FBO_J&A_Limited_Sources_ID02190015_7.12.19.pdf

J&A – Limited Source – ID02190015 - Dept. of Army, PM TN, System Engineering, Program Management, and Research and Development Engineering Support Services

U.S. GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, REGION 2

FEDERAL ACQUISITION SERVICE

ASSISTED ACQUISITION SERVICES DIVISION

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVALS

LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

WAIVER TO SECTION 803

The following justification is prepared in accordance with 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C), Logical Follow-on.

1. IDENTIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED

The nature of this proposed action is to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) and eventually award a Limited Sources, logical follow-on, Federal Supply Schedule/Multiple Award Schedule task order for System Engineering, Program Management, and Research and Development Engineering Support Services, for the Department of Army, Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN), Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD. The task order will be for a period of 12 months from award. Award will be made to LinQuest Corporation., under their GSA Schedule Contract No. GS-23F-0113S.

The proposed task order is needed to ensure that the U.S. Army’s Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN) does not have a lapse in services needed to support their national defense mission. Any impact to these services will jeopardize the U.S. Army’s ability to provide the necessary support to the Warfighter needed for the defense of United States national security interest CONUS and OCONUS.

The IGCE for this acquisition is 12345678901 for the 12 month period of performance.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY'S NEED

The Task Order will provide for continuity of services for contractor support to provide critical national security Satellite Communications systems engineering, research, engineering, development, analysis, operations support, and test and evaluation services in support of PM TN programs and DoD-wide tactical customers, users, and initiatives. These efforts also encompass software engineering, Internet Protocol (IP) and Networking design, development, test and evaluation, as well as highly specialized policy and technical engineering support for implementing new technologies that support designated DoD and US Army policy requirements. These Systems Engineering and Technical Assistance (SETA) non- personal services include expertise not readily available by a US Government organization within the available time.

The objectives of the task order include providing system engineering and technical support, laboratory support, test support, field engineering support, and acquisition of communications equipment to support Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), Defense Satellite Communication Subsystem (DSCS), Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF), and Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) SATCOM programs, projects, and initiatives.

The task order comprises a broad range of efforts to support PM TN, its Product Managers (PdMs), PM TN divisions, project teams, and support some of the following programs and projects as listed, during any or all phases of the system’s/equipment acquisition life cycle as described in DoDI 5000.02 (Note: This list will change in response to new direction and to keep pace with evolving Army needs.):

• MILSATCOM Systems Engineering

• NETOPS Integration

• Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical Terminal (SMART-T)

• Transportable Tactical Command Communications (T2C2)

• Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) Increments

• Operational Support

• ASA (ALT)

• Other Program Executive Office (PEO) Command, Control, and

Communication-Tactical (C3T) Programs & Projects Support, as directed.

3. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY & REGULATORY AUTHORITY

The acquisition is conducted under the authority of Section 201 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 501).

FAR 8.405-6, Limited Sources Justification and Approval. Specifically, FAR 8.405- 6(a)(1)(i)(C), in the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Schedule Task Order; the original Schedule Task Order was competed and awarded in accordance with applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original Task Order was NOT previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

Section 803 of the National Defense authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (Pub. L. 107-107), as implemented under DFARS 208.405-70 (Additional Ordering Procedures). We are waiving the competitive requirements of Section 803 because at least one of the Exception to Fair Opportunity as described at FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A) through (F) applies to this order.

Specifically, FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), the order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the Schedule contract; awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

4. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES THE USE OF

AUTHORITY CITED

The Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), 1234567890123, from the program office (i.e., Department of Army, Project Manager Tactical Network – PM TN), provided GSA with her COR Justification for Limited Sources and is on file. The underling facts and finding in this Section of the Justification and Approval is based on facts from said COR Justification.

The services to be provided under this proposed RFQ and task order is a logical follow-on provided by LinQuest Corporation under Task Order No. GSQ0215CJ0010, Task ID No.

ID02150011. The award of this requested action is intended to be an interim task order while the Government prepares, issues a solicitation, and evaluates proposals for these requirements.

