HSBP1016C00042_Redacted_J&A.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Only One Responsible Source

41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by FAR Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Procurement Directorate.

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

Contracting on the basis of other than full and open competition. CBP intends to award a fixed-price contract with a total estimated value of , including a base 12 month period and options for up to nine additional months. The contract will provide continuity of operations while CBP complete the long-term contract for like services.

Name and address of the proposed Contractor:

Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC

12975 Worldgate Drive

Herndon, VA 20170-6008

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

Air and Marine Operations (AMO) has the responsibility to secure the Nation’s borders against the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs and other contraband between Ports of Entry

(POE). To efficiently and effectively manage the Nation’s borders, AMO requires persistent surveillance solutions aimed at enhancing situational awareness and security in land, air, and maritime environments by allowing personnel to monitor and counter dynamic and evolving threats. Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC is currently providing support to meet AMO’s mission objectives.

The Tethered Aerostats Radar System (TARS) provides for long-range search and track of air and surface targets, providing multi-domain awareness to Customs and Border Protection Air

Marine Operations Center (CBP AMOC), Caribbean AMOC, Office of Border Patrol (OBP), United States Coast Guard (USCG), and US military. The TARS program is comprised of all aerostats, aerostat support systems, radars, weather equipment, communications systems, winch systems, facilities, special purpose vehicles, associated equipment, and personnel necessary to accomplish the mission.

There are currently eight operational sites, six over the US-Mexico border, one over the FL

Straits, and one over the northern Caribbean (Puerto Rico). Each site consists of aerostat, L-band dual-channel air-surface radar, ground control and data networking systems, an aerostat mooring system, and on-site weather systems. The primary users for TARS generated air surveillance data are U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air Marine Operations Center (AMOC 2), U.S. CBP’s Caribbean Air Marine Operation Center (CAMOC), USNORTHCOM/NORAD -

AFNORTH (1AF) supporting Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) and Eastern Air Defense

Sector (EADS).

Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC will continue to provide operations and maintenance support to the eight operational sites. This support includes program management, O&M mission support, life-cycle management support and efficient TARS support for the Counter Drug/Counter Narcotics

Threat (CD/CNT) and air sovereignty missions.

The bridge contract ensures that support services for critical mission needs are maintained. The estimated contract value for the base period of would fund performance through March

31, 2017 when the follow-on contract award is anticipated. However, additional option periods will be included in the bridge contract in the event the follow-on award is delayed due to unplanned activities such as GAO protests.

Period Total

Base Period - 12 months

Option Period 1 – 6 months

Option Period 2 – 1 month

Option Period 3 – 1 month

Option Period 4 – 1 month

Total

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open

Competition is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) Subpart 6.302-1 entitled "Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or

Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements."

5. Demonstration That the Nature of the Acquisition Require Use of the Authority Cited.

The United States Air Force (USAF) managed the TARS Program until March 2013 when the

USAF and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began the formal transfer of the program, including supporting contracts and operational responsibilities. Effective 1 July 2013

DHS, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) assumed operational control and contract management and funding responsibilities for TARS.

The current contractual services are scheduled to expire on 31 March 2016. The contemplated bridge contract will support AMO’s need beyond the end of the current contract and will prevent disruption of program operations during issuance of a competitive solicitation for a follow-on effort.

Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC possesses the required expertise to perform the services to ensure that AMO successfully accomplishes its mission. Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC is most familiar with the issues, operational considerations, and technical challenges. They have highly qualified personnel with the required broad base knowledge and experience with the program. Exelis

Tethered Radar, LLC can make them immediately available for the time required for this effort and to respond to any AMO changing needs. The requisite expertise is necessary for ongoing support until the follow-on contract award is made in FY 2018.

Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC’s continued support would prevent a lapse in service and disruption to AMO’s daily operations during the time required to conduct the follow-on competition.

Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC is uniquely qualified to continue services as it has acquired extensive knowledge and understanding of operations since 2008. If a contract is awarded to a new contractor, (i) this would require substantial contractor effort to develop the base knowledge necessary for the operational requirements for all eight sites; (ii) DHS CBP will incur high transition costs estimated to be $2.1M, based on a 60-day transition period valued at $1.6M to enable the new contractor to “ramp-up” before assuming full contract operation, and $500K for the incumbent contractor to provide training and to complete tasks to ensure an orderly changeover; and (iii) most importantly, without Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC’s continued support, the program would assume substantial performance risk of critical mission impairment with a new and inexperience contractor. Any disruption in the flow of vital air and marine target data to the CBP AMOC, Caribbean AMOC, OBP, USCG, and US military users will jeopardize homeland security and vital US-Mexico border surveillance initiatives. Only Exelis Tethered

Radar, LLC has the resources and experience in place necessary to provide CBP the required services without risking an interruption in critical mission capabilities.

For these reasons it has been determined that AMO’s requisite needs can only be satisfied by procuring these services on a sole source basis from Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers Are Solicited From As Many

Potential Sources As Is Practicable.

