J-A Systems Engineering.pdf

MIPR Number:

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (OTFAOC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Justification for OTFAOC Number: JA12-040

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Procuring Activity Competition Advocate

(PACA), hereby approve the use of other than full and open competition of the proposed contractual action pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

JUSTIFICATION

1. Agency and Contracting Activity: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(1))

Requiring Activity

Defense Information Systems Agency Program Executive Office for Command & Control Capabilities (PEO-C2C) P.O. Box 549 Ft. Meade, MD 20755

Contracting Activity

Defense Information Systems Agency Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization - National Capital Region

(DITCO-NCR)

P.O. Box 549 Ft. Meade, MD 20755

2. Nature/Description of Action(s) (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(2)).

The purpose of this action is to modify the existing contract to incorporate additional work under a current DISA Encore II Task order awarded to Northrop Grumman Information Technology (NGIT) on a sole-source basis for a period of twelve (12) months to ensure critical Joint Global Command and Control Systems (GCCS-J) capabilities meet warfighter demands and requirements. GCCS-J is the designated DoD program of record for all Joint C2 capabilities.

This sole-source modification of additional work is required as a result of a delay in the issuance of specific guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) regarding the responsibilities and requirements of the GCCS-J program. Once forthcoming guidance is received from OSD, the anticipated requirement for continued System Engineering Development and Integrations Support, currently provided by NGIT, will be fully defined and it is anticipated it will be competitively procured. This sole-source J&A is necessary to allow the Government sufficient time to develop, refine, and reprocure the Systems Engineering Development and Integration Support requirement for the GCCS-J. These support services were previously to be replaced by the Net- Enabled Command Capability system, however, this system was subsequently cancelled by Congress (ref. PUBLIC LAW 111-84-OCT. 28, 2009, 123 STAT.

2240, Section 247).

As a result of this cancellation, GCCS-J remains the designated DoD program of record for all Joint C2 capabilities. As a result, the GCCS-J PMO was placed in a unique situation where it must maintain the deployed system in accordance with the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) approved “Do No Harm” concept as outlined in JROCM 145-09, 9 September 2009, while also addressing to the anticipated OSD directed enhancements and transition of logical capabilities away from local instantiations to the enterprise or use available enterprise services.

The GCCS-J PMO is awaiting the finalization of the Joint C2 Modernization Strategy, which includes, but is not limited to, the finalization of the Analysis of Alternatives by OSD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation team, finalization the Networks and Information Integration reorganization, adoption of the C2 portfolio management, and approval of the modernization strategy. The finalized Joint C2 Modernization Strategy will ultimately drive the anticipated acquisition construct and requirements. This strategy is currently pending DoD approval based on a variety, re-organization, policy, and re-defined levels of authority and responsibilities decisions. This sole-source modification of additional work is required to allow the Government sufficient time to develop, refine, transition, and reprocure the Systems Engineering support requirement once the Joint C2 Modernization Strategy has been finalized.

The anticipated contract type is Cost Plus Fixed Fee. The estimated cost of this sole source modification of additional work is $11M. The period of performance will be 01 February 2012 - 31 January 2013. Systems Engineering support is currently provided via DISA ENCORE II Task Order HC1028-08-D-2023-VC20, which was competed under fair opportunity and awarded to NGIT. This existing contract/task order will expire on 31 January 2012 and all options, inclusive of FAR 52.217-8 - Option to Extend Services, have been exercised. DISA is currently in the process of developing, refining, and –planning the reprocurement of the Systems Engineering support task. however, it is not anticipated that the new support contract will be in place prior to the expiration of the existing contract/task order.

3. Description of Supplies/Services (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(3)).

This Task Order includes the design, development and maintenance of the core of Global Command and Control System - Joint (GCCS-J) infrastructure software on which all GCCS-J mission applications execute. The scope of this task order is primarily to provide system engineering technical support required in the areas of software development, developmental testing, integration, integration testing, acceptance testing, transition/migration, security, implementation and maintenance to the GCCS-J Program Management Office (PMO) in their mission of developing, fielding, migrating, and synchronizing of the fielded GCCS-J system.

