H92405-20-D0001_USF-IAE Intern Justification_Approval_Redacted.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

Justification and Approval (J&A) USSOCOM SOF AT&L Academic

Institution Partnership/

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

Authority: (10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(3), as implemented by FAR 6.302-3

Project/Program Name: USSOCOM SOF AT&L Academic Institution Partnership

Component/PEO/Other: SOF AT&L-ST.

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): $85M.

Type J&A: (Individual [g] or Class 0 )

1. Agency and Contracting Activity: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(1))

(U) USSOCOM (U) USSOCOM

SOF AT&L-Science and Technology SOF AT&L-K

J&A No.

19-1722

7701 Tampa Point Blvd 7701 Tampa Point Blvd

MacDill AFB, FL 33621 MacDill AFB, FL 33621

2. Description of Action: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(2))

(U) Approval is requested to negotiate and award a new contract on a sole-source basis to University South Florida (USF), Institute of Applied Engineering (IAE), 4202 E Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL 33620 in support of the USSOCOM Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (SOF AT&L) Center.

(U) The total contract value for the proposed action is $85,000,000.00, which will be charged against MFP-11 RDT&E, PROC. and O&M appropriated funds. Rationale for the variety of appropriations is provided in Section 3.

(U) USSOCOM intends to negotiate and award an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (I DIQ) contract with an ordering period of five (5) years with a value NTE $17,000,000.00 per year. Appropriate funding will be used and executed at the task order level.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(3))

(U) The resulting contract will provide for USSOCOM access to applied research (as defined in FAR 35.001) and advanced technology development that can be uniquely supplied through a relationship with a dedicated academic partner. Institutions dedicated to education and research are known as academic institutions.

USSOCOM is interested in academic institutions where both academic and advanced academic degrees are granted . Such academic degrees are granted after completion of secondarv education or hiqher education and includes both undergraduate and

August 2015 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY - J&A No. 19-1722 postgraduate degrees.

In addition to FAR Part 35, USSOCOM requires the ability to support various on-going activities and transfer some or all of these activities to the USF IAE. These activities include support to Academic Capstones, supporting programmatic research, test, and diagnostic equipment, maintaining certification of equipment standards, and providing , maintaining, and servicing special signals emulator antennae and equipment. These activities will continue being funded with O&M funds.

USSOCOM further requires the ability to procure low rate initial production (LRIP) items through this contract. Upon completion of research and development, it is anticipated that a program of record (POR) will have a requirement to procure a limited "run" or low quantity of items with their POR PROC funding. The timing is vital for the procurement activity to remain on this IDIQ so that USSOCOM can leverage the development work, Academic and engineering contractor staff, as well as avoid loss of subject matter expertise (SME) while establishing a follow on contract.

Below are some of the salient characteristics that the Government beholds in this academic research contractual relationship:

SOCOM is not able to conduct basic research on its own and therefore, relies heavily on Academia, Government labs, and the Services to leverage their basic research ideas and concepts for adoption into something unique Services, Government Labs, and Academia have specific researchers assigned to conduct basic research , accelerate technology, and transition technology to SOF AT&L S&T SOF AT&L S&T desires an academic relationship with a local university in a long contractual relationship so that SOCOM SOF AT&L engineers and academia can collaborate in robust laboratory spaces to flesh out concepts, review designs, tackle hard problems, assist with existing hardware and software through adaptation and modification , fabricate and prototype ideas into mock-ups, models, and representative test articles, and intellectual ideation SOF AT&L collaboration and engineering concepts may engage a wide range of security classifications, thus SOCOM is looking for spaces that have the ability for SCIF accreditation, labs with state of the art equipment, etc.

Furthermore, USSOCOM intends to develop a relationship with an Academic Institution within the MacDill AFB geographical area to provide potential interns, near daily access and use of classified work spaces for dedicated discussions and validation of classified system performance, senior level engineering capstone projects, and to collaborate with other National Academic Institutions in exploring USSOCOM primary concepts/capabilities without incurring TOY costs. USSOCOM's primary concepts/capabilities are as follows:

• Autonomous Systems

• Human Performance Enhancement

• Cvber and ElectromaQnetic Security

August 2015 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY -J&A No. 19-1722

• Transportation and Energy Infrastructure

• Tags

• Sensors

• Biometrics/Personnel Identification

• Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)

• Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED)

• Operations Research and Data Analytics

• Mission Related R&D

• Limited Production and Sustainment

• Academic Capstone Collaboration: Involves building collaborative relationships with other Academic Institutions to allow USSOCOM the ability to reach across the broader intellect of the United States

• Possess the necessary academic resources, physical facilities, and requisite Facility Security Clearance to undertake classified work

• Possess the ability to regularly host US Gov't personnel at the academic institution to participate in basic and advanced research, studies, experimentation, and prototyping to address SOF needs.

4. Authority Cited: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(4))

10 U.S.C 2304(c)(3), Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services, as implemented by FAR 6.302-3. USSOCOM SOF AT&L is looking to establish an essential research capability to be provided by an educational institution in the local area in order to:

- establish an essential capability for theoretical analyses, exploratory studies, and experiments in the fields of technology as specified in section 3 above, in accordance with FAR 6.302-3(b)(2)(i).

