JA-24-Hua-716_JA Extension FA873214D0020-W91RUS19F0014 IP_VTC-12-month ext_26 July 2024._Redacted.pdf

CUI

Control No: JA-24-Hua-716

Contractor: SOS International, LLC (SOSi) Program/Equipment: NETCOM IP-VTC

Justification Review Document for an Exception to Fair Opportunity FAR 16.505(b)(2)

Program/Equipment: Non-personal Army Enterprise Internet Protocol Video Teleconference (IP-VTC) services supporting the United States Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM).

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 3406(c)(3) and FAR Part 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 contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

Amount:

Prepared by:

Contracting Officer:

Technical Representative:

Requirements Representative:

Controlled by: Army Controlled by: ACC-APG CUI Category: General Procurement and Acquisition Distribution/Dissemination Control:

FEDCON

Reviews

I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support the justification for an exception to fair opportunity.

Justification Review Document for an Exception to Fair Opportunity FAR 16.505(b)(2)

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Huachuca Division, 2133 Cushing Street, Building 61801, Room 2637, Fort Huachuca, AZ 85613-7070.

2. Description of Action: ACC-APG requests approval for a 100 percent Firm Fixed Price, 12-month, sole source extension of services modification to contract number FA873214D0020-W91RUS19F0014 for SOS International, LLC (SOSi), 1881 Campus Commons Drive, Suite 500, Reston, Virginia 207191-1572 to continue full performance from 10 July 2024 through 09 July 2025 for a total value of . This acquisition was funded using Fiscal Year 2024 Operations and Maintenance Army (OMA) funds.

An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i)(B).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The contractor provides direct support to the United States Army Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) G-3 Headquarters, subcommand organizations and other NETCOM supported locations with business operations, Network Operations (NetOps), Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support, Cybersecurity, Knowledge Management (KM), Army Enterprise Service Ownership/Development and Capability Management, plus Content Management requirements for Army Enterprise IP-VTC capabilities.

Contract Action Value Performance Period 12-month extension for labor 10 July 2024 through 09 July

4. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 3406(c)(3) and FAR Part 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 contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The five-year task order award of FA873214D0020- W91RUS19F0014 in December 2018 resulted from a fair opportunity competition under the CHESS ITES-3H IDIQ.

Background:

These same services were competed on CHESS ITES-3H as a 100% small business set-aside and contract W52P1J18DA021- W91RUS24F0137 was awarded on 07 June 2024.

In coordination with and in agreement from both cognizant Small Business Administration offices, Area II (Fort Huachuca) and Area IV (District of Columbia), contract W52P1J18DA021- W91RUS24F0137 was rescinded one week later on 14 June 2024 under W52P1J18DA021- W91RUS24F0137-P00001 as a no-cost settlement agreement

- complete termination. Since then, the acquisition strategy has changed from competing these same services again on CHESS to incorporating these services under the separate Global Cyber Center (GCC) that is currently in the acquisition planning stage of pre-award.

Due to the inability of a contracted company to take over the current IP-VTC (renamed United Communications (UC)) and to replace that contractor with a new contract, the Army needed to convert the phase-out services to full performance and also request another extension of services to continue the same services under the same contract for the sake of economy and efficiency until the agency enters into another contract for the required services through the use of competitive procedures.

The UC team provides critical support and management of voice and VTC services for the Continental US and remote support to OCONUS organizations that require Tier 3 level expertise to resolve outages or unsatisfactory levels of video and voice services to Senior leaders and Combatant Commanders.

The services provided by the UC team support Army Senior leaders with Command and Control (C2) voice, conferencing and VTC capabilities on the SIPR network which includes leaders from the Pentagon to Mission Commanders in the field. A discontinuation of services would cause a serious disconnect between Senior leaders who would not be able to properly communicate in a timely manner.

The services provided by the UC team on the NIPR side include normal communications capability of an installation that has already converted to VoIP communications from the older TDM systems. The UC team sets and manages the Enterprise standards being used by NECs to maintain and upgrade systems and network access as needed. The PEO (GENM-A) project team also uses the Enterprise standards to implement the new Voice Modernization (VMOD) project the Army has initiated that is in support of the overall Army vision for the Army Unified Network (AUN). The VMOD implementation teams coordinate with the UC team before an installations network configurations are changed to verify compliance and no disruption of service during change over.

The reason for asking for this Justification and Approval is to secure a continuation of support for current operations that include mission critical actions that support activities in progress in austere environments. To discontinue or interrupt service would impact lively hood in unnecessary danger. Not only does the team support and troubleshoot issues with voice and video communications but they also Operate and Manage (O&M) the system averages @4500 voice and video calls supporting 64 Mission Partners, this includes other Agencies and deployed elements.

In addition, the acquisition strategy for satisfying this requirement has changed. The ARCYBER/NETCOM is currently soliciting for a new GCC that is projected to be the central hub for all DODIN-A Enterprise Service O&M actions. Within one year, the UC Enterprise Service Team is to transition onto the new GCC contract to consolidate all disparate contracts that are currently supporting DODIN-A O&M. This consolidation of Enterprise Services will provide better support, Cyber Response, and control of the s portion of the DODIN.

The 12-month extension being requested here is based on the Department of the Army Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition Logistics and Technology, Memorandum dated 31 January 2023, SUBJECT: Fiscal Year 2023 Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT) Estimates. The GCC contract is valued at and will be competed under the CHESS ITES-3S program. An Industry Day has been scheduled for 24 January 2024. The estimated PALT for the GCC acquisition is 270 days. This 270-day timeline for a new contract to be out in place, plus the needed 90 days phase-out support required supports the need for a12-month extension of services. The GCC solicitation has not yet been posted.

because there is no time to bring a contractor up to speed to effectively perform the high level of integration required between all the service components that is crucial to ensuring mission success and there is high risk of loss of certified personnel with highly specialized skill sets. It is in the best interest of the Government to continue services under the current contract until these services are incorporated onto the GCC. The current contractor, SoSi, has provided highly knowledgeable personnel for not only the also have intricate knowledge of the anomalies within the environment. To replace this team at this time with only a minimal window until it is integrated into the GCC would not only interrupt current operations, but could potentially add undue costs to the Army, and would most likely create a disturbance of VMOD scheduling. Changing personnel would severely impact the continued updating, maintaining, and completion of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) package which is an Authorization to Operate (ATO) requirement to allow the systems to be on the network. In addition, the price per month for incumbent support for the same services was reduced by from for the 12-month extension of services.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The proposed contract action is an order placed under FAR subpart 16.5. Therefore, in accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(6), notice under

5.201 is not required. As required by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the notice and justification will be published on the Government Point of Entry, currently SAM.gov.

This is the second extension of services for this contract. The first was an urgent Firm Fixed Price, 30-day conversion of phase-out support to full performance from 10 June 2024 through 09 July 2024 under FA873214D0020-W91RUS19F0014-P000019 for a total value of , which was approved at the contracting officer level under J&A control number JA-24-Hua-662, that continued critical services while NETCOM discussed the acquisition strategy for these same services. Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Operations and Maintenance, Army funds was used for that extension.

a. Effective competition. In the face of increasing global conflicts, bringing in a new contractor team to perform these critical services for a short time rather than continue with the current high performing team is not economical, nor efficient for the Government to accept, given all the considerations stated above.

b. Subcontracting competition. No feasible contracting opportunities exist for this contract action.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: It is not feasible to compete the current acquisition because SOSi is the only known source that can meet the a accelerated and abbreviated timeframe. It is also not feasible to separate out any requirements for separate competitive actions.

7. Market Research: Due to the urgent nature of this proposed extension, no market research for this contract action was conducted. SOSi is performing the services at no risk to quality of performance, schedule or cost. No other contractor possesses the capabilities to meet these ongoing requirements in the required timeframe, and in an efficient and economical manner, because there is no time to transition in a new contractor. Based on market research for these same services in February 2024, it is known that multiple CHESS vendors are interested in the longer-term replacement task order.

8. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History:

Contract number, awarded Contractor: FA873214D0020-W91RUS19F0014, STG (now SoSi) Description of requirement: IP VTC Method of procurement: SBSA Contract type: FFP Period of performance: 10 December 2018 to 09 June 2024 Total awarded amount:

Number of option periods: 4 Number of Offerors: 5 Source Selection Method: Best value, technical and price factors.

b. Not applicable.

9. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

10. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on a cost/price evaluation using the techniques outlined under FAR 15.404-1(c) Cost Analysis, FAR 15.404-1(d) Cost Realism Analysis, and FAR 15.404-1(b) Price Analysis. This is a commercial acquisition and certified cost or pricing data will not be obtained. However, other than cost and pricing data will be obtained, as necessary, to ensure the Government is paying a fair and reasonable price.

12. Contracting Officer Certification:

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