HDTRA120C0063_EIDSS PACS_JA_Final Redacted.pdf

Defense Threat Reduction Agency 8725 John J. Kingman Road, Stop 6201

Fort Belvoir, VA 22060-6201

UNCLASSIFIED

19 March 2020

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Nature and/or Description of Action

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Biological Threat Reduction Program (DTRA BTRP) proposes to procure, without using full and open competition, the Sustainment of the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) and the Pathogen Asset Control System (PACS) by using a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) contract with

2. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

EIDSS is a DTRA BTRP-developed and funded open-source electronic disease reporting system implemented cooperatively with foreign partner nations to strengthen and support monitoring and prevention of infectious diseases within the One Health concept. EIDSS provides a near real-time information flow that can be disseminated to appropriate organizations in a timely manner for decision-making. PACS is a DTRA BTRP-developed and funded closed-network client-server or standalone electronic user inventory system for accounting and control of biological agent stocks. The application is designed to monitor the reception, transfer, movement and destruction of samples, as well as other actions such as aliquoting or subculturing of biological materials. EIDSS and PACS, viewed holistically, are complete biosurveillance and biosecurity capabilities, consisting of procured and installed hardware, provided and sustained software, and training for users and system administrators. The EIDSS/PACS systems are essential to support our foreign partners’ efforts to monitor and prevent human and animal diseases, including those resulting from Especially Dangerous Pathogens, as well as to account for, manage, and control dangerous biological agent stocks, in keeping with Office of Secretary of Defense Policy (OSD-P) direction. This particular acquisition effort focuses on the sustainment and maintenance of EIDSS software versions 6.1 and 7, translation of software training and maintenance materials, and creation of an Open Source Community for future, less BTRP-dependent software sustainment. The proposed contract vehicle to procure this capability is a sole-source award to the present performer, . The period of performance will consist of a base period of 24 months plus three 12-month option periods, with an estimated contract value of , inclusive of options.

3. Statutory Authority

The statutory authority for this non-competitive action is derived from, 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304(c)(1) or 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), as implemented by FAR Subpart 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source.

4. Applicability of Authority

FAR 6.302-1: has been the sole developer of EIDSS version 7 software since the start of that effort in 2016; as such, there is a high technical risk if we were to switch performers.

During the course of CY2020 and CY2021, all seven active EIDSS engagements are scheduled to transition from using version 6.1 to version 7 of the core EIDSS software. The transition to a new version of EIDSS software is a complex, months-long evolution that requires the software development performer to work hand-in-hand with both the implementation performer and the partner nation user ministries to ensure issues can be quickly remediated and partner requirements are met. In several countries, EIDSS has been officially designated as the national disease reporting system; such a designation is planned in all engaged countries. Should one or more of these transitions fail, it would represent the failure of a BTRP partner nation’s national-level electronic disease reporting architecture, and result in a loss of trust in BTRP as a responsible threat-reduction partner. is the only potential performer possessing: (1) the system knowledge, (2) proven relationships with Partner States, and (3) Partner State Ministry support to sustain EIDSS/PACS necessary to deliver the newest version of EIDSS/PACS to partner countries in a timely and effective manner.

(1) System Knowledge: As the sole software developer for EIDSS version 7 to date, possesses unique knowledge of the software’s source code and structure, which is significantly different from that of previous versions of EIDSS software. As well, has developed specific tools to create the resource files required for country-specific iterations of EIDSS version 7, and to integrate EIDSS with country- and ministry-specific required software applications.

(2) Proven Relationships: has built relationships with 13 partner ministries across the 7 active EIDSS engagements, traveling to the countries in question several times a year to conduct face-to-face meetings with and forge personal links to both ministry leadership and working-level user and technical support personnel. These relationships have enabled to understand in detail the partners’ requirements for the software as well as the country-by-country hardware requirements to ensure the software’s supportability.

(3) Partner State Ministry Support: As a result of the trust engendered by the relationships described above, has access to the partner ministries’ IT infrastructure that another performer would not immediately enjoy. This access will allow teams to conduct critical network load testing and software compatibility checks to allow for discovery and remediation of issues, increasing the likelihood of a successful transition to EIDSS version 7.

has been the performer for this requirement since November 2016. It has taken years for to develop the advantages to the Government described above. Transitioning the effort to a new performer would result in unacceptable delay in fulfilling DTRA BTRP’s requirement to develop and sustain the highly specialized EIDSS version 7 biosurveillance software, as this new performer would require at least six months to build the trust, experience, and technical expertise that already has. Selecting a new performer for this requirement would also necessitate the Government incurring substantial duplication of costs which would not be recovered through increased competition; based on the current contract’s level of effort, we estimate the cost of this re-work to be approximately . To date the Government has spent on the development of EIDSS version 7 software. is presently completing its development and sustainment work under a National Institutes of Health Information Technology Assessment and Acquisition Center (NITAAC) Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) that is being funded through an interagency agreement using BTRP funds.

