JA - CO Signed - Discovery Software_Redacted.pdf

Department of the Air Force: Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

CUI

March 2026 CUI Page 2 of 3

I. Agency and Contracting Activity (RFO 6.104-1(a)(1)):

Agency: ACC Contracting Activity: 49th Contracting Squadron, PKA

II. Nature and/or description of the action being approved (RFO 6.104-1(a)(2)):

This document approves the award of a Purchase Order on a Sole Source basis to Unique Communications for CAIRS Software License, professional services, and hardware in support of Holloman AFB's 911 system. This justification is made on an Individual basis.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs (RFO 6.104-1(a)(3)):

Holloman AFB emergency services require location data to be able to respond to emergency situations across Holloman AFB. 49 Communications Squadron requires an automatic discovery of phone IP Addresses to be processed into the current CAIRS TMS database to be able to provide the data required by Holloman AFB's 911 system. Funds will be O&M with an estimated value of . Contract will be FFP.

IV. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(4)):

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

V. Rationale for Use of Authority (RFO 6.104-1(a)(5)):

VoIP Discovery and Geo ALISON is a service installed to work with Holloman's current CAIRS (TMS Data Base).

Unique Communications is the Sole Source provider for CAIRS 4.0/5. The CAIRS system is unique in their functionality and features. There are no other companies that provide a system that have all of the required components and abilities. CAIRS is trademarked through Unique Communications only.

The Software Upgrade Kits are specific to the Software they support. Unique Communications is the only company that can do the following with the CAIRS programs:

• Upgrades

• Update

• Add Features/Modules

• Fix Software problems

• Provide standard maintenance

• Give training and technical support

• Onsite Installation and Training

Without Cairs VoIP Discovery and Geo ALIson Emergency Services, 911 does not get automatically updated with ALI (Location Data) which could impact the ability for emergency services to locate where a caller is calling from.

When Emergency Services are not able to locate a caller it could result in loss of structure, lack of timely response of required emergency service or loss of life. Any delays resulting in needing to reformat Holloman's 911 system to fit an alternate product would not be in the government's best interest.

Department of the Air Force: Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

CUI

March 2026 CUI Page 3 of 3

VI. Integrated Market Analysis and Efforts to Solicit Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(6), (8), and (10)):

As part of this market research, the Government conducted direct outreach to three (3) separate commercial vendors that operate in the telecommunications and IT infrastructure management sector, specifically under NAICS 541519, "Other Computer Related Services". The purpose of the outreach was to determine if these vendors possessed the capability to either assume support of the existing CAIRS network or provide a seamless transition to an alternative, non-proprietary system.

Zero (0) of the three companies contacted responded to the Government's inquiry or expressed any written or verbal interest in this acquisition.

Based on the technical requirements and the lack of industry response, the Government assesses that the lack of interest is directly tied to the barriers of proprietary data rights (preventing third parties from supporting CAIRS) and the highly complex, cost-prohibitive nature of replacing the entire system to support a single location. Therefore, Unique Communications remains the only responsible source capable of fulfilling the agency's requirement.

VII. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost (RFO 6.104-1(a)(7)):

The Contracting Officer is responsible for evaluating, determining, and documenting the anticipated contract cost/price is fair and reasonable in accordance with RFO Subpart 15.4, Contract Pricing.

VIII. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification (RFO 6.104-1(a)(9)):

N/A

IX. Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(11):

The primary barrier to competition for this acquisition is the proprietary nature of Unique Communications’ CAIRS software. CAIRS currently serves as the foundational Telecommunications Management System (TMS) for Holloman AFB, deeply integrated into local infrastructure for billing, asset management, and work order tracking. Migrating to an alternative system at this time would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements and would incur substantial duplication of costs related to data migration, system re-engineering, and base-wide personnel retraining that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

Furthermore, Unique Communications owns the proprietary data rights and source code for CAIRS, preventing third-party vendors from maintaining or upgrading the existing system.

To overcome these barriers and foster future competition, the 49 CS/SCXP and the Contracting Office will execute the following actions:

Continuous Market Research: The requiring activity will continuously monitor the commercial marketplace for emerging, non-proprietary Telecommunications Management Systems. This includes (but is not limited to) attending industry days, monitoring federal acquisition portals (e.g., SAM.gov) for similar procurements, and reviewing trade literature to identify alternative software solutions capable of meeting the Government's requirements without requiring a proprietary overhaul.

Data Portability and Open Standards: In any future capability documents or Statements of Work (SOW), the Government will emphasize requirements for open data architecture, application programming interfaces (APIs), and standard export formats (e.g., CSV, SQL) to reduce vendor lock-in and lower the technical barriers for transitioning to a competitor's system in the future.