ESES III JOFOC - Posting.pdf

Rev.:4/2023

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For Electrical Systems Engineering Services (ESES III) 80GSFC18C0120

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight

Center (GSFC).

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is GSFC.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award an extension and increase maximum ordering value by $44M to contract number 80GSFC18C0120 with Science Systems Applications, Inc (SSAI). The

ESES III contract currently expires on June 09, 2024. This contract expiration date is a result of exercising the contract’s option to extend services (GSFC 52.217-2). This option to extend services was exercised to allow for the award of ESES III follow-on contract (ESES

IV) and avoid any gaps in service. Award of the ESES IV is currently anticipated for March

28, 2024, followed by a 60- day phase-in period resulting in an effective date of May 29, 2024. Based on the ESES IV Source Evaluation Board (SEB) schedule, the SEB believes it may take until late-March 2024 to evaluate proposals, conduct discussions with the offerors in the competitive range (should one be established), and then select the contractor and award the new ESES IV contract. The current contract ceiling allows for continued performance through December 31, 2023. This action will increase the ceiling to allow for continued performance and continuation of mission critical services under the ESES III contract through June 09, 2024.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The principal purpose of this contract is to provide electrical/electronic engineering support services and related work to the Electrical Engineering Division (EED), the Instrument

Systems and Technology Division (ISTD), the Software Engineering Division (SED), the

Mechanical Systems Division (MSD), the Mission Engineering and Systems Analysis

Division (MESA) related organizations and other NASA Centers and locations specified in task orders, for the study, design, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and operations of space flight, airborne, and ground system hardware and software, including development and validation of new technologies to enable future space and science missions. The current ESES III contract ceiling (maximum ordering value) is

$641M. NASA GSFC is proposing to increase the contract maximum ordering value by an amount of $44M to allow for new and continued performance through June 09, 2024 for mission critical services under the Electrical Systems Engineering Services (ESES) III contract.

The contract ceiling increase is based on the need to cover mission critical multidisciplinary work requirements under the ESES III contract during the award process of the follow–on contract, Electrical Systems Engineering Services (ESES) IV. The $44M ceiling increase allows for continued performance and continuation of mission critical services under the

ESES III contract, the completion of the Source Evaluation Board (SEB) evaluation process, award of the ESES IV contract and completion of the phase-in process.

The vast majority of the current ESES III task orders are expected to transition to the ESES

IV contract and expected to maintain or increase their current levels of support for the next year. As a result of the delays to award the ESES IV contract, it is now necessary to increase the ceiling of the current ESES III contract to allow for uninterrupted support for the majority of the task orders currently on ESES III. In particular, the ESES III contract ceiling increase allows for the continuation of critical NASA missions such as Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE), and Roman Space Telescope (RST) to name a few. For example, the PACE Mission is going through the final Observatory I&T phase as the mission is preparing for its launch in late January of 2024. The personnel and support from ESES III is critical and needed in order for PACE to meet this critical milestone.

The RST team is in the process of finalizing hardware builds and preparing to test the flight

Command and Data Handling Unit (C&DH) and Focal Plane Electronics (FPE). These milestones are directly on the critical path for RST mission success. A contract change at this stage would disrupt the ability to deliver the work on schedule because it requires a steep learning curve if new personnel are brought on board. The projects are at the point where they need to execute their schedules to keep their deliverables and commitments to the agency.

The ESES III contract has the capability to provide limited multidiscipline engineering support services to specified Engineering Technology Directorate (ETD) engineering divisions (Instrument Systems and Technology, Software, and Mission Engineering and

Systems Analysis), and related organizations, as required, for the study, design, electrical systems engineering, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and ground system hardware and software, including development and validation of new technologies to enable future space and science missions. The multi-discipline nature of this contract’s support, and the mission-critical support requirements often demand specialized engineering manpower and procurements of specialized flight hardware that require engineering expertise to properly execute. The ESES III extension will allow for the needed continuity for these projects as they are in critical stages while allowing for any unexpected delays that these programs may experience.

These program requirements depend on the multidiscipline engineering services and related services provided to the Engineering and Technology Directorate (ETD) and related organizations throughout GSFC, as required, for the study, design, systems engineering, development, fabrication, integration, testing, verification, and operations of space flight, airborne, and ground system hardware and software, including development and validation of new technologies to enable future space and science missions.

Without an increase to the maximum ordering value, NASA GSFC would be precluded from continuing current ongoing support requirements and issuing further new short-term task orders for services under this contract.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C.

2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302- (1) Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements (10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1)).

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) is that a sole-source award to

Science Systems and Applications, Inc (SSAI) is necessary due to the nature of the work to be performed and because NASA currently has competitive follow-on underway. As the incumbent contractor, SSAI is uniquely qualified to provide services required through June

9, 2024. Additional ceiling is needed for a short period until the 5-year follow-on contract is awarded. SSAI is able to continue performing services without requiring a startup period and/or the normal learning curve typically encountered by new incoming contractors.

