AR00922_2018-33194_Justification_Exception_to_Fair_Opportunity_I2WD_CBT_Final.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM)

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXEMPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY UNDER

IDIQ CONTRACT

SOLICITATION GSC-QF0B-18-33194

TASK ORDER 47QFCA18D0009

The General Services Administration (GSA) makes this Justification for the issuance of an Exception to Fair Opportunity order pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.5.

a) Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity:

Client Agency:

United States (U.S.) Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center

(CERDEC)

Intelligence and Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD) Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

Contracting Activity:

GSA FEDSIM Contracting Office (QF0B) 1800 F Street, NW Suite 3100 (QF0B) Washington, DC 20405

b) Nature and/or Description of Action Being Approved:

(U//FOUO) The I2WD Exploitation Analysis and Response Division, Prototyping and Forensics (P&F) Branch (I2WD P&F Branch), operating under CERDEC, serves as the Army’s center for research and development of advanced cyber operations, electronic warfare, signals intelligence technologies, radar, and intelligence analysis, exploitation, and dissemination capabilities. To support these activities, I2WD P&F Branch has historically leveraged the Army’s Technical Information Engineering Services (TIES) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The TIES contract was awarded and administered by the Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) Contracting Center. Most recently, the I2WD P&F Branch support has leveraged support through the Task Order (TO) W56KGU-15-D-0005-0006 (TO 0006). TO 0006 was awarded by ACC-APG to CACI Technologies, Inc. (CACI) with a Period of Performance (PoP) of September 30, 2016 through September 29, 2019 and total value of $18,717,243. With a ceiling increase, the current TO’s contract value was $32,217,243, however, due to the overall TIES IDIQ ceiling being met, only $13,960,745 could be obligated. The purpose of the TO was to provide I2WD P&F Branch with electronics forensics and exploitation support services

When ACC-APG awarded TO 0006 in support of the I2WD P&F Branch’s requirements with a POP of three years, the ceiling value was awarded based on the available remaining ceiling under the TIES IDIQ. At that time, it was known that the awarded TO 0006 value was insufficient to fully support the I2WD P&F Branch’s current burn. The awarded TO 0006 and its ceiling value was the only option available to the I2WD P&F Branch for its current mission requirements. To ensure those current missions did not experience a break in service, I2WD P&F Branch accepted ACC- APG’s TO 0006’s awarded ceiling value and PoP understanding that it was a short-term solution that would require additional contractual support from ACC-APG in the future in order to have the requirement fully supported.

(U//FOUO) During execution of TO 0006, the ceiling constraints from the TIES IDIQ began presenting challenges for the I2WD P&F Branch’s unique mission requirements.

In January 2017, the I2WD P&F Branch approached ACC-APG to request a ceiling increase as the awarded ceiling value was approaching an untenable status to support the current burn and posed a significant risk to supporting future requirements. In September 2017, ACC-APG took the last action it was willing to support on the current TO by settling on the current ceiling value of $32,217,243. However, the TIES IDIQ ceiling still presented challenges with only allowing $13,960,745 to be obligated on the TO and eliminated the second option year and shortened the overall POP to end 29 September 2018. Although, the TO ceiling value was estimated to be exhausted in February 2018, thereby ending the contract in February 2018. The lack of ceiling capacity under the TIES IDIQ, coupled with ACC-APG’s constraints to be able to meet resource demands needed to provide the I2WD P&F Branch a contractual solution, left it without an existing contract vehicle and contracting support. ACC-APG declined to support any future contractual solutions to support I2WD P&F Branch mission requirements. The lack of internal options and support drove the I2WD P&F Branch to seek external options to address its challenges. In September 2017, the I2WD P&F Branch began to investigate leveraging GSA FEDSIM for support. An interagency agreement between I2WD and GSA FEDSIM was established on 31 OCT 2017.

(U//FOUO) The current ceiling challenges from the TIES IDIQ and lack of a long term contractual solution for the I2WD P&F Branch’s unique requirements were identified as the biggest priorities for GSA FEDSIM’s acquisition support to remedy. As such, to ensure continued contractor support to the I2WD P&F Branch to fulfill the unique electronics forensics and exploitation requirements currently being supported, as well as any emerging requirements, GSA FEDSIM intends to award a 12-month sole source Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) (Term) TO to CACI pursuant to FAR 16.505 (b)(2)(i)(B).

