Intent_to_Sole_Source_Synopsis_(ver_4)_Redacted_Posting.doc

TITLE: FA2517-14-R-9002, Sole Source Acquisition for EDMSIM Licenses, Maintenance Agreement, and Exercise Support.

The 21st Contracting Squadron, Peterson AFB CO intends to award a sole source contract to Applied Training Solutions, LLC (ATS). The scope will be to purchase software licensing and maintenance, hardware configuration and maintenance, and Information Technology (IT) support during exercise execution; and exercise planning and execution support to include scenario development, Modeling and Simulation database tailoring, training audience instruction and support, role-playing and simulation of non-participant organizations, and capture of M&S lessons learned for Emergency and Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM) Software. The current EDMSIM software employed by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) J7 Joint Training and Exercise Directorate (N-NC/J7) is a proprietary product of C4i Consulting, who has proprietary rights to all EDMSIM software to include upgrades and maintenance. C4i confirmed they only have one authorized US distributor who has the authority to sell or modify their software; this authorized distributor is ATS. Furthermore, only ATS can provide a trained and certified staff possessing the necessary certifications to operate and maintain the EDMSIM software. Since ATS is the exclusive licensor and as such is the only company able to provide the required modeling and simulation support to include licensing and maintenance of the EDMSIM software it is in the Government’s best interest to procure this requirement as a sole source from ATS.

This purchase will be made under GSA FAR Part 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), Only One Source and Supplies or Services are Unique or Highly Specialized. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract lies solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive requirement. The closing date for this synopsis is 18 Apr 14 at 3:00 P.M. Mountain Standard Time. The anticipated award date is 20 Jun 14. For information regarding this purchase, please contact Sandra Sims at (719) 556-6560/ sandra.sims@us.af.mil or Aaron Caraway at (719) 556-6281/ aaron.caraway@us.af.mil.

APPLICABILITY OF AUTHORITY: EDMSIM was evaluated against other available simulation software tools (such as Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation [JCATS]) in 2009 and selected for use by United States Army North (ARNORTH) in support of Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Response Enterprise (CRE) training, certification, and confirmation exercises, as described in Resource Management Decision 700 (RMD 700). It has since been adapted for use by State National Guard forces for CBRN and DSCA (Defense Support of Civil Authorities) training and exercises, and over the last four years substantive effort and expense (approx $2M annual ARNORTH training and exercise contract, $1.2M for a social media emulation module and certification and accreditation to operate on DoD networks, $0.8M NGB training and exercise contract, and $500K N-NC training and exercise contract) has been devoted to refining the software to satisfy DOD requirements. The NGB has also acquired 22 perpetual (lifetime) EDMSIM software licenses for an amount totaling $462K. The use of another software would yield the 22 perpetual licenses already owned by NGB useless, and they would have to incur the cost to acquire new licenses though different software.

Widespread use of EDMSIM for the military in the US has led to its proposed use by the Department of Homeland Security in the National Exercise Program, which includes substantial DOD participation. A more recent market study was conducted in December 2012 and concluded that EDMSIM continues to be the only software training solution that meets DOD’s highly specialized CBRN and DSCA training requirements (which include conducting small-to-large scale, organizational entity-based, national disaster scenario driven, training audience customizable, in exercise adjustable, realistic operational disaster management software).

Applied Training Solutions, LLC (ATS) is the sole distributor of EDMSIM software in the US, and also has the capability and authority to change the software source code for US customers, including DOD. Over the last four years, DOD has used EDMSIM to train large-scale Defense CBRN Response Forces (5500 personnel), medium scale Homeland Response Forces (10 HRFs each consisting of 566 personnel) and CBRN Enhanced Response Force Packages (17 CERFPs each consisting of 167 personnel), and 54 State/Territory National Guard Joint Task Forces. EDMSIM scenarios and entity replication capabilities have been optimized for DOD training audiences, and exercise participants have been trained on and become familiar with the software.

These unique characteristics of EDMSIM that are the result of sustained, exclusive use of the only software that continues to meet DOD training needs cannot be replicated by another source without a similar investment of time and effort over several years, during which time EDMSIM would need to remain the capable software of proven capability. Even if a viable competitor for EDMSIM existed today, DOD would require a prohibitively expensive investment in training exercise participants to use a new software application (at least one year and at least $3M, based on the previous experience with EDMSIM). This would directly impact the quality and effectiveness of over 20 CBRN and DSCA exercises, with a concomitant and unacceptable risk to CRE readiness in the Homeland.

The ATS technical approach combines the skillful integration of extensive training and exercise staff experience with the highly relevant and robust simulation capabilities of the EDMSIM Suite consisting of EDMSIM, WebMSEL (internet-based Master Scenario Events List) and RDAC (Rapid Dynamic Analytical Capability). EDMSIM allows training exercises to be more dynamic and free-flowing than the older, more traditional methods are able to support. It employs an advanced map engine and robust database that enables training exercises to range across international, federal, state or county/municipal organization levels to effectively represent each participant’s staff, equipment and operational behaviors while training and being evaluated. WebMSEL is a tool that enables the decentralized planning, creation and execution of a training scenario by providing email-based event injects to the training audience and the EDMSIM simulation. RDAC is a dynamic, high-speed analytical application capable of performing rapid, real-time, geospatial data analysis. As a component of the EDMSIM Suite, RDAC integrates with EDMSIM to provide highly relevant infrastructure data, models and spatial analysis to the simulation scenario to provide a richness and quality not otherwise available to enhance the overall simulation product.

Only staff that has been trained and certified by ATS in the full capabilities of the proprietary software applications in the EDMSIM Suite are authorized to operate the software. These certifications, which can only be provided by ATS, specifically certify EDMSIM Modeling and Simulation Engineers (Senior, Mid and Junior level) and EDMSIM Exercise Control Analysts (Senior and Mid level) can only be staffed by ATS employees. ATS has an operationally experienced and certified staff, supporting ARNORTH and National Guard customers with the EDMSIM Suite for over five years. The extensive technical experience and certifications of the ATS staff entails employing the EDMSIM Suite in the design, delivery and support of operations, training and exercise requirements, in addition to, running complex simulation-driven training events for a wide variety training audiences. The ATS staff applies their extensive experience in the following five essential areas: Scenario Development, Database Management, Actionable Intelligence, Exercise Simulation Support and Facilities Preparation Support. These five essential areas of expertise enables the ATS staff to provide simulation support, planning support, simulation management, scenario development, stimulation of ARNORTH and National Guard Mission Command Systems and database management.

Therefore, this acquisition is necessary to continue to meet existing DOD CBRN and DSCA training requirements. No other firm is certified on this simulation suite or experienced with the tools necessary to provide this support. Accordingly, ATS, the sole source for EDMSIM, is the only firm capable of performing the required work to meet DOD training requirements. The duplication of cost is not expected to be recovered through full and open competition.