ACES OM JA - Redacted.pdf

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY

8725 JOHN J. KINGM AN ROAD, STOP 6201

FORT BELVOIR, VA 22060-6201

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Nature and/or Description of Action

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) contracting activity proposes to procure, without using full and open competition, support services for the Arms Control Enterprise System (ACES) from Peraton Inc.

2. Description of Supplies/Services Required

DTRA has a critical need for specialized support services to sustain ACES, a mission critical, highly complex, specialized arms control treaty notification workflow, and data management and reporting system that was developed by DTRA in 2007 in order to assist the U.S. Government in meeting its non-proliferation treaty obligations. ACES provides arms control treaty equipment tracking, notification generation and workflow, and official treaty reporting as well as a robust repository of arms control data supporting numerous conventional and strategic arms control treaties and agreements. ACES is used by DTRA, personnel tasked with the execution and management of arms control treaties and agreements.

Activities supported by the required support include:

System administration o Adding and deleting users within the system o Ensuring data back-ups o Installing component software patches and updates o Testing system fail-over capabilities o Monitoring system performance.

Cybersecurity Support o Reviewing cybersecurity notices for applicability o Installing security related patches o Monitoring system status o Processing Risk Management Framework controls required for the system’s accreditation or Approval to Operate (ATO) User support o Assisting the users in understanding the intricacies of various equipment movement transactions o Fielding user questions o Providing formal and informal ACES training

Database administration o Periodic tuning/configuring of the database o Reviewing and deploying database patches o Processing ad-hoc database exports o Software coding o Making requested user changes to reports o Adjusting reports and notifications based on treaty requirements o Adjusting data input screens o Applying coding changes to improve the usability and function of the system.

The proposed contract action is a continuation of HDTRA121C0057, which was issued on a sole source basis to Peraton Inc.

The required Period of Performance is June 15, 2026 through June 14, 2031 and the estimated dollar value is approximately $ .

3. Statutory Authority:

10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304(c)(l) or 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(l), as implemented by FAR 6.103-1 (DoD Deviation 2026-O0017), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

4. Applicability of Authority:

ACES is a robust system supporting numerous treaties and agreements, each with their own distinct rules and constraints regarding the movement, reporting, and notification of treaty reportable assets. The following treaties and agreements are supported by ACES:

The Vienna Document 2011 on Confidence and Security Building Measures (CSBM) The Global Exchange of Military Information (GEMI) Wassenaar Arrangement Conventional Arms Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty

For the Vienna Document and the CFE, ACES supports both the Annual Exchange of Information (AEI) submissions but also the generation, validation, and workflow of numerous official agreement notifications.

In addition to the above agreements, ACES also provides the repository and search and retrieval capabilities for these expired or inactive (U.S. participation) treaties and agreements:

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty The New START Treaty (NST) The Treaty on Open Skies The United Nations Transparency in Armaments (UNTIA)

Due to the complexity of the supported treaties and agreements, and the integrated database used to support similar but different treaties, it is essential that the performer fully understand all the various reporting differences and unique requirements. Arms control automation skillsets and data management expertise refer to the deep understanding of the various treaty requirements for valid notification data fields values, the proper workflow sequences for various official notifications, the detailed categorization of equipment (significant and slight differences between agreements), and the various algorithms regarding equipment movements and auto-generation of required notifications. It is also imperative that the performer have extensive arms control expertise and thorough ACES understanding in order to respond promptly and accurately to recent conventional and strategic treaty suspensions with associated ACES changes and modifications, as well as with the uncertainty of future arms control and associated confidence and security building measures (CSMBs) that may drive near-term ACES modifications.

Peraton, Inc. is the only responsible source capable of providing the unique and highly specialized support necessary to maintain the ACES system. They have the specialized arms control expertise while also holding the skillsets necessary to support notification/reporting automation services and maintain the ACES system. Peraton’s extensive arms control knowledge, arms control automation skillsets, and arms control treaty data management expertise, is required to support both the ACES system and the ACES user base. Peraton obtained their extensive treaty and treaty automation expertise through their team members’ years of support working on some of the original ACES software code, developing entirely new ACES modules, and assisting users over many years with unique treaty notification and reporting requirements.