Following is the acquisition history. A Request for Quotation (RFQ) was issued under full and open condition in June 2015 to all Federal Supply Service (FSS)/Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) vendors awarded a Professional Engineering Services (PES) Schedule 871, SINs 871-3 (System Design, Engineering and Integration) and 871-4 (Test and Evaluation). The PES Schedule is now often referred to as Professional Services Schedule (PSS). The RFQ was a Total Small Business Set-Aside.

A MAS task order was awarded to LinQuest Corporation after the full and open competition on September 2015, under PES Schedule Contract GS-23F-0113S, Task Order No.

GSQ0215CJ0010, Task ID No. ID02150011, for PM TN (formerly PM WIN-T).

Under the awarded Task Order, LinQuest provided Satellite Communication (SATCOM) systems engineering, research, development, engineering, operational support, and test and evaluation services for PM TN (formerly PM WIN-T).

The Task Order was for a period of one Base Year, with two 12-month options (Option Periods 1 and 2). After the exercise of all available options and extensions, the task expired on 17 March 2019. Currently the Department of Army was able to place their critical SATCOM and system engineering support services provided by LinQuest under an existing Army contract on a temporary time basis only for the period of about 18 March 2019 through about end of May 2019. The Army contract will expire shortly.

The proposed Limited Sources task order will be for a period of 12 months, starting from about early June 2019 and ending next year in about early June 2020. The Limited Sources task order will provide follow-on work, which are logical continuity of mission critical services for the U.S.

Army, PM TN, so that they can properly re-compete the task order under full and open basis.

The U.S. Army programs that LinQuest supports are ongoing and require the continuity of services without interruption. The services are imperative to the U.S. Army Warfighter. Current on-going projects and services provided by LinQuest requires an intimate knowledge of the Army’s mission that other contractors do not have without properly transitioning from the current LinQuest work and would require a great investment of time, money and effort to be fully up-to-speed which would interrupt the continuity of services needed. Therefore, a Limited

Sources task order is necessary to allow sufficient time for the Government to award a newly competed task order and to allow for an orderly task order transition, where necessary.

The 12 month task order period takes into account the PM TN’s organizational schedule, burdens, demands, active missions, current projects, and current manpower limitations. Due to a shortage in core PM TN manpower, re-compete documents have not been completed. It should be noted that PM TN currently have three (3) major contracts up for re-compete during the same timeframe.

The services provided by LinQuest are in support of mission critical and national security SATCOM, systems engineering, research, development, laboratory support, engineering, operational support, information assurance and security engineering, electronic warfare analysis and modeling, and test and evaluation services. Logical follow-on work is required of LinQuest.

These logical follow-on activities include systems and software upgrades, follow-on evaluation and testing, follow-on engineering analysis, planning, design, and developmental work, etc.

Project Manager Tactical Network (PM TN) is the transformational Command and Control program that manages tactical information transport at theatre through Company Echelons in support of full spectrum Army operations. Project Manager Tactical Network’s (PM TN) mission is to provide the communications network and services that allows US Army Warfighters, commanders, civilian support personnel, and civilian leadership to send and receive critical information and data in order to execute national security missions and achieve battlefield and intelligence superiority against American adversaries and threats (including terrorists combatants and hostile nation states). Information and data is the element of combat power and intelligence superiority that allows commanders and civilian leadership to magnify the effects of maneuver, firepower, national security, and homeland protection.

PM TN’s tactical networks and SATCOM systems are currently being fielded incrementally to the Army. PM TN’s Network Modernization (formerly Increment 1) provides networking capabilities "At-The-Halt" down to the Battalion level and has completed its fielding to Army Units. PM TN’s Mission Network builds on Increment 1 capabilities and provides initial networking" On-The-Move" down to the Company level only for select Maneuver Brigades.

Mission Network also provides combined Network Operations (NetOps) management capability, updated Network Centric Waveform (NCW) functionality and development and demonstration of the updated Highband Networking Waveform (HNW) capability in support of PM TN fieldings for the Brigade Combat Team (BCT) modernization and Army Capability Sets. PM TN SATCOM is currently being fielded to the Army as non-program-of-record (non-POR).