The proposed sole-source TO will be awarded utilizing GSA’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) Pool 4 Unrestricted IDIQ contract. Awarding this task order will provide GSA FEDSIM time to execute the pre-award, source selection and award activities for the competitive acquisition with ample transition time after award. The estimated value of the contract will be a total of $44,367,454 over the 12-month period. The resulting TO will also include the option to extend services clause, FAR 52.217-8, for an additional six-month period. FAR clause 52.217-8 will be included to account for circumstances beyond the control of GSA FEDSIM contracting such as protests.

c) A description of the Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs and Estimated Value:

(U//FOUO) CERDEC I2WD researches, develops and evaluates intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare and cyber technologies to provide effective, proactive situational awareness, and tracking, targeting and survivability solutions that transition into operational, relevant capabilities for the soldiers. From initial concept through fielding, I2WD spans the lifecycle of these systems and provides engineering and management support to Program Executive Offices.

(U//FOUO) The I2WD Exploitation Analysis and Response Division, P&F Branch delivers emerging research and development technology to the Warfighter in response to the Global Combatant Command requirements. One of the critical missions under the Division is the target characterization and replication of threats being used against the Warfighter, which requires engineering, limited (threat-based) prototyping in the red-teaming sense for exploitation, test and validation on targets of interest. The threat-based prototyping serves as the basis for the development of systems being placed in-theater with the purpose of protecting the lives of those performing the mission.

The task areas that will be supported under the TO will be as follows:

• Program Management Support: This task includes the management and oversight of all activities performed by contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in the performance work statement.

• (U//FOUO) Technical Intelligence Support: This task consists of technical intelligence, electrical/electronic engineering, forensics, prototyping, target replication, training and exercises, and systems engineering support.

(U//FOUO) Since its inception, the I2WD P&F Branch TO has been highly successful at providing rapid subject matter expertise solutions to military organizations requiring prototyping and forensics intelligence support CONUS, OCONUS, and in-theater.

During acquisition planning, the current TO estimated USCENTCOM requirements only, as reflected in the TO value amount. As success ensued, the P&F Branch began supporting other Combatant Commands and other Government Agencies in target characterization and replication of threats around the world and all current customers supported by TO 0006 was considered in the IGCE creation.

(U//FOUO) The P&F Branch receives funding from 50 government customers annually, which is placed on contract for required support. In order to support this current P&F Branch customer base, the estimated Labor, Travel, Other Direct Costs (ODCs) and Contract Access Fee (CAF) required to provide the I2WD P&F Branch support for the 12-month TO is $44,367,454. With all the constraints considered, $32 million is the ceiling value of the original TO (TO 006), but only $13 million could be funded; leaving $18 million unfunded. Below reflects the level of support needed, based on the current usage of the TO.

Description Estimated Value Labor $37,324,130 Travel $1,000,000 Materials and Equipment $5,000,000 ODCs $1,000,000

CAF (0.1%) $43,324

TOTAL $44,367,454

d) Identification of the Exception to Fair Opportunity and Rationale:

This TO Justification is being prepared as required by FAR 16.505, Exception to Fair Opportunity Process. The rationale is that for this TO only one such contractor is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the services ordered are unique or highly specialized (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B)).

(U//FOUO) The I2WD P&F Branch is comprised of three teams: Technical Forensics Exploitation (TFE), Global Threat Technology Team (GT3), and Replication and Prototyping Team (RPT). The TFE team conducts research and development, and characterization of electronics and firmware. GT3 performs predictive analysis, threat analysis, technology assessments, infrastructure studies, vulnerability assessments and red teaming. RPT conducts test and evaluation, and prototyping of concept from design to fabrication. The P&F Branch activities support approximately 50 customers across the Government annually, in response to, and in preparation for, response to current and emerging threats.

