JA_MCTIMSupport_final_v3_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval Template FAR Part 6 authority

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Authority: 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1)

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Information Technology (IT), Technology Solutions Division (TSD) and Contracting and Procurement (C&P) propose to enter into a contract to Moss Cape, LLC on the basis of other than full and open competition. The procurement request number is and the Contracting and Procurement J&A tracking number is JA-2021- 02-0648.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved

This justification is for a sole source contract to Moss Cape, LLC (Address: 1577 C Street, Suite 300 Anchorage, Alaska 99501) for Business Architecture services of the Technology Infrastructure Modernization (TIM) system due to the Big Credentialing corrective action. There is

The solicitation number for this requirement is 70T02021R7500N001. The period of performance will be a six-month base period with (3) 2-month option periods. The contract type will be Firm- Fixed Price (FFP) with .

One of the contractor’s primary responsibilities is to provide support to the TIM system with business requirements analysis, in addition to Program Increment (PI) planning events. The Business Analysts (BAs) support requirement is imperative to the successful planning of PI events and relevant Program Agile ceremonies. This requirement is necessary in order to continue with the current program migration from the TIM system to the newly stated Vetting Credentialing System (VCS), formerly Transportation Vetting System (TVS). The contract supports the current TIM Agile Scrum Teams and assists with managing, developing, and supporting the transition of the “As -Is” and the “To-Be” business processes and requirements efforts for TIM, to include user stories, scrum team tasks and activities, business owner, product management, product owner proxy facilitation, stakeholder engagement, creation and validation of SAFe 4.0 artifacts, and orchestration of business rules.

The bridge contract is required due to the corrective action as a result of the post-award protest.

The enterprise-wide TSA Credentialing System Adaptive Maintenance and Tier 3 Support (Big CRED) task order 70T02020F3KOIA019 was awarded to AFS, LLC on 20-MAR- 2020;

On April 6, 2020, TSA received a timely notice from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) of the filing of a post-award protest by International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.

On April 7, 2020, TSA issued a stop work order to AFS, LLC (Big CRED) and a stay of performance was placed on the new award. TSA complied with the Competition In Contracting Act (CICA) stay of performance while the protest was pending.

On May 28, 2020, GAO dismissed the protest because TSA requested corrective action. As a part of the corrective action, TSA agreed to, at a minimum, to re-evaluate the proposals and make a new award decision. As such, TSA is currently re-evaluating the proposals and will conduct any other actions needed to make contract award.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

Moss Cape is currently providing business architecture services and will continue to provide services for development and maintenance of the mission “As-Is” and “To-Be” business process models, business architecture services, business management and analysis support, and stakeholder engagement in support of the TIM system. Moss Cape currently performs the following tasks which would continue under the bridge contract. More specifically, Moss Cape provides the following:

Moss Cape works with user populations to assist in this development. Moss Cape supports the requirements management lifecycle (collection, identification, analysis, specification, and traceability) for the business and policy requirements to be incorporated in the “To-Be” enterprise business architecture in support of capabilities needed for new functionality releases. Moss Cape delivers updates to the enterprise business architecture for the Maritime and Surface requirements if required as a result of approved changes.

Moss Cape coordinates through the Business Architecture branch, with the business stakeholders, TIM Program Management Office (PMO), and the TIM Agile Adaptive Maintenance and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and operations task order contractor, to ensure complete understanding and traceability of all requirements. Moss Cape provides testing support (to include development of Use Cases and participation in test activities) for the TIM solution.

Moss Cape provides technical support to document the necessary policy, processes, and procedures to assist the TIM PMO in complying with TSA, DHS, Executive Branch policies, and Federal Laws throughout the TIM solution design, development, and operations and maintenance phases.

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) implemented by the FAR Subpart 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(B) entitled “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Demonstration that the Nature of the Acquisition Require Use of the Authority Cited.