Peraton has supported the system for the last five years as the Prime contractor for this requirement and the Peraton team previously supported ACES for fourteen years, since its inception in 2007, making them uniquely qualified to continue that support during this critical time. Peraton has a deep and comprehensive understanding of the technical attributes of the system which makes them the most economical option for maintaining the functionality of the system as it approaches end of life. Introducing a new maintainer now would result in a substantial duplication of costs as a new support contractor would incur costs overcoming the significant learning curve necessary before they would be able to adequately support the users, the system, and the accreditation/cybersecurity controls. Further, A lack of treaty knowledge expertise and treaty automation experience could result in a significant risk of a substantial negative impact to the United States’ ability to meet a variety of politically and legally binding arms control treaty and agreement notification and reporting requirements. ACES has, for many years, ensured that the U.S. arms control community provided on-time, accurate and complete official treaty reports and official notifications, and any unexpected system downtimes due to a new support team could jeopardize the excellent reporting and notification standards the U.S.

arms control community requires.

Peraton is currently delivering a major application framework upgrade involving the operating system, the application framework, and the development environment. This upgrade will maintain the accreditation of the system while also updating the underlying software components. This major 3-component upgrade has been on-going for several months and requires additional performance beyond the end of HDTRA121C0057 to complete all necessary tasks. In addition to regular performance tasks (periodic operating system, database, application framework, and development environment patches and updates), a new performer would have to learn and understand all the components and complexities of the current system, as well as create a development environment to support the on-going application framework upgrades.

5. Effort to Solicit Potential Sources:

A Sources Sought notice was posted on 8 Jan 2026 with a closing date of 22 Jan 2026. The RFI was posted at SAM.gov titled "DTRA- Arms Control Enterprise System (ACES) Support."

There were responses. After review of all responses, the PM determined none of the vendors had the requisite arms control treaty automation expertise or treaty knowledge to be successful in supporting the ACES requirements.

The response received from industry supports the finding that Peraton’s ability to deliver both the required arms control expertise and system management capabilities are unique within industry.

6. Fair and Reasonable Cost:

The anticipated cost/price of this contract will be determined to be fair and reasonable based on a comparison of proposed prices to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), historical data, current comparable industry pricing, and based on negotiations.

7. Market Research:

In accordance with FAR Part 10, thorough market research was conducted. The team reviewed historical acquisition information, previous contracts, responses to the 8 Jan 2026 DTRA Sources Sought RFI, personal knowledge in procuring services of this type, existing DoD-wide contracts, and GSA schedules.

The team also reviewed the marketplace through internet sources and found vendors that have software development experience; however, none of these contractors have thorough knowledge of the ACES software application and how it is coded to support the interrelated arms control treaties and agreements. Peraton is the only contractor in the industry with the capabilities required to maintain the current ACES application, complete the on-going major application upgrade and work possible post-NST actions that could be needed with minimal notice.

8. Other Facts:

The additional estimated cost for a new performer to complete this requirement is approximately

. The additional cost is attributed to the expected need of the following: one (1) full-time Conventional Arms Control Treaties and Agreements SME for the first 2 years and half-time for the remaining 3 years; one (1) an additional full-time programmer for six months; one (1) half-time Database Administrator in the first year; and one (1) full-time Systems Administrator in the first year. This estimate was based on the historical data from previous contracts, as well as the appropriate level of effort and labor mix required to complete this work. This additional labor would be needed to allow the new performer to fully understand the intricacies of conventional arms control treaty automation and to be able to learn and fully support the complex ACES configuration and database structures / data interrelationships.

Development of a new software application to replace ACES is currently underway. Until the new software is deployed ACES will continue to be the single system meeting the critical needs of the U.S. arms control community.

9. Interested Sources responses were received under the RFI, however, none of the responses indicated they had the required expertise with arms control treaty automation and arms control treaty expertise which is a critical component of the required ACES support.

10. Subsequent Actions

DTRA will continuously monitor new developments in this field and incorporate a Support Transition Plan to ensure that the system services are fully documented to help support follow-on efforts to maximize competition in the future.