ML20028A130
| ML20028A130 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 05/05/1982 |
| From: | Kerr W NRC OFFICE OF SMALL & DISADVANTAGED BUSINESS UTILIZATION (OSDBU) |
| To: | Dircks W NRC OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS (EDO) |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20028A083 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-82-355 NUDOCS 8211160457 | |
| Download: ML20028A130 (7) | |
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W MAY 5 1982 fy I' l.7,.y s
MEMDRAriDUM FOR:
William.J. Dircks Executive Director for Operations O,
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W. B. Kerr, Director Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization / Civil Rights RS-
SUBJECT:
ITEM 0F IllTEREST jSECY 82-471 The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of the activities currently underway regarding SECY 82-471 entitled " Stenographic Reporting' Services" and to apprise you that some action may come from the Small Business Admin-istration's top officials to Chairman Palladino regarding this matter.
By way of background information, 'the focal point of this entire issue stems from the changing of this requirement from a total small business set-aside to a unrestricted competitive action by the liRC's Administrative Contracts Branch.
One of the. contractors solicited. for. this requirement contested this action and retained Joseph Gallo, an attorney with the firm.
Isham, Lincoln and Beale to represent him in this matter.
Mr. Gallo, representing Tayloe Associates, contends that his client as well as other small business firms have sufficient capabilities -to. address the reporting services requirement set forth by the fiRC.
SBA concurred in this conclusion and issued a SF-70 which precludes the. Director, DC from proceeding with open competition until the matter can be reviewed at higher levels in liRC andJBA, respectively.
This is described at a later point in this memorandum.
I 'have reviewed the Contracting Officer's rationale for changing this re-quirement and participated in a discussion on.this matter with Mr. Verl Zanders, a Procurement Center Representative of the Small Business Administration.
Based on the information available to me, I can not, in all honesty, conclude that the Contracting Office's present. intention to change 'he set-aside deter-mination was arbitrary and capricious.
However, I believe small business can l
handle this requirement.
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In any event, the issue is presently under discussion between SBA and liRC.
A letter to Mr. Zanders is being-draf ted indicat.ing that tiRC does not concur with SBA's recommendation that the requirement be continued as a total small l
business set-aside.
Should the SBA reject this letter and find the action in a non-compliance status,.the next step will be'their appeal to Pat florry as fiRC's Head of the Procurement Activity and if no resolution is made at-t' hat C211160457 820928 PDR FOIA BUCKLI N82'-335 PDR f
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level, the inattei will be. brought to the attention of Chairman Palladino by the Administrator; SBA.
I a'm enclosing documents which address the points discussed in this memorandum.
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h v W. B. Kerr, Director Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization / Civil Rights
Enclosures:
1.
Draft dtd 4/26/82 2.
Ltr W..Kerr fm J. Gallo dtd 3/22/82
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Ltr C. Lebo fm J. Gallo dtd 3/10/82 C
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Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health
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Attn: Mr. Verl Zanders
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Room 3005, Building 31 Bethesda, MD 20014
Dear Mr. Zanders:
Subject:
Nucl' ear Regulatory Comission (NRC) Invitation for Bid (IFB) No. RS-SECY-82-471 Entitled " Stenographic-Reporting Services," SBA Case No. SBA-82-0015 This is to inform you that we do not concur in your recommendation provided through the attached U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) form 70 dated March 18, 1982 to keep the subject IFB set-aside for small business participation exclusively.
In accordance with the Federal Procurement Regulations (FPR) 1-1.706-2(a)(1), the following is offered as our justification.
The proposed contract will provide stenographic reporting services for hearings and oral arguments by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Panel (ASLAP);
meetings of the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS); meetings of the Commissioners in compliance with Government in the Sunshine; and other meetings or workshops for NRC's Division of Security, Division of Contracts, Office of Public Affairs and Office of State Programs. In keeping with our mission, the protection of the public health and safety in the utilization of commercial nuclear power, many public hearings and adjudicatory preceedings are held as a part of the decision making process. These hearings, while ve'ry demanding on the stenographic reporters and associated support staff, are an extremely important and closely scrutinized part of the Commission's daily operations.
The nature of the services are.such that delays, errors and other forms of bJ
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unsatisfactory performance will jeopardize the interests of the Commission.
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- Late deliver,y or' garbled records of testimony will, for instance, adversely impact the hearing review process of the Commissioners, ASLBP, ASLAP, and ACRS resulting in unacceptable delays in the licensing process.
A NRC has been acquiring stenographic services for many years from various contractors and has always stipulated that experienced stenographic personnel and adequate support equipment are absolutely necessary for successful performance of the contract.
The proposed contract may require stenographic reporting services for as many as eight to 10 different hearings at as many different locations on any given day.
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Consequently, the contractor must have at his disposal sufficient staff to meet this need.
l The contract also has an exacting delivery schedule for transcripts.
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These difficulties are further compounded for all out of town hearings and/or meetings.
When a contractor must cover a hearing in a remote location, access to the home office is severed, and arrangements for qualified personnel and adequate
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equipment must be secured to insure deliveries are met.
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Attached for your information is a record of the past 12 months and the approximate number of hearings and/or meetings which required stenographic reporting services.
This record reflects the requirements of.ASLBP, ACRS and the Conmission i
only. As you can see, NRC requires almost daily service and the number of hearings and/or meetings on any given day varies from one to 10.
f Note that the number of hearings per day for the last three weeks of 1
l April 1982 are estimates.
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An assessment of small business firms in the stenographic field has been i
j performed by my staff to determine the probability of obtaining adequate competition under the subject IFB.
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Derenberger Reporting Company, Inc.
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Hallock, Betz & Bossard, Inc.
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DC office has nine total employees.
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Crane, Sneed and Associates Richmond, VA Employs P
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Baker, Hames & Burke Reporting, Inc.
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Number of emo vees - 32
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Waga & Spineli West Orange, NJ l
i Number of employees - 20
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=4 You have now furnished an additional seven firms repeating your previous assurance that they have the capabilities to provide adequate service.
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'ha've spe'nt a considerable amount of time and effort with you during the past few months in an attempt to resolve this issue satisfactorily.
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., lipwever, I,cannot justify a further delay in proceding with this IFB by launching yet another investigation of small business capabilities to justify a set-aside.
I believe we have acted reasonably and in good faith with the Small Business Administration in attempting to locate small business firms for this requirement and cannot be expected to examine a seemingly endless number of firms as they occur to you.
Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me or Mr. Mark J. Flynn of my staff on 492-4800.
Sincerely, Craig D. Lebo, Chief Administrative Contracts Branch Division of Contracts Office of Administration Attachments:
As stated bcc w/o attach:
W. Kerr, OSDBU/CR D. Clarke, ELD C. Fitti, ASLBP P. Sullivan, SECY
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