19GE5023C0017 JOFOC.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A)

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

FAR Part6.3

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity:

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Office of Acquisition Management is conducting this acquisition of other than full and open competition for afollow-on contract/or the continued development of the highly specialized Information Technology Automation Project (JTAP) on behalf of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (JNL) Beirut.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

Under the Integrated Country Strategy and JNL Country Program Framework, DoSIINL will continue providing information technology automation and support services to the Lebanon Internal Security Forces (JSF). Prime Source Technologies, UC (PST) has been the contractor for the Information Technology Automation Program (JTAP) since 2016, and is the only entity that can fulflll these agency requirements. Therefore, INL seeks to pursue a follow-on contract with PST for the continued development of the highly specialized ITAP platform. PST currently has a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract with INL to automate a portion of the ISF workforce processes through the development of an IT platform that automates associated processes. This system is in production and running in units located in Beirut, however DOSIINL must ensure that the previously developed systems are deployed to the rest of the JSF in a reliable, efficient, and secure manner that can adequately support business processes and/unctions required by INL and our JSF partner. INL believes that this can only be accomplished through a sole source FFP contract to PST, where PST will be responsible/or the continued development, rollout, and implementation of the platform to the rest of the connected JSF entities. At the conclusion of this program, PST will have accomplished all the change requests along with extensive technical and end user trainings, and the JSF shall be solely responsible/or maintaining and managing the system.

The total price is $4,156,064. The period of performance will be one base year with one option year.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Department's needs.

Through this Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract, /NL 's scope of work requires all labor, services, tools, materials, equipment, software, transportation, and supervision (project management) to maximize resources while providing a sustainable path forward to accomplish the following main objectives:

1. Reduce ongoing maintenance costs.

2. Enable /SF to take over management control of /TAP.

3. Expand the use of /TAP across the /SF through the development of all change requests and completing prerequisite enhancements.

The requirement is to provide continued development of the highly specialized software solutions already developed under the IT Automation Project (IT AP) as well as provide training and support for the Lebanese Internal Security Forces IT AP technical team at a total cost of $4 million. These supplies/services require an upgrade of existing software to the latest Oracle 19c version (which is stable and require less maintenance), development of all Change Requests (CR 's) logged by the ISF during their usage of /TAP, extensive training for JSF personnel to take over administration and ownership of IT AP, and finally, extensive software and specialist support in the rollout of !TAP to the rest of the JSF, including the Territorial Gendarmerie units outside of Beirut. This will ensure that the INL Program is able to fully accomplish the program goal of JSF taking over the sustainability of the project through the official handover of the system.

IT AP is a transformational centralized integration platform and reengineering effort to eliminate paper-based processes while providing a modern, simple, and efficient computer-based workflow, reducing cost and curbing corruption. The !TAP project improves ISF 's ability to fight crime, solve cases, and interact with citizens.

Complexity:

To understand and automate the JSF business processes, PST underwent a rigorous data gathering campaign. The IT AP project is divided into three main pillars, HR,

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304, as implemented by FAR 6. 3 and substantiated by the following:

l&l FAR 6.302-l(a)(2)(ii) - Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the action require use of the authority cited.

PRIME SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC (PST}, CAGE Code 3AXYO, is uniquely qualified to provide these services to International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (/NL) in Beirut based upon the following:

The /TAP Contract (19AQMM18C0131) was competed and awarded through a competitive bid Several proposals were received in response to the solicitation, with the best-value determination resulting in an award to Prime Source Technologies, LLC

(Contractor), on July 25, 2018. Since the contract started, the Contractor has provided a highly skilled and experienced technical team of resources with a variety of specialized knowledge regarding the /SF environment (e.g., Business Requirements, Re-Engineering, Software Development, System Integration, Functional Knowledge, and Reporting). The

Contractor possesses extensive and detailed knowledge about Lebanon, the /SF structure, and the IT AP system architecture and is uniquely positioned to meet /NL needs. It is in the best interests of the US Government to maintain this critical expertise through an award to provide the follow-on development and transition work for a system originally designed, developed, integrated, tested, and maintained by the same contractor.

Concerning economy and efficiency, it is in the best interest of the Government to select a contractor that possesses institutional knowledge, exposure to the agency's organization and systems, and ability to seamlessly continue mission support to the /SF. When PST first began this project, they faced many hurdles in gaining the trust of the /SF to handle sensitive personnel and case information. After diligently laying the groundwork with the /SF about the importance and effectiveness of this project for about a year and a half, they were .finally able to make real progress. We estimate that any new contractor would likely need around one year to build this type of rapport before moving forward with the project. A disruption of the current work to compete these requirements, and to bring a new contractor up to speed with the current political, economic, and pandemic complexities in Lebanon, and to rebuild relationships with /SF stakeholders, would require significantly more time and cost.

8. A description of the market survey conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reasons a market survey was not conducted.

Part of any market survey, any SME or alternative vendor/contractor would first have to estimate the amount of time and funds required to train, educate, and provide a skill set comparable to current contractor to fulfill its commitment to the /SF.

For any new contractor to be able to execute the requested scope of work in the new 3-year plan, they would have to go through the base year of the original ll'AP Contract

(19AQMMl8C0J31). The base year consisted of a data gathering campaign and a hard fought learning process to even begin to understand a I 00-year-old institution as the /SF.

Therefore, the estimated cost to the government to duplicate the efforts to accomplish the technical items including the requirement gathering and analysis; business process re-engineering; automation rollout of Human Resource (HR), Administrative

Processes (Admin), Operational and Correspondence processes (CMS); system administration, maintenance, training, warranty and support would comprise at a minimum the duplication of the pilot year of the project with a cost of over 7 mUlion dollars.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of this justification.

None.

10. A listing of any sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

None.

11. A 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.

At tlte conclusion of tltis follow-011 effort, PST will /,ave accomplished all tlte change requests along wit/, extensive technical and end user trainings. Tlte /SF will be solely responsible for maintaining and managing the system. No future requisitions are forecasted.