DF Consolidation RAPTOR Redacted.pdf

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Reference Number: CSS Tracking No. 642470393 Title of Effort: Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management and Capability Development

Controlled By: DISA Controlled By: PSD/PS64 CUI Category: PROCURE Distribution/Dissemination Control:

POC: Jonathan R. Chattler / (301) 225-4079 / jonathan.r.chattler.civ@mail.

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DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS FOR CONSOLIDATION OF CONTRACT

REQUIREMENTS

Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management & Capability Development

I have reviewed the requirement for the Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management & Capability Development Services that the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization – National Capital Region (DITCO-NCR) proposes to solicit as a consolidation procurement action under 15 U.S.C. 657q. and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 7.107-2. My review resulted in the following findings:

FINDINGS

1. Background: The DITCO-NCR plans to solicit and award a Small Business Innovative

Research (SBIR) Phase III contract for DoD RAPTOR Data Management & Capability Development Services and has conducted market research that demonstrates that consolidation of this procurement is both necessary and justified.

2. Description of the Procurement Action: To meet the RAPTOR requirement, DITCO-NCR will award a sole source, single-award indefinite delivery / indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling value of . The ordering period will be one, five-year base period, with one, five-year option period.

The scope of the IDIQ includes artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML); data and data management; business and financial intelligence; secure Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps); Network Security Operations; Machine Learning Operations;

supervised and unsupervised ML and network anomaly detection; monitoring; data engineering; systems engineering; cloud engineering; user experience; and predictive sustainment. Additional support services include, but are not limited to, documentation; data and information technology (IT) design; development; deployment; sustainment; mission operations; cybersecurity; configuration management; training; data and information services; implementation; migration/modernization; and business analysis.

Title of Effort: Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management and Capability Development

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Vehicle: SBIR

Work under the SIFTR SBIR Phase II researched and developed a vendor agnostic data analytics framework with mission-tailored data fusion methods and processes in hybrid cloud deployments. Work under the MAIDEN SBIR Phase II researched and developed methods and processes for conducting big data analytics and visualizations, with emphasis on microservices and governance within classified on-premises and cloud environments. While these activities and capabilities were independently performed under separate SBIR Phase I/II awards (although performed by the same Awardee), they continue to develop through the commercialization process and are increasingly able to provide complimentary capabilities.

Continued development will naturally blend the big data ingestion and engineering capabilities provided under MAIDEN while enabling the data analytics and transformation benefits achieved under SIFTR.

3. Applicable Statues/Regulations: 15 U.S.C. 657q and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR),Subpart 7.107-2, Consolidation.

4. Results of Market Research: Market research identified multiple potential acquisition alternatives to fulfill the agency’s requirements; however, statutory requirements limit their use. Specifically, the SBIR statute states, “The Agency must act in ways consistent with the Congressional intent to support the Commercialization of a SBIR developed technology by the SBIR Awardee, and all parties must proceed along these steps in good faith.” Further, in Section 4(c)(7)(ii), the SBA’s SBIR Policy Directive states “If pursuing the Phase III work with the Awardee is found to be practicable, the agency must award a non-competitive contract to the firm”. While it may be considered, the Directive is clear in the promotion of ensuring applicable SBIR Phase III work be awarded non-competitively to the Phase II Awardee.

While the SBA SBIR Policy Directive promotes the award of Phase III work to the Phase II Awardee, it does outline exceptions in which an alternate Awardee may be appropriate.

Examples of potential exceptions or conditions are when an SBIR Awardee is not willing or interested in the work, not capable of doing the work or functioning as a prime and subcontracting the work, or when they are no longer in business.

In summation, market research has indicated none of these conditions exist and that a good faith effort to award the requirement to the SBIR Phase II Awardee should be made in accordance with the Directive.

Title of Effort: Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management and Capability Development

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5. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 7.107-2 (c), Consolidation of this requirement is necessary and justified as the Government will receive substantial benefits. Alternative approaches were not sought to fulfill this requirement as a result of the statutory guidance and the SBA’s Policy Directive which states Agencies “shall issue Phase III awards relating to the technology, including sole source awards, to the Awardee that developed the technology under an [SBIR] award, to the greatest extent practicable”, and those agencies “must make a good faith effort to negotiate with such Awardees regarding the performance of the new, related, work and to issue Phase III awards for the work”.

