JA_20112891_Rev._9.23.19_(Signed_9.24.19)_Baptist_S_.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A)

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY (JHU/APL)

MISSION ENGINEERING AND OPERATIONAL RESEARCH (MEOR)

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Acquisition (OA), Procurement Directorate, Aviation, Maritime, and Border Technologies Contracting Division proposes to enter into a contract on a basis of other than full and open competition.

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

CBP intends to award a sole source, cost plus fixed-price contract for Mission Engineering and Operational Research (MEOR). The contract will provide critical capabilities that support the timely implementation of multiple innovative border security programs and projects. This contract will help to maintain the unique and essential advanced engineering capabilities that are provided to CBP by a nonprofit university research institution.

Name and address of the proposed contractor:

John Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) 11100 Johns Hopkins Road

MP1-N104

Laurel, Maryland http://www.jhuapl.edu

Type of action: Sole Source contract Estimated Amount: $67,000,000.00 Type of Funding: Evaluation and Support funds

The Period of Performance (PoP) for this contract will include a Base Period and four Option Periods as indicated in the table below. The total estimated contract value is $66.75M with the summary below in $M.

http://www.jhuapl.edu/

The current contract period of performance is February 14, 2014 through February 15, 2019 and an additional six, one month extensions per FAR 52-217-8 was also utilized which extended the contract until August 31, 2019.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The contractor will provide unique and essential advanced engineering capabilities in the following areas: a) Cross-Mission Operational Requirements and Drivers; b) Measuring Operational Efficacy; c) Analytics and Operational Analysis; d) Data and Information Synthesis for Operations; e) Integrated Operational Utility; as well as f) Support of Other Technical Activities. Each of these areas assists CBP in securing the U.S. border. The contractor shall act as an independent and unbiased advisor to CBP for the deployment of advanced capabilities in predicting, deterring, detecting, identifying, classifying, tracking, responding, and resolving illegal cross-border activities.

These services include, but are not limited to:

Engineering mission and systems methods, processes, analysis tools and methods, models and simulations, and -analysis capabilities needed to support the life cycle of CBP systems.

Technology market investigations, including test, evaluation, and deployment of component and system capabilities that support CBP and relevant stakeholders.

Engineering of system concepts and capabilities, as well as operations research, to support emerging CBP and relevant stakeholder needs.

As the cross-border threat evolves, and as CBP’s needs emerge, CBP may require additional efforts in new and innovative technology identification, evaluations, testing support, systems evaluations, analytics, or other related tasking for which, at the government’s direction, the contractor shall also provide engineering and analytical support.

Period of Performance Dollar Type Estimated Amount Ceiling

Base Period September 30, 2019-September 29, 2020 Constant Year FY2019 $20.69 Option Period 1 September 30, 2020-September 29, 2021 Then Year 2020 $19.36 Option Period 2 September 30, 2021-September 29, 2022 Then Year 2021 $18.19 FAR 52.217-8 September 30, 2022-March 31, 2023 Then Year 2022 $8.92 Total $67.16 $67.16

Deliverables will include applicable engineering and technology assessments in the form of technical reports, presentations, algorithms, reviews, and system fielding into the HSE.

Specific deliverables will be determined with each specified task that is implemented.

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open

Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this effort is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3) as implemented in FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(ii): “To establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other non-profit institution or a federally funded research and development center.” The contractor is a designated University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). Using this authority is appropriate due to CBP’s need to maintain an unbiased, trusted, strategic partnership that provides it with unique and essential advanced engineering capabilities for the practical application of investigative findings of a technical nature. In this case, JHU/APL provides an engineering capability that needs to be maintained.

5. Demonstration That the Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority

Cited.

In order to support the fielding of advanced border security capabilities, CBP and its stakeholders require Mission Engineering and Operational Research (MEOR) engineering contract support to fulfill and execute their missions. MEOR support includes providing technical strategic planning, mission systems engineering, analysis, concept exploration, independent test and evaluation, performance characterization of systems, and operational deployment assessments of products and advanced technologies. Over the past several years, the nature of the proposed contract has provided the unique and essential strategic engineering and technology partners for CBP components, as well as DHS/ICE.

The nature of this acquisition requires use of the authority cited to maintain essential CBP components and other offices efforts toward fielding the data architecture necessary to integrate operational data collection, management, and analytics into CBP’s electronic data management systems.

In support of CBP efforts, the proposed contractor has been operationalizing data analytics in an integrated approach to linking data-driven performance metrics, results, and evidence to Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICOFR).

