FBO_Posting_UARC_CASL_JA.docx

ACQUISITION DIRECTORATE

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155

Control Number: 2018-WHS-0004

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

I. Agency and Contracting Activity.

Requiring Agency:

Department of Defense (DOD) Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)) Director for Defense Intelligence, Intelligence & Security(DDI/I&S)

Contracting Activity:

DOD

Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) Acquisition Directorate (AD) Enterprise Office of the Secretary of Defense (EOSD) 1225 South Clark St, Suite 910 Arlington, VA 22202

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

This action is for WHS/AD to award an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract on a sole source basis to the University of Maryland (UM) (1103 Lee Building, College Park, MD, 20742) on behalf of OSD/OUSD(I) and the Intelligence Community (IC). This contract will be awarded to UM/CASL in its capacity of a DOD University Affiliated Research Center (UARC). UARCs enable DOD to establish and maintain long-term strategic relationships with selected universities to conduct essential research, development, and provide scientific and engineering experts in core competency areas important to the DOD.

Background: The UM’s Center of Advanced Study of Linguistics (CASL) was established as the nation's tenth UARC. On November 5, 2003, Mr. William B. Black, Deputy Director of the National Security Agency, made a Statement for the Record before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in which he introduced the UM/CASL as the nation's only UARC dedicated to “sustained, sophisticated research in languages and linguistics, critical to intelligence work related to the Global War on Terrorism (GWT)” (Black, 2003, p 6). The creation of CASL as a UARC was the direct result of cross-agency collaboration among senior professionals across several major agencies within the Intelligence Community (IC) including: (1) the National Security Agency, (2) the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), (3) the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), (4) the Defense Language Institute (DLI), (5) the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (6) the Department of State, and (7) the Armed Services.

Under this UARC, the Center would provide an end-to-end solution to address and improve the United States' Government's (USG's) foreign language deficiency [by performing] innovative research that is framed in the reality of classified missions. Research will be responsive to the requirements collected, documented, and prioritized by the USG language professionals. CASL will also support the federal and national language skill communities by sharing knowledge, conducting independent evaluations, and fostering language and linguistics education (Black, 2003, p 6). The core competencies of this UARC are:

· Foreign languages and dialects;

· Linguistics;

· Disciplines relevant to the acquisition and practice of analysis and critical thinking (e.g., psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, computer science, organizational science, political science, anthropology, criminology, economics, education, philosophy, and second language acquisition); and

· Disciplines relevant to the manipulation, use and sharing of information of varying quantities and diverse forms (e.g., artificial intelligence, knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation and reasoning, knowledge discovery and data mining, knowledge management, organizational learning, organizational behavior, machine learning, human-computer interaction, natural language processing, information studies, data science, computer science, and virtual reality/augmented reality).

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

CASL is a unique partnership between the University of Maryland, the DoD, and the Intelligence Community (IC), and it has made significant contributions to the IC's language efforts. CASL shall provide valuable expertise to the IC and DoD in linguistics, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, decision science, and computer science to help solve some of the Nation's most difficult problems, USD(I) is seeking to assume the sponsorship of the CASL UARC.

The UM/CASL currently provides linguistic research under the National Security Agency’s (NSA) UARC IDIQ contract H98230-07-D-0175 with a contract ceiling not-to-exceed $216,285,500.00. This UARC was used by the Department of Defense and civilian agencies intelligence community components. The UARC’s sponsor has changed from the NSA to DOD/OUSD(I). In support of the transferred sponsorship, WHS/AD anticipates issuing an IDIQ contract, on behalf of the OUSDI, with a maximum contract ceiling amount of $92,000,000.00 and a period of performance structured as one 12-month base period and four 12-month option periods. Though the anticipated contract ceiling amount is 42.6% lower than the NSA’s current IDIQ ceiling, the OUSD(I) anticipates that the total estimated value for this research, development, test, and engineering (RDT&E) IDIQ contract would be sufficient for the period of performance outlined below.

Performance Periods Performance Period Dates

UM/CASL shall provide essential and critical research and development capabilities and services for DOD and civilian agencies intelligence community components. UM/CASL research topics include but are not limited to:

· Human language, communication, and culture;

· How to enhance acquisition and maintenance of language skills;

· Use of language skills in analysis tasks;

· How to develop and assess analysis methods and enhance analysts’ job performance;

· Methods to leverage technology to assist with tasks such as collaboration and information sharing in the service of intelligence analysis;

· Development and use of Human Language Technology (HLT); and

· Evaluation: Provide independent technical evaluation, verification, and guidance on language, information, culture, cognition, and behavior issues, practices or policies applicable to IC personnel.

