JA_FA248718D0006_8_Aug_18_APPROVED_JA_Redacted_FINAL.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 1 of 8

NOTE: If a Justification and Approval was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved J&A for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant J&A. This applies to J&A staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor J&A will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Is this a new or amended J&A Document? New Amended ( Prior to Award Only! )

Is this a Bridge Action as defined in the AF Bridge Action Reduction Plan? Yes No

Funding level for this acquisition: < $700K > $700K and < $13.5M > $13.5M and < $93M > $93M

Contracting Activity: AFTC/PZIE

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: FA2487-18-R-0006

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER (JSF) ELECTRONIC WARFARE SYSTEM (EWS), RADAR

SIMULATOR SUPPORT SERVICES

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): Other Contracting

Authority: 6.302-1 – 10 USC 2304(c)(1), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): $9,964,000 J&A Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Signature

APPROVAL (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date

08 Aug 2018

Competition Advocate Katherine B. Hodges AFLCMC/PK OL Eglin, 872-0150

Signature

HODGES.KATHERINE.B.

1230368038

Digitally signed by

HODGES.KATHERINE.B.1230368038

Date: 2018.08.08 08:49:31 -05'00'

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 2 of 8

I. Contracting Activity.

Air Force Material Command (AFMC), Air Force Test Center (AFTC), Specialized Contracting Branch (PZIE), Eglin AFB, FL is responsible for the proposed contracting action.

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

The proposed contract action will be a single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract consisting of Fixed Price CLINs for spares, Cost Plus Fixed Fee CLINs for engineering technical support, repairs, and upgrades, and a Cost Reimbursable (No Fee) CLIN for travel. The ordering period will be for five (5) years, contract award is anticipated in the fourth quarter of FY18 and will be funded with a combination of US Air Force and US Navy O&M budget appropriation, F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) RDT&E budget appropriation, and Norway/Italy partner funding.

This effort will ensure sustainment support for the existing F-35 Radar Simulators located in the United States Reprogramming Laboratory (USRL) and Norway Italy Reprogramming Laboratory (NIRL). This Class J&A covers all delivery orders issued under the IDIQ contract. The contractor is Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (NGSC), doing business through the Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) (previously Northrop Grumman subsidiary Electronic Systems, Inc.), 7323 Aviation Blvd, Baltimore, MD 21240, (410) 993-7629.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

The Air Combat Command (ACC), 513th Electronic Warfare Squadron (EWS) and Partner Support Complex (PSC) require the ability to obtain spare parts, repair parts, technical engineering, telephone & on-site support, and additional components for the F-35 Mission Data Development mission at the United States Reprogramming Laboratory (USRL) and Norway Italy Reprogramming Laboratory (NIRL). The 513 EWS primary mission is to program, test, and field mission data for mission systems on the F-35 aircraft. The 513 EWS serves as the sole Department of Defense provider of Mission Data reprogramming support for US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The squadron operates/maintains two hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) test lines. The PSC provides Mission Data reprogramming support for Norwegian and Italian F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and operate/maintain the NIRL HITL test line. The contemplated requirement contract is considered a services/supplies hybrid contract.

Under the contemplated contract, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) will provide the following supplies and services through the issuances of delivery orders against the basic contract: (1) provide unit components/sub-assemblies and support equipment in accordance with the agreed upon pricing list to be negotiated and included in the Basic contract; (2) technical telephone support for USRL/NIRL optimization and testing of mission data, components/sub- assemblies on an as-needed basis in order to troubleshoot, install, maintain, and/or support both additional and existing radar simulator components/sub-assemblies in the estimated amount of for the USRL and for the NIRL; (3) on-site Field Service Engineer (FSE) at Eglin AFB, FL; (4) on-site technical support for the USRL/NIRL optimization and testing of mission data, components/sub-assemblies as required to include train, troubleshoot, install, maintain, and/or support both additional and existing components/sub-assemblies with estimated travel to include to the USRL and to the NIRL; and (5) repair components/ subsystems as required in the estimated amounts of

