Contract for Professional and Support Services Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 10:00:06 -0400 To: "DC - All District Chiefs", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices" From: "Alice A. Sabatini" Subject: Contract for Professional and Support Services Cc: "AO - All Administrative Officers", "A - Division Chief and Staff", "Nancy J Hill, Chief, Mgmt Support Section, Reston, VA" Next month, we will begin work with the Office of Acquisition and Federal Assistance in the Office of Program Support to start the competitive process toward the award of a 5-year contract for professional and support services, similar to the Johnson Controls contract presently in use in the Biologic Resources Division. As with all contracts, the requisition and competition process will take some time, but we will push for an award in the first quarter of fiscal year 1999. We are proceeding with this contract even though most district offices did not express an immediate need for such a vehicle. We are doing this on faith, with the belief that if we are successful in obtaining a contract with competitive pricing, it will be used. We also recognize that in order to meet the 20% other than permanent employment goal in our WRD strategic plan, we need some tools. We are optimistic that this will be such a tool. BRD personnel have told us that the Johnson Controls contract has been a successful tool for five basic reasons: 1) Senior management mandated that use of the contract be considered prior to filling a position with a federal employee. Requests for personnel actions were only approved when it was determined that the contract could not satisfy the need. 2) The contract was awarded to a large business allowing more competitive pricing. We have been told that at the GS-11 salary level and above, the contract pricing is equivalent to the costs of a federal employee with FERS benefits. The small vendors do not have the economies of scale that lower overhead and thus must charge a higher fee for administrative expenses on the contract. The large businesses can also afford to offer their employees (our contractors) a full suite of benefits which small vendors cannot afford. The small business and minority set-asides required under the procurement regulations are satisfied through the use of subcontractors for a percentage of the work. The subcontractors work in only one location in BRD to eliminate the issues associated with multiple vendors (e.g., comparison of salaries and benefits, differing administrative procedures, etc.). 3) A contract employee supervises the work of all other contractors--this eliminates many of the problems often encountered under services contracts and provides an arbitrator for the government if problems arise with services provided or the contractors. The supervisor is collocated in the office with the largest number of contractors and makes regular visits to all other locations with contractors to ensure that the government managers and the contractors are satisfied with the work arrangements and to make adjustments when necessary. This contract supervisor is not charged to the projects using the contract. 4) Hiring and firing under the contract is much faster than the government process for federal employees. The contractor is able to advertise in local papers and, where needed, offer more competitive wages to attract the right candidates. Johnson Controls has proven that they can provide employees in hard-to-fill markets and remote locations. There are many BRD offices where only one or two contractors work. 5) A centrally-located BRD employee serves as the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and provides administrative and technical support for the preparation of work statements and task orders for project managers. The COR approves and tracks invoices. This central contract support is not charged to the projects using the contractors. We will try to emulate these successes in WRD. Nancy Hill, on my staff, has the lead on this project. If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact her by telephone (703-648-5036) or by email (njhill).