IV. Statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this effort is 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(3) as implemented in FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(ii): “To establish or maintain an essential engineering, research or developmental capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center.”

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

The UM/CASL has been a major assets to the nation since it organized in response to the September 11th attacks to develop critical research in languages and linguistics in 2003. CASL is a unique partnership between the University of Maryland, the DoD, and the Intelligence Community (IC), and it has made significant contributions to the IC's language efforts. The current DoD sponsor is the National Security Agency (NSA), which has decided to relinquish its sponsorship as of September 20, 2017, due to deep cuts in its research and development budget; therefore, OUSD(I) sought to assume the sponsorship of the CASL UARC. UM/CASL solves complex research and analytical problems in the areas of linguistics, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, decision science, and computer science to help solve some of the Nation's and IC’s most difficult problems. UM/CASL has:

· Broad knowledge of DoD’s and IC’s research requirements in linguistics, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, etc.

· Independent and objective evaluation.

· Produced a number of works to provide training and reference, from basic (an alphabet workbook, a collection of short texts, and a short grammar sketch) to comprehensive (a full grammar and dictionary), as well as a tool for practicing listening comprehension.

· Work on the prioritization of African languages has shown the way to better planning and mission readiness.

· PASAGLOSSA is an example of a software product that showcases CASL’s unique strengths combining cleared R&D staff who deeply understand IC mission with the university’s world class GIS and Language Science assets. The code was licensed to the University and formed the basis for two synergistic efforts: the public effort is called Landscape and it provides a global map-based resource for large language related datasets. Much of the “crowdsourced” data behind this platform is available to the IC to pull into USG networks and fuse with intelligence datasets providing much needed data at minimal cost.

These competencies are a vital part of DOD’s and IC’s advanced study of linguistics and language programs. Continuing support through a contract is essential in maintaining research and development capabilities for the successful defense of our Nation and our Nation’s resources and UM has been providing direct support to DOD and the IC since the UARC’s inception in 2003 for all of the IC’s research and development needs.

There are a total of 14 UARCs that exist. Each individual UARC specializes in something different and there cannot be more than one UARC that specializes in the same thing. UM is the only UARC that specializes in linguistics, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, decision science, and computer science to solve problems for DOD and the IC. There is no other UARC that specializes in these areas other than UM. Therefore, no other UARC except for UM will be able to meet DOD’s and IC’s requirement.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

Pursuant to FAR 5.202(a)(10), notice of a proposed award is not required. However, in accordance with 10 U.S.C 2304(I)(1)(A), as implemented by FAR 6.305, the approved justification will be made publicly available on Federal Business Opportunities within 14 days after contract award.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting officer has determined the anticipated cost to the Government of the services covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable. Fair and reasonable costs will be determined by an in-depth analysis of historical hours and costs, a technical recommendation from the program office, and the utilization of DCAA recommended rates. The final incurred costs will also be audited by the Government.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Market research and analysis was not conducted because this IDIQ contract will be awarded non-competitively. The authority for this proposed award is not based on a determination that UM/CASL is the only responsible source, rather that the Government desires to maintain an essential research, development, and scientific and engineering expertise in core competencies areas important to the DOD with a nonprofit institution as authorized by 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(3) and implemented by FAR 6.302-3.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

N/A

X. List of sources, if any that expressed interest in the acquisition.

For the reasons set forth from above, OUSD(I) has no plans at this time to compete future requirements for the types of services covered by this J&A. If another potential source emerges, OUSD(I) will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

N/A

XII. Is this acquisition for a non-competitive follow-on acquisition previously awarded on a non-competitive basis?

☒Yes. A copy of the previous justification is attached.

The Actions to remove any barriers to competition cited on the previous justification were completed:

☐Yes.

☒No. Previous justification and approval completed by the National Security Agency is classified.

☐No.

CERTIFICATION

I, hereby, certify that the supporting data under my cognizance included in this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Representative/Program Office

Date

Contracting Officer

Date

CERTIFICATION

Based on the foregoing, I hereby concur to this justification.

Competition Advocate

Date

APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing, this justification is, hereby, approved.

Head of Contracting Activity

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