SAM #Sole_Source_Justification_to_Systalex_Corporation

EPA sole-source bridge extension for drinking-water IT support services

EPA is announcing a sole-source, one-year bridge extension of drinking-water IT support services to Systalex Corporation. - Award: EPA extended Systalex Corporation’s existing support order on a sole-source basis. - Agency: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Water, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Drinking Water Infrastructure Development Division. - Services: Program and project management; design, development, and deployment of software applications; application operations and maintenance; program implementation; and monthly progress reports. - Scope: Ongoing support for approximately 28 specialized IT systems and applications, including data-system support for new National Primary Drinking Water Regulations. - Rationale: EPA cites Systalex’s specialized knowledge of the systems and the risk of service interruption, transition delays, and disruption to priority projects if support changes. - Products and quantities: No product line items or product quantities are specified.

Description

JUSTIFICATON

The purpose of this justification is to notify the public of the sole source award for a one (1) year extension of GSA Contract 47QTCA20D0006 Task Order Modification 68HERD21F0106 P00108 to Systalex Corporation.  This has been awarded within the Water and OITA Branch /Water Tribal Science Division for the Drinking Water Infrastructure Development Division (DWIDD).

Authority Cited:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 253(c) (2) in accordance with GSAM/R 538.7104-3(b)(1)(ii) -Only one source is capable of providing the requirement at the level of quality required because the products, services, or solutions are unique or highly specialized; and GSAM/R 538.7104-3(b)(1)(iii) The order should be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it’s a logical follow-on to an FSS order already issued on a competitive basis. 

Need & Justification:

This requirement is for a one (1) year bridge/sole source action to extend the existing order 47QTCA20D0006/68HERD21F0106 with Systalex Corporation (Systalex) to maintain uninterrupted delivery of the current scope of work from October 12, 2026, to October 11, 2027. Order 47QTCA20D0006/68HERD21F0106 provides the following essential support services for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA), Office of Water, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW), Drinking Water Infrastructure Development Division (DWIDD) IT Systems with the following task areas: 1) program and project management; 2) new software applications design, development, and deployment; 3) software application operations and maintenance; and 4. program implementation; and 5) monthly progress reports.

Systalex is the only vendor uniquely positioned to continue performing without interruption, delay, re-training, or re-engineering under the current PWS.  The current contractor is fully embedded in ongoing development activities and workflows that are critical to supporting the national drinking water program. This includes providing data system support for the implementation of the following new National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs), with implementation dates shown in parentheses. Successful completion of data system support requires both thorough and accurate understanding of complex decision logic for determining water system compliance with the NPDWRs as well as a detailed understanding of how this logic has been coded to date. In addition to the agency’s priority projects mentioned above, the current contractor provides ongoing operations and maintenance support for several smaller but highly specialized program systems (approximately 28 IT systems and applications as described in Appendix B to the Performance Work Statement (PWS)).

These applications are essential to maintaining the integrity, reliability, and continuity of core drinking water program functions and initiatives. Each system relies on niche technical knowledge, custom configurations, and historical context that Systalex ’s subject-matter experts have developed for EPA over multiple years of direct involvement in these Agency specific systems. A lapse in support for these systems would create immediate operational challenges, including delays in defect resolutions, and user support. Thus, re-competing or transitioning the work at this time would introduce significant operational risks, including:

A substantial time gap in not having critical contract support while re-competing or transitioning activities occur. Loss of historical knowledge, which is essential to maintaining upwards of 28 IT systems’ performance quality. Disruptions to ongoing projects (listed in the above sections) that rely on Systalex’s contractor personnel with unique familiarity and subject matter expertise with program requirements. Disruptions could further result in missed implementation of statutory deadlines for implementing the three new NPDWRs in 2027.

In summary, a competitive award for a short-term requirement would result in a risk of project failure of major Agency priority, as some of the projects are still in the development phase, with full implementation occurring during the 1- year extension. Additionally, there is a need successfully implement – the newest applications with the  legacy applications, lack of implementation would result in serious public health impacts, substantial additional costs to EPA, and potential for litigation and consent decrees. Therefore, it has been the EPA has approved a sole source justification to allow this contract to be extended for one (1) year. 

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