ETFO Knowledge mgmt Brigde Action final_Redacted.pdf

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCT ON AGENCY

872 JO N J K NG AN OAD 2

FO T VO V

EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

JUSTIFICATION

1. Nature and/or Description of Action

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) contracting activity proposes to procure additional support for DTRA’s Knowledge Management (KM) program without requesting proposals from all five (5) contractors under its Information Technology and Support Services multiple award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts commonly referred to as the DTRA ITSS MAC. DTRA intends to solicit a proposal for and execute a modification to extend the services under its existing KM task order (TO). This work is currently being performed by Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), 8283 Greensboro Drive, McLean, VA 22102 under TO HDTRA119F0031, which was previously issued against their ITSS MAC IDIQ contract, HDTRA119D0002.

2. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

To meet DTRA’s evolving mission and operational requirements, which focuses on knowledge and information sharing and collaboration across the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) community, the Contractor shall support all of the Agency’s geographically dispersed personnel with the full range of expertise and experience required to operate; maintain; and continually enhance, modernize, and mature DTRA knowledge, data, and analytical services and solutions. The goal is to enable the Agency to derive greater value from existing and emerging data sources and support decision-making and mission accomplishment through enhanced collaboration tools, data discovery, visualizations, analytics, and information sharing.

The DTRA mission supports a wide range of customers with unique mission requirements. As the organization and its mission evolve, the demands on its associated IT services increase accordingly. The DTRA knowledge, data, and analytical solutions and support efforts must comply with the needs of internal and external customers that include Combatant Commands (CCMDs), other DoD and USG entities, and the international partners. The IT Directorate must provide seamless, integrated authoritative data and communications among all supported elements for situational awareness and timely decision-making through office automation and efficiency, data and information sharing, knowledge management, support of exercises, experimentation, and operational impact across all DTRA networks and enclaves.

The current contractor supporting the KM Solutions program is BAH. In February 2019, BAH was competitively awarded TO HDTRA119F0031 under the ITSS MAC IDIQ contract to support the KM Solutions and Support program. The KM TO was awarded with a base year and four (4) one-year options and originally had an estimated ultimate completion date of February 24, 2024. Throughout the life of the TO, the Agency’s demand for KM technology solutions and support has grown, and in an effort to accommodate the increased demand for support, the TO was re-baselined to stay within its original competitively awarded value. As a result of the re-baseline, the TO will now expire on April 30, 2023.

In anticipation of the end of TO HDTRA119F0031, DTRA is planning to fulfill the follow-on requirement through a fair opportunity competition among the five (5) ITSS MAC IDIQ contract holders. The ITSS MAC IDIQ was competitively awarded in September 2018. The ordering period for the IDIQs is from February 21, 2019 to February 20, 2024, with a high likelihood of DTRA exercising the next five (5) year option extending it out to 2029. The remaining ceiling shared across the IDIQs is which is sufficient to accommodate a new TO and this bridge modification. The ITSS MAC IDIQ also provides for previously vetted contractors capable of performing the work as well as the competition necessary to drive innovation and a fair and reasonable price. Actions are underway for the re-compete; however, based on the projected schedule, DTRA will not be able to complete the fair opportunity competition process before the end of the current TO’s expiration on April 30, 2023.

An instant action is needed to bridge the current TO until a new competitive award can be accomplished. Based on the independent government cost estimate and projected schedule for the re-compete, DTRA is seeking a ten (10) month extension of the current TO to serve as a bridge until a new TO can be awarded. The estimated cost of the entirety of the ten (10) months is approximately

3. Exception to Fair Opportunity

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) which states that the contracting officer shall give every awardee a fair opportunity to be considered for a delivery order or task order exceeding the micro-purchase threshold unless the order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

4. Justification Rationale

This extension of services is permitted to be awarded on a sole source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to task order HDTRA119F0031, which was awarded against the MAC ITSS IDIQ under a fair opportunity competition.

The instant action would result in a sole source action because this is a continuation of a recurring requirement. BAH has been performing this requirement since the award of the ITSS MAC IDIQ and its resulting task orders. The requirement is to provide continued support on tasks currently being performed. The required services support the Agency’s growing need for an adaptive CWMD data and information sharing environment. Recently, the rapid decline in existing arms control has highlighted the DTRA requirement for increased knowledge, data, and analytical solutions which maintain critical data management, collaborative services, and business intelligence efforts. The support efforts include dashboards and visualizations, user-specific applications development, data management, and collaborative knowledge management solutions.

The period of performance (PoP) for the extension will begin directly after the expiration of the TO’s current performance period. Without an extension, there will be a significant gap in service with no time for transition or side-by-side cross-training with any potential new vendors between the end of the PoP of HDTRA119F0031 and the beginning of the PoP of the new competitively awarded KM Solutions support

TO.

