H92405-20-C-0021_J_A_DCS Test Support_10June2020.pdf

CUI

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

Justification and Approval (J&A) Document Template

10 June 2020

Controlled by: USSOCOM SOF AT&L Controlled by: PEO Maritime (PEO-M) Undersea Systems Program Management Office (USPMO) CUI Category: Basic, OPSEC Distribution Dissemination Control:

POC: Mr. Mike Weiss, michael.weiss@socom.mil

November 2018 CUI – J&A No. 20-1869

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

Authority: FAR 13.5 - Simplified Procedures for One Source Project/Program Name: Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) Test Support Component/PEO/Other: SOF AT&L PEO Maritime.

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): $3,148,580.98.

J&A Basic Value:

Type J&A: (Individual or Class )

J&A No.

20 - 1869

1. Agency and Contracting Activity:

(U) HQ USSOCOM; Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (SOF AT&L); Directorate of Procurement (SOF AT&L-KW); 7701 Tampa Point Boulevard, MacDill AFB, Florida 33621-5323

2. Description of Action: Bridge Action (Yes or No )

(U) This document establishes the use of other than full and open competition procedures to award a sole source follow-on contract for DCS Test Support. The requirement is currently contracted by W6QK-ACC-APG, NATICK Contracting Division, located at Building 1, General Greene Avenue, Natick MA 01760.

(U) DCS Test Support is currently provided under contract W911QY-16-D-0017, task order 0003 by 6Fathoms Consulting, LLC, Cage Code: 6ZXC4, located at 10901 Los Arcos CV, Austin TX 78739. The task order was awarded on 26 June 2017 and expires on 15 June 2020.

(U) On behalf of USSOCOM, SOF AT&L, PEO Maritime (PEO-M) Undersea Systems Program Management Office (USPMO), SOF AT&L-KW plans to award a firm-fixed-price contract to 6Fathoms Consulting, LLC. The period of performance will be 12-months.

(U) The contract will include the option to extend the services up to six months in accordance with 52.217-8. The total Government estimate is $3,148,580.98 for 12 months of service, and an option to extend services up to six months in accordance with 52.217-8. The total Government estimate also includes other direct costs: $351,461.70 for travel and $43,900 for test support equipment. FY20 and FY21 RDT&E Funds are available for this requirement.

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

(U) USSOCOM USPMO is responsible for the acquisition of the Dry Combat Submersible (DCS). The First of Class, DCS 1 has begun Developmental Testing (DT) and must complete DT and Operational Testing (OT) to achieve Initial Operational

November 2018 CUI – J&A No. 20-1869

Capability. Additionally, the office is currently analyzing requirements for a Block II DCS.

PEO-M USPMO requires the following services:

1) Test and Evaluation (T&E) support for the DCS Block I Program of Record, and

2) Submersible Subject Matter Expert (SME) support for the development of DCS Block II requirements and acquisition test program documentation.

(U) The contractor must have the expertise and capacity to provide uninterrupted support upon contract award for DCS Block I Testing in progress and immediately support accomplishment of DT events. The T&E support includes test planning, management, execution, analysis, and reporting for Characterization Testing, Developmental Testing (DT), Initial Operational Test & Evaluation (IOT&E), and Follow-on Test & Evaluation (FOT&E). Submersible SME support requirements include assistance with new system requirement definition and review/input to various acquisition documentation.

(U) Contract personnel shall have experience with dry submersible operations and testing; shall have a working knowledge of the U.S. Navy Commander; Operational Test and Evaluation Force (COTF) Integrated Evaluation Framework (IEF) and; shall have firsthand knowledge and experience with the Technical Baseline Vehicle (TBV) or DCS Block I submersibles.

4. Authority Cited:

FAR 13.5 - Simplified Procedures for One Source

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

(CUI) In January of 2020, the activity servicing the DCS Test Support contract announced that they will no longer support non-Army work such as this, and further option years or extensions will not be exercised or supported. Failure to establish an alternative follow-on contract for immediate, uninterrupted, and seamless DCS Test Support will have a significant impact on the DCS Program schedule to IOC and establishing a capability to accomplish planned real world missions.

(U) Based on current market research and analysis conducted by USSOCOM PEO-M, USPMO, the contracting activity in coordination with the requiring activity have determined 6Fathoms is the only source capable of providing the required support without significant disruption and delay in order to maintain DCS schedule and IOC.

(CUI) USPMO has begun conducting IOT&E for the Dry Combat Submersible (DCS) Block I. DCS Program Initial Operational Capability (IOC) is marked by the satisfactory completion of this testing and is scheduled for 2QFY21. This will result in the delivery, to the user community, of the first one-atmosphere, dry, manned lock-in / lock-out combat submersible capability since the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS) program, which ended abruptly and unexpectedly, over a decade ago. This will bridge a significant Naval Special Warfare (NSW) capability gap and allow accomplishment of

November 2018 CUI – J&A No. 20-1869 critical missions.

(CUI) Test support for these platforms requires a unique and highly specialized mixture of operational and test subject matter experts (SME). In order to provide the required level of quality, operational SMEs must have extensive experience in the employment of dry manned lock-in / lock-out submersibles for NSW applications. Test SMEs must have significant experience in Developmental Test (DT) planning and execution as well as an in depth understanding of current COTF tools and processes for planning and execution of Operational Test.

(CUI) Award to a different contractor would result in unacceptable delays. 6Fathoms has spent over 12 months on the current contract vehicle, authoring over 25 test procedures to be executed during DCS DT and OT. With DT beginning in May 2020, any other potential performer will not have sufficient time to gain the necessary background to manage, data record, and analyze the results for those test procedures.

