Justification_&__Approval_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION > SAT

Sole Source

PSMO-I Continuous Evaluation Services

HS0021-18-C-0003 P00006

Control Number: 19-023JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

REFERENCES: In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303, for acquisitions of commercial items exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), the contracting agency is required to prepare a sole source justification using the format at FAR 6.303-2, as provided below.

DOCUMENTATION:

(1) Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

Requiring Activity Defense

27130 Telegraph Road Quantico, VA 22134

Contracting Activity

27130 Telegraph Road Quantico, VA 22134

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This Justification and Approval (J&A) authorizes the use of other than full and open competition procedures to fulfill a current requirement, absent competition in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1). This statute is implemented by FAR 6.302-1, when competition is limited to only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The purpose of this action is to incorporate six one-month option periods to the existing contract:

P00006 Option Period 12 CLIN 1301 CLIN 1302 CLIN 1303 P00006 Option Period 13 CLIN 1401 CLIN 1402 CLIN 1403 P00006 Option Period 14 CLIN 1501 CLIN 1502 CLIN 1503 P00006 Option Period 15 CLIN 1601 CLIN 1602 CLIN 1603 P00006 Option Period 16 CLIN 1701 CLIN 1702 CLIN 1703 P00006 Option Period 17 CLIN 1801 CLIN 1802 CLIN 1803

This extension will ensure D maintains the services required to support the essential Continuous Evaluation requirement for the which has been the subject of much litigation. On 10 January 2019 D notified the unsuccessful offerors of the apparent .

On 17 January 2019 a timely small business size protest was received IAW FAR 19.302. The protest was forwarded to the Small Business Administration as required on 17 January 2019. The SBA resolved the protest in the governments’ favor, determining that the potential awardee was a small business concern for the applicable size standard of $20.5 million on 28 February 2019. On 15 March 2019 the Contracting Officer for received notice of an appeal by to the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals. On March 22, 2019, the unsuccessful offeror, protested this solicitation at the Government Accountability Office (GAO.) On 3 June 2019, the SBA affirmed the size determination and denied the appeal. The Agency decided to take corrective action on June 13 which rendered the protest moot. It is unknown how long it will take to effect the corrective action but it will extend past the current period of performance (4 July 2019) since some of the panel members are on leave, thus creating a potential for a break in critical services unless the contract gets extended.

Control Number: 19-023JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

The procurement strategy is to modify contract HS0021-18-C-0003 through the addition of six (6) one-month option periods:

P00006 Option Period 12 CLINs 1301 - 1303 5 Jul 19 – 4 Aug 19 P00006 Option Period 13 CLINs 1401 - 1403 5 Aug 19 – 4 Sep 19 P00006 Option Period 14 CLINs 1501 - 1503 5 Sep 19 – 4 Oct 19 P00006 Option Period 15 CLINs 1601 - 1603 5 Oct 19 – 4 Nov 19 P00006 Option Period 16 CLINs 1701 - 1703 5 Nov 19 – 4 Dec 19 P00006 Option Period 17 CLINs 1801 - 1803 5 Dec 19 – 4 Jan 20

The total estimated cost of the six (6) one-month option periods is The first option will be exercised immediately. The GAO protest has been resolved- the Agency is taking corrective action. The additional options will allow for continued service through that period if needed. The additional options will ensure there are no unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Government’s requirement until the Agency confirms the award makes a new award. The Agency anticipates that the corrective action could be protested again. Currently, there are no DoD civilian resources to provide the necessary support services for this effort.

(3) A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

The objective of this effort is to maintain the essential knowledge-based analytic support capabilities to validate alerts generated by the Department of Defense (“DoD” or “Department”) Continuous Evaluation (CE) Program. The CE program uses supporting systems to receive and determine that the CE results meet established reporting criteria before forwarding adjudicative-relevant and actionable information to the DoD Consolidated Adjudication Facility (DoD CAF) and DoD Component security officials, as appropriate. This program is necessary to ensure adequate protection of National Security information.

