JA-_10-A-2001-P00004_CLEAN_revised_(2)_JA13-062.pdf

Reference Number: HC1028-10-A-2001 Title of Effort: Development and Maintenance of the GEX

Title: Development and Maintenance of the GEX J&A#13-062 Page 1 of 7 Pages

LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL

FAR PART 8 ACQUISITIONS

Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)/Multiple Award Contract (MAC) Orders under MAS/General Service Schedules (GSA)/Federal Supply Schedules (FSS)

FAR 8.405-6

Purchase Request Number: N/A Contract Number: HC1028-10-A-2001 Task/Delivery Order Number: N/A Procurement Title: Contract Modification for Development and Maintenance of the Global Exchange (GEX) Contracting Office: Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO), Non-DISA Services and Mission Support Section (PL8312) Estimated Value: $12,500,000.00 Limited Source Authority: FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B)

LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

J&A Number: JA13-062

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Procuring Agency Competition Advocate, hereby approve this limited source justification in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C).

The acquisition referenced herein is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

JUSTIFICATION

1. REQUIRING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

a. Requiring Activity:

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Transaction Services 5250 Pearson Road Area A, Bldg 207 Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), OH 45433

b. Contracting Activity:

DISA/DITCO PL8312

2300 East Drive Scott AFB, IL 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

a. The nature of this action is to increase the ceiling amount via modification P00004 to the established non-personal services Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA), HC1028-10-A-2001, for the development and maintenance of the GEX. The services include but are not limited to the following actions: task management; integration program development and management;

integration requirements validation and prototyping; business process reengineering, functional

Page 2 of 7 Pages process improvement; development, deployment, operations and maintenance management for standard/common/legacy/migrated applications.

b. The recommendation is to increase the ceiling amount on the BPA against Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, a large business, General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) number GS-35F-4506G. The available contract types for Task Orders (TOs) are Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and FFP-Level of Effort (FFP-LOE). The Period of Performance (PoP) for this BPA for the base period remains 30 June 2010 through 30 June 2014.

The estimated life-cycle cost for the BPA will be increased by $12.5 million, from $48 million to $60.5 million.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

a. Under BPA HC1028-10-A-2001, DLA Transaction Services designs, develops, and implements logistics solutions that improve its worldwide customers’ requisition processing and logistics management processes. The primary mission of the DLA Transaction Services is to receive, edit, validate, route, and deliver logistics transactions for the Department of Defense (DoD) Components and Participating Agencies; to provide value-added services for numerous logistics transactions, such as network and data interoperability, DoD level logistics information services; and report generation. DLA Transaction Services serves as the DoD translator which allows the DoD Component supply systems to speak the same language by receiving data, often non-standard, editing and validating the transactions, and forwarding the transactions, in the correct format, to the proper destination. DLA Transaction Services maintains two sites that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Mission essential applications run in parallel at both sites.

b. The GEX accomplishes its mission by facilitating the development of eBusiness interfaces to a multitude of systems within the Government and commercial enterprises. The GEX BPA was put in place to support the above mission and to continue supporting enhancements and ongoing sustainment activities of the GEX Services, which supports the overall DoD and Federal initiative to provide a common set of tools and services to implement Electronic Commerce (EC) throughout the DoD and Federal Government. Interface development for Government agencies allows Government agencies to accomplish the modernization of their business processes using the GEX system as their mediation system. The GEX effort requires sophisticated experience to develop and deliver business integration interfaces with technology development, system development, integration, and fielding of standards based solutions to meet Government agencies and services electronic business integration requirements. This includes Information Technology (IT) services and engineering capabilities to design, develop, maintain and operate four GEX electronic business interface environments. This allows projects with specific interface needs and integration goals to gain early production, gain economies of scale from experience of the present prime contractor for shortened development times and provide a contract vehicle for Government agencies and services to develop their business interface requirements in an expeditious manner for cost savings.

