JEFO_Final.pdf

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity

Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR l 6.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

JEFO No: FY19-0006 - I -

JEFO No.: FYI9-0006

Date: October 16, 2018 PR Number: RSOS-18-00007

I. Agency and Contracting Activity. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a "Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity."

The Department of Homeland Security, Office of Procurement Operations, Science and

Technology Acquisition Division (S&TAD), prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity.

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

DHS/OPO/S&TAD intends to award a task order without considering other awardees under the contractor ManTech Technologies SRS Inc' s One Acquisition Solution for

Integrated Services (OASIS) contract number GS00O14OADU124 pursuant to FAR

16.505(b)(2)(i)(C).

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

The DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), Systems Engineering and Standards

Division (SES) is required to provide systems engineering technical support services to S&T

Research and Development (R&D) and DHS acquisition programs for purposes of improving the efficiency of transforming customer needs and requirements into operational capabilities by applying a well-defined and consistent approach from concept definition to deployment.

These services are critical to continuing the technical performance and reduction of technical risk of those programs. These services are currently being performed by ManTech under task order number HSHQDC-15-J-00156. This task order was awarded under the S&T Science and

Engineering Technical Assistance (SETA II) Indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract. This task order has a period of performance end date of October 26, 2018.

The estimated dollar value of this proposed action is $ inclusive of a base and option period as follows:

Performance Period Performance Period Dates Amount

Base Period 10/27/18 - 04/26/19 $

Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

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Option Period 1 04/27/19- 10/26/19 $

Total Value Including All Options $

Tasks to be performed under the task order include:

• Support to the S&T Program/Project Managers and Programs Subject Matter Experts

(SMEs) to establish and manage/execute key technical processes and technical management processes by providing qualified Systems Engineering (SE) personnel and standards professionals to R&D Programs (matrixed/embedded)to apply a consistent set of SE practices and processes across all programs;

• Act as Principal Technical Advisor to S&T Leadership to ensure S&T R&D Programs

(and Engines if applicable) technical activities are properly scoped and performed;

• Provide independent Assessments of R&D programs throughout the Capability

Development Framework (CDF) for the USST and S&T R&D Division Leads (Borders, Immigration & Maritime, Physical & Cyber Security, and First Responders & Detection);

• Establish/maintain S&T policy and procedures for conducting, monitoring, and reviewing technical activities of S&T R&D Programs;

• Facilitate interaction between S&T R&D Division Leads and Component Requirements and Acquisition Organizations;

• Manage lesson materials and provide instruction of DHS Technical Management

Professional Certification Courses related to R&D Management (TM 201/301);

• Integrate standards into S&T R&D programs as appropriate.

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A). The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B). Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

X FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C). The order must be issue on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

guarantee.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(D). It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum

Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

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FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E). For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source.

Rationale:

This requirement is a bridge effort to support S&T SES critical services between the end date of task order HSHQDC-15-J-00156 and the award of the first task order under the SETA III IDIQ procurement. The estimated award date of the SETA III IDIQ is December 10, 2018, with an estimate for the first task order being awarded the same day.

A gap in services between the end date of task order HSHQDC-15-J-00156 and the award of a new task order under SETA III will result in negative impacts to the Department as a whole for the following reasons:

More than half of OHS acquisition programs experience schedule slips, cost growth, and fail to deliver operationally effective and suitable capabilities. OHS recently completed an effort to improve OHS acquisition and technical execution/systems engineering policy and guidance, however, many acquisition programs continue to exhibit significant programmatic and technical problems. These failures illustrate the challenges and consequences resulting from acquisition decisions being made without adequate information on the technical risks; limited to no follow up on technical progress after a program enters the Obtain Phase of the Acquisition Lifecycle

Framework (ALF) and commenced program execution; and the failure of acquisition programs to implement Systems Engineering Life Cycle (SELC) processes to adequately manage the technical aspects of their programs.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) and OHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) have conducted several assessments since 2009 related to departmental investment management and acquisition processes and their impact on major OHS acquisition programs (GAO-09-682, GAO-10-588SP, GAO-11-742, GAO-11-829T, GAO-12-810, GAO-12-833, GAO-13-87, and

OIG 13-89). Collectively, these reports cite the following issues:

• Unclear capability and acquisition program requirements;

• Failure to establish or approve requirements;

• Not incorporating information on costs and benefits in making acquisition decisions;

• Unverifiable or untraceable requirements ;

• Lack of stable development approaches; and

• Immature system designs.

GAO also identified that systems engineering is inconsistently applied within OHS and that OHS has neither developed a policy for coordinating SE processes nor established mechanisms for sharing lessons learned across components (GAO-09-682, GAO-15-171S, GAO-15-415, GAO-

16-467 , GAO-17-177, and GAO-17-346SP).

In order to address the issues identified above, ManTech is supporting the S&T, Systems

Engineering and Standards (SES) by providing systems engineering support to OHS Acquisition and S&T R&D programs to improve the efficiency of transforming customer needs and

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Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR l6.505(b)(2)(ii)(B) requirements into operational capabilities by applying well-defined and consistent approach from concept definition to deployment.

5. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The negotiation and establishment of fair and reasonable labor rates have been established with the awarding of the OASIS IDIQ contract. Based upon an evaluation of the contractor's proposal relative to historical data and established labor rates, the Contracting Officer together with the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR), will have adequate information with which to determine the final proposed costs fair and reasonable.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Without coverage of the services to be provided for this proposed action, SES will not have the technical ability to provide the support required to improve the efficiency of transforming customer needs and requirements into operational capabilities by applying well-defined and consistent approach from concept definition to deployment. -

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

Currently, OPO/STAD along with S&T/SES are in the process of evaluating responses to the full and open competition SETA III IDIQ requirement , which, is which is to be the replacement IDIQ contract vehicle to SETA II. The estimated award date for the SETA III IDIQ requirement is

December IO, 2018. The proposed base and option period should allow for performance in the event of a protest under the SETA III procurement.

8. DHS intends to post this justification on FedBizOpps pursuant to FAR l6.505(b)(2)(ii)(D

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Exceeding the SAT pursuant to FAR I6.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)

9. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR I 6.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(9), I certify that this requirement meets the Government' s minimum need and that the supporting data, which form a basis for the justification, are accurate and complete.

Technical Representative/COR

I0. Contracting Officer Certification and Approval

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(8), I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and hereby determine that the circumstances for an exception to fair opportunity exist:

Not exceeding $700,000

Contracting Officer

Pursuant to FAR l 6.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(10), I certify that the circumstances under FAR

16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) presented under this justification apply to this order and is therefore approved.

Over $700,000 but not exceeding $13.5 million

Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition