DANTES Academic Skills Training JA FAR 16_Exception to Fair Opportunity.pdf

Exception to Fair Opportunity

1. Contracting Activity: Defense Human Resources Activity (DHRA) Contracting Directorate (PK)

2. Purchase Request: TBD;

3. Component/Requirement Title: DANTES Academic Skills Training (Online Subscription Services)

4. Estimated Cost/Price of the Order (including options):

5. Fair Opportunity Exception: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i) (A) X (B) (C) (D) (E) (F)

6. Type Determination: Class X Individual

Is this a brand name product justification? Yes X No (If yes, please provide the following information.)

Brand Name Product Title:

Brand Name Product Description:

COORDINATION & APPROVALS: (>$700K to ≤$13.5M)

Date Requiring Activity

Date Technical/Requirements Certification

Date Contracting Officer

Date Branch Chief

Date Procurement Analyst

Date General Counsel

Date APPROVED BY: Competition Advocate http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vmfara.htm

(1) Agency and Contracting Activity:

Agency: Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES), 6490 Saufley Field Road, Pensacola, FL 32509-5243

Contracting Activity: DHRA/PK, 4800 Mark Center Drive, Suite 03E25, Alexandria, VA 22350

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

Request approval to award a firm-fixed price order to Peterson’s, LLC on a sole source basis (fair opportunity exception) under Library of Congress, Federal Library & Information Network (FEDLINK), Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract No. LC14C7108. The period of performance will be for one 12-month base period and one three-month option. Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Operating and Maintenance (O&M) funds will be available for the base period in the estimated amount of

. This will be a follow-on to order number H9821018F0085, which will expire on 29 March 2020.

(3) Description of the supplies/services required to meet the agency's needs (including the estimated value):

The proposed acquisition is to purchase a subscription for an online academic skills course available to members of the U.S. Armed Services. DANTES requires basic academic skills training using an existing commercial product available for unrestricted use by all active, reserve, and National Guard military members (Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard). The academic skills training is designed for individuals needing to improve their college-level academic skills, including math, English, and science skills, in order to begin or continue in higher education or advance in their military careers. The basic academic skills training shall use a combination of diagnostic tests to identify a student’s current level of academic proficiency in each of the provided subject areas.

Additionally, the requirement includes customized reporting for administrators, detailed usage reports, and technical support as well as enhancements to include science content and instructional delivery by video. The academic skills courseware shall be available online, 24/7, 365 days per year and must be available to personnel in remote locations with limited network access. The Government cost estimate for one year of services is estimated to total . An additional three-month option is estimated at , for a grand total of .

(4) Identification of the exception to fair opportunity and the supporting rationale:

Consistent with the DANTES mission as established by DODI 1322.25, 6.c, to consolidate management of programs that prevent duplication of effort among the Services, DANTES provides an enterprise wide academic skills program to all Service members to improve their success at the post-secondary level. The most efficient and cost effective method of delivering academic skills training to a large, widely dispersed audience is to provide access to a commercially available, web based academic skills program. The core functional requirements for the online academic skills program were established in coordination with the DOD Inter-Service Voluntary Education Board (IVEB), and the Chief of DOD Voluntary Education. These functional requirements include features such as pre-assessment diagnostics, post-assessment comparison, customized and flexible learning paths, course content aligned with military and college level standardized tests, customized reporting, administrative privileges for classroom use, and offline course availability.

Peterson’s LLC currently provides the Online Academic Skills Course (OASC) and College Placement Skills Training (CPST) to DANTES under the FEDLINK Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) No.

LC14C7108. Peterson’s OASC/CPST product is unique in that no other commercially available basic academic skills training provides all the features required by the military services to include pre-assessment diagnostic testing to determine math, reading, vocabulary and English proficiency and generation of a customized learning path to improve knowledge deficiencies in these general academic areas. Peterson’s OASC courseware is also unique in that it was developed to align with the math and verbal sections of military standardized tests such as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) while the CPST courseware is aligned with the leading commercial college placement exams. Other unique capabilities that are not included collectively in any other single existing product include post-assessment evaluations, infrastructure to support high volume multiple users with worldwide access 24/7/365 with dedicated technical support, group or individual learning environments, administrative rights for group instructors, customized reporting capability, and courseware available in downloadable offline format.

