Aug 2024 LIFECYCLE REPLCEMENT WP JA 2024_65.pdf

Control No:. MICC 2024-65

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER

THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Program/Equipment: Apple brand products in support of the Laptop Lifecycle Replacement of Laptops, Computer, and Computer Peripherals for Army Higher Education Institutions that are members of the Army Higher Education Consortium.

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

Amount: $2,181,500.00.

Prepared by: Ignacio J. Cordova DSN:

Purchasing Agent Date: 28 May 2024 Email:

Contracting Officer: Jarrod Bowsky DSN:

Contracting Officer Date: 28 May 2024 Email:

Technical: Erik Dean DSN:

Deputy, Chief Information Officer/G6 Date: 28 May 2024

Email:

Requirements: COL Edward Teague DSN:

G6, Chief Information Officer Date: 28 May 2024 Email:

CUI//SP-PROCURE//FEDCON

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support a brand name acquisition.

Program Manager:

COL Edward Teague DSN:

Date: See digital signature

Small Business Professional:

Joyce A. Williams DSN:

Date: See digital signature

MICC Office of Counsel:

Frank A. March DSN:

Date: See digital signature

Director, MICC-West Point:

Kymberly Y. Aviles DSN:

Date: See digital signature

Assistant Director, Small Business Program:

Chinedu C. Nwauwa DSN:

Date: See digital signature

FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command West Point (MICC WP), 681 Place, West Point, New York 10996

2. Description of Action: The United States Military Academy (USMA) Chief Information Office (CIO) has a requirement for a firm-fixed-price contract to procure brand name Apple Products in support of their laptop lifecycle replacement program.

The USMA and the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) are two members of the Army Higher Education Consortium (AHEC) that have brand name Apple requirements as part of their lifecycle replacement program for Laptops, Desktop Computers, and Computer Peripherals. The Government projects award for September 2024 and fiscal year 2024 Operations and Maintenance, Army funds will be used. An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i)(B).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: A laptop lifecycle replacement program consists of systematically replacing Laptops, Desktop Computers, and Computer Peripherals.

This requirement seeks to leverage the consolidation of brand name Apple requirements from the Army Higher Education Consortium to promote better pricing from vendors.

The Army Higher Education Consortium (AHEC) develops, advises, and coordinates information technology standards, policies and procedures that will support the student body, faculty and staff, and military training mission requirements for all United States Army Higher Education institutions for current and future requirements.

Apple Products

Item Description Qty MacBook Pro 16" - A 1 MacBook Pro 16" - B 6 O/DEAN - iPads (10th G) 15 O/DEAN - iPads (11" iPad Pro) 27 O/DEAN - iPads (12" iPad Pro) 1 Apple 13" MacBook Air 1000 Apple iPad 10" 1000 Mac Studio 2 Apple Pen 1000

Delivery Date: 30 days after contract award through May 2025 (depending on supply and logistics conditions).

Total Value: $2,181,500.00.

4. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2) and 6.302-1(c), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, and brand name descriptions.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: As described at FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), when the supplies or services required by the agency are available only from one responsible source, or for DoD, NASA and the Coast Guard, from only one or a limited number of responsible sources, and no other types of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for. As further described in FAR 6.302-1(c), an acquisition or portion of an acquisition that uses a brand-name description or other purchase description to specify a particular brand-name, product, or feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer does not provide for full and open competition, regardless of the number of sources solicited; and shall be justified and approved in accordance with FAR 6.303 and 6.304.

a. The U.S. Army, develops, and inspires leaders of character who identify, formulate, and solve complex, technical problems for our nation while using an interdisciplinary, integrative approach, that applies systems thinking, engineering, data analysis, modeling, simulation, decision science, and project management.

b. This requirement is to support the life cycle replacement of Apple Computing Products (laptops, docking stations, handheld devices, monitors, and other essential IT equipment) used by USMA and DLIFLC to support their academic mission needs. The USMA and DLIFLC require Apple brand name laptops, desktops, and tablets. These academic institutions have a need for Apple products to meet the unique academic mission at the undergraduate and graduate level to complete each activity’s unique academic mission. The equipment will be used by students, professors, faculty, and assigned military personnel to conduct classes, submit questions and answers, and conduct any military operations supporting these institutions. Thus, acquiring a robust inventory that can support the mission while offering the capabilities to accept massive software updates and still providing the user with high performance is a critical factor.