- establish an essential capability for engineering or developmental work calling for the practical application of investigative findings and theories of a scientific or technical nature in accordance with FAR 6.302-3(b)(2)(ii).

- contract for supplies or services as are necessary incident to the above in accordance with FAR 6.302-3(b)(2)(iii).

5. Reason for Authority Cited: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(5))

(U) USF IAE is the only academic institution which meets the government's minimum needs. First, USSOCOM personnel performing work in Human Performance, Cyber and Electromagnetic Security, Tags, Sensors, Biometrics/Personnel Identification, SIGINT, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED), and Operations Research and Data Analytics, will be required to work closely with University personnel, on campus, in a classified facility and environment without incurring TOY and travel costs. This work is expected to occur on a near daily (or at least three to four days per week) interaction to discuss and understand capability gaps and needs, conduct test and development activities and review work being performed, and attend technical exchanges with university professors. The anticipated near day-to-day required interactions between

USSOCOM SOF AT&L personnel and the academic institution is such the entity must be in the local area. USF is located in Hillsborough County, Florida. Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties are defined as the MacDill AFB local area, where MacDill AFB and USSOCOM personnel are allowed to travel without incurring TOY costs.

(U) Furthermore, only USF IAE have dedicated classified work spaces and will be able to conduct classified research in all of the requested capability areas. USF has DoD and other Governmental agency collaboration as well as collaborative efforts underway with other Academic institutions across the nation. In addition , USF has collaborative work and interns already engaged with the USSOCOM partnership intermediary agreement (PIA) , SOFWERX. Moreover, USF has extensive expertise in all the hard sciences (e.g.

Chemistry, Physics, Biology, etc.).

6. Efforts/Actions to Increase Competition: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) & (11))

(U) We will continue our market research endeavors to assess the viability of the academic partnership, USSOCOM's requirements, and the growth of the local area academic partners to facilitate future competition. Additionally, USSOCOM will increase competition by pursuing multiple strategic engagement capstones with different universities throughout the U.S. and performing collaborative work with the Systems Engineering Research Centers and University Affiliated Research Centers to expand the Command's academic defense base. These efforts will increase competition potential in the future.

7. Market Research: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(8)).

(U) On 11 Nov 2018 HQ USSOCOM SOF AT&L published a Request for Information (RFI) on FedBizOps "investigating the feasibility of entering into a long term contractual agreement with an Academic institution within the local MacDill AFB geographic area ... " A total of six (6) responses were received to the RFI from the University of Florida (UF), University of Central Florida (UCF), University of South Florida (USF), Bethune Cookman University (BCU), John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL), and Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI).

Upon review of all the RFI responses, the Government conducted phone interviews on 27 Feb and 1 Mar 2019 respectively in order to clarify key points on each submission.

Each submitting institution was offered a 30 minute one-on-one tele-conference with Government representatives. All of the submitting institutions participated in the tele conferences except BCU. BCU was contacted by e-mail and phone several times and did not respond to the Government's request for clarification .

The purpose of the Government's follow up sessions was to clarify responses.

Additionally, the Government asked each vendor to explain their overall strategy on how they would support the Government's endeavor to engage in a long-term contractual relationship to explore basic research activities and collaborate on engineering efforts within the defined local area. Reference Section 3 to find the salient characteristics.

August2015 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY - J&A No. 19-1722

See below for individual breakout of government assessment from the RFI indicating the primary concepts/capabilities USSOCOM is looking for, to include a determination if each institution is within the local geographic area and are an academic institution.

Respond to Academic University RFI Local Area Institution

Battele Memorial In. y N N Bethune Cookman y N y

Johns Hopkins APL y N y

Univ of Central Florida y N y

Univ of Florida y N y

Univ of South Florida y y y

With the exception of. each has proven DoD and other Governmental agencies collaborative efforts and proven collaboration with other academic partners across the nation , and further has associated with the Command's stated capability areas. None of the respondents to the RFI are within the MacDill AFB local area other than USF IAE.

While BCU, UF, and UCF are on the edge of this defined area, they are located outside of the local MacDill travel area.

The USF IAE is the only academic institution postured to provide the requisite capabilities, detailed in section 3, within the MacDill AFB geographical area which enables no TOY or travel costs to be incurred by USSOCOM personnel.

8. Other Authorities/Factors: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(9)) 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1 ), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, as implemented by FAR 6.302-1.

USF IAE is the only academic institution which meets the government's minimum needs to provide the salient characteristics and USSOCOM primary concepts/capabilities within the MacDill AFB geographical area of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties of Florida.

9. Interested Sources: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(10))

Interested Sources are outlined in Section 7.

NOTICE 1

Prior to approval, J&As will be screened to identify proprietary data and information exempted from disclosure by 5 U.S.C. 552, Freedom of Information Act, so that the final J&A may be prepared for required posting to FedBizOpps IAW Section 844 of NOAA 2009 as implemented via OPAP Memo, Public Disclosure of Justification and Approval Documents for Noncompetitive Contracts, dated 13 February 2009. J&As shall be posted to FedBizOpps within 14 days unless 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(2), Unusual and Compelling Urgency is cited. In that particular case the J&A will be posted within 30 days. Information selected for removal will be highlighted in yellow much like this statement so that si nature authorities will know what information will be removed after a roval, before ostin .