CAOC Bridge JA_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION

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APPROVAL ( DAFFARS 5306.304(a))

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I. Agency and Contracting Activity.

USAF HQ Air Combat Command (ACC), Acquisition Management and Integration Center (AMIC), 300 Exploration Way, Hampton VA 23666

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

The Government is requesting approval to award a bridge contract for a 6-month extension and inclusion of the 52.217-8 clause for a total possible Period of Performance (PoP) of 12 months to the incumbent contractor to retain the current services because of a delay in the award of a follow-on contract and potential for protest. The incumbent contractor has consistently met mission requirements and received Satisfactory CPARs ratings for this effort. The contract structure will include Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Labor and Cost Reimbursable (CR) Travel and Other Direct Costs (ODCs) Contract Line Items Numbers (CLINS).

Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) A6 requires a new contract for the Combined Air Operation Center (CAOC) support to perform operations and maintenance of all Air Operations Center communication systems 24/7/365 at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar and Shaw AFB, SC. This requirement will provide communications and information technology operations, maintenance, sustainment, development and training services to ensure uninterrupted support to the warfighter. The services are currently being performed by MicroTechnologies, LLC (Microtech) [8330 Boone Blvd, Suite 600, Tysons, VA 22182] under NETCENTS-2 (FA873214D0021 / FA489019FA079). The ordering period for the NETCENTS-2 contract ends on 2 September 2024, and cannot be used to extend the existing contract. FAR 52.217-8 was not included in the current task order due to the NETCENTS-2 ordering period restraints. The task order PoP ends 2 September 2024 but the award for the recompete will not be issued in time to allow for the required phase-in period and continue the necessary services.

This delay is a result of multiple hurdles encountered during the acquisition process. The recompete is being executed as a task order under the Army's Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services (RS3) contract vehicle and is currently in the proposal evaluation and negotiation phase. Evaluations are not anticipated to be complete until the end of September 2024 for an award in October 2024. The solicitation was issued on 22 February 2024. Three amendments were issued: Amendment 1 issued 15 March 2024 to respond to industry questions and update necessary solicitation documents; Amendment 2 issued 21 March 2024 to extend the proposal due date from 25 March to 28 March 2024; and, Amendment 3 issued on 25 March 2024 to address follow-up questions and make necessary revisions to the price factor in the FOPR.

Based on the description above, a new contract is required to provide a "bridge" to ensure there is no break in the critical AFCENT CAOC services. The intent is to award the bridge with a PoP that covers services until the recompete is in place with time allowed for a 90-day Phase-in period and additional options in case a protest is received. Based on the most recent estimated milestones, the bridge's 6-month PoP with options will cover this time period.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

Under this bridge, Microtech will provide the following services in support of the CAOC contract. These services make up the core workload and are funded according to the CLIN structure identified below at subpara 6.

1. Manage/support the Enterprise System core services consisting of the site boundary protection, Active Directory domain, Exchange email, SharePoint, Dell EMC network storage, SolarWinds, Access Controls Systems, Assured Compliance Assessment Solution, Host Base Security System, and Systems Center Configuration Manager.

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2. Manage/support the CAOC's weapons systems to include the Theater Battle Management Core System, Global Command and Control System, Joint Air Defense Operations Center System, Master Air Attack Planning Toolkit, Generic Area Limitation Environment, NetApp Storage, and Cisco Unified Computing System.

3. Locations - Al Udeid AB, Qatar and Shaw AFB.

4. Funding - This requirement will be funded by Direct War and Enduring Costs (DWEC) funding managed by AFCENT/A6.

5. Period of Performance - Approval is requested for a 6-month base period (3 Sep 24 - 2 Mar 25) and to include the 52.217-8 clause (3 Mar 25 - 2 Sep 25).

6. CLIN Structure and Values- The estimated price per CLIN is shown below:

These CLINS include all services listed above. The CLIN structure is based on the current contract CLIN structure which identifies required CORE labor service and provides the war-fighter the necessary flexibility to cover ODC and future labor to respond to unknown requirements that support the USAFCENT mission.