c. USMA has piloted an initiative to consolidate the purchases of computing devices with other Army accredited educational institutions to achieve greater savings with bulk purchasing, reduce acquisition lead times, and realize greater savings in reduced administrative costs for each of the Army component participants. The program is titled the Army Higher Education Consortium (AHEC), and the participants which include USMA and DLIFLC, are various Army degree granting educational institutions.

d. While there are existing contract vehicles available to Army users through CHESS, these contract vehicles were created to meet the requirements of the Army’s general populace and do not meet educational institution (student and professor) specific needs. Therefore, those existing vehicles include many constraints (e.g., do not include Apple, only allow for 10% open market items to be included, memory and warranty capabilities that do not meet mission requirements) which precludes the use of these vehicles to meet the needs of USMA and DLIFLC.

e. The USMA and DLIFLIC currently utilize an exclusively Apple-based information technology infrastructure. All faculty, staff, and students utilize the Apple I Operating System (OS or iOS) platforms for technological learning. Introducing additional brands would be inefficient due to interoperability between brands and creating additional sustainment costs to link the two. Currently, all computers and peripherals are completely compatible with the Apple iOS and MAC OS environments, as opposed to a Microsoft Windows based OS.

f. Introducing a non-Apple based application product for those Apple systems requiring lifecycle replacement, while continuing to use existing Apple products would lessen the level of efficiencies with near field communication capabilities (i.e., air drop, air print, air play, etc.) The USMA and DLIFLC have invested in all the Apple hardware/peripheral infrastructure and components that work exclusively with Apple and will not work with a different infrastructure (e.g., Microsoft).

g. Additionally, the Apple platform has a closed OS (only Apple can update) which provides a higher level of security in contrast to other OS systems such as Microsoft’s Open OS. Microsoft’s Open OS allows updates by any user and is more susceptible to possible infiltration and hacking. The higher level of security is needed due to the operational security risk of accessing foreign websites for language learning purposes (Russian, Ukraine, Chinese, Middle Eastern, etc.) Any other OS besides Apple’s would not support the USMA/DLIFLC mission or match its operating and security capabilities making the non-Apple devices more susceptible to security risks.

h. Within the non-standard Army educational environment that exists at USMA, they utilize increased functional audio-visual (A/V) classroom environments that allow for a seamless transition between components such as calendars on the A/V classroom signs, Apple TVs screen share capabilities without the need for Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), and Ad-Hoc networks that allow the Apple computers to communicate without the use of Wi-Fi. Each Apple application is proprietary and optimized for Apple devices. There are specific applications used in the History Department that are only iOS compatible, and other applications where the user experience on Android is not as effective as within the Apple iOS environment. iPads are cross platform capable and can work with the new Microsoft cloud environment, TEAMs environment, and many other windows environments utilized by USMA. No other manufacturer’s products provide this same functionality.

i. Alternatives. If USMA/DLIFLC were directed to utilize a different product other than Apple, it would result in near mission failure. Using Apple and non-Apple tablets in tandem is not feasible. If USMA or DLIFLC had to transition to an all non-Apple environment, it would be cost prohibitive. Specifically, moving to a completely different mobile computing solution (Google or Microsoft) would cost the USMA more than $10 million and take several years to implement across multiple contracts (Multi-Functional Devices, cell phones, and an exorbitant amount of A/V equipment) and then purchasing new tablets. DLIFLC alone invested over $2 million in Apple products in FY23 and switching to a non-Apple environment would require over twice the investment they are making in Apple lifecycle replacements in FY24.

j. Impact if Justification not approved. To meet the educational requirements, of the Army Educational Mission, users require high performance computer systems that far exceed standard specifications. High performance computer systems generally refer to the practice of aggregating computing power in a way that delivers much higher performance in contrast to typical computing devices in order to process large amounts of data, engineering, or analytics scenarios while existing in certain dual network environments.

Employing systems with substandard systems engineering and internal components, when used, will operate below a required adequate standard, thus constraining the mission. In addition, risking possible security failures in the educational setting when accessing foreign websites for language learning purposes would leave the network vulnerable to attacks from foreign adversaries.

