FOE1.pdf

FAIR OPPORTUNITY EXCEPTION (FOE) JUSTIFICATION

I. Contracting Activity The contracting activity for this action is Robins Air Force Base, GA. The Contracting Officer is Beckie King, AFLCMC/WIUKA, (478) 926-2746

This is an Exception to Fair Opportunity Justification

Purchase Request Number is FD2060-14-31879

II. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed This will be a new order under the Future Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Tool (F2AST) DRS, TSI contract using Other Than Full and Open Competition (OTF&OC) procedures for a Firm Fixed Price and Cost Reimbursement-No Fee order with a period of performance (PoP) of 12 months. The total estimated value of this effort is

a. Source(s): DRS Technical Services, Inc. (DRS TSI) 12930 Worldgate Drive, Suite 700 Herndon, VA 20170

CAGE: 1KU75

NAICS: 336411

Large Business

b. Temporary (T-1) Modification

c. In support of HC-130P/N, HC-130(H)N, and MC-130P aircraft

d. Type Requirement: Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), Air National Guard (ANG), and Air Combat Command (ACC) AF Form 1067 ACC 11-296

III. Description of the Supplies/Services Required To Meet the Agency’s Needs Under the contemplated order, DRS TSI will perform a T-1 modification on nine HC-130P/N, six HC-130(H)N and four MC-130P aircraft to incorporate the Specialized Automated Mission Suite Enhanced Situational Awareness (SAMS ESA) capability.

This requirement will include Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE), three Trial Installation (TI) kits, inclusive of labor, three Kit Proof (KP) kits, inclusive of labor, operational testing, sixteen production kits, data IAW DD Form 1423-1 Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRL), and travel per diem (contractor field installation teams (CFTs) for NRE, TI and KP. The total estimated amount of this acquisition is .

This effort will be funded using Operations and Maintenance (O&M - 3010) and National Guard Reserve Equipment Appropriations (NGREA- 0350) funds (FY12 and FY13 It is estimated that the TI will be ready for installation six months after order award and KP after successful TI.

IV. Authority Permitting a Fair Opportunity Exception FAR 16.505(b)(1)(i) requires the Contracting Officer to provide each potential awardee under a multiple award contract, a fair opportunity to be considered for each order exceeding $3,000 unless a statutory exception applies. The specific exception that precludes the fair opportunity process for this acquisition is FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

V. Demonstration of the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above to Provide the Required Supply/Service (Applicability of Authority) FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

Machine to Machine Situational Awareness is Air Force Special Operations Command’s (AFSOC) and ACC number one deficiency. AFSOC and ACC aircrews are operating in areas of increased threat and require immediate improvements to the current off-board situational awareness suite, access to Tactical Data Links (TDL), access to the situational awareness information on the aircraft flight deck, and the ability to provide this situational awareness information directly to customers in the cargo compartment. Obtaining Intelligence Broadcast Service (IBS) and TDL data is a crucial requirement capability to aircrew and platform survivability on all AFSOC and ACC aircraft. The SAMS ESA capability enables mission success by allowing crews and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) nodes to monitor and adjust mission conditions and profiles in order to prevent/mitigate mission failure and/or loss of life. The SAMS ESA system is an AFSOC specific system. The SAMS software is government owned and maintained by AFSOC. The SAMS ESA system is a net-centric solution to a command critical capability deficiency. The system software is highly complex and requires extensive training on the software. AFSOC and ACC are taking steps to identify Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSC) in order to train personnel to provide support capabilities in the field. At the present time no government personnel are trained or certified to maintain the SAM ESA system as a T-1 modification. The current training course is three weeks in duration; however, proficiency to support the system in an operational environment requires additional time (an estimated six months to 12 months). DRS, TSI designed and developed the integration kit and is uniquely qualified to provide the needed training to government personnel. The government has limited manpower and capacity to train aircrew and support personnel. As SAMS ESA transitions to a permanent program of record, the training, technical data, maintenance, and logistics support infrastructure will be established.

AFLCMC/WIUAC was notified by ACC Requirements Division (A5) in June 2013 that nine HC-130P/N, six HC-130(H)N, and four MC-130P aircraft were required to be SAMS ESA capable in order to continue the support of real-world mission operations and deployments. The procurement of the SAMS ESA kits ensures that the operational aircraft are mission capable to support mission requirements.

DRS TSI designed, integrated, certified, and currently provides CONUS/OCONUS ICS for the SAMS ESA system on the CV-22B and EC-130J aircraft. SAMS ESA data and drawing were purchased for the CV-22B and EC-130J efforts and cannot be reutilization for the HC-130P/N, HC-130(H)N, and MC-130P aircraft as the form factor is completely different. Commonalities between SAMS ESA V2.5 and HC-130P/N, HC-130(H)N, and MC-130P include the processors, http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/far2afmcfars/fardfars/far/16.htm%23P399_69627 software, PRC-117G, and core capability. The government has determined that DRS TSI can successfully perform similar services on the HC-130P/N, HC-130(H)N, and MC-130P. The CV- 22B effort was awarded under limited competition (FA8509-09-C-0019) based on United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and AFSOC Urgent Deployment Acquisition

(UDA).

The Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 8570.1 requires Information Assurance (IA) certification for personnel requiring elevated privileges to access government Non-Secure Internet Protocol Router (NIPR) and Secure Internet Protocol Router (SIPR) networks. AFSOC requires personnel supporting the SAMS ESA system possess an IA Level Technical Level II Security + certification. These certifications are common for IT networks in the commercial workplace, but as the emerging requirements become more specialized in airborne mission networking capabilities and platform systems. DRS TSI’s support personnel currently possess the required IA certifications, software and system expertise to immediately support the extant requirement. The HC-130P/N, HC-130(HN), and MC-130P Systems Program Office (SPO) has determined that the government would realize approximately 30-50% cost savings in NRE, reduced risk, and schedule from the previously developed modification. The cost savings in NRE is estimated at due to the intellectual capital from the CV-22 and EC-130J SAMS ESA programs; system architecture, component, certification procedures, and documentation reuse.

DRS TSI is the only contractor capable of providing the supplies and support outlined in Section III without experiencing duplication of unrecoverable cost and substantial delays in satisfying certification requirements.

VI. Description of Efforts Made To Ensure Competition Between All Awardees In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(1) orders under indefinite-delivery contracts do not require pre-award synopsis. IAW FAR 5.301(d)(3) post award posting of the justification is required for task or delivery orders greater than the simplified acquisition threshold and awarded without providing for fair opportunity in accordance with 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B) and (D).

Paragraph V, above, justifies why competition among all awardees is not possible for this acquisition. The command has approved the system training course and is taking steps to fully implement training for the identified AFSC personnel. When the command makes the SAMS ESA system a permanent modification on the aircraft the government will have the opportunity to compete efforts.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer That the Anticipated Cost to the Government Will Be Fair and Reasonable An existing F2AST order for a similar SAMS ESA requirement is available for historical comparison. A fair and reasonable price will be obtained through comparison of the proposed labor rates with the rates and labor categories established on the F2AST basic contract, and negotiations on the proposed labor hours and material costs. Certified current cost/pricing will be obtained IAW FAR 15.406-2 upon completion of negotiation.

VIII. Description of Market Research Conducted Among All Awardees and the Results or a Statement of the Reason Market Research Was Not Conducted

Market research was conducted July 2014 by AFLCMC/WIUEA system engineer, IAW FAR Part 10.001 and 10.002. The techniques used were internet searches, reviews of systems sharing key characteristics with the extant requirement, and discussions with government engineers that provide sustaining engineering support to AFSOC and ACC avionics. To further assess the market, the program manager and system engineer discussed the extant requirement with multiple vendors in the context of determining vendor capabilities. Market research revealed seven large business contractors with the potential of fulfilling this requirement, however all but one required the use of their own proprietary software. Using the SAMS ESA software (owned and maintained by the Government) is the driving force of the program to keep continuity between SOF/PR aircraft. Therefore, the only source that can provide without using government software is DRS TSI.

Internet searches included:

https://www.sam.gov/index.html/ http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm https://www.yahoo.com/ https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl

IX. Other Facts Supporting the Justification This requirement is a T-1 modification with a period of performance of 12 months. Due to the temporary nature, it would not be beneficial to the government to certify another vendor.

Duplications of costs that could not be recouped, and schedule delays the government would incurred to train and certify another vendor, would prohibit the timely and cost effective execution of this T-1 modification. DRS TSI currently has a F2AST Task Order to provide the system mission kit and CONUS/OCONUS ICS for the CV-22B, EC-130J, and Information Superiority Phase I aircraft and currently maintains a system certification, manufacturing line and the associated tooling required in order to produce the required SAMS ESA system kits.

DRS TSI is the only contractor identified in the Market Research that has working knowledge with the SAMS ESA software and did not have a requirement to use contractor proprietary software.

X. List of Any Awardee That Expressed Interest in the Acquisition Of the seven sources identified, only one, DRS TSI, has the immediate capability to satisfy the technical requirement. All but DRS, TSI requested the use of their priorpiatry software, which is not advantageous to the government.

XI. Actions the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Increasing Fair Opportunity Before Any Subsequent Acquisition For the Supplies or Services This modification is a T-1 modification to incorporate the SAMS ESA system on the PR aircraft.

The SAMS ESA equipment will be used and supported only until this capability is permanently integrated into the aircraft, adequate technical data is procured, and formal training is incorporated. Although the previous technical package was purchased for the CV-22, the reutilization for the HC-130P/N, HC-130(H)N, and MC-130P is too minimal as the form factor is completely different. Therefore the technical data on-hand is not enough to pass to competitors for a competitive procurement. The command has approved the system training course and is taking steps to fully implement training for the identified ACC personnel. When the command makes this system permanent, the government can open up requirements to competition.

https://www.sam.gov/index.html/ http://dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm https://www.yahoo.com/

XII. Contracting Officer’s Certification The contracting officer’s signature on the signature page evidences that she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of her knowledge and belief.

XIII. Technical/Requirements Personnel’s Certification As evidenced by their signatures on the signature page, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein which is their responsibility are both accurate and complete.