6Fathoms has developed unique software tools to extract raw data from the submersible and convert that data into usable format for incorporation into required test reports for the Program Office and COTF. With the tool, 6Fathoms is able to extract raw data in a mostly unreadable format and convert into organized spreadsheets and databases to allow for manipulation, searching, and presentation required for analysis and reporting to the Program Office and Test Evaluation Authority. This is necessary as the tool is largely the result of reverse engineering by 6Fathoms, and will not be provided to new awardees by the original DCS Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Development of equivalent tools is estimated to require at least 3 months for any other awardee.

(U) 6Fathoms provided test support on a DCS prototype submersible to characterize its performance in 2016 and 2017 with highly similar systems. An alternative awardee would require significant time to learn the functionality of all the systems onboard the DCS which 6Fathoms has invested significant man-hours in doing.

(U) Additionally, 6Fathoms has a current SECRET Facility Clearance, cleared personnel, and demonstrated capability in all of the aforementioned areas. If an alternative performer does not yet have access to USSOCOM NIPR and SIPR portals, lead-time for tokens, permissions, and access may require an additional two months.

(U) 6Fathoms has both employed and established sub-contracts with personnel who are experienced pilots of the Advanced Seal Delivery System (ASDS) program, which was the Navy and USSOCOM’s last dry manned lock-in / lock-out submersible capability (ended in 2008). 6Fathom’s key personnel serve as an on-site test manager and must ride inside of the submersible, submerged during testing for test execution and data recording purposes. Individuals with this experience set are very limited. Most other known ASDS pilots are either still active duty military or Government civilian personnel.

(CUI) In summary, award to a contractor other than 6Fathoms would delay DCS IOC by at least 5 months. Such a delay is unacceptable because this first-of-class capability will allow execution of critical NSW missions, which are not possible without taking on

November 2018 CUI – J&A No. 20-1869 unacceptable levels of risk to SOF Operators until this capability is delivered.

6. Efforts/Actions to Increase Competition:

(U) A pre-solicitation notice was publicized as required by FAR 5.2. This notice was posted on 28 May 2020.

(U) Currently, the requirement is supported by individuals with unique and highly specialized skills that are necessary for the success of DCS operations. In addition, the requirement is supported by software tools developed by 6Fathoms. For future requirements, PEO-Maritime will consider how the organization may rely less on the two factors stated above so that it may be possible to compete the requirement. In order to mitigate USPMO’s reliance on the aforementioned factors, the organization will coordinate with the appropriate contracting activity to begin acquisition planning at least one year prior to the award of a new contract. In addition, USPMO will permit interested contractors the opportunity to take part in familiarization visits, studying of the technical data package, and opportunities to examine raw data and to develop tools similar to what 6Fathoms has developed.

7. Market Research:

(U) The Government posted a request for information (RFI) on beta.Sam.gov on 30 March 2020, with a closing date of 6 April 2020. The RFI included the statement of work for the requirement. Two companies responded to the RFI: Hager Development and 6Fathoms. Both companies submitted capability statements, which were reviewed by

USPMO.

(U) The program office determined that Hagar Development’s capability statement does not demonstrate the company is capable of meeting this requirement in its entirety.

Furthermore, the company, as with any other new company, would not have sufficient time to begin work on day one of the contract due to several factors discussed in section 5 of this document. Those factors include, but are not limited to, lack of uniquely qualified personnel necessary for the success of test operations, tools and test procedures developed specifically by 6Fathoms, and the immediate intimate detailed knowledge of the DCS Systems and Sub-systems.

(U) In HAGAR’s capability statement, they state that they have been part of the NAG IDIQ. This is the multi-award contract vehicle mentioned in Section 1 of this document.

This IDIQ was initiated by the SOF AT&L PEO Maritime office; five companies were awarded contracts under the IDIQ. Each of the contractors have different expertise.

(U) 6Fathoms was the only company on the IDIQ that was contracted to work on the Dry Combat Submersible program since it started in 2016. 6Fathoms helped develop the Initial Capabilities Requirements, the Concept of Operations, the Capabilities Production Document, the Test and Evaluation Master Plan, the Developmental Test procedures, the Developmental Testing Framework, the Operational Testing Framework and all other

November 2018 CUI – J&A No. 20-1869 documents required to execute both Developmental and Operational Testing.

(CUI) Furthermore, 6Fathoms is contracted to not only support the USPMO, but also to support COMOPTEVFOR; their team is comprised of personnel representing both offices. The DCS program is now in the execution phase of DT which 6Fathoms was intrinsically involved in the planning for the last 2 years. 6Fathoms helped develop the test strategy and test plans and has a complete understanding of the program limitations. Bringing a new test team to support DCS testing would require an extensive transition period in the middle of DT execution which is not in the interest of the DCS Program and the DCS end user. Furthermore, a new test team would require changes in staff at COMOPTEVFOR that would further delay the test program execution and subsequent Initial Operational Capability.

(U) The USSOCOM Technology and Industry Liaison Office (TILO) database was reviewed as a part of this market research. Required services for this application were not found.

8. Other Authorities/Factors:

9. Interested Sources:

(U) The following were the only two contractors to respond to the Government’s RFI posted on 3 March 2020:

1. Hager Development 124 Virginia Beach Blvd Ste 104 Virginia Beach, VA, 23454- 4525, UNITED STATES Business status: Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)

2. 6Fathoms Consulting Group, LLC 19400 Tessa Hts Spicewood, TX, 78669-6939, UNITED STATES Business status: Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business

(SDVOSB)