ML20168B056
| ML20168B056 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 12/29/2020 |
| From: | Jill Daly NRC/ADM/AMD/APPSB |
| To: | |
| Daly J. ADM/AMD/APPSB 301-415-8079 | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20168B003 | List: |
| References | |
| Download: ML20168B056 (4) | |
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U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION FY 2018 SERVICE CONTRACT INVENTORY ANALYSIS NRC RESPONSIBLE OFFICIALS Nicole Stevenson, Acting Director, Office of Administration, Acquisition Management Division, and Head of the Contracting activity is the responsible official for acquisitions policy and Jennifer Golder, Chief Acquisition Officer (CAO), is the responsible party for the management of the service contract inventory and analysis process.
BACKGROUND The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Product Service Code (PSC) R499, entitled Support- Professional: Other as the special interest function selected to be analyzed during fiscal year 2018 (FY18).
This PSC (R499) was selected because it was not the subject of a previous analysis, it did not appear in the NRCs Top 10 PSCs reported in FY18, and most other top PSCs for FY18 were being evaluated as part of NRCs ongoing category management initiatives. The selection of this code is consistent with PSC selections made for prior fiscal year service contract inventory submissions to OMB. Accordingly, NRC focused its analysis of the service contract inventory on this special interest function.
SCOPE OF REVIEW The FY18 service contract inventory was reviewed for special interest functions that required increased management attention due to possible over-reliance on contractor support for activities that may otherwise be performed by Federal employees. The special interest function selected for review is under the R of the Product Service Codes. Contracts, within this PSC, include those with scientific effort and experimentation directed toward increasing knowledge and understanding in the fields of physical, engineering, environmental, social, and life sciences related to long-term national needs which could be considered closely associated with inherently governmental functions in accordance with OMB Policy Letter 11.01 entitled:
Performance of Inherently Governmental and Critical Functions.
As required by Sections 743(e)(3) and (4) of Division C of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010, and Section C of the attachment to the guidance issued by OMB, a review of a representative sample (50%) of these contracts is required. In FY18, there were 14 contracts awarded under PSC R499. One was awarded using full and open competition and the others were not competed. The work, for each contract selected for this analysis, was reviewed to determine if the work was performed satisfactorily, in terms of quality, timeliness of performance, and cost constraints. It was also analyzed to determine if the services should be considered for conversion to performance by NRC employees in accordance with insourcing guidelines.
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SUMMARY
During FY18, NRC spent approximately $4,039,922.37 under PSC R499 to support full and open competition/non-competition contracts for Support- Professional: Other. Specifically, the 4 contracts that the NRC awarded under this PSC, are as follows:
- MARCOM GROUP, INC This contract was awarded as labor hours. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$98,870.93
- TCN-GET, LLC This contract was awarded as time and materials. The obligated amount during FY18 was $240,000.00
- IMMERSIVE CONCEPTS, LLC This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$435,000.00
- DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$457,945.67
- CONTRACTING RESOURCES GROUP, INC This contract was awarded as labor hours. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$302,854.00
- CENTEVA, LLC This contract was awarded as labor hours. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$30,000.00
- SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE This contract was awarded as cost plus fixed fee. The obligated amount during FY18 was $401,502.53
- ADVANCED NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL EUROPE This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$80,000.00
- ATHEY CONSULTING This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$251,556.00
- OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY This contract was awarded as cost no fee. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$50,000.00
- CORNELL UNIVERSITY, INC This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$103,000.00
- GOVERNMENT BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, LLC This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$29,000.00
- ENGINEERING SUPPORT PERSONNEL, INC.
This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$258,000.00
- MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS INCORPORATED This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$293,000.00 2
- OAK RIDGE ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INCORPORATED This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$900,000.00
- SABRE88, LLC This contract was awarded as firm fixed price. The obligated amount during FY18 was
$109,193.24 The Contracting Officers (COs) for these awards were consulted and interviewed to determine if the work under these contracts has been performed properly in terms of quality and timeliness of performance and met budgetary constraints. According to the COs, they had no knowledge of, or information pertaining to, any negative performance matters or cost overruns for the contracts selected for this review. This suggested that there were no significant performance problems or concerns. In addition, based on the established criteria for classifying functions as inherently governmental, it was determined that the contractors were not performing inherently governmental functions.
ANALYSIS In accordance with Section 743 of Division C of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 and Appendix D of the OMB guidance, NRC analyzed the contracts in this category as follows (with NRC comments in bold type):
(i) Each contract in the inventory that is a personal services contract has been entered, and is being performed, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. No personal services contracts were identified during the analysis of this category of service contracts.
(ii) The agency is giving special management attention, as set forth in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 37.114, to functions that are closely associated with inherently governmental functions. FAR 37.114 is actively being followed during the performance of contracts awarded under this PSC R499.
(iii) The agency is not using contractor employees to perform inherently governmental functions. A review of NRCs FY18 Service Contract Inventory shows that there are no contractors being used to perform inherently governmental functions.
(iv) The agency has specific safeguards and monitoring systems in place to ensure that work being performed by contractors has not changed or expanded during performance to become an inherently governmental function. The contract scope is monitored by the CO to ensure that scope creep is not occurring, especially into inherently governmental functions through contract modifications. CORs are required to ensure that services provided and invoiced are in accordance with the scope of the contract; and that the work does not change or expand during performance to become inherently governmental.
(v) The agency is not using contractor employees to perform critical functions in such a way that could affect the ability of the agency to maintain control of its mission and operations. There are sufficient Agency personnel in place to 3
ensure that contractor employees are not performing critical functions to the point of affecting NRCs ability to perform its mission and operations.
(vi) There are sufficient internal agency resources to manage and oversee contracts effectively. There are sufficient internal NRC resources to manage and oversee contracts effectively. However, the Agency continues to study ways in which to improve organizational effectiveness and contractor performance.
CONCLUSION Based on the above analysis, the NRC has determined that it is not necessary to take any actions to convert these functions currently being performed by contractors under PSC R499 to performance by NRC employees. Additionally, there are no planned or pending actions identified in previous inventories that require follow-up.
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