J&A Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION > SAT

Sole Source

PSMO-I Continuous Evaluation (CE) Services

HS0021-18-C-0003 P00011

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

REFERENCES: In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303, for acquisitions exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), the contracting agency is required to prepare a sole source justification using the format at FAR 6.303-2, as provided below.

DOCUMENTATION:

(1) Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

Requiring Activity Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA)

27130 Telegraph Road Quantico, VA 22134

Contracting Activity

27130 Telegraph Road Quantico, VA 22134

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

This Justification and Approval (J&A) authorizes the use of other than full and open competition procedures to fulfill a current requirement, absent competition in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1). This statute is implemented by FAR 6.302-1, when competition is limited to only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The purpose of this action is to incorporate six one-month option periods to the existing contract:

P00011 Option Period 18 CLIN 2101 CLIN 2102 CLIN 2103 P00011 Option Period 19 CLIN 2201 CLIN 2202 CLIN 2203 P00011 Option Period 20 CLIN 2301 CLIN 2302 CLIN 2303 P00011 Option Period 21 CLIN 2401 CLIN 2402 CLIN 2403 P00011 Option Period 22 CLIN 2501 CLIN 2502 CLIN 2503 P00011 Option Period 23 CLIN 2601 CLIN 2602 CLIN 2603

This extension to this contract will ensure DCSA maintains these support services critical for the essential Continuous Evaluation requirement for the which has been the subject of litigation, under the re-competed contract awarded on 12 March 2019 as . On 10 January 2019, DCSA notified the unsuccessful offerors of the solicitation by letter, advising them that the proposal of was being considered for award under this solicitation. On 17 January 2019, a timely small business size protest was received in accordance with FAR 19.302. The protest was forwarded to the Small Business Administration as required on 17 January 2019. The SBA resolved the protest in the governments’ favor, determining that the potential awardee, , was a small business concern for the applicable size standard of $20.5 million on 28 February 2019. On 15 March 2019 the Contracting Officer for HS0021-19-C-0001 received notice of an appeal by . to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals. On March 22, 2019, the unsuccessful offeror, , protested this solicitation at the Government Accountability Office (GAO.) On 3 June 2019, the SBA affirmed the size determination and denied the appeal. The Agency determined that it was appropriate to take immediate corrective action to address possible deficiencies with in the evaluation process. This process was documented and submitted to the GAO on 12 June 2019. The Agency re-evaluated the entire evaluation encompassing Technical, Past Performance, Price and Organization Conflict of Interest (OCI). It was unknown at that time how long the original corrective action would take to complete, but would likely extend

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

past the original period of performance ending on 4 July 2019. At that time the Government added six (6) one-month option periods extending through 4 January 2020. The Government has exhausted all of those options during the corrective action phase and received another protest on 26 September 2019. The GAO sent the Contracting Officer (CO) additional questions pertaining to the second protest on 19 November 2019. The CO responded to the request and the GAO should have a decision by the first week in January 2020.

The current procurement strategy is to modify contract HS0021-18-C-0003 through the addition of six (6) one-month option periods, as shown below. The total estimated cost of the six (6) one-month option periods is

. The first option will be exercised immediately.

P00011 Option Period 18 CLINs 2101 - 2103 5 Jan 20 – 4 Feb 20 P00011 Option Period 19 CLINs 2201 - 2203 5 Feb 20 – 4 Mar 20 P00011 Option Period 20 CLINs 2301 - 2303 5 Mar 20 – 4 Apr 20 P00011 Option Period 21 CLINs 2401 - 2403 5 Apr 20 – 4 May 20 P00011 Option Period 22 CLINs 2501 - 2503 5 May 20 – 4 Jun 20 P00011 Option Period 23 CLINs 2601 - 2603 5 Jun 20 – 4 July 20

While the GAO protest filed on 17 January 2019 was resolved when the Government took corrective action on 13 June 2019, the Government received a second protest, stated above, in which the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) Stay remained in place. The additional options will ensure there are no unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Government’s requirement waiting for the GAO to make their decision, currently due on, or before 6 Jan 2020, two days after the current period of performance expires, which makes exercise of Option 18 necessary immediately. At that point the Government will either have to make award as directed, take corrective action, or resolicit; Option Periods 19 through 23 will only be exercised to avoid a break in services post the GAO decision on the current protest. Currently, there are no DoD civilian resources to provide the necessary support services for this effort.

