Exception to Fair Opportunity CJTF-OIR FY20 (final)_Redacted.pdf

Control Number: �

UNCLASSIFIED

Justification and Approval for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

W911W4-17-D-0001, Task Order 0002, Modification 29

1. Contracting Activity: Army Contracting Command-Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) is the procuring activity for this action.

2. Description of Action:

a. ACC-DTA intends to award a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) term modification to

W911W4-17-D-0001, Task Order 0002, to Valiant Government Services, LLC (referred to herein as Valiant), 101 Walton Way, Hopkinsville, KY 42240, under its Department of

Defense (DoD) Language Interpretation and Translation Enterprise (DUTE) II Indefinite

Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract1 . This modification will extend the period of performance (PoP) for up to 10 months, comprised of one 4-month base period, beginning on 1 July 2020, and one 6-month option period with the unilateral right to partially exercise this option in one month increments. The Government will fund the 4-month extension with Fiscal Year (FY) 20 Operations and Maintenance Army (OMA) -

Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds. If necessary, the follow-on option period(s) will be funded with FY 21 OMA OCO funds, as appropriate.

b. This modification will provide continued support to the Combined Joint Task Force

- Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) mission to ensure that no unacceptable delays arise in fulfilling the Government's immediate requirement. It is imperative that this bridge requirement be extended before the current contract expiration date of 30

June 2020 to ensure linguistic services continue.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This effort provides linguist support services to the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command, Contract Linguist & Intelligence Program Support Office (CLIPSO) in support of CJTF-OIR. The current bridge to task order W911W4-17-D-0001-0002 was awarded on 1 October 2019 to Valiant and currently provides 881 Full Time Equivalents (FTE) across the CJTF-OIR AOR and expires on 30 June 2020. The total estimated dollar value of this 10 month action is $84,844,661 and requires 597 FTEs.

This bridge will allow for the sustainment of mission critical lin without interru tion. The

1 DUTE II consists of small and other than small businesses who are capable of providing non-commercial linguist services to transcribe, interpret, and translate information.

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Control Number: 20-27

UNCLASSIFIED

contract linguist support capability throughout the AOR to transcribe, translate, and interpret information gathered from a variety of classified and unclassified sources in order to meet ongoing, new and/or changing mission requirements. The specific requirements for transcription, translation, and interpretations vary by location(s) and current mission(s). There are three categories of contract linguist supporting the CJTF- OIR missions:

Category I: CAT I linguists may be locally hired or from a region outside of the AOR and will not require a security clearance;

Category II: CAT II linguists are citizens of the US who have a SECRET security clearance; and

Category III: CAT III linguists are citizens of the US who possess a TOP SECRET security clearance.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A), “[t]he agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.”

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. DLITE II IDIQ is structured to provide flexibility and rapid delivery of a wide variety of specialized linguists needed to meet the DoD missions. Valiant is the current provider of the subject services on contract W911W4-17-D-0001-0002 which currently provides all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to provide the required level of linguist services in support of CJTF-OIR related operations. This task order provides interpretation and translation services in support of highly sensitive activities, such as intelligence collection, as well as less sensitive activities, such as document exploitation and open source intelligence activities.

b. As stated above in paragraph 3, the current CJTF-OIR task order expires on 30 June 2020. The new follow on effort, now called ARCENT, was competed amongst the DLITE II Force Projection Pool of contractors2 and combines CJTF-OIR’s requirement of 881 linguists and U.S. CENTCOMs requirement of 322 linguists into one contract totaling 1,203 linguists. On 31 July 2019, the ARCENT task order was awarded to Valiant Government Services, LLC 101 Walton Way, Hopkinsville, KY 42240. As a result, four unsuccessful offerors filed post-award protests with the GAO and a stop

2 Large business contractor pool work order was issued to Valiant on 16 August 2019. A bridge was placed on contract to extend the period of performance from October pt 2019 to 30 June 2020 while the

GAO rendered a decision. The Government chose to take corrective action in the form of reevaluating all proposals. A corrective action plan was submitted to the GAO to include the establishment of floor pricing and a ceiling cap on costs to be included in the amended RTOP. Additionally, a RFI was sent to the DLITE II contractors, and after receiving and evaluating responses, the amended RTOP was subsequently released on

