JA signed_Redacted.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity: The United States Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) is the procuring activity for this action.

2. Description of Action: The ACC-DTA is proposing to solicit and award, on a sole source basis, a non-severable two-year Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) contract to Dr. John Mortimer, to produce eight chapters of a twenty-two chapter book on U.S. Army operations in Afghanistan from 2009 through 2011 in support of the Center of Military History (CMH). The proposed contractor information is below.

Dr. John Mortimer, Historians Anonymous CAGE Code: 8CW40 Unique Entity ID: MNPDBNJ6YRU3 Address: 25 Delano Dr., Chambersburg, PA 17201-8615

The total estimated value of the proposed action is $ .

funds will be utilized for this effort.

3. Description of Services: This procurement is to support the CMH’s Tan Books series, which is the official history of the U.S. Army after 11 September 2001. This procurement is for historical research and writing services to produce eight chapters of a twenty-two chapter book on U.S. Army operations in Afghanistan from 2009 through 2011. The resultant contract will be for completion of research progress reports, eight draft chapters, and eight revised chapters of approximately 45 pages each. These deliverables will contribute to the eventual completion of a manuscript and supporting materials ready for printing or may be separately printed as determined by the needs of the Government.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this action is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR 13.501(a), Sole Source Acquisitions.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The reason for the authority permitting other than full and open competition is the nature of the requirement and the fact that this author is uniquely qualified to complete this work in a timely and effective manner at the level of quality desired. The contractor must understand how to conduct historical research (particularly in the unique CMH classified database for Afghanistan), must have expertise on Army operations in Afghanistan, and the contractor’s writing must meet the high standards required to produce official history. It takes years to develop all these skills, and Dr. Mortimer has invested years of time and effort to ensure he meets CMH’s requirements. Dr. Mortimer served as a research assistant to a historian at CMH from 2017-2018, received a CMH fellowship in 2018-2019 to work on his dissertation, and has been conducting research and writing on Afghanistan for CMH on contract since

September 2020. As a result of three previous one-year contracts, Dr. Mortimer has successfully completed a monograph on the topic, which CMH published in 2023, and has produced a prospectus and two chapters as the first increment of work on the project that this contract supports. Selecting a different contractor would mean starting over again from scratch, and it would take many additional months, or years, for a new contractor to gain an adequate understanding of this period of the war in Afghanistan, of Army operations, of the official records of this campaign, of CMH’s classified database, and of CMH writing standards to succeed on this contract.

CMH is aware of no other authors with a similar level of experience who are not already employed elsewhere in the federal Government. Dr. Mortimer has demonstrated his ability to research and write at a high level of quality. Therefore, there are no other authors who have an equal list of credentials, and CMH is currently unaware of anyone with similar credentials in the market capable of undertaking a project of this scope and nature.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective Competition: The Government does not intend to solicit additional sources for this effort for the reasons described in Paragraph 5 above.

b. Subcontracting Competition: Pursuant to FAR 19.702(b)(1), a small business subcontracting plan is not required because Dr. John Mortimer is a small business.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: No actions to increase future competition are contemplated at this time, as Dr. John Mortimer meets CMH’s need to produce eight chapters of a manuscript. In the future, the U.S. Army Chief Historian will use competitive solicitations for new manuscripts where there is no author available with unique qualifications.

8. Market Research: Pursuant to FAR 10.002 (Procedures), , Chief, Histories Division, CMH, conducted two market research surveys to determine the availability of fully qualified author/historians and/or companies to bid on and fulfill this contract.

On 23 January 2024, surveyed existing and past Government contracts on www.contractdirectory.gov. The type of business establishment that pertains to this contract is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 711510 – Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers. The search yielded 100 results, but almost all of those results pertained to translation and writing services to support the Voice of America or other Government agencies producing short articles for various media. None were relevant to historical research and writing or to Army history in general. concluded that www.contractdirectory.gov offers no useful leads for finding vendors able to fulfill this requirement.

Because this survey did not turn up another individual or company well-suited, or even qualified, to take on this contract, it would be best to do this as a sole source contract with the vendor who has already spent three years working on this project. CMH has direct experience with Dr. John Mortimer and has reviewed his research and writing capabilities. Dr. Mortimer wrote the monograph, Operation Enduring Freedom: The U.S.

Army in Afghanistan, 2009-2011 that is the basis for this larger, in-depth, and comprehensive study of the topic. In his work on the monograph, Dr. Mortimer gained the expertise needed to conduct thorough and well-informed research in classified primary sources and, more importantly, an understanding of CMH writing expectations and how to meet those standards to ensure publication of his work. CMH published Dr.

Mortimer’s monograph in 2023 while he began the larger project supported by this contract. Market research indicates that Dr. John Mortimer is the only vendor capable of continuing to fulfill the Government’s need.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express an interest.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History:

i. Contractor: Dr. John Mortimer Contract: W56HZV-23-P-L025 Period of Performance (PoP): 15 May 2023 – 14 May 2024 Total Contract Value: $ Authority Cited: FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), “Soliciting from a Single Source”

ii. Contractor: Dr. John Mortimer Contract: W56HZV-21-P-L032 Period of Performance (PoP): 06 September 2021 – 03 April 2023

Authority Cited: FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), “Soliciting from a Single Source”

iii. Contractor: Dr. John Mortimer Contract: W56HZV-20-P-L874 Period of Performance (PoP): 03 September 2020 – 05 October 2022

Small Business Set-Aside (SBSA): Yes

b. Other Facts: None.

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Typed Name: Date: 2/20/2024