These analytic support services from the contractor will enable PSMO to achieve its vital mission as defined by Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)) CE Mission memo dated December 19, 2016 and Executive Order 13467 signed in June 2008. The Executive Order formally established CE as a means of reviewing the background of individuals who have been determined to be eligible to access classified information at any time during the period of eligibility. Background reviews of individuals are required to determine whether individuals continue to meet the requirements for eligibility to access classified information.

The Continuous Evaluation mission implements the Department’s investigative program to continuously vet all cleared DoD personnel as directed by the Secretary of Defense’s February 21, 2014 memorandum and in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget “Report to the President, Suitability and Security Processes Review.” The contractor shall provide critical analytic support services, to include relevant subject matter expertise to enable the to achieve its Continuous Evaluation mission. Option periods will only be exercised during the time period that the Agency takes corrective action. The Agency must determine whether the award should be confirmed or make a new award decision but will not be able to do so by 4 July 2019. Contract cannot begin immediate service until the corrective action is complete.

(4) An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to contract without full and open competition under certain circumstances. For this acquisition, other than full and open competition is permitted per FAR 6.302- 1(a)(2)(iii)(B).

(5) A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

Control Number: 19-023JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

As detailed above in section 3, the has a critical need to maintain the CE analytic support services to process alerts containing derogatory information on the DoD cleared population, including alerts which may contain insider threat information representing an imminent threat to national security as they contain derogatory information for cleared subjects with access to classified information. The data agreements in place for automated records checks under CE of the cleared subjects are a combination of time-based and event-driven checks. The event-driven checks will continue to occur and trip alerts of potentially derogatory information upon the cleared population causing the number of alerts to increase without analytic support services to perform triage and administrative actions. Delays in this mission area are creating a grave risk to national security and impacting the DoD readiness posture. The DoD provides security oversight for 32 other federal agencies under the National Industrial Security Program (NISP), which includes the CE requirement. As of 30 Jan 2019, reports a current population of more than 1,130,000 CE subjects with approximately 25,000 being added per quarter and the current expectation of 60,000 per month in the future. This is resulting in increased alerts being generated (47,490 already in the first four months of FY19, which is more that all of FY 18), which requires the CE analytic support services to review and triage the alerts appropriately to ensure any threats to national security are minimized, to decrease risk to the compromise of classified information and/or loss of DoD personnel or property. Without the CE analytic support services sought through this justification, these alerts will remain untouched until the corrective action process can be completed, with potential for additional protests through GAO or COFC that could last up to 100 days which would create a potentially grave risk to the Government.

While other entities may have the ability to perform the critical services obtained under this contract, the period of performance limits their ability to do so within the required timeframe. DSS has already completed a competitive action for the required services in January 2019. Once the Agency completes its corrective action, services will be obtained under competitively awarded contract It is highly unlikely that another contractor could step in for this short period of just one – six (potential) months to accomplish the required tasks. The current contractor is performing acceptably under the terms and conditions of the contract and has the necessary people and skills to complete the requirement.

These services were previously determined to be critical in DSS’s Justification and Approval (J&A) Control Number:

18-006JA for HS0021-18-Q-PSMOCE which was posted to FedBizOps at www.fbo.gov (FBO) on 15 Feb 2018, citing an unusual and compelling need under FAR 6.302-2. The J&A was required due to the need to provide services during a Court of Federal Claim (COFC) protest decision.

On January 19, 2018, the COFC (Case #18-1C) entered a permanent injunction for the CE support added to HS0021- 16-C-0006 under Contract Line Item Numbers 2005, 3005 and 4005 and associated task 5.12. COFC had determined the added work was out of scope of the contract and the added work was to cease immediately until the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) was followed for contracting for the CE work. In accordance with FAR clause 52.242-15, a Stop-Work Order was issued by the Contracting Officer to on January 19, 2018. As a result of the Court of Federal Claim protest the Government awarded this contract (HS0021-18- C-0003) to as a sole source acquisition IAW FAR Subpart 6.302-2 to serve as a bridge contract. This bridge contract was written to fill the gap until a competitive acquisition was awarded. This sole source bridge contract will expire on 4 July 2019 and all options have been exhausted. The time provided under the previous J&A should have been enough time to complete re-compete but now additional time is required due to the GAO protest and the corrective action the Agency is undertaking.