With the termination of the Net-Enabled Command Capability (NECC) program (02 November 2009) the GCCS-J Program Management Organization (PMO) has been charged with three primary areas of responsibility moving forward: (1) sustaining the current operational GCCS-J capabilities, (2) maintaining synchronization across DoD of GCCS-J, joint interfaces and the GCCS FoS, and (3) evolving from the current GCCS-J to a next generation system using state of the art technology with minimal impact to the operators. In addition to covering sustainment and synchronization support for the deployed, operational GCCS-J baselines, the PMO is structuring its contracts and mission to be flexible enough to accommodate this modernization evolution to help ensure that critical capabilities are delivered to the War fighter in the most timely, efficient manner.

The GCCS-J PMO is in a unique situation where it must maintain the deployed system in accordance with the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) approved “Do No Harm” concept as outlined in JROCM 145-09, 9 September 2009, while also addressing the need to enhance and transition logical capabilities away from local instantiations to the enterprise or use available enterprise services. Further, the GCCS-J PMO is a critical component of the Joint C2 Modernization strategy which will ultimately drive the anticipated acquisition construct and requirements. This strategy is currently pending DoD approval based on a variety, re-organization, policy, and re-defined levels of authority and responsibilities decisions.

Required Systems Engineering support provided under this J&A consists of:

• Development and maintenance of critical system documentation, including installation procedures, technical architecture, system performance evaluation, system administrator manual, and the development of system open architecture operational scenarios.

• Supporting the maintenance and fielding of the delivered GCCS-J version 4.2.x infrastructures.

• Technical software engineering support to assist in the resolution of software or hardware problems related to components delivered by the contractor (GCCS-J Software Problem Report (GSPR) and Performance Based Incidents (PBIs) analysis and mitigation).

• Product updates for Information Assurance Vulnerability Alerts (IAVAs), operational bug fixes, critical security fixes, emergency fixes & patches, and other necessary sustainment functions.

• Defining hardware configuration requirements, providing hardware/performance engineering analysis, selecting the best system hardware architecture for present and future versions, and acquiring the selected system hardware architecture.

• System level software, hardware, network configuration management, and integration software acceptance support will also be provided.

This effort requires support for fielding, maintenance, integration, testing and software development activities for the GCCS-J system. This engineering effort is critical and essential for the sustainment of the GCCS-J capabilities. In addition, it is important to migrate the GCCS-J system to an enhanced technical environment and demonstrate improved secured ways of providing Command, Control, Computers, Communications, and Intelligence (C4I) information to the warfighter. DISA must continuously provide maintenance and sustainment of operational capabilities by keeping the existing capabilities fielded with the GCCS-J system functioning correctly and in a secure manner, while synchronizing with GCCS Family of Systems (FoS) and Joint C2 (Command & Control). Support includes establishing guidelines, responsibilities, activities, timelines, and resources necessary for the orderly migration to a new release of GCCS- J. NGIT will also provide expertise and assistance to members of the software installation teams at designated local and remote facilities.

4. Identification of Statutory Authority and Demonstration of Contractor’s Unique

Qualifications (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(4)).

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) - Only one awardee at this time is capable of providing the required supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

The GCCS-J PMO is awaiting overarching GCCS-J program guidance which is pending finalization of the Congressionally directed modernization strategy report detailing the plans for the consolidation and modernization of Joint C2.

NGIT has highly specialized expertise that is unique in regards to its knowledge of the installation and configuration of GCCS-J 4.2.x gained during previous pre-operational system level testing and fielding events. This specialized experience is critical to a successful operational test event and the fielding of present and future GCCS-J versions, which are scheduled during the period of when the additional work will be performed. NGIT is uniquely qualified to continue the technical architecture support, requirements analysis, database development, system-level applications integration, and GCCS-J and core software development.

In addition, NGIT has unique specialized experience with ”bug” fixes, testing, laboratory support, and fielding of software for the GCCS-J systems. This additional work is a direct continuation of the prior task orders’ efforts and requires specialized expertise and knowledge of the current state of GCCS-J 4.2.x from a technical perspective. . In addition, NGIT has a knowledgeable and experienced system level engineering staff already in place on GCCS-J.