10 April 2020 with a due date of 4 May 2020; however, there were multiple questions received from industry - specifically pertaining to the Government established floor rates, that resulted in subsequent amendments. The anticipated award date of this effort is 30 October 2020. Due to the complexity of this effort related to the evaluation criteria, the time required to right size the requirements to align with real word operational needs, anticipation of discussions, and the number of proposals to evaluate, the current effort is required to be extended by 4 months (with one 6-month option period) to ensure services continue.

c. Furthermore, delays have occurred due to the novel Coronavirus disease 2019

(COVID-19) pandemic as all personnel, including Source Selection Evaluation Board

(SSEB) members, are mandatory teleworking to protect employee health, safety, and welfare. Communication issues (i.e., network remote access saturation, interface errors, packet fragments, upstream provider outages, and routing issues) have caused delays in processing documents.

d. Any break in service will degrade the effectiveness of critical combat support to real time military operations and missions in support of U.S. and Coalition Forces across the

CJTF-OIR AOR. Valiant remains the only reasonable option for providing linguist support due to the time sensitive nature and urgent national security requirement.

Approval of this action is necessary to properly support time sensitive operations and ensure that contract linguist services will be available through the solicitation period.

Any interruption to these services will degrade the effectiveness of military operations in the CJTF-OIR AOR. If this urgent requirement is not approved, the CJTF-OIR mission and the lives of US military personnel will be placed in jeopardy.

e. In addition, utilizing an alternative vendor, even if it had global security implications, it is urgent that the Government execute this modification under this Exception to Fair Opportunity.

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6. Market Research: In accordance with FAR Part 10, market research was conducted.

a. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 10.002(b)(2)(ii), the Contracting Officer conducted market research on 27 April 2020. Commercial sources were identified on General Services Administration (GSA) schedules but the CJTF-OIR requirements are non-commercial by nature of the military environment. There are nine potential offerors in the DLITE II Multiple Award IDIQ Force Projection pool. All nine contractors were solicited for the follow-on competition which is currently under source selection evaluation. 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 contracts are the mandatory source for contract linguist support provided to DoD Components.

b. IAW FAR 10.002(b)(2)(i), the Contract Language and Intelligence Program Support Office (CLIPSO), who oversees and manages the DLITE II IDIQ contracts and facilitates linguistic services throughout the Department of Defense, was contacted to see if any other vendors or contracts were available to support the linguists requirement. No other sources were identified that could meet the Government’s time sensitive requirement for CJTF-OIR AOR services.

c. IAW FAR 10.002(b)(2)(iv), the contracting Officer reviewed available sources of these services under the DLITE II IDIQ contract on 27 April 2020 and did not identify any other source currently providing the services covered under the CJTF-OIR contract within the CJTF-OIR AOR.

d. Based on 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 urgent CJTF-OIR AOR requirement in a timely manner without seriously jeopardizing mission performance.

7. Other Facts:

Procurement History:

A sole source bridge contract W911W4-17-D-0001-0002 was awarded to Valiant under DLITE II in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A) on 01 July 2017, to continue providing these mission critical services with an expiration date of 30 June 2018. The FAR 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (6-month extension) was exercised extending services through 31 December 2018. Due to delays in source selection for the new competitive ARCENT task order, the bridge contract issued to Valiant was extended on

1 January 2019 with a 6-month base period and one 3-month option period which provided continued support through 30 September 2019. Due to protests of the ARGENT task order award, the bridge contract was extended on 1 October 2019 with a 5-month base, and a four month option with the unilateral right to partially exercise this option in one month increments. The current bridge effort expires on 30 June 2020. If approved, this bridge effort will provide continued support through 30 April 2021.

8. Actions to Increase Competition: Any subsequent procurement actions are anticipated to be competed under FAR 16.505, Fair Opportunity, under the current DUTE II, Force Projection pool of contractors.

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

Typed Name: Vincent G. Scannelli

Title: INSCOM G-3 CLIPSO COR

Date:

Signature:

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

Typed Name: Forrest A. Evans

Title: Program Manager

Date:

Signature:

11. Contracting Officer's Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. I am determining that the anticipated cost will be fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii).

Typed Name: Matthew D. Kunkel

Title: Contracting Officer

Date:

Signature:

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

Typed Name: Matthew D. Kunkel

Title: Contracting Officer

Date:

Signature:

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Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of contract linguist support services estimated in the amount of $84,844,661 with an exception to the fair opportunity process pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A), the agency need for services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays. This approval is subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Date: _____________________ Signature: __________________________

DANIEL J. GALLAGHER

Senior Contracting Official

ACC-DTA