(3) A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

The objective of this effort is to maintain the essential knowledge-based analytic support capabilities to validate alerts generated by the Department of Defense (“DoD” or “Department”) Continuous Evaluation (CE) Program. The CE program uses supporting systems to receive and determine that the CE results meet established reporting criteria before forwarding adjudicative-relevant and actionable information to the DoD Consolidated Adjudication Facility (DoD CAF) and DoD Component security officials, as appropriate. This program is necessary to ensure adequate protection of National Security information.

These analytic support services from the contractor will enable PSMO to achieve its vital mission as defined by Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD (I)) CE Mission memo dated December 19, 2016 and Executive Order 13467 signed in June 2008. The Executive Order formally established CE as a means of reviewing the background of individuals who have been determined to be eligible to access classified information at any time during the period of eligibility. Background reviews of individuals are required to determine whether individuals continue to meet the requirements for eligibility to access classified information.

The Continuous Evaluation mission implements the Department’s investigative program to continuously vet all cleared DoD personnel as directed by the Secretary of Defense’s February 21, 2014 memorandum and in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget “Report to the President, Suitability and Security Processes Review.” The contractor shall provide critical analytic support services, to include relevant subject matter expertise to enable the to achieve its Continuous Evaluation mission. Option periods will only be exercised during the time period that the Agency takes corrective action. After the second protest, the Agency must determine whether the award should be confirmed again or make a new award decision but will not be able to do so by the first week in January 2020. Contract cannot begin immediate service until the corrective action is complete.

(4) An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to contract without full and open competition under certain circumstances. For this acquisition, other than full and open competition is permitted per FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B).

(5) A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

As detailed above in section 3, the has a critical need to maintain the CE analytic support services to process alerts containing derogatory information on the DoD cleared population. This includes alerts which may contain insider threat information representing an imminent threat to national security as the alerts contain derogatory information concerning cleared subjects with access to classified information. The data agreements in place for automated records checks of the cleared subjects are a combination of time-based and event-driven checks. The event-driven checks will continue to occur and trip alerts of potentially derogatory information upon the cleared population causing the number of alerts to increase without analytic support services to perform triage and administrative actions. Delays in this mission area will create a grave risk to national security and impact the DoD readiness posture. The DoD provides security oversight for 32 other federal agencies under the National Industrial Security Program (NISP), which includes the CE requirement. As of 30 Jan 2019, reports a current population of more than 1,130,000 CE subjects with approximately 25,000 being added per quarter and currently expects 60,000 per month in the future. This is resulting in increased alerts being generated: 47,490 alerts already in the first four months of FY19, which is more than all of FY 18. This requires CE analytic support services to review and triage the alerts appropriately to ensure any threats to national security are minimized to decrease risk to the compromise of classified information and/or loss of DoD personnel or property. Without the CE analytic support services sought through this justification, these alerts will remain untouched until the second GAO protest is resolved. The Government has responded to the GAO’s questions regarding the second protest and a resolution should be reached by the first week in January 2020.

While other entities may have the ability to perform the critical services obtained under this contract, the period of performance limits their ability to do so within the required timeframe. DCSA has already completed a competitive action for the required services in January 2019. It is highly unlikely that another contractor could step in for this short period of just one – six (potential) months to accomplish the required tasks. The current contractor is performing acceptably under the terms and conditions of the contract and has the necessary people and skills to complete the requirement.

These services were previously determined to be critical in DCSA’s Justification and Approval (J&A) Control Number:

which was posted to FedBizOps at www.fbo.gov (FBO) on 15 Feb 2018, citing an unusual and compelling need under FAR 6.302-2. The J&A was required due to the need to provide services during a Court of Federal Claim (COFC) protest decision.

On January 19, 2018, the COFC (Case #18-1C) entered a permanent injunction for the CE support added to HS0021-16-C- 0006 under Contract Line Item Numbers 2005, 3005 and 4005 and associated task 5.12. COFC had determined the added work was out of scope of the contract and the added work was to cease immediately until the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) was followed for contracting for the CE work. In accordance with FAR clause 52.242-15, a Stop-Work Order was issued by the Contracting Officer to on January 19, 2018. As a result of the Court of Federal Claim protest the Government awarded this contract (HS0021-18- C-0003) to as a sole source acquisition IAW FAR Subpart 6.302-2 to serve as a bridge contract. This bridge contract was written to fill the gap until a competitive acquisition was awarded. This sole source bridge contract expired on 4 July 2019 and all options have been exhausted. The time provided under the previous J&A should have been enough time to complete the re- compete of services but now additional time is required due to the second GAO protest.

is currently performing CE services and is the only responsible source that can continue to provide the necessary labor skill sets with uninterrupted services. Corrective action was taken, the Government is now waiting to see if GAO agrees that our re-evaluation is reasonable. Due to the second GAO protest, it is necessary to modify the current sole-source bridge contract and continue with the current service provider until the protest is resolved

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

and DCSA is able to proceed with the competitively awarded contract. It is not realistic to expect another contractor to perform the required services for a one to six month period of performance at the same level of quality and at reasonable price.

