JA Sole Source FAR Part 13 Redacted.pdf

CUI

Control Number:

Reviews

I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

22809, 22810, 22811

Tactical Network Transport-On The Move, Tactical Network management System, Tactical network transport- At The Halt

7/01/2027 - 6/30/2028

004 244

22812, 22813, 22814

Tactical Network Transport-On The Move, Tactical Network management System, Tactical network transport- At The Halt

7/01/2028 - 6/30/2029

005 244

4. Authority Cited: 41 U.S.C. § 1901 as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.501(a)(1)(ii), sole source (including brand name) acquisitions for under the authority of the simplified procedures for certain commercial products and commercial services.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a) Equilateral Technologies Inc. is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of the ETI SME, and they have no authorized resellers for the licensing of the SME, or its associated maintenance. The Government only possesses the commercially available technical data customarily provided with this COTS product. The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the functionality of this product. A sole source acquisition is essential to the Government’s requirements thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company.

ETI SME is the only software that provides all the Government’s requirements such as automated frequency de-confliction, analysis of spectrum distortion, spectrum availability, and a mobile infrastructure. ETI SME optimizes the wireless networks by minimizing interference and maximizing spectrum reuse.

ETI SME is part of a Network Operations (NetOps) convergence solution that Program Manager Tactical Networks uses to manage and monitor the network and the Node Management System (NMS) network planner. Ten (10) years of time has been invested in the development of the NMS network planner. There are currently no viable alternatives to ETI SME.

The comparable solutions are from Kratos and Spectrum Center; however, neither solution meets the Government minimum requirements. Kratos/Southern Research

Solution is specialized for vehicle automation. Although they do offer management for satellite microwave communications, such as interference detection and signal monitoring, it cannot perform functions related to frequency optimization and the type of spectrum reuse which must be implemented to plan and optimize a large communication group such as a division with many simultaneous lines of communications. Spectrum Center Solution, also referred to as Spectrum E management, is better specialized and suited for tactical line-of-sight radio communications such as in the case of company-level communication groups utilizing line-of-sight handheld radios. It would not be able to support the use of satellite spectrum management for multi node communication applications in the microwave space, which is central to Tactical Network’s domain of operation.

b) At this time, it is not economically feasible to deviate from the currently installed and fielded ETI software. The currently used SME is middleware, which is software that lies between an operating system and the application running it. SME is embedded in a specific niche as a component of a complete software program. Since this is an application-specific coded library, there is existing software and hardware calibration which was built on top of this software. Replacing ETI SME would require the top-level software to be redesigned as well. Therefore, an alternative replacement would have to be written to match the existing software architecture and would require a total redesign of the network planner module. Changing the software baseline to incorporate another product would result with the following additional estimated costs and delay:

Engineering Base Line

Configuration Management

Engineering Verification & Validation

Information Assurance

Integration

Independent Verification & Validation

Information Assurance Vulnerability Assessment (IAVA)

Dept. of the Army Military Intelligence-Government Estimate (DAMI-GE) Certification

Fielding and Support

TOTAL ESTIMATED COST OF REENGINNERING EFFORT

This above calculation was developed with a parametric estimating tool based on multiple factors related to substituting the existing COTS ETI software product that has been integrated and fielded in program with a different COTS software product, which would have to be developed. The reengineering factors include, but are not limited to, how the software is used within the baseline; how the software is distributed throughout the program; where the software is in the configuration of the integrated systems program; how many times the replacement upgrade needs to uploaded; where the upgrades need to be installed; the number of times the software has to be loaded in existing fielded equipment and or locations; and finally how much effort is required to validate the software is a true substitution that meets all minimum program requirements. The cost is determined by the engineer's knowledge of the program, confirmation from management, the relationship of the software to the core of the operating system, and other factors.

Furthermore, transitioning to new software, would require redesign and rewriting of the proprietary NMS network planner software and introduce delays related to the reevaluation of the Tactical Network planning process. Due to this capability spanning multiple increments, reengineering and reintegration time would take minimum to transition to a new product. This estimate is based on the actual time needed to field the existing planner software previously, which is a fundamentally important capability of the Tactical Network system for planning network communications. Disruption of the current network planning tools and workflow, which includes the NMS Planner platform and its software components including the ETI Spectrum Management Engine, would hurt the warfighters mission and the US Army's access to network communications in the field.

c) If the source is not limited to ETI SME, Tactical Network fielding will be delayed.