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 3 of 8 and in materials for the USRL and and in materials for the NIRL. The table below breaks out the anticipated maximum ordering amount over the five (5) year period of performance for the USRL starting Sep 2018:

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 USRL Total

CLIN 1 SPARES

CLIN 2 TELEPHONE SUPPORT

CLIN 3 ON-SITE TECHNICAL SUPPORT

CLIN 4 TRAVEL

CLIN 5 REPAIRS

CLIN 6 UPGRADES

CLIN 7 DATA REQUIREMENTS

and NIRL:

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 NIRL Total

CLIN 1 SPARES

CLIN 2 TELEPHONE SUPPORT

CLIN 3 ON-SITE TECHNICAL SUPPORT

CLIN 4 TRAVEL

CLIN 5 REPAIRS

CLIN 6 UPGRADES

CLIN 7 DATA REQUIREMENTS

*TOTALS for USRL and NIRL *CLIN 1 SPARES additional material of over the life of the contract *CLIN 3 ON-SIGHT TECHNICAL SUPPORT additional support of over the life of the contract

The total estimated dollar value for this procurement will be $9,964,000. Funding will be provided by US Air Force and US Navy, using 3400 and 1804 O&M appropriations; the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO), using 3600 RDT&E appropriations; as well as Norway/ Italy partner funding provided through the F-35 JPO as 3400 funds. For the USRL portion of this acquisition, CLINs 1-5, and 7 will be funded with 3400 and 1804 O&M funding and CLIN 6 will be funded with 3600 RDT&E funds. Funding for the NIRL portion will be provided using Norway/Italy partner funding provided through the F-35 JPO as 3400 appropriations. The Norway/Italy funding is not provided through a Foreign Military Sale (FMS); it does not require a Letter of Offer & Acceptance (LOA). The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program is an internationally oriented program consisting of partnerships with a number of countries. The core JSF program is a multinational cooperative development program comprised of nine partner nations: United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and Norway.

The F-35 JPO is responsible for requesting and distributing funding from partner nations.

Funding is transferred from the partner country's bank to a JSF Holding Account controlled by the F-35 JPO. Partner funding for this procurement will be sent by the F-35 JPO to the 53d Wing via Electronic Fund Transfer (ETF) as 3400 funds.

There are no feasible actions that could develop future competition over the next five years, and it is reasonable to seek approval for more than one fiscal year's requirements. However, the F-35 JPO is working on the next block upgrade to F-35, and there is a possibility that NGMS spares

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 4 of 8 and support will not be needed beyond 2024.

IV. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(B), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, required by FAR 6.303-2(b)(4).

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

Subsection 1

These highly specialized Radar simulator systems were purchased under contract N00019-02-C-3002 issued by the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office as an ACAT ID contract for the F-35 Mission Data Development mission. The total investment to date is over in hardware and over in developmental costs, a total of . The initial simulator system was certified, delivered and integrated with various other systems in the USRL by Lockheed Martin (LM) to support development, testing, verification and fielding of critical F-35 electronic warfare programming. Although the radar simulator system is certified, delivered and integrated by LM, the Radar simulator system is owned by

NGMS.