SATCOM provides additional capabilities to all PORs and supplements the force structure. PM TN SATCOM also researches future developments in SATCOM and how it will affect the Army force structure.

PM TN current programs in which LinQuest supports, such as MILSATCOM System Engineering (MSE), Enroute Mission Command (EMC), Global Broadcast Service (GBS), Trailboss, Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Tactical–Terminal (SMART-T), ETB and Phoenix tasks are ongoing and require the continuity of services. The specific programmatic and technical tasks provided by LinQuest are imperative to the Warfighter. Any disruption of these services would have a negative impact on the Army's ability to carry out its mission and consequently have a negative impact on national security. Failure to maintain continuity of services will severely impact PM TN’s mission to provide those critical services for overall system engineering and technical support, laboratory support, test engineering, field engineering support, information assurance and security engineering, electronic warfare analysis and modeling, and other technical acquisition support tasks for PM Tactical Network’s communication infrastructure.

LinQuest is currently providing critical SATCOM systems engineering and technical support services for numerous PM TN programs. The following key PM TN national defense programs require LinQuest to provide logical follow-on work to ensure continual and uninterrupted engineering and technical support services. LinQuest currently have the skilled technical and engineering personnel with the necessary security clearances who are familiar with the technical dynamics and challenges of these Army programs. LinQuest, with its possession of corporate technical knowledge and personnel with the necessary security clearances, can provide continuity of services necessary for the logical follow-on work for the various programs without harmful disruption.

MILSATCOM System Engineering (MSE)

MILSATCOM Systems Engineering (MSE) assures that tactical Army SATCOM and SATCOM On-The-Move (SOTM) systems are engineered to legally and efficiently operate worldwide.

MSE shapes Joint SATCOM system’s design efforts, standards developments and planning processes. MSE represents the Army’s tactical interests within DoD, Commercial and International forums to ensure affordable and scalable future SATCOM capabilities for maneuver forces. LinQuest personnel have served an integral role to this effort, providing Subject Matter Expertise that helps to facilitate strategic satellite planning in support of tactical satellite network users. LinQuest provides engineering support for the Army’s tactical SATCOM community to include translating operational requirements into technical requirements, development of capabilities and testing for satellites, terminals and next generation modems and analysis and evaluation on Wideband and Protected SATCOM programs. Current manpower for MSE is comprised of 75% LinQuest employees. If LinQuest support was not able to be retained, there would be a critical impact to the work being performed on the Network Centric Waveform-Resilient (NCW-R) modem as well as work being performed on the Protected Anti-Jam Tactical Services related programs which include the next-generation protected satellite waveform, modem, hub and satellite architectures of which LinQuest has provided significant, vital and fundamental contributions to. Additionally, as LinQuest are the developers and maintainers of the Network Centric Waveform Tool (NCWT), it would cause a monumental impact to the PM as the software planning tool would not be in sync with the modem software.

LinQuest’s expertise and contributions to MSE are substantial and if services were discontinued, would cause potentially irreparable harm to the continuation of the above efforts for the Tactical Army.

SMART-T

SMART-T is the Army’s protected satellite communications system that enables commanders at brigade and higher to operate in an Electronic Warfare (EW) threat environment that includes both RF signal interference (jamming), signal detection and geographic location threats.

Additionally, the SMART-T can also survive the effects of a High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) produced by nuclear detonations and can operate and survive in a biological and chemical environment. SMART-T makes it possible for Warfighters to reliably and securely extend the range of their network in such a manner that communications cannot be jammed, detected or intercepted, enabling Warfighters to send critical text, data, voice and video communications beyond their area of operations. LinQuest provides a unique engineering pool with the ability to design, develop and maintain the Acquisition Logistics Performance Scorecard (ALPS) as a web-enabled application that is Government Owned/Contractor Operated (GO/CO) and designed to improve overall system(s) asset tracking, and readiness availability by enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of the asset management and repair tracking transactions. ALPS capability greatly reduces administrative maintenance burden on the end users and administrative costs associated with total life cycle management, warranties, asset fielding and maintenance for both Government organizations and contractor Depot. In addition, LinQuest developed and is delivering the capability to track Life Cycle Post Production Software Support (PPSS), Software and License Sustainment Distribution and overall portfolio database weapon system and software configuration maintenance management that includes IAVA patching and tracking.

