Exception_to_Fair_Opportunity-_ARSOUTH_II_Bridge_26_Sept_2019_Redaction.pdf

Department of the Army Control Number: 19-62 Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

ARSOUTH II Bridge

1. Contracting Activity: The United States Army Contracting Command-Warren (ACC-WRN) is the procuring activity for this action.

2. Description of Action: ACC-WRN intends to award a modification consisting of Firm Fixed Price (FFP), Cost Plus Fix Fee (CPFF) and Cost no fee Contract line item numbers (CLINS) to contract W911W4-12-D-0008, Task Order 0007 with CWU, Inc., 5402 W Laurel Street Unit 1B Tampa, FL, 33607-1726, which was initially awarded on 14 July 2015, to extend the Period of Performance (PoP) by 6 months for Linguist Support Services (LSS) under it’s Department of Defense (DoD) Language Interpretation and Translation Enterprise (DLITE) I Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.The Government will fund this modification using Fiscal Year 19 Operations and Maintenance Army (OMA) - Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds. The total estimated dollar value of this action is $865,113.73.

3. Description of the Supply or Service Purchased: This effort provides Linguist Support Services to the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Contract Linguist & Intelligence Program Support Office (CLIPSO) in support of the primary end-user U.S. Army, South (ARSOUTH) forces located in Fort Sam Houston, TX. The ARSOUTH forces include: aviation, intelligence, communication, and logistics units, operating in support of regional disaster relief and counterdrug efforts. ARSOUTH also exercises oversight, planning, and logistical support for humanitarian and civic assistance projects throughout the region in support of the USSOUTHCOM Theater Security Cooperation Strategy. All FTEs are required to be vetted by the Government for National Security Agency (NSA) requirements, pass polygraph testing, and must be vetted to the appropriate security clearance level (SECRET/TOP SECRET) prior to performance.

This action is a continuation of an effort currently supported by CWU, Inc. (hereafter referred to a “CWU”) under the DLITE I IDIQ Contract, Train and Sustain Competitive Pool of contractors. The task order was initially awarded on 14 July 2015. The current PoP ends 14 October 2019. The proposed action will extend the current services for a period of up to 6-months. Performance under the 6 month extension begins on 30 September 2019 and ends on 30 March 2020. It is anticipated that the entire 6-month period of performance will result in a modification that will increase the task order by a total amount of $865,113.73.

This continuation effort will provide for 16 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) with the incumbent vendor. Under this action, one FTE, equates to 2,080 hours during a 6-month period of performance.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and competition is Title 10 United States Code 2304c, as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), “Orders under multiple award contracts”; “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 cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.”

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. Background: CWU is the current provider of the subject services on contract W911W4-12-D-0008, Task Order 0007 under the DLITE Train and Sustain Pool.

CWU currently provides all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to provide the required level of linguist services in support of ARSOUTH related operations. In order to meet National Security requirements, and avoid a break in service a supplemental agreement to the current Task Order is necessary to extend current services while a competitively sourced contract is currently on-going. Without this action, there will be a lapse in service based on procurement timelines to compete the follow-on action, the incumbent contractor’s transition period, and time required for Government security vetting for all eligible FTEs working this requirement.

b. The mission of ARSOUTH, as the Army Service Component Command of U.S.

Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), is to conduct Operations and Theater Security Cooperation to detect, deter, and disrupt transnational threats in order to protect the United States of America and to enhance hemispheric security. The ARSOUTH mission is to conduct contingency operations and, as directed, serves as a Joint Task Force Land Component Command or Joint Task Force.

ARSOUTH forces include aviation, intelligence, communication, and logistics units. ARSOUTH supports regional disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

ARSOUTH also exercises oversight, planning, and logistical support for humanitarian and civic assistance projects throughout the region in support of the USSOUTHCOM Theater Security Cooperation Strategy. ARSOUTH provides Title 10 and Executive Agent responsibilities throughout the Latin American and Caribbean region. The services to support the requirement, as outlined in section 3, are required to be provided by the current contractor; it is vital that the services continue unabated. Approval of this action is necessary to properly support time sensitive operations and ensure that contract linguist services will remain available due to the delay in award of the follow-on competition for this effort. Any degradation to the support of this mission impacts real time operations and critical needs to the Department of Defense. Failure to approve this action and timely deliver linguists would severely degrade ARSOUTH’s ability to provide translation services and capabilities supporting active intelligence missions.

c. A re-compete of the ARSOUTH requirement is currently in progress. A Request for Task Order Proposal (RTOP) was released in fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019 and an award for the competitive effort is anticipated in the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. This RTOP was issued under the Fair Opportunity provisions of cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight

FAR 16.505 and issued to all DLITE II Train and Sustain pool of contactors. The re-compete will not be awarded prior to the task order expiration date of 14 October 2019. Delays have occurred, in part, due to the organizational transition of DLITE work between contracting offices that occurred in August 2018. This transition required the stand-up of a new contracting branch, in a different facility, with an entirely new staff. This new mission set required extensive workforce orientation and familiarization with the requiring activity and the requirements themselves, to gain the understanding necessary to successfully perform the DLITE contracting mission. The ramp-up time required to stand-up, organize and fully staff a new contracting branch, combined with the administration of existing DLITE task orders, unanticipated new and emerging DLITE requirements, extended best value source selections, and multiple unanticipated post-award protests, all contributed to the delay in awarding the ARSOUTH competitive award. Additionally, the reallocation of assigned contracting personnel to support higher priority actions, such as a multiple protest major source selection, slowed action on the ARSOUTH task order. The combination of all of the above prevented the successful award of ARSOUTH as originally scheduled, and is the reason why this justification for additional time must be approved. Award of the competitive action is currently projected for fourth quarter of calendar year 2019.