This acquisition will be a follow-on contract for continued simulator support services. This work is currently being accomplished under contract, FA2487-14-D-0232, but the period of performance ends 11 Sep 2018. This IDIQ contract was awarded by AFTC/PZIE as a sole source to Northrop Grumman to provide the United States Reprogramming Laboratory (USRL) with the ability to obtain spare parts, repair parts, technical engineering, telephone & on-site support, and additional components for the F-35 USRL Mission Data Development mission as future block upgrades are installed in the USRL. The 513 EWS, primary mission is to produce F-35 Joint Strike Fighter electronic warfare mission data. The 513 EWS operates and maintains two (2) HITL test lines which make up the F-35 USRL. Due to the F-35 program being relatively new, there is a lack of failure rate data to predict the life of the system components. The USRL was purchased and delivered without any spare parts to support ongoing mission requirements. This three (3) year IDIQ has allowed for the 513 EWS to develop a good working relationship with Northrop Grumman and to quickly and effectively obtain parts and technical support for their simulator systems. The last delivery order for this IDIQ was placed in September 2017 to provide support through the FY18 fiscal year. Northrop Grumman has supported the F-35 JSF program for over 10 years, with Radar Simulator Spare parts in every integration and reprogramming lab: StimSIS, USRL, RC West, ACURL, and NIRL. They have demonstrated a deep understanding of the JSF stimulator, security, and sustainment requirements, and the laboratory processes. Therefore, this acquisition will be a follow-on IDIQ contract for the continued sustainment of highly specialized equipment and continued performance of a highly specialized service.

Subsection 2

Award to any other source than NGMS would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements. NGMS is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the existing F-35

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Radar simulators and as such possesses the required expertise, drawings, data, software, and intellectual property necessary to sustain these systems. To provide the requirement under this contract, a contractor must have a prior and detailed working knowledge of the unique hardware and software involved. This must include knowledge in (1) design and operation of the hardware and software and (2) the modeling software and its interfaces with the hardware. As the designer, developer, and sole qualified producer of the simulator systems, only NGMS possesses the in-depth knowledge and experience required to perform this contract. The present design, software/hardware and test data are proprietary and without that data being available to provide to other companies, there are no companies that can provide the supplies and services needed to support the mission other than NGMS. The Radar simulator requires personnel that understand the capabilities of the simulator and must have special program access to interpret and analyze the data.

With NGMS being the sole proprietors of the test data, results and configurations, NGMS is the only source that can give the USRL spare parts to the Radar simulators that are calibrated, meet configuration management requirements, and work properly to ensure the USRL's validations and verifications of specialized F-35 Electronic Warfare Mission Data are correct.

These systems are critical to maintain configuration management stability as the output of mission data files must be commensurate with F-35 aircraft common primary mission equipment configuration. NGMS owns all intellectual property rights to the radar components and subassemblies within the simulator systems and its source code. NGMS is unwilling to negotiate the purchase of its intellectual property and data right. Without access to the data rights and technical data package it would be difficult for the 513 EWS or another vendor to acquire the sustainment parts, upgrades, and support needed to keep the Radar simulator in service. It would take approximately 18 months for the Government to develop an acquisition strategy and get a new vendor on contract. This is based on an estimated seven (7) months to develop an acquisition strategy and have that approved and approximately 11 months to get the contract awarded based on AFMC contracting time lines (AFMC MP 5304). In addition to the 18 month contracting time line, security clearance time lines for the new contractor to operate in the specialized USRL and NIRL facilities would add approximately 4 months, for a total duration of 22 months.

Delays in contract award for Radar simulator support would lead to gaps in services and prevent repairs should the USRL and NIRL lab facilities experience system failure.

Additionally, the USRL would be unable to meet the 24-hour emergency reprogramming requirements in support of contingencies and combat operations mandated in AFI 10-703, Electronic Warfare (EW) Integrated Reprogramming. The USRL would also be unable to support operational testing to fully evaluate all EW software or mission data changes (AFI 10-703).

Subsection 3

Accordingly, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and support described in Section III above without the U.S. Air Force experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's mission requirements.

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VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

In accordance with DFARS PGI 206.302-1(d), a pre-solicitation Sources Sought announcement of this requirement was posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) on 10 Jan 2018. It was posted under the solicitation number FA2487l8R0006, titled FA2487-18-R-0006, F-35 JSF EWS Simulator Support Services.

