40924 - JA_VCTS-ARCENT - Redacted.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Control No: ACC ORL 20-006

Contractor: FAAC, Inc.

Program/Equipment: ARCENT VCTS

1. Contracting Activity: United States Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Florida.

2. Description of Action: The Government is planning the award of a new Firm-Fixed Price contract to FAAC, Inc., a large business (NAICS 333318), for production of one Virtual Clearance Training Suite (VCTS) for U.S. Army Central (ARCENT)

. The Government will use Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Army Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds. The estimated contract value is $5,300,000, to include one base year and one option year, with delivery to be completed by 2021.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: VCTS provides a training platform to units responsible for neutralizing Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and Route Clearance operations. VCTS provides route clearance operations training for both individual and collective tasks up to the platoon level. It enables safe and repetitive training in critical tasks for operators and crewmembers. The primary role of a route clearance unit is the detection and neutralization of explosive hazards. This assures mobility within the Brigade’s battlespace and safe access to supply routes. VCTS is a critical asset for the combat readiness of the route clearance units.

Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation (PEO STRI), Project Manager Soldier Training (PM ST), Product Manager Virtual Training Systems (PdM VTS) has a requirement for one additional production unit of VCTS to be fielded to support ARCENT. Given the current environment, Engineer units deployed will use VCTS to maintain Route Clearance Platoon (RCP) proficiency as well as cross-train Sapper or Equipment platoons as RCPs. Additionally, VCTS will be used during partnered Counter-IED engagements

. VCTS is a system of systems, which incorporates multiple products into a single collective trainer. As the collective training solution for all Army Clearance Units, each station must work together within the same scenario, with the ability to visualize and communicate throughout each platform. It is imperative that VCTS is fielded to ARCENT to support Engineer units’ route clearance training to maintain their readiness and to accomplish their mission.

The requirement is as follows:

a. Deliver a production unit of VCTS with the same functionality as the current VCTS configuration, with modifications to operate in the environmental conditions substantial duplication of cost exceeding $8 million and a serious schedule risk of up to three years. The risk of failure to meet program objectives is deemed very high.

At present, the VCTS is invested heavily into the application of the software architecture provided by FAAC, Inc. The cost of duplicating the existing VCTS integration is not expected to be recovered through competition.

It is further anticipated that competition will result in interruption in service to the Government. The VCTS would be unavailable during the time it takes to re-engineer the integration of the system and ensure it works appropriately. This would have a deleterious effect on the training of this very important route clearance and IED disposal force. On average, each currently fielded VCTS has the capability to train approximately 1,200 soldiers per year. If a system is off line for a long time while a new vendor re-engineers the system, this could severely impact the training throughput which could lead to a shortage of newly trained route clearance Soldiers. In turn, this impacts our forces deployed in theater and puts Soldiers’ lives at risk.

Additionally, competing this effort for a single system can complicate the management of the Army’s route clearance training solution. Another training solution for route clearance will require new resources needed for new equipment training, configuration management, cybersecurity, concurrency upgrades and sustainment for the Army.

Furthermore, Soldiers will not receive the same training for route clearance if there are two different solutions; this can cause confusion and delays for Soldiers during their RCP training.

This emerging requirement for one production system of the VCTS was requested by the Commander from ARCENT 12 October 2016 and approved by HQDA DAMO-TR on 19 September 2018. VCTS is needed to ensure training readiness for Engineer units deployed in the CENTCOM AOR.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: A Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Procurement: Virtual Clearance Training Suite (VCTS) Army Central (ARCENT) was posted on beta.SAM.gov on 18 December 2019, with a closing date of 6 January 2020. The Government did not receive any industry responses showing interest for this effort. Based on the information in paragraph 5, above, competition for this action was not feasible.

a. Effective Competition: Because this is a sole source action, effective competition is not applicable.

b. Subcontracting Competition: Subcontracting competition will be achieved by procurement of the current VCTS configuration. The current system is produced at FAAC, Inc. with several COTS items and third party end items. Procuring the current system configuration will ensure the prime contractor will subcontract with these other companies to meet the ARCENT VCTS requirements.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Currently there are no plans to redesign or build a new training system to allow for increased competition. However, if and when the Government decides to do so, every effort will be made to compete it to the maximum extent practicable. A redesign of the VCTS is not a viable option considering the $ invested by the Government under the current VCTS production contract.

This contract is needed to field one production VCTS system to fulfill a training gap for ARCENT. By the end of the performance period of this contract, the VCTS will be at the end of its life cycle. Therefore, the Government does not anticipate another sole source contract for the VCTS. This is a one-time effort to leverage the existing capabilities of the VCTS to produce one more system. The Government plans to compete the contract to replace the VCTS, so future changes and requirements for new capabilities and changes to the route clearance formation will be competitively procured.

8. Market Research: In accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 205.205-71, DFARS 206.302-1(d), and DFARS Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) 206.302-1(d), a Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source Procurement: VCTS ARCENT was posted to beta.SAM.gov on 18 December 2019 for 15 days, with a closing date of 6 January 2020. It notified Industry that in accordance with FAR 5.201, it is the Government’s intent to issue a contract, on a sole source basis, to FAAC, Inc. The Government did not receive any industry responses showing interest for this effort. In addition, the Government did not receive any responses that shows any other firm can satisfy this requirement. Based on the lack of interest and responses from industry, it can be concluded that any firm, other than the incumbent, that develops and produces only one VCTS system would have substantial costs as well as significant technical and schedule risk, which will be unacceptable to the Government.

9. Interested Sources: Notice W900KK-ACC-VCTS-ARCENT, Intent to Award a Sole Source Procurement: VCTS ARCENT , was posted on beta.SAM.gov on 18 December 2019, with a closing date of 6 January 2020. The Government did not receive any responses or inquiries to this Notice. To date, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition of this effort; however, any bids, proposals, quotations, or capability statements will be considered.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History:

(1) The predecessor Delivery Order W900KK-09-D-0514-0002 was competitively awarded to FAAC, Inc. on 6 May 2011. The Delivery Order was issued against the PEO STRI Omnibus Contract II (STOCII). The solicitation was set aside for small businesses and two offers were received. The Government used the best value tradeoff process to award the Delivery Order. The total value of the Delivery Order was $128 million.

(2) The current contract for VCTS upgrades is W900KK-17-C-0024, awarded to FAAC, Inc. 30 March 2017 with a five-year period of performance. This tech refresh contract was awarded under a Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other than Full and Open Competition under 10 USC 2304(c) (1) as implemented in FAR Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The contract is valued at $37.7M .

VCTS is a system of systems, which incorporates multiple products into a single collective trainer. As the collective training solution for all Army Clearance Units, each station must work together within the same scenario, with the ability to visualize and communicate throughout each platform. The systems are integrated together with tools proprietary to FAAC, Inc. The purpose of the current W900KK-17-C-0024 contract is to add capabilities to match-up with updated equipment and evolving Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures of route clearance units. These improvements will ensure that the highly specialized training systems remain current with planned and fielded equipment, in accordance with the United States Army Maneuver Center of Excellence definition and philosophy on clearance protocols. This contract to upgrade VCTS with the new route clearance capabilities was awarded under a J&A because awarding to a new company would require re-engineering of the training system. This would cause duplication of the cost already paid to develop and produce the system. The re-engineering effort would cause significant cost, schedule, and technical risk to the program, which unacceptable to the Government.

b. Data Rights: FAAC, Inc. was the successful offeror for VCTS under a competitively awarded contract. Their design approach reused their privately developed software and certain COTS solutions to meet VCTS requirements. Therefore, their