JA MUOS GROUND System_FINAL_.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

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I. Agency and Contracting Activity.

Agency: Department of the Air Force, US Space Force

Contracting Activity: Space Systems Command (SSC), on behalf of the Military Communication and Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Directorate (SFPEO/MCPNT), Narrowband SATCOM Acquisition Delta (SSC/CGN).

II. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This individual J&A is for the authority to award a sole source contract for Ground Segment Sustainment and Modernization for the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) program to The anticipated contract will be a follow-on to the current MUOS Ground Sustainment contract N00039-20-D-0146, which is anticipated to run out of ceiling in the first quarter of FY25. The new sole-source contract is anticipated to be awarded in the fourth quarter of FY24 and will provide for continued sustainment of the ground system, as well as the modernization and digitization needed to deliver the MUOS Service Life Extension (SLE) upgrades one (1) year prior to MUOS space vehicle 6 launch as described and documented in the MUOS SLE Acquisition Strategy Plan and Acquisition Decision Memorandum. This award is planned to be a single-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with hybrid contract types consisting of Firm-Fixed-Price, Cost-Plus-Award-Fee, Cost-Plus-Incentive-Fee, Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee, and Cost-Only.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

MUOS provides worldwide Narrowband satellite communications to military users based on commercial cell phone technology modified to meet government requirements. The core functionality of MUOS is performed by the MUOS Ground System that processes signals relayed through MUOS satellites to and from MUOS users. The MUOS SLE effort will acquire two new MUOS satellites and modernize the MUOS Ground System to ensure MUOS services continue worldwide until 2035 and residual coverage is available until 2040.

Under the anticipated sole-source contract, will provide sustainment and maintenance of the MUOS Ground System, covering hardware and software improvements, updates, engineering changes, associated services for supply support, training support, technical logistics documentation, depot support, and site support. will also provide the necessary support to address operational problems and issues, resolve Information Assurance findings, and replace obsolete commercial components.

The Government also anticipates tasking to develop, modernize, digitize and integrate and test components/modules both produced under the contract, and via third-party sources in support of MUOS SLE service through 2040, and also provide verification, validation and deployment of development activities driven by updated standards, such as cryptography, and further new user integration. The Government anticipates tasking to successfully resolve any interface issues within the MUOS system architecture, as needed for the new SLE spacecrafts, and ensure both meet applicable requirements. Due to a prolonged break in satellite production of over ten years between MUOS baseline and SLE satellites, SLE satellite payloads require design and technology changes due to component obsolescence and evolving cryptographic requirements; yet the technology must also be fully compatible with the exacting and complex MUOS Ground System interfaces and WCDMA waveform. Individual task orders will be issued using the appropriate contract type and period of performance for the specific requirements as set forth in each Performance Work Statement. The effort will be funded with Procurement, Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds.

The total estimated value of the planned IDIQ contract is and will consist of a five-year base ordering period valued at and a single five-year option ordering period valued at . The ten-year ordering period is required to ensure continuity through SV6 and SV7 launches and on-orbit checkout. The total estimated value is based on typical expenditure levels from prior MUOS Ground operations and sustainment efforts as well as past development and integration efforts associated with adding satellites to the MUOS ground system. The estimate also includes known efforts from other DoD customers, as well as anticipated FMS customers. The estimate includes an appropriate adjustment to account for risk levels related to the anticipated development tasks for the SLE efforts. The estimate assumes SV6 launch in FY30 and SV7 launch in

FY31.

The requirements for Intellectual Property (IP) and IP rights for this contract are consistent with the acquisition strategy. There will be separately-priced CLINS for Intellectual Property (IP) and IP rights included in the RFP and planned contract award. The IP to be acquired will be form, fit and function data, drawings, technical/instruction manuals, and non- commercial technical data and software. The IP rights anticipated to be acquired is: 1) unlimited rights to all form, fit, and function data; drawings for items

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Modernization: The modernization of the ground system has begun under the current contract which only increases the complexity of the system and the integration efforts that will be necessary under the follow-on contract. For the Government to halt this modernization work and move to a new source would also result in substantial delays as the new contractor gets up to speed on the technology selected and finds the correct personnel to complete the efforts. Assuming the best-case scenario with a new contractor, the Government estimates at least 6 months for the technical transfer/transition and spin-up time of new technical staff estimated to require at least 260 additional FTEs while still employing the incumbent workforce to avoid a services interruption, and a total redundant execution cost of at least based on a 6-month burn-rate of projected ground vendor activities. Given the complexity of the modernization tasks and the need for the MGSC for testing and continued baseline sustainment, it is very likely that the Government would need to fund both and a new source concurrently for a period longer than six months to ensure continuity in sustainment and the successful turnover of the modernization work to a new source. Therefore, the actual realized costs to the program for successful transition of execution under a new source could potentially be much greater than a six-month delay and of duplicative costs.

