JA_Providence Program_Redacted.pdf

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) 16.505, Defense FAR Supplement 216.505-70, Procedures, Guidance, and Information 216.505-70

Military Purchase Request Number: HQ0642393762 Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) Contract Number: HC105023D0002 Task Order (TO) Number: To Be Determined Procurement Title: Providence Program Estimated Value:

Statutory and Regulatory Authority: 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304c(b) and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B)

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. 2304c(b) and Regulatory Authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

1. REQUESTING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requesting Agency:

Department Of Defense (DOD)/Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) 3030 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-3030

Contracting Activity:

Defense Information Systems Agency/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization/PS8511

2300 East Drive Scott Air Force Base, IL 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

This action is to issue a firm-fixed-price TO against the JWCC Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract for Providence Program. This TO will be issued directly to Google Public Sector (GPS). The anticipated period of performance is for a 1-year base period. The total estimated value is of which will be funded by Research, Development, Test & Evaluation funds.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

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The Providence programs requirements are as follows:

Professional Services (ProServ) - provide technical, operational, and training related ProServ at the UNCLASSIFIED, SECRET, TOP SECRET and Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) levels to support Providence Program requirements. ProServ will entail CSP-related infrastructure, architectures, hardware, software applications, tool, system integration, system health and status, metrics and performance and emerging technologies.

Cloud Compute, Storage, Applications, and Services - provide an UNCLASSIFIED tenant to support program system development, integration, data, and compute services to support program requirements.

Data and Analytics - provide support for the development of a program related communications and networking analytics environments. The company will provide access to data and metrics about their network for integration into the program analytics environment.

The Providence Program intends on leveraging cloud services, including advanced networking solutions. Additionally, the Government aims to utilize the Cloud Service Provider’s (CSPs) unique communication and networking modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities and data sets, through services for Cloud Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platforms. The Government will integrate the M&S capabilities to enhance the program’s government owned communication and networking software user interface to enhance their ability to deliver a more effective operational capability.

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 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) - 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.

GPS’s Cloud offers unique capabilities and services that set it apart from other CSPs.

One distinctive feature is GPS's expertise in big data analytics and machine learning (ML). GPS Cloud's AI and ML services, such as TensorFlow and BigQuery ML, have proven their scalability and performance while supporting the DOD’s Project Maven program. These services enable the Government to extract valuable insights from its data, optimize processes, and drive innovation unlike other CSP’s. GPS's extensive capability in AI, coupled with its infrastructure, provides unique, cutting-edge solutions in data analytics and machine learning.

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GPS’s cloud environment has a heavy emphasis on open-source technologies and developer-friendly tools. Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), a managed Kubernetes service, is highly considered for its ease of use and flexibility in deploying containerized applications. GPS's focus on open-source projects like Kubernetes enable an expansive ecosystem of tools and libraries, that will provide the Government with a wide range of options to build and deploy applications seamlessly.

GPS’s cloud's global network infrastructure, which includes its proprietary software-defined networking technologies, ensures high performance, reliability, and low latency for applications deployed on its platform. This robust infrastructure, combined with GPS's proficiency in internet services, provides organizations with a highly reliable and scalable cloud computing solution with low risk.

(c) Justification.

(1) Minimum Government requirements.

The Providence programs minimum requirements are as follows:

Professional Services (ProServ) - provide technical, operational, and training related ProServ at the UNCLASSIFIED, SECRET, TOP SECRET and SCI levels to support Providence Program requirements. ProServ will entail CSP-related infrastructure, architectures, hardware, software applications, tool, system integration, system health and status, metrics and performance and emerging technologies.

Cloud Compute, Storage, Applications, and Services - provide an UNCLASSIFIED tenant to support program system development, integration, data, and compute services to support program requirements.

Data and Analytics - provide support for the development of a program related communications and networking analytics environments. The company will provide access to data and metrics about their network for integration into the program analytics environment.

(2) Proposed sole source contractor. GPS

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

The only CSP capable of delivering on the Providence Program requirements at the level and quality required is GPS based on the communications and network M&S that is owned and managed by GPS. This aspect is essential to the Government’s requirements for the Providence Program to build communication and networking analysis tools to assess the resilience and reliability of global networks. Without accessing GPS's network data sets and models, the Providence Program effort will lack critical data sets and analysis necessary to achieve its technical objectives. The GPS analysis, data sets, and

Page 4 of 6 Pages models surpass other cloud service or telecommunications providers and is crucial to the Providence Program NSA efforts.

(4) Demonstration of unique source.

GPS possesses the knowledge, skills, capabilities, certification, network capacity and capability, internally developed AI algorithms, and professional services experience required to continue the program without a break or degradation in critical mission services. Given these mission requirements, GPS is the only CSP that is capable of performing the necessary services throughout the duration of the Providence Program.

GPS possesses a unique communication and networking M&S capability within the GPS infrastructure that when combined, other CSPs do not possess the same capability. l GPS's unique M&S capabilities and internally developed AI platform is uniquely suited for the Providence Program requirement.

(5) Procurement discussion.

a. The Providence Program requests access to CSP communications and networking data sets for ingest into the program enterprise control plane and user interface.

The Providence program request CSP work with program third-party vendors on the development of a government owned platform.

b. The requested CSP is currently on contract with Providence Program government partners. GPS Cloud will immediately be able to support the resultant award associated with this contract action.

(6) Impact.

If GPS would not be the CSP for Providence Program, the Government would not have access to GPS’s extensive data sets, system models, and specific AI supported analytics environment. Lack of access to the GPS network, tools and data sets would severely limit the programs’ ability to analyze, forecast, and operationalize the communication and network resilience, reliability, and effectiveness in support of DoD requirements.

Inability to access GPS cloud capabilities and associated services will result in critical program failures to achieve its technical objective and delivery timelines in addition to lack of integration of vital data sets essential to delivering on program’s mission requirements. GPS cloud capabilities, data sets and infrastructure are essential requirements to the program’s success.

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

Page 5 of 6 Pages 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 9 Nov 2021. After a survey of the market, it was concluded that the JWCC Contract is in the Government’s best interest due to technical feasibility and cost to the Government.

Additional research was conducted in May 2023, by reviewing the specific capabilities in the JWCC Contracts and it was determined that GPS is the only source capable of fulfilling the Government’s minimum needs in the manner and time frame required. Market Research and analysis have occurred at the UNCLASSIFIED and CLASSIFIED level.

Further inquiries were made by reviewing the JWCC contractor's catalogs to determine if other similar offerings (to include Communications and network M&S) met or can be modified to satisfy the Government’s requirements.

7. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS: None.

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

THAT LED TO THE EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY:

(a) Procurement History: None

(b) To overcome future barriers to competition, future development and enhancement of IaaS components will include shifting to a containerized platform. This will enable multiple CSPs to meet the requirements which will enable the flexibility to shift workload based on financial and mission requirements.