IV. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited above.

Qualified on-site personnel are necessary to support operations, maintenance, sustainment, design and development of the CAOC at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar and Enterprise at Shaw AFB, SC. The work requires personnel to be fully cleared, qualified, and possess a sufficient level of experience to support aspects of this requirement in addition to performing OCONUS while ensuring no delay or lapse in contract performance. As Microtech is the current contractor for this TO, the contractor personnel performing services all meet the security clearance requirements, have the necessary qualifications, expertise, certifications, and have access to necessary systems to successfully perform the tasks associated with this requirement. The contractor has all the necessary skillsets and personnel in place to continue providing the critical services in accordance with the PWS without service interruptions on such short notice.

Any other approach to fulfill these requirements besides completing the ongoing evaluation and award would result in substantial duplication of costs and effort that are not expected to be recovered through competition and be duplicative in actions as the contractor personnel currently in place requires no transition or further vetting.

The AMIC and AFCENT A6 Requirement Owners have determined that award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements. Due to the nature of the AFCENT environment (AOR), a minimum 90-day transition period would be required for a new contractor to assume these services. Transition would encompass the hiring/deployment process and critical workload hand-off of projects between the incumbent and the new contractor at each deployed location to ensure no loss of mission capability. Microtech is the current contractor. No other contractor has the existing capability to continue providing the critical services currently being delivered under this contract on such short notice, and for this limited period of performance. Accordingly, Microtech is the only firm capable of providing the services described in Section III above without the Government experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements. No other company would be capable of successfully performing in accordance with the PWS without risk of service interruptions.

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V. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under

FAR 5.202 applies.

AMIC posted a synopsis to SAM.gov on 14 June 2024 notifying prospective companies of the Government's intent to award a sole source bridge contract. The posting closed on 29 June 2024 and there were no responses from industry for this immediate contract action.

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

Prices under this sole source bridge are expected to be comparable to the prices of the current contract. In accordance with FAR 15.404 the bridge contract will be evaluated to determine a fair and reasonable price. Certified cost and pricing data will be required from the contractor to help ensure that the bridge support prices are determined fair and reasonable.

VII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Further market research was not conducted for this bridge contract but was conducted for the recompete effort. Based on the RFI/Sources Sought and Fair Opportunity Proposal Request issued, AMIC received adequate competition for the recompete. Multiple companies proposed and the Government is in the process of performing the proposal evaluation portion of the Fair Opportunity selection process.

VIII. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The 609 ACOMS CAOC program cannot afford to have a break in service. The critical nature of the services and constant changes in the AOR environment requires the contracting activity to award a bridge contract for a period of 6-months along with the additional options. This will ensure the fulfillment of critical wartime mission support to the AOR, eliminate excessive costs, and decrease risk associated with a break in service for this requirement. Without this support, critical communication information systems would degrade, fail, or not be available to support emerging requirements. Any break in service will have an overall negative impact on AFCENT AOR missions as a result of the loss of critical command and control systems. These systems directly affect the CAOC's ability to function as the nerve center of the air campaign, to plan, monitor and direct sortie execution, provide close air support and precision air strike; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; airlift; air refueling; aeromedical evacuation; air drop, and countless other mission-critical operations across a 21 region AOR. Failure to award this contract directly impacts the Air Force's ability to conduct air operations in an unpredictable/hostile environment.

IX. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

AMIC posted a synopsis to SAM.gov on 14 June 2024 notifying prospective companies of the Government's intent to award a sole source bridge contract. The posting closed on 29 June 2024 and there were no responses from industry.

X. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

The recompete is in the Fair Opportunity Evaluation and Selection phase and has interest from enough responsible, capable and interested companies to support adequate competition for the recompete. However, due to the amount of proposals received and the associated evaluation time of the requirement, the timeline for a recompete supports the need for this bridge contract.

XI. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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XII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.