Through an analysis of current market prices, it has been determined that using a new contractor to support the bridge would result in a substantial duplication of costs to the Government that would not be recovered by competition. Additional costs would be incurred due to ramp-up, on-boarding, and training time during the required overlap of the two contractors. This transition time will take at least a couple months and cost the government an additional at a minimum. Due to this additional cost, it is recommended that the incumbent be allowed to continue performing under the current TO during the re-compete effort.

Why and how the delay occurred The demand for the support provided by the KM TO has increased tremendously since the original award. In particular, there has more recently been a dramatic increase in demand across the agency for data visualization efforts through the creation of dashboards. The requests have predominately originated from senior level officials that require the ability to make critical and rapid decisions and rely on information presented in readily available and easily understood forms to make these decisions.

To meet the increased demand, the Agency required a quick-turn solution, and the logical answer was the KM TO as it is the Agency’s existing tool for providing visualization support and products. The KM TO was originally awarded through a fair opportunity process and rather than allow an increase in the original scope, the Contracting Officer recommended a re-baseline of the existing TO to change how and when the new requirements could be accomplished within the constraints (e.g. - value) of the original TO. The Government requested and negotiated a proposal for the re-baseline and executed a modification to the TO that resulted in a new PoP end date of April 30, 2023; effectively shortening the PoP by ten (10) months. The KM program requirements are enduring, and DTRA’s need for contractor support in the KM arena is equally enduring. DTRA’s timeline for acquisition planning was reduced as a result of the shortened PoP. In addition, directly after the award of the re-baseline modification, the IT-KT division experienced turnover in the program manager (PM)/Contracting Officer Representative (COR) responsibilities for the KM requirement. The replacement PM/COR was new to DTRA and required a reasonable ramp-up period and started the acquisition planning process for the re-procure of the KM support as soon as practicable. The KM follow-on requirement required a needs validation through a Service Requirements Review Board (SRRB). The PM presented the need to the SRRB on it was provisionally approved on and final approved by DTRA’s Executive Director on . Efforts towards acquisition planning are progressing, but additional time is needed to execute the procurement through the fair opportunity process.

It is certain that a competitively awarded TO cannot be awarded before the expiration of the existing TO. It is likely to be delayed by 60-days or more because additional time is required to allow for refining the acquisition documents, holding an Industry Day, and allowing for follow-up questions and answers in response to Industry Day and the draft request for proposal (RFP). Based on the current planned procurement schedule, DTRA anticipates issuing a final RFP in early May 2023 and after building in necessary contingencies, award is estimated to be late September 2023.

Bridge action is necessary A bridge action is necessary to ensure there is not a gap in service and to allow for the development and refining of the follow-on requirement package through an industry day and draft RFP. As stated earlier, a gap in service would severely hinder DTRA’s ability to manage and maintain situational awareness of its operations and personnel around the world. A ten (10) month extension of the current TO is being requested. It is estimated that six (6) months of the extension will be a sufficient amount of time to work through the fair opportunity process and award a new task order for the KM support. Following the award of the task order, at least six (6) weeks is required to onboard personnel, including obtaining the SCI clearances for contractor personnel. Finally, 60-days is necessary for a transition/training period to the new contract, which is considered modest and the minimum that is needed to ensure a smooth transition between contracts.

Resolving the delay At this point, there is not sufficient time or opportunity to resolve the delay completely. The acquisition team has developed a detailed acquisition schedule and timelines for each milestone task and is resolved to make award as soon as possible. However, as is the case in every federal procurement, there are unknown risks and events outside of the acquisition team’s control, but every effort will be made to meet the planned acquisition schedule and to award as soon as possible.

5. Market Research

Market research was conducted in late 2022 and early 2023 utilizing several methods to include a review of historical acquisition information for similar services, a review of Government and commercial databases, source lists for identical or similar services, and a review of DTRA sources.

Industry days were also held with the DTRA ITSS MAC contract holders in December 2022.

6. Other Supporting Facts

Based on all market research conducted, DTRA knows there are other interested vendors besides the incumbent, and DTRA fully intends to solicit and award a TO on a competitive basis as the long term solution. Nonetheless, there is no other contractor in the short term who would be eligible to receive a follow-on contract and provide the support with no loss of time to on-boarding and transition periods.

The current delays would not be different or avoided. The rationale for a sole source extension to the current TO remains the same, and the impacts of a gap in service remain severe enough to impede Agency operations. The anticipated cost to the Government for this effort will be determined to be fair and reasonable as a result of proposal reviews and negotiations.

7. Subsequent Actions

The Government has validated the need through a SRRB and drafted the initial version of the RFP package. The Government also plans to release the draft RFP to all five (5) of the ITSS MAC IDIQ holders followed by an industry day with the intent to allow for meaningful exchanges between the Government and Contractors to promote a fair competition between all vendors. The Government is proposing to award a one (1) year TO with four (4) 1-year options against the MAC to support this requirement. Market research results indicate there are multiple companies within the market that have the capability to meet the Government’s recurring requirement.