FAR_6.3_JA_GEOCOG_Redacted.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

JUSTIFICATION

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

PURSUANT TO FAR 6.303

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1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency / Office of Contract Services

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED.

Addition of work to contract #HM047622C0065 GEOCOG SENSE with HRL Laboratories.

GEOCOG = ‘Mapping the Human Element of Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) — Optimizing

Analytic Workflow by Assessing Behavioral and Cognitive States’ (GEOCOG)

SENSE = ‘Sensemaking Effectiveness using ‘Neurocognitive Signatures of Efficiency’ (SENSE)

NGA has the requirement to prepare the GEOCOG SENSE system for transition managed by the NGA

To enable a smooth transition, NGA requires the addition of a 4-month-long transition period (Phase 3) to contract HM047622C0065, which will include the development of necessary additional capabilities as well as installation & testing of the complete GEOCOG SENSE system in the Research Lab Environment

(RLE) TS-SCI Research & Development Lab.

The current value of the contract is $ 2,772,981. The proposed action will increase the contract value by approximately .

3. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY’S NEEDS (INCLUDING

THE ESTIMATED VALUE).

a. DESCRIPTION:

NGA requires specialized research and development services to add the following four additional enhancements/capabilities to the GEOCOG SENSE software package:

• Notify software users that their actions are being recorded;

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• Remotely start the system;

• Do automated annotation and tracking of on-screen features such as buttons/tasks/windows/fields names based on screen capture; and

• Add a new feature to put together a team using the experiment dashboard, and display team-level summary computations like average and standard deviations.

These additional capabilities are required to ensure a smooth integration into the NGA’s program workflow.

Additionally, a demonstration of the GEOCOG software needs to be developed, installed, and tested against the NGA’s program workflow to facilitate evaluation of enterprise readiness. The software shall operate in the Research Lab Environment (RLE) on the TS-SCI Research &

Development Lab.

All efforts need to be completed by 31 December 2024.

b.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION.

The statutory authority permitting other than full an open competition is 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements."

5. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE

OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED.

This action is justified pursuant to FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii), this is a follow-on contract for the continued provision of highly specialized services and it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost or unacceptable delays.

HRL Laboratories is the only qualified contractor who can meet the required timeline and prevent the duplication of cost.

NGA has invested into the development of two prototype GEOCOG systems ( with the intent to select one of the two systems for transition at the end of the period of performance on 08/31/2024. NGA invested an additional support to test and evaluate the developed prototypes. Total investment to-date is

Based on careful test and evaluation, NGA selected the SENSE system developed by HRL

(under contract HM047622C0065) as the best solution to fulfill the GEOCOG requirement.

Without the proposed addition of work described in paragraph 3, the GEOCOG effort will end on

08/31/2024, and the software will not meet the requirements

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A failure to properly transition the GEOCOG SENSE prototype would consequently force to look for another solution to provide the same GEOCOG project capability, thereby duplicating efforts spent under GEOCOG and leading to unacceptable delays.

If was to rebuild or develop a completely new GEOCOG application, the related effort would add at least one year, or up to two years, to their schedule (current GEOCOG prototype took two years to develop), in addition to the time required to solicit and award a new contract. If a new vendor was to use the GEOCOG SENSE source code to implement the requirements from paragraph 3, the effort would be associated with higher cost and time requirement than the original developer (i.e.

HRL Laboratories), due to the large learning curve associated with having to study and understand the source code before making any changes.

Based on the above, HRL Laboratories is the only contractor who has the required expertise and capabilities to ensure a proper transition of the GEOCOG SENSE system, without delay and without the duplication of cost.

6. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM AS MANY

POTENTIAL SOURCES AS IS PRACTICABLE.

GEOCOG was fully competed in 2022 under Topic 5 of the Boosting Innovative GEOINT – Research (BIG-

R) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). The solicitation resulted in submission of proposals from industry, and selection of two of the proposals for award. As previously mentioned, after rigorous tests and evaluations, the GEOCOG SENSE system by HRL Laboratories was selected as the best solution for the GEOCOG system.

In addition, BIG-R BAA Topic 5, Section 9 specifically informed potential proposers that the GEOCOG program may be transitioned to a follow-on effort, as stated below:

“NGA may, at its discretion, transition the GEOCOG program to a follow-on effort. The results of the

GEOCOG program at its completion will determine whether a follow-on program is warranted.”

The additional work could therefore have easily been anticipated by interested parties.

7. CONTRACTING OFFICER DETERMINATION THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL

BE FAIR AND REASONABLE.

Prior to award, the Contracting Officer will ensure that a fair and reasonable price is obtained. This will be done by conducting a cost analysis to ensure that the contractor is proposing current DCMA approved direct and indirect rates. Further, the CO will compare the Independent Government Cost

Estimate to the proposal to determine that the vendor’s price is fair and reasonable.

8. DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE

REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED.

As stated in paragraph 6, this request is to modify an active Contract, i.e., HM047622C0065, to get the

GEOCOG SENSE system ready for transition to While no formal market research was conducted for the addition of this work, NGA gained a broad understanding of the

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2024 as the best solution for the Government. As such, HRL is the only capable source to provide cost efficient services within the required time frame in order to transition the solution to NGA

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION.

By making requested modification to contract HM047622C0065, NGA can avoid duplication of costs and unacceptable delays:

• New efforts would basically have to duplicate

GEOCOG cost of ; suggested investment of will potentially save the government

• will have software that meets initial requirements. If has to rebuild or redevelop GEOCOG capability, effort will add at least one year, or up to two years, to their schedule.

10. LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION.

N/A

11. STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY

BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES

REQUIRED.

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CERTIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL

PM/COR CERTIFICATION:

I certify that any supporting facts and data under my responsibility which form a basis for this

Justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

CONTRACTING OFFICER’S CERTIFICATION AND APPROVAL:

I certify that this Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

APPROVED: ☐ DISAPPROVED: ☐