NGIT has an experienced and widespread set of GCCS-J operational and technical corp of expertise who collectively hold decades of field experience and maintain key relationships with COCOMs, Joint Staff, OSD, and DISA. This staffing minimizes the risk to:

• Software integration activities, impact to the program’s schedule especially for time critical tasks, and events such as System Integration Test (SIT), System Acceptance Test (SAT), Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E).

• The ability to reach back into the NGIT in-depth development experience with many of the systems that comprise or interface with GCCS-J, GCCS Family of System (FoS), Joint Command and Control (C2) and Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) transformations.

• Effective use of COTS and web technology to support the transition of GCCS-J into the Joint C2 environment.

To competitively award the services covered by this J&A related to the existing NGIT task order would cause unacceptable delays in the fielding of enhanced operational capabilities for the Warfighter and would cause a change to the Acquisition Program Baseline (APB). In addition, NGIT’s expertise will be crucial over the next twelve (12) months the GCCS-J program will be fielding new baselines to enhance warfighting capabilities, address COTS end of life issues and comply with security polices such that transition to a new provider could be detrimental to the operational capabilities and impact critical warfighting functions. NGIT has also been instrumental in developing training plans and courses of instruction to be executed in conjunction with GCCS-J 4.1.x and 4.2.x fielding. NGIT’s personnel are currently fully prepared to conduct this training. NGIT developed the core infrastructure software upon which all GCCS-

J Block V mission applications execute. Quick-turn analysis and mitigation of software problem reports are crucial to meeting the GCCS-J 4.2.x schedules. Any other contractor at this time would be unable to provide these critical services without causing an unacceptable delay or interruption of services.

Although the Market Research discussed below indicates that the future solicitation of this requirement may be competitive, this sole-source modification of additional work is necessary because the pending OSD guidance will likely drive significant changes to the requirements to be captured in the future solicitation of this requirement. Furthermore, a sole-source modification of this additional work to NGIT is necessary due to the specialized nature of the current expertise provided to accomplish the critical mission. In the event that the future solicitation of this requirement results in award to a contractor other than the incumbent, transition support will be required. Disengaging from NGIT could effectively bring the project to a complete halt for approximately three (3) to five (5) months while a new contractor transitions key personnel, processes and becomes acclimated with the required services to be performed. The GCCS-J mission and suite of functional in use capabilities requires continuation (with no disruption) of support services currently provided by NGIT and cannot accommodate a potential disruption of support. Furthermore, the cost savings of not having to pay another contractor for this “ramp up time” would equate to approximately $1.1M based on historical costs. Failure to maintain contractor support provided by NGIT until such time that a new task order can be reprocured, awarded, and transitioned will result in a loss of continuity of services and be will be unacceptably detrimental to the GCCS-J program’s ability to provide basic operational support.

GCCS-J provides critical situational awareness and joint operational planning to daily warfighting and crisis action response activities. Loss of continuity impacts the fielding causing a major slip in vital GCCS-J upgrades for the warfighter. Delays to fielding these enhancements puts DISA’s Joint Command and Control efforts in jeopardy, which in-turn compromises the warfighter's ability to command and control military forces on the battlefield and obtain intelligence to conduct Joint operations.

In conclusion, it is in the best interest of the Government to issue a sole-source modification for this additional work for a period of twelve (12) months to NGIT for the following reasons: DoD is finalizing its overall strategy for Joint C2 (e.g., finalization of the Analysis of Alternatives by CAPE, OSD, finalization the NII reorganization, adoption of the C2 portfolio management, approval of the modernization strategy, etc.) \, GCCS-J PMO will be fielding a new baseline and accompanying capabilities over the next twelve (12) months that cannot be disrupted, a new vendor would require considerable ramp-up and a minimum of three (3) months to acquire a base level of knowledge to provide the GCCS-J with a minimal level of support; the highly specialized expertise of NGIT is impossible to duplicate prior to the expiration of the current task order on 31 January 2012; and not awarding to NGIT would put the operational software that provides C2 capabilities to the Warfighter at risk and jeopardize their ability to fight the Global War on Terrorism as well effectively support the in-process drawdown and reprioritization of US Forces.