The synopsis included a description of the tasks for this contemplated requirements contract. A response date was established as 9 Feb 2018. The incumbent, Northrop Grumman responded with a capability statement addressing the technical requirements of the pending acquisition. other companies submitted capabilities packages: .

Although identified having experience in other areas of modeling and simulation, instrumentation and test systems integration, program/business management and information technology, they did not have specific knowledge and/or support or access to the proprietary source code needed to sustain the current system or knowledge of current simulator systems. No additional sources have been identified to date.

This acquisition will require a Notice of Contract Action (NOCA) in accordance with FAR 5.201. The NOCA was published 13 July 2018.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The anticipated cost to the Government will be determined fair and reasonable through cost and price analysis in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.4. A technical evaluation of the contractor's proposal will be conducted by the 513 EWS. The previous contract has direct and indirect rates that have been determined fair and reasonable and those rates will be used as a basis for comparison of new proposed rates. Available DCMA Forward Pricing Rate Agreements or Recommendations will be utilized. All materials proposed will be analyzed and compared to the same or similar items' prices. Fee will be determined fair and reasonable by comparison with fee negotiated under similar previous efforts, or through use of Weighted Guidelines if no other method exists. At the conclusion of negotiations, the contractor will be required to provide certified cost and pricing data in accordance with FAR 15.406-2-(a). Fair and reasonable pricing will be determined at the Delivery Order level by utilizing the methods stated above; at award of the basic IDIQ contract, fair and reasonable pricing will be determined for the work scope negotiated under the first delivery order.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

As described in Section VI above, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties. NGMS was the only company found responsive by providing a technically acceptable capability statement showing they are willing and able to perform the work required.

NGMS is the incumbent contractor and owns all intellectual property rights to the radar components and subassemblies within the simulator systems and its source code. The results

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 7 of 8 of this market research provide a high level of confidence that NGMS is the only responsible source and no other qualified sources exist.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

No other facts.

X. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

See Section VI above.

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

This J&A covers more than one year's requirements because the same competitive issues described in Sections V, VI, and VIII are expected to exist as long as the 513 EWS, PSC, and F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) utilize the Radar simulator as critical subsystems for the USRL and NIRL to provide electronic warfare mission data and reprogramming for the F-35. However, the JPO is currently working to define requirements for the next generation Electronic Warfare stimulator to support the next F-35 block upgrade. The JPO has not finalized an acquisition strategy, and if they decide on competition, a contractor other than NGMS could be selected.

Therefore, a requirement for the scope defined by this J&A with NGMS may not exist beyond 2024. The cognizant contracting organization shall examine the acquisition situation at that time and determine whether a sole source follow-on effort to this IDIQ is justifiable.

In accordance with the approved Acquisition Strategy, the Government did not acquire technical data suitable for competition for the baseline F-35 or its subsystems under the competitively awarded System Development and Demonstration contract (SDD). The Radar simulators are integrated sub-systems of the USRL and NIRL. USRL and NIRL integrated lab components are not able to be broken out for individual parts procurements because the Government does not own the technical specifications necessary to ensure compatibility of the parts with the USRL and NIRL's system integration, performance, and configuration requirements. Government procurement of the USRL and NIRL was a “capability” to produce electronic warfare mission data for the F-35. These integrated laboratories are the sum of all its systems. The Government has engaged with NGMS to see if they are willing to negotiate purchase of the source code and data rights for the Radar simulators. NGMS has been unwilling to do so. This agency will continue to monitor the industry through trade journals, technical symposia, and contact with industry representatives to remain abreast of potential sources should a future need arise. Any future requirements outside the scope of this justification will be reviewed and market research will be conducted. The previous J&A for this requirement stated that continuing market research would be conducted to monitor the industry and other contractor's ability to support this requirement. Market research has been conducted and to date no other source has been identified as having the technical knowledge and necessary parts and equipment available to support this requirement.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

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XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by our signatures above, we certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is our responsibility, is both accurate and complete.