There will be a need to develop new software that performs the same functionality because there is currently no other competing product that can meet the requirements in Section 3. Furthermore, the Government would need to perform many Engineering Change Proposals (ECPs) and incur the expenses described in the table above to insert the new software into the baseline. If ETI SME software is not procured, then units would lack crucial tactical communications, which could jeopardize the mission and cause loss of life.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The Contracting Officer shall publish the notices required by FAR 5.201 and any bids or proposals received shall be considered.

Effective Competition: This procurement is for the brand name ETI Spectrum Management Engine software license maintenance. This COTS item is proprietary to ETI. ETI has confirmed that there are no authorized resellers for the licensing of the SME, or its associated maintenance.

Based on the information provided in Section 5 and the market research results, competition for this action is not feasible.

Subcontracting Competition: This is a sole source, COTS, product and ETI has no authorized resellers for the SME or its maintenance. As such, subcontracting opportunities are not expected to exist for this requirement.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Commercial software manufacturers are encouraged to increase the number of authorized resellers. Although it is not possible to competitively procure the required products at this time, the Government will encourage ETI to pursue distribution and support services of their COTS software product lines through authorized resellers, including Small, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned, Woman Owned, small disadvantaged, certified 8(a) small disadvantaged, and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses. The Government only possesses the commercially available technical data customarily provided with this COTS product. The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the functionality of this product. Market research is conducted annually on the current baseline to determine if change occurred in the marketplace that would enable greater competition.

8. Market Research: Market research has been performed by SEC during January- March 2024 for the procurement of ETI software maintenance. Market research consisted of reviewing in-house information and posting Requests for Information (RFIs) on Government contract vehicles including the Army Computer Hardware Enterprise Software Solutions (CHESS) (Ref# 477805, posted 17 Jan 2024), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) (ID# 296141, posted 17 Jan 2024), and General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage (RFQ# 1673730, posted 12 Jan 2024). The Government’s requirements are defined as a COTS purchase. No responses were received from Army CHESS, GSA, or NASA SEWP. CHESS provided Statement of Non-Availability (SoNA) #21680574.

Market research activities also included the consideration of alternative/comparable solutions from competitors such as Kratos and Spectrum Center, as further explained above in paragraph 5.

According to documentation received on 12 January 2024, the manufacturer stated:

“This letter is to certify that Equilateral Technologies Inc. is the OEM of the ETI Spectrum Management Engine (SME) and we have no authorized resellers for the licensing of the SME, nor its associated maintenance.” ETI also responded, 12 March 2024 to the postings with an open market budgetary Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM):

9. Interested Sources: To date, only ETI responded, and no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition as mentioned in Section 8. ETI does not have authorized resellers.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History

The following table outlines the procurement history for SME software licenses:

A sole source (including brand name) justification (Control Number ) was prepared and approved for under the authority of FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii). A summary of the contents of paragraph 7 of that justification is provided below:

“ETI, in their letter dated 11 March 2022, has confirmed that they are the owner, sole distributor, and sole entity that provides maintenance for the Spectrum Management software and SME documentation (SME products). Commercial software manufacturers are encouraged to increase the number of authorized resellers. Although it is not possible to competitively procure these products at this time, the Government will encourage ETI to pursue distribution and support services of their COTS software product lines through authorized resellers, including Small, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned, Woman Owned, small disadvantaged, certified 8(a) small disadvantaged, and Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) small businesses. Market research will be conducted annually on the current baseline to determine if changes occurred in the marketplace that would enable greater competition. The Government only possesses the commercially available technical data customarily provided with this COTS product. The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the functionality of this product.

CUI

Market research is conducted annually on the current baseline to determine if changes occurred in the marketplace that would enable greater competition.”

There are no significant changes since the previous procurement and the circumstances justifying the previous procurement are still applicable. No other source outside of the OEM of SME subscription renewals meet the Government’s requirements.

b. Other facts.

Previous acquisitions of the ETI software maintenance were awarded as sole source because it was the only source which met the Government needs as outlined within this J&A.

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.

12. Requirements 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.

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. This determination will be made using Price Analysis. As a part of this basis, IAW FAR 15.403-1(b)(3), certified cost or pricing data is not required because the item and/or services being acquired are considered commercial.

14. Contracting Officer Certification:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of ETI Spectrum Management Engine software maintenance renewal in the total estimated amount of on a sole source (including brand name) basis pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C.1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.501(a)(1)(ii), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.