(U//FOUO) Existing Unique Requirements: Currently, the I2WD P&F Branch is supporting approximately 30 unique and complex projects each month. The unique nature of these projects range from electronics forensics to exploitation to prototyping support services. Each project activity has its own unique requirements which vary based on the specific DOD customer organization requesting support and the associated current and/or emerging threat. The unique nature and complexity of each project also requires a myriad of expertise, resources, and deployments. On average, a DOD requested project is completed within a one month timeframe but each project has its own unique delivery milestone and completion schedule. The current projects supported and timely completions are critical to adequately analyzing, characterizing and/or replicating the unique threats being used against the Warfighter in order to address these threats in-theater. The uniqueness and complexities of the projects were assessed and the Government determined that the best approach for successful execution of current DOD customer requirements was to continue leveraging the current contractor, CACI. CACI’s contracted support has a deep understanding of the current projects being supported and is highly capable of providing continued support for the I2WD P&F Branch’s existing unique projects during the duration of this TO and the impact of not awarding a sole-source TO to CACI is the DOD will not effectively meet its mission and a lapse of service on this project could occur.

(U//FOUO) Experienced Contractor Support: The P&F support services being provided to the I2WD P&F Branch and the supported DOD customer projects require contractor support that is experienced and knowledgeable at each of the technical intelligence levels in forensics analysis, prototyping, exploitation, target characterization, electrical/electronic engineering, and systems engineering. In addition, I2WD requires personnel knowledgeable of the devices, technologies, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) associated with the previously mentioned knowledge areas. This extensive knowledge and experience significantly impacts the validity and merit of the research and analysis assessments, and support delivered on the I2WD P&F Branch’s projects. CACI is the only contractor with the personnel capable of immediately supporting the unique P&F projects at the required standard to provide rapid solutions that thwart potential threats to the warfighters and immediately aid the DOD customers that require the mission critical information.

(U//FOUO) Cleared Personnel: The I2WD P&F Branch requires its contractor personnel to be able to access classified information in order to support the full scope of the requirement. Support contractor personnel are responsible for safeguarding information, and relationships gained, established, and fostered through TO execution.

Contractor personnel under the TO are required to possess a variety of clearance levels:

Secret and Top Secret (TS)/Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) and TS/ SCI with Counterintelligence (CI) polygraph. In addition, the current support has personnel co-located with the I2WD P&F Branch onsite at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD in order to effectively support mission requirements. Failure to provide personnel with the appropriate clearances during this time will hinder the supported DOD customers requiring the P&F support provided through the contracted TO. CACI is the only contractor with the personnel currently in place local to the I2WD P&F Branch and its supported customers, with the appropriate clearances, that can provide uninterrupted services until the competitive TO is awarded.

(U//FOUO) GSA FEDSIM Acquisition Support: The interagency agreement between the I2WD P&F Branch and GSA FEDSIM in support of this requirement was established in November 2017. This agreement was established after the TIES IDIQ contract no longer had ceiling capacity to support the I2WD P&F Branch’s TO requirements, and after it was not offered any contractual support or viable solutions internally through ACC-APG. Further, the high burn rate of the I2WD P&F Branch’s current TO and resulting shortened POP will not provide GSA FEDSIM the time necessary to complete the requirements analysis, acquisition planning, pre-award, and award of a new competitive requirement while providing adequate time for a reasonable transition from the incumbent to the competitive TO awardee to occur. This sole source TO will ensure the I2WD P&F Branch has ceiling capacity to provide continuity of support for current projects while GSA FEDSIM completes the aforementioned acquisition activities. The planned dates to complete all actions necessary to award the re-compete requirement are outlined below:

Milestone Planned Month Release RFI Feb 2018 Finalize Acquisition Plan in APM Feb 2018 Review RFI Responses Mar 2018 Conduct Due Diligence Sessions May 2018

Finalize Statement of Work (SOW) Jun 2018

Release TO Request Jul 2018 Evaluate Proposals and Award TO Aug-Sept 2018 Transition in New Contractor

Oct-Nov 2018

CACI is the only contractor capable of providing support for the I2WD P&F Branch’s current unique project while GSA FEDSIM supports the above acquisition activities.