5. Cost/Price Fair and Reasonable Determination (FAR 16.505(b)(ii)(B)(5).

The Contracting Officer will determine a fair and reasonable cost based on the results of cost realism and comparison of the proposed rates to the pre-established rates in the ENCORE II contract and rate verification by DCAA.

6. Description of Market Research.

Market research was conducted prior to the issuance of the current Task Order, HC1028-08-D- 2023-VC20. The market research involved research on the Encore II vendor’s capabilities and past work efforts. Market research also included consideration of vendors who could be able to perform the combined work on other contract vehicles; i.e. GSA,. Only vendors identified within the Encore II vehicle had expertise with software development and several were identified as possibly being able to provide technical expertise required to work with the complexities of the Global Command and Control System and within programs of this nature (GCCS-J is a highly complex and widely dispersed (over 1000 instances) capability dependant on hardware and software that is partially COTS and partial custom). As such, it was determined that soliciting under the DISA Encore II IDIQ contract vehicle was in the best interest of the Government.

Furthermore, market research has been conducted for the future solicitation for the Systems Engineering requirement via the issuance of a FBO Request for Information (RFI) on 20 October 2011 and subsequent assessment of the respondent’s technical capabilities. The results of current market research identified that a competitive market potentially exists for the required services;

however, due to the delay in issuance of Joint C2 Modernization Strategy, the GCCS-J PMO is unable to fully develop and refine the requirements for the anticipated acquisition, and therefore is in a position where it cannot move forward with a potential transition, competitive acquisition or award for the anticipated these services prior to 31 January 2012. As a result, it is necessary to issue a sole source modification for twelve (12) months to NGIT. Without this twelve (12) month sole source modification, there would be an unacceptable gap in support services to the GCCS-J program.

7. Any Other Supporting Facts (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(6)).

The Systems Engineering requirement was initially competed amongst NexGen Large Businesses contract holders, resulting in the award of Task Order DCA100-02-D-4007/0021 to NGIT for 19 Feb 04 to 10 May 05. NGIT was later awarded follow-on Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF) Task Orders:

DCA100-02-D-4007/0038 (11 May 05 to 10 Mar 06) DCA100-02-D-4007/0045 (13 Apr 06 to 12 Apr 07) DCA100-02-D-4007/0052 (13 Apr 07 to 12 Apr 08) DCA100-02-D-4007/0057 (13 Apr 08 to 11 Jun 09)

Subsequent to the above awards under the NexGen contract vehicle, this requirement was competed amongst ENCORE II contract holders, resulting in the award of a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) with Performance Incentive, Task Order HC1028-08-D-2023/VC16, and a subsequent logical follow on award of Task Order HC1028-08-D-2023/VC20 to NGIT.This J&A supports non-competitive 12 month extension to the current task order VC20 issued under the Encore II vehicle.

8. Actions Taken to Remove Barriers to Competition (FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(7)).

The Government is in the process of developing a competitive strategy to address required support after this extension. The Government will leverage its findings from the RFIs and the requirements as defined in the modernization strategy for Joint C2 which will allow for potential greater competition. Based upon market research and the refinement of the Government’s requirements along with an updated acquisition strategy, the Government has a reasonable expectation that a competitive market will exist for these services in the future solicitation of this requirement.

a. Procurement History:

(1) Systems Engineering Support services are currently provided by NGIT on task order HC1028-08-D-2023-VC20.

(2) The current task order is Cost Plus Fixed-Fee with Performance Incentives

(CPFF-PI).

(3) The current task order was issued as a sole-source follow-on to task order

HC1028-08-D-2023-VC16.

b. The current task order will expire on 31 January 2012 and all options, inclusive of

FAR 52.217-8 - Option to Extend Services, have been exercised.

c. A notice will be published to FedBizOpps as required by FAR 5.301(d) within 14 days of modification award of this sole source action for a minimum of 30 days.

9. Reference to the Approved Acquisition Plan (AP)/Program Plan (PP).

This effort does not meet the threshold requirement for an approved Acquisition Plan.