PSC Questions Scope of DHS FFRDC 

Arlington, Va., November 30, 2015—The Professional Services Council objected to a Department of Homeland Security request for proposal (RFP) to operate a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) that would inappropriately allow that center to provide commercially available services without competition, in a November 20 letter to Dr. Reginald Brothers, the DHS undersecretary for science and technology. 

The RFP claims that the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) is intended to replace the current DHS contract for the existing DHS FFRDC called the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute (HSSAI). However, “PSC questions whether DHS has taken appropriate measures to ensure that the scope of work under the future contract is not overly broad and unnecessarily eliminates effective competition within the private sector to perform functions sought by DHS,” wrote PSC President and CEO Stan Soloway.

Further, the solicitation’s ceiling value of $500 million raises questions given that obligations under the predecessor HSSAI contract were well below the $286 million ceiling associated with that single award contract. The PSC letter also expressed “significant concern that the solicitation is solely designed to shift vast amounts of work away from federal employees or from non-FFRDC contractors that routinely compete for, and successfully perform, similar tasks.”

FFRDCs were first authorized over 60 years ago to perform specific tasks that could not be performed by government organizations or by for-profit contractors. The 2002 Homeland Security Act authorized DHS to establish one or more FFRDCs under the same rules as applicable to FFRDCs at any other federal agency.    

“PSC supports an appropriate utilization of FFRDCs to meet required needs where the required needs are not prevalent in the private sector,” Soloway said. “However, we are concerned by terminology within the RFP that appears to represent a broad scope of work for the awarded FFRDC operator.” 

Under the RFP, the HSOAC’s core competencies are to include performance of acquisition studies; organization studies; and regulatory, doctrine and policy studies, all of which are capabilities that are widely available within non-FFRDC private sector entities. 

“We question how DHS could have conducted comprehensive market research in determining that only an FFRDC could perform the scope of work within the solicitation,” Soloway said. “We strongly encourage [DHS] to review this solicitation and DHS FFRDC policy to ensure that DHS is appropriately utilizing FFRDCs generally before committing DHS to another five-year, single-award Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) arrangement with an FFRDC.”

To read the full letter, click here. 

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About PSC: PSC is the voice of the government technology and professional services industry. PSC’s nearly 400 member companies represent small, medium, and large businesses that provide federal agencies with services of all kinds, including information technology, engineering, logistics, facilities management, operations and maintenance, consulting, international development, scientific, social, environmental services, and more. Together, the trade association’s members employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in all 50 states. Follow PSC on Twitter @PSCSpeaks and @StanSoloway.