The consolidation of contract requirements under this single-award IDIQ contract is expected to yield the following substantial benefits:

A. Quality improvements that will save time or improve or enhance performance or efficiency: The Phase III effort will utilize techniques, methods, and processes derived from the SIFTR SBIR II contract to optimize and transform the software development, containerized platform, microservices mesh and hybrid cloud operations to a standard based, DevSecOps ecosystem with necessary tools, software, governance, and support. To complete the evolution, the agency seeks to enhance and expand upon big data systems architecture, microservices, mission-tailored data fusion, and advanced AI/ML applications like natural language processing and anomaly detection researched and developed under MAIDEN SBIR II contract. The combination of these two innovative research initiatives will facilitate the rapid delivery of secure applications at an enterprise scale for the agency.

B. Reduction in acquisition cycle times: The consolidation of the existing Phase II awards into a single-award IDIQ contract with the capability to rapidly negotiate and award task orders for emerging requirements will reduce the procurement lead time by roughly 60% (a reduction of 76 calendar days) from DITCO’s published lead times. This reduced lead time accelerates the delivery of critical capabilities to the enterprise.

C. Better terms and conditions: The consolidation of the existing Phase II awards will result in consistent terms, conditions, and performance measures applied across all task orders issued under the IDIQ contract.

This procurement does not involve bundling as defined in FAR 2.101 as the SBIR Phase II contracts being consolidated are not provided or performed under separate smaller contracts

Title of Effort: Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management and Capability Development

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with one or more small businesses as the prime contractor. The SBIR Phase II contracts were novated to who procured the SBIR technology from the innovator, a small business, during the life cycle of the Phase II awards. Award of SBIR Phase III contracts to a large business is permitted by the applicable SBA Policy Directive which states “a Phase III contract may be awarded to a firm that has outgrown the small business size standard, or to a novated awardee, or to a successor in interest such as an acquiring company. There are no NAICS code size limits applicable to Phase III, and no limits on company or contract size, contract duration, type/color of money or number of Phase III awards on a Topic. In cases of successor in interest or novation, an original awardee may be required to relinquish its rights and interests in an SBIR/STTR project in favor of another applicant as a condition for that applicant's eligibility to participate in the SBIR/STTR program for a particular project.”

As a result of the novations executed by the Defense Contract Management Agency for both the MAIDEN and SIFTR contracts on July 5, 2023, which changed the contract holder from the SBIR Phase II contracts are each performed by a large business entity, and a bundling analysis was not conducted pursuant to FAR 7.107.

6. Impact on Small Business Concerns: In accordance with the SBA’s Policy Directive, Agencies “shall issue Phase III awards relating to the technology, including sole source awards, to the Awardee that developed the technology under an [SBIR] award, to the greatest extent practicable”, and those agencies “must make a good faith effort to negotiate with such Awardees regarding the performance of the new, related, work and to issue Phase III awards for the work.” Accordingly, this SBIR Phase III award will be awarded to the contractor, who owns the SBIR data rights and has most recently performed the SBIR Phase II efforts as a result of the novations.

7. Steps Taken to Include Small Business Concerns/Maximize Small Business Participation: As the SBIR Phase III contractor is designated as other than small business under the applicable North American Industry Classification System code, DITCO-NCR will include a requirement for the contractor to submit a Small Business Subcontracting Plan and Small Business Participation Plan with their proposal. The Plans will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer and DISA Office of Small Business Programs for the extent to which they maximize subcontracting opportunities for small businesses. The approved Plans will be incorporated into the resultant IDIQ contract.

Title of Effort: Department of Defense (DoD) Rapid Task Order Response (RAPTOR): Data Management and Capability Development

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DETERMINATION

Upon the basis of the findings above, I hereby determine, pursuant to the authority of 15 U.S.C.

657q and FAR 7.107-2(b), that the proposed consolidation of the requirements is necessary and justified in that the benefits of the consolidation acquisition strategy substantially exceed the benefits of each of the other possible contracting approaches.

JONATHAN R. CHATTLER

Contracting Officer

APPROVED BY:

DOUGLAS W. PACKARD

Head of Contracting Activity