5. Effort to Solicit Potential Sources

On 20 February 2020, a Request for Information (RFI) – EIDSS/PACS Global Implementation (HDTRA1-20-R-0015) sources-sought notice was posted on FedBizOps. There were two responses to the RFI: the present performer, and While response indicated technical competence and familiarity with DTRA IT projects in general, does not have the 10+ years of specific requirements management and development experience on the EIDSS/PACS project that has, and which they highlighted in their RFI response. Based on current level of effort, the project team estimates that it would take a similarly competent performer approximately six months and in order to recreate the relevant work already accomplished by and to reach the same level of progress has achieved. Given that the project’s CY20 schedule involves EIDSS software transitions in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Kazakhstan, a shift in performers would necessitate the delay of these transitions until CY21. This delay would then impact the already-scheduled CY21 transitions in Ukraine and Thailand, and the new implementation in Jordan. Such significant project delays would introduce unacceptable risk of loss of trust in the project in particular, and in BTRP as a partner in general. Based upon the current project schedule and relative lack of familiarity with the specific system and operational environment, the project team finds response to be inadequate to the project’s current requirements. The project team finds response to be convincing – they accurately summarized their relevant experience on the

EIDSS/PACS project, and past performance gives the Government every confidence that their proposed future performance will be up to the same high standard.

As part of the broader market research for this acquisition effort, existing DTRA ID/IQ contracts were also evaluated; specifically, BTRP’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Integrating Contractor increment 3 (CTRIC III) and IT’s Design Support Services/Core Support Services contracts. In both cases, access to experience and expertise could only be obtained through a subcontract, as is not part of the performer pool for any of these contracts. This course of action would not be the most cost-beneficial to the Government, as it would entail paying substantial pass-through costs to the prime performer to take advantage of the performance of the desired subcontractor.

6. Fair and Reasonable Costs

EIDSS/PACS is an ongoing project within BTRP. The anticipated cost/price of this contract action to the Government will be determined to be fair and reasonable based on historical data, the Independent Government Estimate and input/evaluation from the project office. has been a performing contractor under DTRA contracts/grants since 2004. DTRA has a long standing working relationship with which has allowed for us to work together to make sure that the Government receives the best value for its efforts. has demonstrated that it is able to effectively manage relatively detailed cost volumes resulting in good value to the Government. The Contracting Officer (CO) has preliminarily concluded that contract negotiations will lead to a and reasonable price. The CO’s signature on the resultant document will constitute the determination required by FAR Subpart 6.303-2(b)(7).

7. Market Research

Market Research was conducted in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2019, and 2020 to support awards of previous and present iterations of the EIDSS/PACS global implementation and software development contracts (while these requirements are distinct, in practice there is wide overlap in potential performers). Through that market research, the program office found that small businesses were not uniquely qualified to manage a complex, global IT solution of the nature of EIDSS and PACS. Additionally, as a result of that previous market research, the program office found that globally distributed commercial firms with extensive IT experience were best suited to meet this requirement with minimum risk to the Government. As the basic requirement for EIDSS and PACS implementation has not changed, the number of countries engaged has since increased, and as this market research has been performed relatively often as well as recently, the present EIDSS/PACS project team feels that this conclusion still holds true. The present software development and sustainment performer, meets this standard and has been satisfactorily performing in support of this requirement since 2016.

Previous reviews of USAF NETCENTS, Army ITES-2S and ITS-SB, and DISA ENCORE II, conducted in 2012, 2015, and 2016 found that these vehicles do not have the necessary scope of work and/or international expertise to meet the requirement, which has not changed. DTRA is not an ordering activity under Navy’s Seaport-E.

8. Other Facts

Between the date of this memorandum and the end of June 2021, all seven active EIDSS engagements (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Ukraine) are scheduled to transition from using version 6.1 to version 7 of the core EIDSS software. The successful completion of these transitions is critical to the continued trust that our foreign partners have in the health information systems we have cooperatively implemented with them.

Several foreign partner ministries have already formally designated EIDSS as their national disease reporting system of record; failure to successfully transition EIDSS on schedule in these countries would place not only this project, but other BTRP projects in those countries at risk due to a loss of trust in BTRP as an effective partner.

As of January 2020, BTRP has spent on the development of EIDSS v7. Were BTRP to change performers as a result of a competitive acquisition effort, and should that performer not meet BTRP’s requirements, this investment would be placed at risk. Even should that new performer meet BTRP’s requirements, some amount of re-work would have to be accomplished, as noted above, for the new performer to reverse engineer and adequately understand the software they did not originally develop but were required to sustain.

The present software development contract is funded by BTRP, but managed and executed by NITAAC using a GWAC/assisted acquisition. As NITAAC (subordinate to the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS]) is a non-DoD activity executing DoD funds on contract, continued authority to use such an acquisition vehicle is contingent upon annual HHS self-certification in accordance with Section 801 of the Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As of the date of this memorandum, HHS has yet to self-certify for FY 2020; the contract is presently operating under a DTRA waiver until the end of FY 2020.

One of the ancillary goals of this acquisition effort is to establish a new contract that does not require Section 801 compliance.

The EIDSS/PACS project manager will recommend a competitive acquisition effort for future EIDSS/PACS software development and sustainment, should BTRP continue to require them, after the completion of this contract. No further software increments are planned to follow EIDSS v7; as such, no further software transitions will be planned.

9. Interested Sources

There were two responses to RFI HDTRA1-20-R-0015: and

10. Subsequent Actions

An acquisition strategy review was held on 16 December 2019, at which the proposed sole-source strategy discussed in this memorandum was approved.

Technical Certification

I certify that the data and information forming the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Program Manager Date

Contracting Officer Certification

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date

General Counsel Coordination

This justification is legally sufficient.

Attorney Date

Approval

Based on the above justification, I hereby approve accomplishment of this acquisition by means other than using full and open competition.

Competition Advocate Date

Head of Contracting Activity Date

Date: 2020.03.19 14:09:48 -04'00' y j Digitally signed by

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