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c. The continued use of the GEX BPA is imperative to the success of the GEX mission and in supporting large scale data integration efforts such as Defense Travel System (DTS), Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF), the Army, Naval Supply Information Systems Activity (NAVSISA), Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), and numerous Standard Procurement Systems (SPS).

d. The mission of the GEX is to provide mediation services, intelligent routing and transaction archives for Government and Commercial entities doing electronic business within DoD. It is imperative to the success of this mission that the GEX continues to develop, operate, maintain, and provide mediation services to the individual Services and Agencies to accomplish their electronic business requirements.

e. This BPA provides for contractor support in sustaining and improving the GEX capability to conduct data integration supporting Electronic Business (EB)/EC within the Federal Government. This includes necessary technical support to: DLA Transaction Services sites at Dayton, OH, Tracy, CA, Columbus, OH and Ogden, UT. Additionally this BPA supports program specific GEX map development and associated testing of new integrations. The efforts performed under this BPA are critical for sustaining and enhancing the current GEX. The effort includes necessary technical on-site support, systems engineering, software development, documentation, systems installation, testing, and maintenance. This BPA also serves as a vehicle for other services and agencies to gain access to the prime contractor to pay for their individual interface requirements to the GEX program.

f. Requests for follow-ons to TOs placed against this BPA have been submitted. In order to complete these follow-on TOs, an increase to the ceiling amount is required.

Within the next two months, the following TOs will be placed against the BPA, of which three will exceed the current ceiling in April 2013:

1) WAWF 5.4.1 Map Support (Total Projected Value (TPV) $37 thousand) – April 2013, within ceiling

2) WAWF 5.5 Map Support (TPV $492 thousand) – April 2013, within ceiling

3) WAWF, UID, EDA Support for multiple efforts including, Feasibility Study, EDA MRS and WAWF Portal enhancement (TPV $2 million) – April 2013, beyond ceiling

4) EPS Follow On (TPV $2.4 million) – May 2013, beyond ceiling

5) E-Bus System Interface Development and Deployment (TPV base only $650 thousand) – April 2013, beyond ceiling

6) Single Line of Accounting (TPV $2.5 million) – 2013, beyond ceiling

7) Power Track Follow-on (TPV $50 thousand) – 2013, beyond ceiling

8) DFAS Follow-on (TPV $300 thousand) – 2013, beyond ceiling

9) ICAN Retirement Sustainment (TPV $2 million) – 2013, beyond ceiling

10) Energy Convergence (TPV $500 thousand) – 2013, beyond ceiling

11) Auditability Projects (TPV $2 million) – 2013, beyond ceiling

Currently, these are the only actions identified as requirements against this BPA. The packages will not be funded until the ceiling is increased for HC1028-10-A-2001.

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g. The above requirements are within the scope of the BPA, and only $545,966.53 remains before the current ceiling amount is reached. With the first two projected orders shown above, approximately $16 thousand will remain, which is not enough for the final three projected orders. Raising the ceiling amount is the most efficient and effective way to meet mission requirements within the timeframe. This effort will provide a continuation of support until expiration in June 2014, at which time the requirement will be re-competed. Any lapse in service to this BPA would jeopardize DLA Transaction Services’ mission support provided to the warfighter and put the warfighter at risk. One of those risks is orders for food and medical supplies would not be delivered if the GEX has an operational issue and no one to provide corrective action.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF LIMITED SOURCE AUTHORITY AND DEMONSTRATION

OF CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS:

a. This modification is conducted under 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 FSS order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable FSS ordering procedures.

The original BPA was not issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

b. This Justification is for continued support of these requirements as currently being provided by Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation under BPA HC1028-10-A-2001, which was competitively solicited; however, only Northrop Grumman submitted a proposal. Northrop Grumman is the only contractor with extensive knowledge of the internal workings of the GEX software. Unexpected requirements and consolidation efforts caused the BPA to approach the funding ceiling faster than expected.

c. If the GEX were to have processing issues, it is imperative that we have specialized

GEX support to get the application running as quickly as possible. The original BPA runs thru June of 2014 at which time DLA Transaction Services plans to recompete the BPA. This justification for a price ceiling increase will allow Northrop Grumman to continue supporting the GEX software while DLA Transaction Services prepares to recompete the requirement. If the government does not raise the ceiling of the BPA, components will be without GEX support for approximately 1 year. Based on published Procurement Acquisition Lead Times and historical procurement history, the development and award of a follow-on competitive acquisition is expected to take a year. This delay would place the entire mission to support the warfighter at risk.

d. This effort will provide a continuation of support until completion in June 2014 at which time the effort would be re-competed. Award to any other contractor would cause a 12 to 18 month delay in order to allow the contractor to gain the required expertise. This delay was determined by the time it takes a new employee to become proficient on the GEX platform. This would cause significant impacts to existing TO’s, soon to be awarded TO’s, and current GEX production operations.

5. BEST VALUE DETERMINATION: By issuing a BPA against a GSA FSS, using the procedures in 8.405, DITCO concluded at the time of award, that the BPA represents the best

Page 5 of 7 Pages value (as defined in FAR 2.101) and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs. Labor rates and other direct costs included are comparable with those offered and already deemed fair and reasonable under North Grumman’s GSA schedule.

6. MARKET RESEARCH:

a. DLA Transaction Services has completed market research on the GSA Advantage web site and the FedBizOpps web site over the last month, April 2013. There were no contractors, other than Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, that had GEX knowledge listed as a capability they provide. Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation was the only participant in this competitively solicited BPA. However, the follow-on to this requirement will again be competed upon its expiration. The Government will continue market research to focus on small business participation in the follow-on.

b. This effort requires specialized knowledge in the DLA Transaction Services EB mission. This would include extensive knowledge of the workings of the GEX which is only in existence at DLA Transaction Services. The only contractor with extensive knowledge of the GEX software is Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation. Raising the dollar ceiling for the current BPA would allow Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation to continue supporting existing customers with no impact to current operations. Award to any other contractor would cause significant delay to many programs across the Services/Federal Government due to the specialized GEX experience required in order to be able to fulfill this requirement. This method represents the best value to the Government, in order to allow sufficient time for a competitive follow-on.

7. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS: A re-compete would require many hours to develop a new BPA and coordinate it through to award. During this time, Agencies and Service’s will lose their GEX capability while a new follow-on contract is put in place, or Agency’s and Service’s contract for their own GEX contracts. Taking into account all the man hours that would be spent on awarding a new BPA at this time or the Agency’s and Services’ contracting for their own contracts, the estimated savings would be well above $20,000 for DLA Transaction Services alone, as they would continue to use the established vehicle versus contracting for their own. Raising the price ceiling at this time will also result in cost savings to the government, as other Agencies will be able to continue to utilize the BPA and will not have to award a separate contract to meet their requirements to use the GEX system. The cost savings would be more than $100,000 between all Agencies, considering each Agency would spend many man hours developing their own contracts and coordinating these contracts with DLA Transaction Services to determine applicability to the GEX system.

8. ACTIONS THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE BARRIERS THAT LED TO

THE RESTRICTED CONSIDERATION:

a. Procurement history:

1) Contract Number: HC1028-10-A-2001

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Contractor: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation Contract Period: 1 July 2010 through 30 June 2014 Total Contract Value: $48,000,000.00 Contract Type: FFP; FFP-LOE BPA Objective: Development and Maintenance of the GEX.

b. The Government is preparing for the expiration of this BPA. Although there is no other known contractor capable of performing this requirement at this time, before the BPA’s expiration, the Government intends to conduct more in depth market research, to determine feasibility of setting aside the effort for small business in hopes of furthering the competition.

9. REFERENCE TO THE APPROVED ACQUISITION PLAN (AP): A written acquisition plan is being routed for coordination and approval along with this Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition.

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TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the J&A are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

((FAR 8.405-6)(c)(2)(x))

NAME: Audrey Jewell Brock SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: COR, DLA Transaction Services

PHONE: (937) 656-3709 DATE: 23 April 2013

REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the J&A are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. (FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(x))

NAME: Clarissa Elmore SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Solutions, Div Chief, DLA Transaction Services

PHONE: (937) 656-3709 DATE: 23 April 2013

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NAME: Tara D. Schmitt SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Contracting Officer, DITCO/PL8312

PHONE: (618) 229-9485 DATE: 23 April 2013

ACTIVITY COMPETITION ADVOCATE APPROVAL: I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NAME: Gay Arnold SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Procuring Activity Competition Advocate/DISA/DITCO

PHONE: 618-229-9517 DATE: 23 April 2013

ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS JUSTIFICATION ARE TO BE REFERRED TO Tim Ranz at 618-229-9470 or timothy.d.ranz.civ@mail.mil.

mailto:timothy.d.ranz.civ@mail.mil