The extension of this sole-source contract to the incumbent results in minimal logistical costs to the Government as the incumbent’s resources are already in place. Additionally, the incumbent’s continued support will negate any learning curve costs as no learning curve will exist. Failure to bridge this current contract could result in an unacceptable interruption of critical services.

(6) A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

The follow-on contract, was competed amongst many potential sources and was synopsized at time of award, 12 March 2019. Due to a protest filed with the GAO, contract HS0021-18-C-0003 needs to be extended to maintain the vital support. As a result, the following CLINs are being incorporated: 2101 – 2103, 2201 – 2203, 2301 – 2303, 2401 – 2403, 2501 – 2503 and 2601 - 2603. These CLINs will be exercised IAW FAR 52.217-9 – Option to Extend the Term of the Contract on a monthly case-by-case basis, pending the resolution of the GAO protest of contract award

. A synopsis of the requirement was posted at FBO on 9 December 2019 in accordance with FAR 5.201 (b)(ii). To date, no responses have been received. If any contractors express interest, that information will be posted here and addressed. This Justification and Approval document will be posted IAW FAR 6.305(a).

(7) A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

As a result of this action extending an existing contract, the pricing should not change. In determining a fair and reasonable price, the Contracting Officer will evaluate the proposed price against what is currently on contract. If the proposed price is different than what is on contract than the formal Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) will be used in comparison.

The detailed estimate provides a breakdown of what the Government believes are the potential labor categories, as well as estimated labor rates and the estimated fixed monthly price for providing the required services. The estimated monthly price will be compared to establish pricing on other DCSA contracts and other Government contracts. The contract specialist sent a request for proposal to on 9 December 2019 and received a quote back from contractor on 9 December 2019. The below chart illustrates the proposal pricing and the Government has determined the price to be fair and reasonable.

CONTRACTOR CLINs 2101-2104

CLINs 2201-2204

CLINs 2301-2304

CLINs 2401-2404

CLINs 2501-2504

CLINs 2601-2604 Total

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

Market research was not conducted for this action, as it was conducted for the competitive action , which will be awarded immediately upon resolution of the protest. Extensive market research was conducted for the competitive award to include posting a request for information on FBO. Based the level of competition received for the follow-on acquisition DCSA believes there has been ample competition for this requirement. A solicitation was issued on 30 Nov 2018, and four competitive proposals were received on 14 Dec 2018. The competition resulted in an apparent awardee to provide the services under this action. Any further market research would be duplicative and likely only add duplicative costs to the Government effort.

(9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

Awarding a new contract for this period of performance would still require an extension beyond the time it will take to finalize the current protest and to complete the procurement process. At this time, , the incumbent vendor, is the only source to possess the unique skills, the technical capabilities and the personnel which are already positioned to immediately perform the services required. Any attempts to secure another source would result in unacceptable delays and create high risks of failure. DoD possesses CE reports containing potential derogatory information on the cleared population, the people entrusted with classified information and access to persons and property. Without CE analytic support services, DoD will be unable to mitigate the risks associated with the potential derogatory information.

This represents a grave risk to the Government.

This is an unclassified requirement; however, the work being conducted is at the Top Secret classification level. All work will be conducted by the incumbent and the proposed subcontractors, all of whom currently hold the necessary facility clearances and the capability to provide cleared personnel. All personnel must possess a Secret clearance at a minimum, but certain labor categories may require a Top Secret clearance.

(10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A synopsis of the requirement was posted at FBO on 9 December 2019 IAW FAR 5.201 (b)(ii). To date, no responses have been received. This Justification and Approval document will be posted IAW FAR 6.305(a).

(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.

The requirement has been recently competed and subsequent award of the new contract ( ) will be made to the competitive awardee upon conclusion of the current protest action.

Control Number: 20-01JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

CERTIFICATION

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance which are included in this justification and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. I certify that this J&A is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Printed Name:

ACTIVITY COMPETITION ADVOCATE