LinQuest provides the institution repository of Advance Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) and Mission Planning Segment engineering cadre critical to the SMART-T baseline to include projected Ethernet Repeater enhancement and Mission Planning platform with desired technical training. Without LinQuest’s resident subject matter experts (SME) and their institutional knowledge to engage and support emerging capabilities, PM Tactical Network will be unable to project, design, test or validate the next generation of Protected, Mega Throughput, Mission Planning Segment enablers required to support the Force in near/stand-off threat requirements for the Army’s Tactical Network.

Phoenix

The Phoenix terminal is a transportable, quad-band, tactical satellite terminal that is mounted on an expanded capacity vehicle. It provides ESBs assured access to satellite communications and operational flexibility in a tactical environment by providing a rapidly deployable capability to operate over military X/Ka and commercial C/Ku satellite bands. It is designed to operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week and provides reliable communications throughout the world.

The Phoenix (Tactical Super High Frequency (SHF) Satellite Terminal (TSST)) D-Model repackaging is in full up converting to the E-Model design. LinQuest provides the level of engineering capability that enables PM TN to leverage inherent capabilities and commonalities pivotal to the PM One Network vision and capability. Discontinuation of services would cause a negative effect in the ability for the program to leverage these capabilities.

ETB

The Emulation Test Bed (ETB) provides high fidelity emulation of Army’s tactical network that can be scaled to Brigade (BDE) size deployment enabling test and analysis of architectures and products in a controlled lab environment using realistic operational scenarios to identify and resolve integration and performance issues prior to field testing and enable leadership to make informed programmatic and technical decisions. Current manpower for ETB is composed of 50% LinQuest employees.

Removing 50% of the workforce from the ETB would have a devastating effect upon the upcoming Integrated Tactical Network 19 experiment scheduled for this summer, as well as the 5GTi Risk Reduction Testing for the upcoming summer 5GTi Pilot Test. Inaddition, there would be immediate impacts to the ongoing NCW 10.X EMANE upgrade model as well as the ongoing BRN TSM RiF modelling Phase 3 product development.

The incumbent contractor, LinQuest Corporation, has performed their work in a highly satisfactory manner.

5. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS TO SOLICIT AS MANY OFFERS AS IS

PRACTICABLE

Due to the nature of this award, logical follow-on, no other offerors were solicited for this effort.

No other sources have the capability to start work today without a loss of continuity in performance.

6. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST WILL BE FAIR AND

REASONABLE

The Government will evaluate LinQuest’s labor rates submitted in response to our proposed RFQ against the Government’s estimate and LinQuest previous labors rates to ensure that prices awarded under this action are fair and reasonable. In addition the Government will review that the labor rates are within LinQuest’s approved GSA Schedule Contract. Furthermore, per FAR 8.404(d), prices and rates under GSA Schedule contracts have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. The labor mix will also be evaluated by the Government to ensure they are suitable, and are fair and reasonable.

Regarding Travel, travel cost must comply and be invoiced in accordance with FAR 31.205-46 and Federal Travel Regulations (FTR). Travel costs will be considered reasonable and allowable only to the extent that they do not exceed on a daily basis, the maximum per diem rates in effect at the time of the travel. The FTR, or Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) for OCONUS, shall provide the basis for the determination as to reasonable and allowable.

A not-to-exceed ceiling price will be established.

7. DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED

Not applicable. This requirement is to extend services that are being provided by LinQuest.

8. OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

None

9. LIST OF SOURCES THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION

Due to the nature of logical follow-on, no other sources expressed interest and no other offerors were solicited for this effort.

10. STATEMENT OF ACTIONS TO OVERCOME BARRIERS TO COMPETITION

None.

DETERMINATION

Based on the above, it is determined that it is justified and is in the Government’s best interest to solicit and award on a Limited Sources basis under FAR Part 8.405-6 (a)(1)(i)(C), a Logical Follow-on task order for 12 months, under LinQuest Corporation GSA Schedule Contract GS- 23F-0113S