CBP will publish this J&A on FedBizOps upon approval indicating its intent to issue a bridge contract to Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC for the reasons explained above in Paragraph 5.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be fair and Reasonable.

The Contracting Officer expects to be able to use certified cost and pricing data, historical cost with data from the previous competitively awarded contract to determine the negotiated price is fair and reasonable.

8. Description of Market Research.

The Program Management Office used the information obtained through over 20 face-to-face meetings and site visits with industry leaders (see table below) along with discussions to develop and issue a Request for Information (RFI) on 25 February 2015. The RFI was to solicit input from industry to provide insight into market conditions, availability of technology and innovative business approaches that will aid in the development of an acquisition strategy for advancement of TARS to improve performance in meeting the agency mission objectives at a lower cost.

Twelve companies provided information in response to the request. CBP has commenced work on the follow-on contract and is currently performing an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) to complete development of the acquisition strategy. Release of the RFP for the follow-on contract is planned for 4th quarter of FY16 and contract award is expected by the 4th quarter of FY17.

Table 1: PMO-Industry discussions.

Market

Segment

Summary Observations

Large Systems

Integration Great interest in future payload modernization and system upgrades and integration efforts

Significantly less interested in steady-state O&M operations only

Aerostat

Manufacturing, Operations and

Maintenance

Unable to lead a prime contract team, but available to support future primes with their unique TARS aerostat experience.

Some new aerostat ideas, innovation emerging for future, follow-on consideration

Radars and Sensor

Systems Providers

Current, and planned “bridge” contract, radar operations and maintenance limited to the Original Equipment Manufacturer because there are no current plans to upgrade the system.

No 3rd party technical support for current sensors is available for consideration

General Services and Logistics

Providers

Significant numbers of general logistics service providers, many with general aerostat operations experience, exist

Too much uncertainty on whether or how companies can assemble, train and certify flight crews and other technical expertise at low cost

Data Processing and

Data

Communications

Providers

Significant general knowledge and experience exists within this market segment

No other company exists with experience of the specific (and older) TARS equipment configuration

The results of the discussions revealed that there are several large businesses with the requisite capabilities and experience that could support the TARS system sometime in the future, but not likely in the near term due to the significant start-up lead time requirements due to the multiple site locations across the US southern border and the Caribbean.

The Program Office’s market research showed potential interest from across industry, including large and small businesses.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

Changing to a new operation and maintenance contractor for TARS would result in a substantial investment in time and contract transition cost to the government that is not expected to be recovered through competition since it is anticipated that the follow-on contract will replace this bridge contract by Oct 1, 2017. A new contractor would also add performance risk to the program due to the time required to train personnel to ensure minimum operational performance standards and critical maintenance of the aging TARS equipment.

A sole source contract to Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC is necessary to support continuity of operations of TARS. It is anticipated that a full and open competitive award for an acquisition at the estimated value and scope of the TARS Program would require a minimum 12 months in procurement lead time. Therefore, although there are other companies that may be capable of fulfilling the requirements of this contract, a sole source bridge contract is currently the only option that will provide continuous coverage until the follow-on competitive contract is awarded.

The bridge contract will also allow for continued support and overlapping coverage after awarding the follow-on competitive contract in the event of a GAO protest, as well as allow for support during the transition process required for orientation and knowledge transfer to the new contractors.

Awarding the sole source bridge contract to Exelis Tethered Radar, LLC will prevent loss of expertise and knowledge base from the current TARS O&M contract. Without Exelis Tethered

Radar, LLC’s continued support, there will be a lapse in TARS operation and interruption of vital air and marine target data to users which will jeopardize vital US-Mexico border surveillance initiatives.

10. The listing of the sources that expressed an interest in writing for the current acquisition of operations and maintenance services required.

None

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 Supplies or Services

Required.

The Program Office’s market research identified several potential sources for the follow-on contract requirement. The results of the RFI indicate that there are several companies with the requisite capability and desire for the follow-on services and the indication is that there will be ample competition for the follow-on contract.

12. Planning and Funding Statement. Include a statement that this acquisition does not result from a lack of planning or the expiration of funds.

This acquisition does not result from a lack of planning or the expiration of funds. Since CBP assumed programmatic and contracting responsibilities from the USAF, it has actively engaged in planning efforts for the follow-on contract. A significant part of this planning entailed research concerning the eventual business and program approaches that would be cost effective and that would better serve AMO’s needs. Award of the bridge contract will ensure operation of the TARS sites without interruption in order to maintain border security while the acquisition team determines the appropriate acquisition strategy for the follow-on contract by continuing market research and studying various alternatives. The bridge contract will also provide adequate time to prepare a comprehensive, competitive Request for Proposal with sufficient response time for industry to develop the optimal logistics and technical response to meet the

CBP’s requirements. The RFP for the competitive acquisition is anticipated to be released by the

4th quarter of FY16.