Should these services be interrupted, NASA will be unable to perform and fulfill critical multidiscipline engineering support and related services that are required by NASA’s

PACE, RST, and OSAM-1 missions to remain on schedule. In determining a solution that represents the least amount of risk to the government, stability and continuity are considered to be critical factors. SSAI is considered the only contractor that can meet

GSFC’s needs, given the remaining period of the contract. These services are absolutely required to ensure the success of the following critical events:

a. Finalizing PACE Observatory I&T campaign and preparing for Launch Readiness

b. Building and testing Flight Unit (FLT) Focal Plane Electrics (FPE) and Command and Data Handling Unit (C&DH) boards for RST

c. Building and testing of the FLT Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) for

OSAM-1

The unique skills required to support such critical missions and milestones cannot be readily replaced without a learning curve. The highly technical and varied activities associated with the ESES III contract require a very specialized set of skills, which were built up over the years. The learning curve that is required to cultivate the necessary across-the-board skills pertaining to the ESES III contract could take several years to overcome and at considerable cost. The incumbent already possesses the necessary skills required for uninterrupted performance. Therefore, NASA believes that the incumbent contractor, SSAI, is the only contractor capable of providing the necessary and specific skills, experience and expertise required.

If NASA attempts to procure these services from any other source in lieu of increasing the contract ceiling, the combination of delay due to the competitive process and the time required to transition a new management team to coordinate staffing levels, schedules, and to become familiar with work requirements and systems would cause unacceptable delays in fulfilling NASA’s mission. Based on the time and costs that would be involved in procuring and phasing in another contract, SSAI is the only entity possessing the detailed knowledge necessary to provide seamless continuation of the services provided under the

ESES III contract without risk of an unacceptable interruption or delay of critical services.

In addition, increasing the ceiling to cover services through June 9, 2024, will avoid substantial duplication of cost to the Government. The duplication of costs that would be incurred if another contractor was brought onboard would be significant and would include duplication of phase-in costs. The duplicative phase-in costs of putting in place a short-term interim contract would not reasonably be expected to be recovered through competition. As our current ceiling is anticipated to run out December 2023, ~ 5 months of additional ceiling is needed. The duplicative costs would include the need to review contractor submitted plans and documents, such as Information Technology (IT) Security Plan, Safety and Health

Plan, among others, for this period which will be completed for the follow-on that is awaiting award. In addition, the Government would incur significant additional administrative costs putting in place a short- term contract through the evaluation process, which could not reasonably be expected to be recovered through competition. This is unacceptable to the Government given that the current contract ends June 9, 2024 and that the costs are not expected to be recovered through a competitive acquisition. In order for the

Government to avoid substantial duplication of costs and to avoid unacceptable delay in performance of critical requirements, a ceiling increase in the amount of $44M under the

ESES III contract with SSAI is required for continued performance.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the 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 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (Sam.gov) was published on

November 16, 2023, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source extension to SSAI. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting

Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. NASA GSFC is proposing to increase the current contract maximum ordering value by an amount of $44M, within the current contract period of performance. This proposed contract ceiling increase is to accommodate additional work that is within the current contract scope and does not require the addition of new labor categories or updated labor rates. As CY6 rates were evaluated and determined fair and reasonable at contract award. The value of the increase was determined based on the In-House

Government Cost Estimate utilizing existing contract data. Support from external organizations such as the Defense Contract Audit Agency may be utilized regarding determining Business Systems adequacy as needed.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted:

Given the urgency of the need, and the immensity and complexity of the requirement, no in-depth market research was conducted. Within this limited time frame for implementing this contract ceiling increase, NASA GSFC does not believe that any alternate sources can take on full contract responsibility without risk of an unacceptable delay to critical milestones.

The Government would unnecessarily incur significant additional cost if another contractor were to perform this effort. A competitive contract is expected to be awarded by March 28, 2024, if not sooner. An assessment of other existing current contracts was made with the conclusion that no viable contract vehicles existed that could reasonably support the requirement. The requirement for ESES III continuity of operations and the need to meet critical mission milestones for flight project missions leaves no feasible alternative except to increase the current ESES III contract ceiling.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

Detailed knowledge of the ESES III contract greatly aids the contractor’s ability to effectively and efficiently manage the tasks in a timely manner during the remaining duration of the contract period of performance. This will benefit the Government through lower technical risk. As previously stated, it is anticipated that an award to any other source for the remainder of the contract duration would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling

NASA GSFC’s critical requirements and would duplicative costs.

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (Sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). The synopsis was posted on

November 16, 2023, and closed on December 1, 2023. The Government received (0) responses.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

The Agency will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements.