JA - Amended_FINAL_SIGNED_Redacted.pdf

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Controlled By: Department Of War (DOW) Controlled By: Joint Interagency Task Force South J6 CUI Category: BUDG Distribution/Dissemination Control: FEDCON POC: Jason N Roberts, JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL FOR FEDERAL ACQUISITION

REGULATION SUBPART 16.5 ACQUISITIONS

EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Multiple Award Contract

Orders under Fair Opportunity Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.507-6(b), Defense FAR Supplement 216.507-6(b), Procedures, Guidance, and Information 216.507-6(b)

Military Interdepartmental Purchase Request: 12448579 Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) Contract Number: HC105023D0005 Task Order (TO) Number: To be determined Procurement Title: Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS) Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) Amazon Web Services (AWS) Tactical Analysis Planning System (TAPS)

Statutory and Regulatory Authority: 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 3204(a) and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C)

EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Number: Not Applicable

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Contracting Officer, hereby approve this exception to fair opportunity pursuant to the Statutory Authority of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a) and Regulatory Authority of FAR 16.507-6(b)(2).

1. REQUESTING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requesting Agency:

U.S. Army (ARMY) / Joint Interagency Task Force South 4180 Dekalb Avenue Truman Annex Key West, FL 33040

Contracting Activity:

Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) / Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) / Cloud Capabilities Section (PS8511) 2300 East Drive Scott Air Force Base, IL 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

JIATFS JWCC AWS TAPS

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AMD 01: The purpose of this amendment is to increase the value by . This increase is due to Mission Partner not accounting for costs associated with AWS providing a service to fully manage the database engine, including software upgrades, updates and patches. The Government requires support but did not originally include this in their Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) as an oversight.

This action is to issue a firm-fixed-price TO against the JWCC Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract for JIATFS JWCC AWS TAPS. This TO will be issued directly to Amazon Web Services, Inc. The anticipated period of performance (PoP) is for a 1-year base period, plus one 1-year option period. The total estimated value is which will be funded by Operations & Maintenance (O&M) funds.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

JIATFS requires a Relational Database Service (RDS) PostGreSQL instance and Windows Server instance for hosting of Application Services. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) container will run Windows Server to support Apache/Tomcat/NiFi Application server and the RDS will run Postgres Database.

4. SUPPORTING RATIONALE, INCLUDING A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE

PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE

ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY:

(a) Exception to Fair Opportunity.

FAR 16.507-6(b)(2) - 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.

(b) Description of the Justification.

JIATFS’s unclassified workloads operate entirely within AWS, and TAPS must integrate with this existing architecture. It is technically infeasible to modify those applications to work within another CSP environment, given the way the TAPS was designed and deployed. In order to host the environment on another CSP, the Government will have to completely re-engineer the solution from the ground up. This will require the integration of a new cloud environment, and potential re-engineering of operational applications that support JIATFS, which cannot be completed within the timeframe required to prevent a break in service. Transitioning to a different CSP provider would break established Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, security monitoring, and data routing protocols. Re-architecting the infrastructure for a multi-cloud environment is not technically feasible within the required mission timelines.

(c) Justification.

(1) Minimum Government requirements.

The cloud service offerings must continue at their current level in order to support operations. These offerings include a production Windows Application Server to support Apache, Tomcat, and NiFi. The minimum computing specifications required for this production server are 12 Central Processing Units (CPUs), 64 Gigabytes (GB) of Random Access Memory (RAM), and a 400 GB disk, accompanied by 1 Terabyte (TB) of backup storage and snapshot storage capabilities. Additionally, the environment requires a test Windows Application Server, also supporting Apache, Tomcat, and NiFi, which requires 8 CPUs, 32 GB of RAM, and a 400 GB disk.

Finally, the requirement includes two Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) servers to support PostgreSQL. The minimum computing specifications for these database servers include 12 CPUs, 32 GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage, along with 250 GB of daily snapshot storage.

The core of the JIATFS TAPS is to provide critical situational awareness, data processing, and tactical planning capabilities required to execute time-sensitive counter-illicit trafficking and counternarcotics operations. Which if any downtime shall come into existence, would be detrimental to the warfighter.

(2) Proposed sole source contractor:

Amazon Web Services, Inc.

(3) Discussion regarding the cause of the sole source situation.

Transitioning the highly complex TAPS architecture to a new vendor would force JIATFS to run parallel cloud environments during migration, effectively doubling hosting costs temporarily. It would also require a lengthy recertification of the system's Authority to Operate (ATO). This transition period would cause an unacceptable gap in continuous operational intelligence gathering.

Failure to implement the proposed AWS solution in a timely fashion would result in a critical "intelligence gap," rendering TAPS unavailable to operational planners.

JIATFS would lose critical situational awareness, data processing, and tactical planning capabilities required to execute time-sensitive counter-illicit trafficking and counternarcotics operations, all detrimental to the warfighter.

(4) Demonstration of unique source.

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AWS is the only Cloud Service Provider (CSP) capable of fulfilling the TAPS requirements for JIATFS without introducing unacceptable mission failure risks and substantial duplication of unrecoverable costs. Of the four available JWCC prime contractors, only AWS and Google responded to the Market Research Request for information sent to JWCC CSPs on May 19, 2026. Of those two, AWS possesses unique cloud-based features that would work seamlessly with the existing on-premise AWS TAPS architecture presently operating at JIATFS. Google’s proposal timeline would be unacceptable and introduce mission failure to the warfighter.

AWS’s existing on-premise configuration would enable a relatively fast replacement of on-premise system components to cloud-based system components with the least amount of risk to JIATFS’s mission. This relatively low-risk and fast implementation option due to JIATFS’s existing equipment configuration make AWS the sole viable source for this specific effort, especially considering JIATFS’s aggressive implementation schedule and project completion deadline. TAPS is natively engineered to operate exclusively within the AWS ecosystem in the US ISO East region. The system relies on precise AWS-managed services—specifically Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL (db.m4.2xlarge) and Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances (c5.4xlarge). No other CSP provides these exact proprietary configurations and routing topologies without necessitating a complete, high-risk system re-architecture.

(5) Procurement discussion.

This procurement is constrained by schedule, compatibility, and standardization requirements inherent in the JIATFS TAPS deployed on AWS. Immediate award is required to avoid a break in service for the critical situational awareness, data processing, and tactical planning capabilities required to execute time-sensitive counter-illicit trafficking and counternarcotics operations.

Competing this requirement or transitioning to a different CSP would trigger an estimated 3-to-4-month delay and approximately in duplicative non-recurring engineering (application refactoring, network/security rebuild, reaccreditation), during which mission capabilities would be at risk. Given these mandatory compatibility and schedule constraints, AWS is the only source able to continue support within the required period of performance.

(6) Impact.

Transitioning to another CSP is not feasible based on the unacceptable risk of failure to mission critical operations. JIATFS would lose critical situational awareness, data processing, and tactical planning capabilities required to execute time-sensitive

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counter-illicit trafficking and counternarcotics operations all detrimental to the warfighter.

5. COST/PRICE FAIR AND REASONABLE DETERMINATION:

A determination that the price is fair and reasonable will be based on a comparison of the contractor’s proposal to the independent government cost estimate and the JWCC Catalog pricing, including any discounts, which was previously found to be fair and reasonable and based on the contractor’s commercial pricing.

6. MARKET RESEARCH:

Market research for the basic JWCC Contracts was conducted and resulted in a signed market research report on November 9, 2021. This market research was subsequently revalidated and recertified on July 29, 2024, and most recently on February 6, 2026. After a survey of the market, it was concluded that use of the JWCC Contract is in the Government’s best interest due to technical feasibility and cost to the Government.

Additional research was conducted April 15, 2026 to May 26, 2026, by reviewing the specific capabilities in the JWCC Contracts and it was determined that AWS is the only source capable of fulfilling the Government’s minimum needs in the manner and time frame required. Beginning in April 2026, a technical and procurement team from JIATFS consisting of Cloud Architects, Cybersecurity Engineers, and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) conducted comprehensive market research to determine the feasibility of competing the TAPS requirement across the JWCC CSPs. The JIATFS team reviewed the JWCC Multiple-Award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract to review the catalogs of AWS, Microsoft Corporation, Google, and Oracle and reviewed recent awards for similar unclassified TAPS on Federal Databases, SAM.gov and the FedRAMP Marketplace. JIATFS also requested Additional Research to Support Fair Opportunity from the four JWCC CSPs. The Government only received a response from AWS and Google on May 26, 2026. Microsoft and Oracle did not respond to the Additional Research request.

Upon conclusion of the market research techniques highlighted, it was determined that AWS is the only CSP that can meet the JIATFS requirement. Due to the mission-critical nature of TAPS and its dependence on AWS's proprietary technologies, any deviation from a AWS-exclusive solution would introduce unacceptable risks to system integrity, security, and operational effectiveness. JIATFS would lose critical situational awareness, data processing, and tactical planning capabilities required to execute time-sensitive counter-illicit trafficking and counternarcotics operations, all detrimental to the warfighter.

7. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS: None.

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8. ACTIONS THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME BARRIERS

THAT LED TO THE EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY:

(a) To overcome future barriers to competition, JIATFS will do a study for future development to shift towards containerization. The program office will formally request funding in the FY27/FY28 budget cycle specifically scoped for a 3-to-6-month phase-in/phase-out transition period. This will allow other vendors to compete for the work without jeopardizing continuous counter-illicit trafficking operations during system cutover. Also, JIATFS will begin incorporating multi-cloud concepts into its technical training pipelines, continuously monitor the capabilities of the other JWCC prime contractors.

(b) Procurement History:

Not Applicable