The services provided by Moss Cape must continue as they provide direct support to the TIM system in conjunction with the TSA TIM Agile Adaptive Maintenance and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contractor. Moss Cape provides vital business architecture support to the TSD software release cycle and these services will be required until the Big Cred corrective action is resolved, awarded, and transitioned. The TIM system is determined to be mission critical. Failure to maintain operations of the TIM system will directly impact agency operations, transportation workers, and the traveling public.

Since the current contract ends on 24 May 2021, Moss Cape is the only company with cleared personnel that are knowledgeable to continue these services without a break in service to the program. The break in service would have a negative effect and the program would become deficient in support for major TIM planning and system maintenance activities.

Vetting, onboarding and provisioning a new contractor during the current COVID-19 pandemic could take up to 90 days. TSA will incur additional costs associated with a competitive procurement as it would result in unacceptable cost, schedule, programmatic risks and render TSA unable to meet its development schedules for the TIM program. It will cost TSA this contract and an award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition, as well as unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements. Therefore, a new contractor will not be knowledgeable and working until the end of CY2021 which at this point, a break in service will occur and the TIM system will be operating at a deficiency. Undoubtedly, as long as the TIM system is operational this work is required and any break in service is not acceptable to the TIM program office. Award of this sole source contract to Moss Cape while the Big Cred corrective action is completed and a Big Cred contract is awarded and transitioned would allow the program management office to avoid any break in service.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable.

The TSA Contracting & Procurement issued its intent to sole source to the beta.SAM.gov Contract Opportunities on April 15, 2021, several sources have shown interest in the requirement. The Contracting Officer will provide to the incumbent contractor, Moss Cape, the details of the interested parties in an effort to explore subcontracting opportunities. As well, this list will be retained should the immediate future prove that a competition is necessary as determined by the status of the future Big Cred award. In addition to the Contract Opportunities posting, the TSA TSD program office requested capability statements from the General Services Administration’s (GSA) 8(a) STARS II Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) holders.

7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable .

The Contracting Officer will use the current Moss Cape contract extension pricing to determine proposed prices are fair and reasonable, the contract was extended November 25, 2020. The GSA STARS II 8(a) pricing was used in comparison to make the determination. Additionally, the GSA

STARS II 8(a) pricing was used to confirm the pricing reasonableness for the applicable labor categories in the market research conducted for this action. As a result of that determination, the anticipated cost will be fair and reasonable based on current acquisition performance (FAR Subpart 15.4).

8. Description of Market Research.

Market research was conducted requesting information from GSA 8(a) STARS II GWAC holders about the desired capability. There are a number of 8(a) small businesses that have shown interest in the requirement and has provided capability statements stating that they could perform the work.

Additionally, a number of potential sources from the beta.SAM Contract Opportunities posting has shown interest in the requirement, their details of interest are being provided to Moss Cape.

Moreover, although there are other 8(a) small businesses that could perform the work, the time to solicit, award and onboard new employees would cause an unacceptable break in service.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

This contract action will support the continuation of services affected by the TSD Credentialing Systems Adaptive Maintenance and Tier 3 Support Services (Big Cred) contract protest and subsequent corrective action currently in progress. TSA awarded Big Cred on March 20, 2020.

However, on April 7, 2020, the Big Cred contract was placed under a protest. Based on the review of the protest, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the TSA Legal Counsel and the Contracting Officer determined that the best course of action would be to conduct a Corrective Action to the initial award for Big Cred. This determination was deemed as the best course of action, which resulted with a reevaluation of the previous offerors’ proposals to correct any ambiguities and to make a final award.

10. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

The following 8(a) companies provided capability statements in response to the GSA 8(a) STARS II inquiry and the betaSAM.gov posting. Interested parties responding to the betaSAM.gov posting were referred to the prime contractor, Moss Cape. These companies along with the potential sources at the beta.SAM posting were referred to Moss Cape in an effort to identify any subcontracting opportunities.

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