPP. Such information shall be considered by the Department for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a competitive acquisition. Any responding party must provide a capability statement to demonstrate the following: (1) that the responding party can sponsor a tax-qualified segment of the SRS MEPP that includes the WSRC employees who presently perform the Information Technology and Management Services scope of work. This information must include a detailed analysis with necessary supporting data that demonstrates the responding party will be able to sponsor a tax-qualified segment of the SRS MEPP that adheres to all relevant IRS regulations for a MEPP, including but not limited to minimum coverage requirements set forth at 26 U.S.C. 410(b); and (2) that the responding party has the ability to successfully perform the Information Technology and Management Services function described above. Responses to this synopsis must be received via the Departments Industry Interactive Procurement System by October 24, 2008. Contracting Office Address: P.O. Box A Aiken, SC 29802-0900 Point of Contact(s): Angela S. Morton, Contracting Officer, 803-952-9236, a.morton@srs.gov
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