Continued Operations and Sustainment: The ground support architecture has to remain operational and, if a vendor other than was chosen, it would require an unacceptable risk of moving equipment to standup a new facility while conducting split operations with the existing MGSC to ensure continued sustainment. Duplicating the MGSC at another company's facility is not technically feasible and would be cost prohibitive. Therefore, the only option would be for the new source to relocate the existing equipment. The equipment is obsolete, in many cases fragile, and no known replacements exist, making the relocation to another site by another source a very high-risk endeavor. Based on a 2012 Defense Information Systems Agency business case analysis, attempting to relocate the MGSC equipment to another source's facility would create an unacceptable service interruption estimated at 24 months, and would incur approximately in duplicated costs that would not be recovered through competition. This estimate would include non-recurring costs of to remove and relocate the MUOS Ground System equipment, and for associated relocation efforts to include facility design, support equipment and software development procurement and installation as well as certification testing. Given the impact of increased year-over-year costs and the increased complexity of the MGSC since 2012, the Program Office estimates it would now take at least 24 months and $55M. The stand up and operational certification of a new MGSC would be required prior to executing the majority of the ground development work necessary to support SLE ground requirements as acknowledged by the other sources during market research. To avoid a lapse in technical support to operations, any new source would require the Government to maintain GD-MS staff and infrastructure in parallel with the standup of a new facility and technical team. The Government estimates it would require another source approximately 78 months from contract award to complete the tasking with a medium risk schedule. This 78-month timeframe would include a 6-month technical transfer/transition timeframe, the 24 months required to relocate MGSC equipment, and at least another 48 months to successfully integrate and test all the MUOS SLE Ground modernization efforts. Assuming a competitive contract award in FY25, this approach would not support completion of all necessary ground development tasks with a high confidence schedule for the launch of MUOS space vehicle 6 in FY30. More importantly, any interruption in service of the MGSC is unacceptable and would result in the inability to field software or hardware changes to the MUOS system and the inability to respond to critical cyber threats and system outages as well as resolving ongoing obsolescence issues.

Subsection 4. Section IV Conclusion. As provided above, is the only responsible source that possesses the MUOS design knowledge and expertise required to modify, update, sustain, and modernize the MUOS Ground System, including the embedded commercial software and hardware's technical interdependencies and integration of new and existing components across interfacing MUOS segments. Awarding to another source without the use of the MGSC would cause an unacceptable interruption in service and would result in the inability to field software or hardware changes to the MUOS system and the inability to respond to critical cyber threats and system outages until another source reached technical maturity. Changing sources from to another source would result in a total impact of at least of duplicative costs, and unacceptable delays of at least 30 months resulting in an inability to field SLE in time to sustain worldwide WCDMA service as baseline MUOS satellites reach their end of operational life. Another feasible acquisition approach does not exist for the Government to sufficiently mitigate the risk and resulting schedule delay associated with transitioning to another contractor for this effort. Accordingly, is the only source capable of providing the services described in Section III above without the Government experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements.

V. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, 11 Jul 2022 Page 6 of 711 Jul 2022 Page 6 of 7 including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under

FAR 5.202 applies.

The Government conducted market research to determine if competition was possible for the MUOS Ground System follow-on contract. The Market Research Report is Attachment 2. SSC/CGK posted a Request for Information (RFI) (Notice ID CGKN-22-0001) on the sam.gov website on 19 May 2022 to identify industry capabilities for providing the MUOS Ground System design, modernization, and integration services described in Section III above. Three responses were received from the following companies: GD-MS, Lockheed Martin Services, LLC and RV Global LLC. The Government thoroughly evaluated the responses and determined that , and demonstrated the overall capability to perform the required services, but only was able to demonstrate capabilities to meet the Government's cost and schedule requirements. The Government determined that did not have the required capability because they failed to follow the instructions of the RFI and they did not address the scope of work requirements in any meaningful way. RVGS' experience is mostly limited to IT services and has no demonstrated space systems experience. The Government concludes from

RFI response that failed to provide sufficient information on how it would execute this effort. LMS does not employ the needed subject matter experts and does not possess the needed special licenses to operate the MUOS ground system until the development and modernization efforts are completed, nor did it address how it would execute a Service Level Agreement with for the MUOS ground segment or execute maintenance and modernization projects on networks encompassing hardware and software. also does not meet the requirements in terms of cost and schedule risks because it will require an unacceptable amount of time and funding to establish an analogous facility to the current MUOS GROUND SUPPORT CENTER (MGSC) currently operated by , which will require integration and validation before ground network architecture enhancements for SLE can be achieved. The Government estimates that it will take approximately 30 months to establish and validate a new facility. The Government believes that is capable of modernizing components of the MUOS Ground System for SLE, but anticipates unacceptable risk in the integration of the modernized components under retains the support facility and technical expertise needed to ensure system-wide integration of MUOS SLE ground and space subsystems.

A pre-solicitation synopsis will be publicized on SAM.gov as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 which describes the intent to award a sole source IDIQ contract with a five-year base ordering period and a single five-year option ordering period. The notice of contract action will include a statement that all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2.

VI. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 15.403-4, the Contracting Officer will require to submit certified cost or pricing data in support of its proposal. Based upon (1) certified cost or pricing data provided in the Offeror's proposal, (2) the program office's technical analysis of the Offeror's Basis of Estimates (BOE), and (3) inputs from the Defense Contract Management Agency (including from the Administrative Contracting Officer), the Procuring Contracting Officer expects they will be able to determine that the anticipated cost/price to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

VII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

As described in Section V above, the program office and the Contracting Officer conducted market research for the purposes of determining the competitive landscape for the follow-on contract. See Section V for further details regarding the market research for this effort.

VIII. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

None

IX. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

See Section V above.

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X. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

The program office intends to pursue technical data and software developed under this contract by including separately priced CLINs with an eventual goal of competing a future MUOS Ground System sustainment and modernization contract. As part of the ongoing MUOS Ground System modernization, the program office will be seeking to have compete some components under the planned contract and granting the Government the appropriate data rights. The program office will also be seeking to compete some individual Ground System components outside of the planned contract, while also seeking the appropriate data rights to ensure future competitions. However, currently is the only source available with the facilities, special licenses, requisite knowledge, and expertise needed to both sustain the current ground system and integrate new and modernized components for SLE into the baseline, including components developed by third-party vendors through targeted competitions.

XI. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

XII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by our signature(s) above, we certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is our responsibility, is both accurate and complete.