Minimized Transition Risk: The I2WD P&F Branch provides mission critical forensics analysis and assessments to DOD customers to protect the lives of soldiers and personnel in hostile and dangerous locations. Accordingly, transitioning-in a new contractor in such a mission critical capacity can be detrimental with inadequate transition time. A competitive award and successful transition of the current I2WD P&F Branch support requirement to a new TO and contractor will take a minimum of eight months not including a minimum of 60 days for transition-in. The minimum time period for transition may take longer to accomplish depending on real-world events. With the current I2WD P&F Branch support TO burning at a rate the current TO ceiling nor POP can sustain, GSA FEDSIM will not have the time needed to complete all the acquisition activities to include contractor transition-in before the current I2WD P&F Branch support TO expires. DOD customers, especially the warfighter, heavily rely on the information afforded to them through the I2WD P&F Branch’s current support; failure to fully transition-in a new contractor before the current support TO expires may inhibit mission critical information from being provided to the DOD customers which need that information to provide critical support to the warfighter. CACI is the only contractor capable of providing support that will minimize the transition risks to the

I2WD P&F Branch and DOD customer projects currently supported until the competitive support TO can be awarded.

(U//FOUO) The continuation of current project knowledge and expertise is crucial for the successful threat-based prototyping that serves as the basis for the development and deployment of systems and capabilities in-theater that can protect the lives of those performing the mission, the warfighter. CACI is currently supporting the I2WD P&F Branch with prototyping and forensics and has a deep understanding of the core infrastructure. CACI has the specialized knowledge of prototyping, forensics and target characterization and provides rapid solutions to neutralize the potential threat. CACI is the only contractor with the personnel in place today with the requisite experience and clearance levels required to support the TO requirements, which include multiple levels from Secret to a TS/SCI clearance with CI polygraph. The time it would take for a new contractor to recruit personnel, apply for clearances, and be granted access would result in a lapse of service which would have significant implications to the customer projects currently being supported. As a result, CACI is the only contractor capable of providing the I2WD P&F Branch continued support at the level required until the follow-on acquisition is competitively awarded with an adequate transition-in period.

e) Determination that the Anticipated Cost is Fair and Reasonable:

This exception to fair opportunity, follow-on contract is planned to be awarded under the GSA OASIS multiple award IDIQ contract. The Government has prepared an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). The IGCE is based on historical information and the anticipated level of effort (LOE). The IGCE was developed using the OASIS cost estimating tool, the GSA Calc tool, and previously negotiated pricing for support to I2WD. With OASIS not having established underlying prices, the contracting officer will determine if CACI’s proposal is fair and reasonable and represent the best value to the Government, and compare it to the IGCE, historical prices in CACI’s current TO and approved CACI forward pricing rates from DCAA.

f) Other Facts Supporting the Justification:

All relevant facts have been identified and discussed elsewhere in this justification.

g) A Statement of the Actions:

To ensure that the circumstances that led to the Government taking exception to fair opportunity for this requirement are limited to this action only, the Government has implemented and is executing an acquisition schedule that will complete all the necessary pre-solicitation and pre-award actions before the sole source TO expires.

Furthermore, to ensure that industry is made aware of all future information related to follow-on requirement, all information will be posted and made available to all vendors under the contract vehicle selected for the follow-on requirement via GSA eBuy. Last, in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), this Justification will be made publicly available via GSA eBuy for vendors to review.

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXEMPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

UNDER IDIQ CONTRACT

SOLICITATION GSC-QF0B-18-33194

TASK ORDER 47QFCA18D0009

h) Certification by Technical or Requirements Personnel

I hereby certify that the supporting data is complete and accurate.

Renee Esposito GSA FEDSIM Project Manager

i) Signature of Authorized Official(s):

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, and determine on the basis of the findings above that an other than full and open competition approach is in accordance with the requirements and is in the best interest of the Government.

Derrick White Contracting Officer FEDSIM Acquisition, Army, Navy, Enterprise Sector

Final Approval I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief, and determine on the basis of the findings above that an other than full and open competition approach is in accordance with the requirements and is in the best interest of the Government.

Tom Howder GSA, Head of Contracting Activity