Separately, to meet both the educational and technological needs, the activities and their subcommands have already invested substantial amounts to create a digital infrastructure to support existing Apple Products. Moving away from these established systems would require the government to reinvest multi-millions of dollars in additional components, services, and labor costs to overhaul the existing digital supporting infrastructure for each agency. Furthermore, the mission to educate, in an interdisciplinary approach and method would be compromised thus failing the mission to educate the War Fighters.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: MICC – WP will publish the notices required by FAR

5.201 and a combined synopsis and solicitation shall be utilized. In accordance with the Government’s market research efforts, it is anticipated that there are at least four small business vendors capable of providing all required items, therefore, effective competition will be achieved. Additionally, the resulting Purchase Order will contain FAR clause 52.244-5, Competition in Subcontracting, which states that the contractor shall select subcontractors on a competitive basis to the maximum practicable extent.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: MICC – WP released a sources sought notice from 18-26 April 2024, to understand industry capabilities, contract vehicle opportunities, and if there would be adequate competition through small business concerns. Even though the current requirement is brand name, it will still be competed, and ample small business competition exists. If any of the schools determine it would be beneficial to switch platforms/technology in the future, this requirement will be competed without a brand name requirement.

Currently, the DLIFLC and USMA operate with an exclusive Apple-based information technology infrastructure at these campuses. Additionally, the Apple platform has a closed OS (only Apple can update) which provides a higher level of security. With all faculty, staff, and students utilizing the Apple I Operating System (OS or iOS) in the higher education learning environment, a significant financial investment has been committed to achieve this standardization of end-user devices.

Introducing additional brands would be inefficient due to interoperability between brands, and redundant sustainment costs. By moving to a less synergistic environment, more errors would arise and require more onsite Government staff that the educational institutions' budgets cannot support.

8. Market Research: Market Research for this procurement included corresponding with industry participants and understanding limitations, if any, to support the requirement. In addition, research included looking at the following data depositories;

FPDS, PIEE, PD2, and industry sources; SBA, GSA Advantage, GSA e-Library, and SAM.gov. Certain Small Business vendors could not support the requirement due to lack of tangible resources (labor shortages, obligational limitations with computer manufacturers, and the capability to support the nature and magnitude of the requirement which some found to be more than what they could handle depending on their size and capabilities. In addition, industry research and analyses are conducted throughout the year by the educational institutions as they look for emerging and capable technologies.

The sources sought notice released on the Government Point of Entry (GPE) on 18 April 2024 resulted in five responses, all from small businesses. Review of these responses showed all five vendors can provide the entire brand name requirement. The five vendors that responded are Global Indirect Markets, V3 Gate, RE Global, Strategic Communications, and NCS Technologies. Therefore, the Government anticipates competition and will set this aside for small business prior to soliciting on the GPE.

The typical CHESS solutions for computer hardware are the Army Desktop and Mobile Computing-3 (ADMC-3) and the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions-3 Hardware (ITES-3H). However, these CHESS contract vehicles currently do not support Apple brand name products. An approved Statement of Non-Availability (SONA) number 216805475 was obtained on March 10, 2024, and subsequent ITAS Waiver, number 20240304132882085 was approved March 25, 2024. Both documents are included in the contract file.

9. Interested Sources:

10. Other Facts:

Procurement History

Contract: W911SD-23-C-0005 Contractor:

Award Date: 22 September 2023 Value: $6,424,040.98 Competitive Status: Brand Name Authority: FAR 6.302-1(c)

Contract: W52P1J-22-P-4045; USMA, USMA Preparatory School, and USAWC Contractor:

Award Date: 31 May 2022 Value: $5,819,723.07 Competitive Status: Competed RFP for Cadet LCR Contract awarded by the Mission and Installation Contracting Command West Point

No. Company CAGE Business Size Capability/Experience

1 Small Bus. DOES possess capability to support 2 Small Bus. DOES possess capability to support 3 Small Bus. does NOT possess capability to support 4 Small Bus. DOES possess capability to support 5 Small Bus. DOES possess capability to support

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: See digital signature

ERIK DEAN

Deputy, Chief Information Officer/G6

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: See digital signature

COL EDWARD TEAGUE

G6

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based price analysis techniques listed in FAR 13.106-3 (a)(1). Certified cost or pricing data is not required per FAR 15.403-1(b)(3).

Date: See digital signature

JARROD BOWSKY

Contracting Officer

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date: See digital signature

JARROD BOWSKY

Contracting Officer

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Apple computers and peripherals on another than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of Title 10 United States Code Section 3204(a)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2) and 6.302-1(c), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, and brand name descriptions. The total estimated value of the brand name portion of the contract is $2.18 million with delivery estimated to begin 30 days after contract award and completed no later than May 2025. The approval is subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

SCOTT D. KUKES

Alternate Advocate for Competition U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, JBSA Fort Sam Houston, TX