Additionally, the proposed contractor provides the critical support and technological expertise to the CBP Capability Gap Analysis Process (CGAP) and Requirements Management Process (RMP), ensuring CBP compliance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-123 mandate for Enterprise Risk Management.

Also, in accordance with OMB guidance, the proposed contractor provides the crucial continuity to sustained maturity modeling approach in fielding a robust data architecture integrated and interoperable with CBP data management systems.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

As CBP desires to maintain the unique and essential advanced engineering capabilities that are offered by JHU/APL, a nonprofit university research institution as authorized by 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(3) and implemented by FAR 6.302-3, no additional sources have been solicited for this contract award.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the

Government will be Fair and Reasonable.

Negotiations will be used to ensure that the contract price will be fair and reasonable. As requested by the Truth in Negotiation Act, certified cost and pricing data will be obtained from JHU/APL and an audit of that data will be done to support negotiation of a fair and reasonable price. Government pricing data along with escalation factors used in conjunction with past prices will be available for cost substantiation.

8. Description of Market Research.

OA conducted Market Research to determine the availability of its required technical capabilities in the commercial market. The research concluded that a commercial market does not exist for OA’s specific required capabilities, and this fact remains the same for the capabilities expected to be executed under the proposed contract. In addition to researching commercial market availability for OA’s required capabilities, OA also compared 15 University Affiliated Research Center’s (UARCs) to determine their suitability to fulfill contract requirements.

JHU/APL was the only one that met all of CBP’s requirements. In particular, JHU/APL was the only one that met the core technical capability requirement (DRM experience) based on evaluation of factors including systems and technical engineering expertise (radar, camera, LIDAR, and modeling & simulation), previous experience with OA’s supported portfolio of programs, previous experience developing Design Reference Mission (DRM) documentation, and the time required to “come up to speed” with the existing (UARC).

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

None.

10. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

The program office did a commercial services market study that utilized both FedBizOpps and a series of Google Internet searches. These searches were broadly focused to locate the essential capabilities that are required by the proposed MEOR contract. The research revealed that no other contractor possesses the necessary capabilities needed to perform the work. No other sources were solicited for this award, nor were any expressions of interest received.

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 Supplies or Services Required.

Any new technologies that may result from this contract will be made available to all potential suppliers on all future contracts for enabling technologies or mission package development and all future production contracts to provide a stimulus for a competitive environment. By sharing these technologies, CBP advances competition for subsequent acquisitions.

12. Planning and Funding Statement.

This acquisition is not resulting from a lack of planning or the expiration of funds. Funding to support the award of the Base Period of the contract has been provided to OA by the contract’s sponsors and is currently available. Funding for the award of Option Period 1 and subsequent contract option periods has been planned by the contract’s sponsors and will be provided to OA well in advance of the award of the option periods.

JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL CERTIFICATIONS

13. REQUISITION/PROGRAM OFFICE CERTIFICATION

I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate, meets the Government’s minimum needs and contains complete information necessary to support the action described in this document and the authority cited.

[] The guidance in HSAM Subchapter 3006.3 and HSAM Appendix G has been followed.

Office: Office of Acquisition, Acquisition Support Directorate, Systems Engineering Division

Name: Kenneth Dunleavy Title: Alternate Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)/ Program Manager

Signature: _________________________________ Date: ___________

14. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION/APPROVAL*

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

*In accordance with FAR 6.304(a)(1), CO certification of a J&A for a requirement not exceeding $650,000 shall constitute approval of the J&A.

Name: Timothy Evans Title: Branch Chief/Contracting Officer

Signature: __________________________________ Date: ___________

15. SMALL BUSINESS SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION (over $250,000)

I certify that I have conducted a search for small businesses and other socio-economic concerns capable of participating in this acquisition.

(If any were found, a list is attached)

CBP Small Business Specialist

Signature: __________________________________ Date: ___________

JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL

Each review must be preceded by lower level approval(s) (e.g., over $62.5 million or public interest, all approvals are required).

17. COMPETITION ADVOCATE (over $700,000)

Approved Disapproved

Name: Richard Gunderson Title: Competition Advocate

Signature: _________________________________ Date: ___________

18. HEAD OF CONTRACTING ACTIVITY (over $13.5 million to $68 million)

Approved Disapproved

Name: Diane Sahakian Title: Head of the Contracting Activity for CBP

Signature: ________________________________ Date: ____________

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