DHRA CFO issued a Sources Sought notice in July 2019. There were four responses to that notice, of which three demonstrated potential capability to meet the Government’s requirement. One of the three respondents, Serrato, submitted a capability statement that revealed significant misunderstandings of the scope and requirements of the draft PWS. The Government determined Serrato incapable of meeting the draft PWS requirements. Of the remaining two responses, one was the incumbent, Peterson’s LLC, a small business, and the other was Tutor.com, a large business. Tutor.com was found not capable of providing the specific Government requirements listed in section 4 above. The capability statements received in response to the Sources Sought Notice for DANTES basic academic skills training show that no source other than Peterson’s LLC is currently able to provide existing online academic skills training that meets all of the Government’s technical requirements. Most significantly, no source other than Peterson’s demonstrated capability to provide courseware available both online and in downloadable offline format. Service members deployed at sea are unable to access online training because of bandwidth restrictions onboard Navy vessels while personnel serving in remote downrange locations often have limited connectivity. If award of the DANTES online basic academic skills training requirement was made to another source, a large segment of the U.S. Armed Forces would be unable to access basic academic skills training, causing an unacceptable service disruption. If this occurred, DANTES and DHRA would fall short in fulfilling the following program authorizations:

- DoDI 1322.25 Encl. 2 para. 5.b. - Establish, maintain, coordinate, and operate voluntary education programs that encompass a broad range of educational experiences including, but not limited to, academic skills development...

- DoDD 1322.08E para. 4.5 - Service members shall be provided opportunities to acquire basic educational and academic skills, which are essential to successful job performance and new learning.

A short-term (one-year, with one 3-month option) sole source award directly to the incumbent vendor, Peterson’s LLC, currently classified as a small business, is in the best interest of the Government. Issuing a small business request for proposals and awarding to another of the researched small businesses would likely result in an unacceptable delay due to new contractor product development. Specifically, a delay of 3 to 5 months at an additional estimated cost of according to an aggregate analysis of the vendor capability statements. Based on market research, Peterson’s is the only known source that presently has an existing online academic skills training product that fully meets the Government requirement to include pre-assessment diagnostics, customized and flexible learning paths, course content aligned with military and college level standardized tests, customized reporting, administrative privileges for classroom use, and offline course availability.

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

The incumbent has been providing this service for DANTES since 2013 under the FEDLINK IDIQ on a fixed price basis. The original 2013 total price was and is currently, which indicates increase of approximately . Further, the Government estimates that enhancements to the current system to include addition of science content and content video instruction total approximately . As such, the estimated cost of the 12-month base plus three month option totals . A price evaluation will be conducted to make a determination that the proposed price is fair and reasonable before making award. The Contracting Officer will negotiate for a fair and reasonable price on behalf of the Government.

(6) Other facts supporting the justification:

The Military Services currently use the Peterson’s Online Academic Skills Course (OASC) for various voluntary education purposes, including remediation of simple math, language, and reading skills for thousands of service members. More specifically, the US Marine Corps uses OASC as the curriculum for its self-delivered live academic skills training.

(7) Actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to increasing fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services:

The Office of the Under-Secretary of Defense (OUSD), Force Education and Training sponsored an Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) study conducted in 2018. Upon the results of this study, OUSD required the academic skills training program be modernized to include live, face-to-face instruction to include academic skills classroom training. To support this future effort, expanded market research may include an industry day with the goal of surveying open market companies to provide better requirements definition and understanding of industry capabilities, specifically with regard to the provision of live classroom training. This industry day would take place in spring or summer 2020 to allow sufficient time to conduct market research. Upon completion of a market research report for the follow-on requirement, the Government intends to solicit the expanded Academic Skills Training requirement on a full and open basis.

(8) Contracting Officer's certification that the justification is accurate and complete:

The Contracting Officer's signature on the signature page provides evidence that he/she certifies that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief.

(9) Certification of technical/requirements personnel that supporting data is accurate and complete:

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

(10) Determination by the approving official that one of the circumstances in FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i) applies to the order:

As evidenced by my signature above, I hereby determined that the fair opportunity exception checked in block 4 applies.