is currently performing CE services and is the only responsible source that can continue to provide the necessary labor skill sets with uninterrupted services. Soliciting this effort under full and open competition would take approximately six months. This timeline is based on Procurement Acquisition Lead Time (PALT) guidelines and timelines of recently awarded acquisitions of similar size and scope. This process would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements by negatively impacting the Government’s access to critical CE Services. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the current sole-source bridge contract and continue with the current service provider until the protest is resolved and DSS is able to proceed with the competitively awarded

Control Number: 19-023JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

contract. It is not realistic to expect another contractor to perform the required services for a one to six month period of performance at the same level of quality and at reasonable price.

The extension of this sole-source contract to the incumbent results in minimal logistical costs to the Government, as the incumbent’s resources are already in place. Additionally, the incumbent’s continued support will negate any learning curve costs, as no learning curve will exist. Failure to bridge this current contract could result in an unacceptable interruption of critical services.

(6) A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

The follow-on contract was competed amongst many potential sources and was synopsized at time of award, 12 March 2019. Due to a protest filed with the GAO, contract HS0021-18-C-0003 needs to be extended to maintain the vital support. As a result, the following CLINs are being incorporated: 1301 – 1303, 1401 – 1403, 1501 – 1503, 1601 – 1603, 1701 – 1703, & 1801 – 1803. These CLINs will be exercised IAW FAR 52.217-8 – Option to Extend Services on a monthly case-by-case basis, pending the to the GAO protest of contract award . A synopsis of the requirement was posted at FBO on 3 June 2019 in accordance with FAR

5.201 (b)(ii). To date, no responses have been received. If any contractors express interest, that information will be posted here and addressed. This Justification and Approval document will be posted IAW FAR 6.305(a).

(7) A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

As a result of this action being an extension of an existing contract, the pricing should not change. In determining a fair and reasonable price, the Contracting Officer will evaluate the proposed price against what is currently on contract.

If the proposed price is different than what is on contract than the formal Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) will be used in comparison. The detailed estimate provides a breakdown of what the Government believes are the potential labor categories, as well as estimated labor rates and the estimated fixed monthly price for providing the required services. The estimated monthly price will be compared to established pricing on other DSS contracts and other Government contracts.

(8) A description of the market research conducted (see FAR Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was not conducted for this action, as it was conducted within the previous six months for the competitive action which will be awarded immediately on the resolution the size protest, and any other protests timely received. Extensive market research was conducted for the competitive award to include posting a request for information on FBO. Based the level of competition received for the follow-on acquisition D understands there is ample competition for this requirement. A solicitation was issued on 30 Nov 2018, and four competitive proposals were received on 14 Dec 2018. The competition resulted in an apparent awardee to provide the services under this action. Any further market research would be duplicative and likely only add duplicative costs to the Government effort.

(9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

Awarding a new contract for this period of performance would still require an extension beyond 4 July 2019 to complete the procurement process. At this time, the incumbent vendor, is the only source to possess the unique skills, the technical capabilities and the personnel already positioned to immediately perform the services required. Any attempts to secure another source would result in unacceptable delays and create high risks of failure due to DoD possessing CE reports containing potential derogatory information on the cleared population, the people entrusted with classified information and given access to persons and property, but unable to mitigate the risk associated with the potential derogatory information due to the lack of CE analytic support services.

This represents a grave risk to the Government.

Control Number: 19-023JA

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

PROCUREMENT SENSITIVE

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

This is an unclassified requirement; however, the work being conducted is at the Top Secret classification level. All work will be conducted by the incumbent and the proposed subcontractors, all of whom currently hold the necessary facility clearances and the capability to provide cleared personnel. All personnel must possess a Secret clearance at a minimum, but certain labor categories may require a Top Secret clearance.

(10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A synopsis of the requirement was posted at FBO on 3 June 2019 IAW FAR 5.201 (b)(ii). To date, no responses have been received. If any contractors express interest, that information will be posted here and addressed. This Justification and Approval document will be posted IAW FAR 6.305(a).

(11) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

The requirement has been recently competed and subsequent award of the new contract will be made to the competitive awardee upon conclusion of the current protest action.