The competitive RTOP has a 60-day transition period included for the transition of services between the incumbent and successor contractor.

d. No other alternative is available to fulfill the current requirement in an economic and efficient manner. A minimum of a 60 calendar day transition is required to meet the unique security requirements of this task order, which include, at minimum, the following mandatory actions: processing all steps for a company to hire 16 FTEs; sponsoring all top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances in the Army Centralized Contracts and Security Portal; submitting/resubmitting Common Access Cards (CACs) in the Trusted Agent Sponsorship System (TASS) to reflect the new contract number and end date; and processing all employees through a Real-Time Automated Identification System (RAPIDS) station to receive new CAC cards. Even with the current contractor having all personnel employed, this process will take an estimated 14-30 calendar days to complete. The process can take up to 90 calendar days for newly employed personnel to complete the onboarding, system access, and clearance review processes.

e. The period of 6-months is intended to provide sufficient time for the Government to complete the evaluation of vendor proposals, determine the source selection decision and award the new competitive action, while also allowing for the required 60 calendar day transition period. This will provide continuous services coverage while transitioning the services for the ARSOUTH effort to a successor contractor. Presently, the Government is waiting receipt of competitive proposals.

f. The services to support the requirement, is required to be provided by the current contractor because it is vital that the services continue and not have a lapse in service. Approval of this action is necessary to properly support time sensitive operations and ensure that contract linguist services will remain available due to the delay in award of the ongoing solicitation for this effort. The current effort provides for 16 contract linguists, which performance expires 14 October 2019.

This contract will provide continued support until such a time that the ARSOUTH re-compete task order can be awarded under DLITE II. The work is identical to the existing requirements already found within the task order. Incorporating the requirements into this contract provides an efficient means for satisfying these requirements. Failure to approve this action will severely degrade support to active intelligence missions supporting a variety of customers and consumers, which may ultimately result in drastically increased risk to active military forces worldwide.

g. A supplemental agreement to the current Task Order to support the subject requirement is the only method to maintain services until the new contract is awarded. The Government determined that utilizing the incumbent contractor is the most effective solution since, through successful execution of the current efforts, CWU possesses the requisite knowledge and expertise required to perform this effort. The six month period will allow for a successful phase in for the new contractor as well as allowing CWU to transition out of this effort, as CWU is no longer in the Train and Sustain small business pool of contractors.

6. Market Research: In accordance with FAR 10.002(b)(2) the following market research has been performed:

a. IAW FAR 10.002(b)(2)(ii) – The Contracting Officer conducted market research on 25 July 2019 in accordance with FAR Part 10. There are 11 potential offerors in the DLITE II Multiple Award IDIQ Train and Sustain Mission pool. All 11 contractors were solicited on 28 August 2019 for the follow-on competition which is currently in source selection. In accordance with Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS) 5108.9402, “contracting officers shall use contracts administered by the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) to procure foreign language support”. . As such, the INSCOM DLITE II IDIQ contract is the mandatory source for contract linguist support provided to DoD Components.

b. IAW FAR 10.002(b)(2)(i) – The CLIPSO, who oversees and manages the DLITE IDIQ contracts and facilitates linguistic services throughout the Department of Defense, was contacted to see if any other vendors or contracts were available on 26 July 2019 to support the ARSOUTH II requirement. No other sources were identified that could meet the Government’s requirement for continuity of intelligence services.

c. IAW FAR 10.002(b)(2)(iv) – The Contracting Officer reviewed available sources for these services under the DLITE I and DLITE II contracts on 25 July 2019 and did not identify any other source currently providing the services covered under the ARSOUTH II requirements. Further, any other source would still require additional time and resources to transition the 16 contractor employees to a new effort, which would not be complete before the end of the base period of performance.

d. Based upon the above, while there were sources identified who are technically capable of performing the required services, there were no sources identified that are able to meet the Government’s ARSOUTH II requirements before the current effort expires without seriously jeopardizing mission performance.

7. Other Facts:

a. CWU has successfully performed the subject effort, and based on the information provided above, extending Task Order 0007 is the most effective solution.

Specifically, CWU’s employees have been fully vetted by NSA to perform the effort, and are currently performing successfully under the current Task Order.

b. The current task order was competed under the Fair Opportunity provisions of FAR 16.505. The value of all performance periods (a one year base and two separate one year option periods, a six month option under FAR 52.217-8, and a six month option under FAR 52.217-9) is $6.4M.

c. The current vendor, CWU, does not hold a DLITE II Train and Sustain contract

(the vendor is now an Other than Small Business in the Force Projection pool of DLITE II), so a transition to a new vendor will be required as a result of the competitive award.

8. Actions to Increase Competition: A competitive contract action is underway and currently in source selection. Any subsequent procurement actions are anticipated to be competed under FAR 16.505, Fair Opportunity, under the current DLITE II, Train and Sustain pool of contractors.

9. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which is included in the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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Printed Name:

Roy Oliver

Title: COR

Department of the Army Control Number: 19-62 Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

ARSOUTH II Bridge

Electronic Signature:

9/25/2019

X Roy Oliver

Sianed bv: OLIVER.ROY.LEE.1061007969

Date: 25 Sep 19

10. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which is included in the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Printed Name: Electronic Signature:

9/25/2019

Forrest A. Evans

Signed by: EVANS.FORREST.AARON.1032995973 cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight

ARSOUTH II Bridge

12. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Printed Name Electronic Signature

9/25/2019

Valencia Lane X Valencia D. Lane

Signed by: LANE.VALENCIA.DENISE.1383194063

Title: Contracting Officer Date: 25 Sep 19 cleve.a.gordon Highlight cleve.a.gordon Highlight