JA18-077_HC1028-08-D-2023_0068_JA_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL (J&A)

FOR FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) SUBPART 16.5

ACQUISITIONS EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Multiple Award Schedule/Multiple Award Contract (MAC)

Orders under MAC/ Fair Opportunity – FAR 16.505, Department of Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) 216.505-70, Procedures, Guidance and Information 216.505-70

Purchase Request Number: CMT18IE32009 and DJPMZ80033 Contract Number: HC1028-08-D-2023 Task Order Number: 0068 Procurement Title: National Gateway Center-Detrick (NGC-D) Northrop Grumman Product Engineering Support and Software Functional Changes Estimated Value:

Authority: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B)

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Number: JA18-077

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Procuring Activity Competition Advocate, hereby approve this exception to fair opportunity pursuant to the authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

1. REQUIRING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requesting Agency:

Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). Operations Center, Infrastructure Executive Directorate (IE), Communications Gateway Division (IE3), National Gateway Branch (IE32) P.O. Box 549 Fort Meade, Maryland, 20755-0549

Contracting Activity:

DISA/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization PL8311 2300 East Drive, Building 3600 Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, 62225

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

The purpose of this action is to increase the level of effort for the Northrop Grumman software functional enhancements in support of DISA IE32 and the Organizational Messaging Service (OMS) program. This proposed level of effort change will increase the current life cycle amount by from to to provide for operational enhancements related for the Northrop Grumman proprietary message switching systems currently in use on the DISA operational and test systems. This action will be awarded as a firm fixed price modification to Northrop Grumman’s Encore II contract HC1028-08-D-2023 Task Order 0068. The period of performance for these functional operational enhancements should be performed within the

NGC-D Northrop Grumman Product Engineering Support and Software Functional Changes-

JA18-077

Page 2 of 6 Pages current contract option year three period of performance of March 13, 2018 – March 12, 2019.

Defense working capital funds have been provided under Air Force Form 9 number CMT18IE32009 and DJPMZ80033.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

(a) The purpose of this requirement is to procure Northrop Grumman functional operational software enhancements that will support the operational and test messaging switching systems at NGC-D, specifically, the Enhanced Communication Gateway Systems (ECGS) and the Secure Messaging and Routing Terminal Next Generation SMART.NeXt software. The following enhancements are required to support this requirement:

1. An enhancement to the capability of the SMART. NeXt application to support the validation of Automated Message Handling System (AMHS) organizational message traffic with embedded attachments that must transverse between different security domains.

2. Provide a tool and process to allow for the automated distribution of Advance Message Terminal (AMT) software updates which would allow the ECGS to send software updated to the AMT and notify the AMT system administrator that updates are ready for installation. Upon installation of the updates, the AMT would send an acknowledgement message to the ECGS that the AMT system has been updated.

3. Make available the capability to implement messaging based enterprise monitoring to allow for the status messages of specified ECGS’ in different security domains to pass status messages between security domains and display the health of the monitored ECGS to an operator via a dashboard view.

4. Enable Intelligence Community Messaging Service (ICMS) interface to the ECGS which would allow the OMS ECGS to process Intelligence Community (IC) organizational messages between the Information Transport Service (ITS) and the Organizational Messaging Service (OMS) messaging infrastructure.

5. Deliver a certificate monitoring capability to the ECGS dashboard which would alert operators of certificates that will expire in a configurable time period.

6. Arrange for a government owned Data Secure Transport (DST) interface to allow for the sharing of the Application Programming Interface (API) with other vendors to use for OMS interoperability capabilities.

7. Enhance the ECGS to provide the capability to monitor defined organizational messaging fields for duplications against previously received messages and flag suspected duplicates and move the suspected duplicate message to an error queue for operator intervention or the capability to log and discard the message.

8. Improve the ability of the ECGS application to display American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) non printable characters embedded within an organizational message in a message pad this would allow the operator to view non-printable control characters and determine if those characters are affected the processing of the organizational message.

9. Generate a guard architecture study/whitepaper depicting possible methods to improve the techniques in maintaining high availability of the cross domain application.

10. Continue to support the Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert (IAVA) and Field Engineering Notices (FENS) for the ECGS, and SMART. NeXt application.

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11. Be responsible for the engineering support at the national gateway center at the Pentagon and at Raven Rock Mountain Complex (RRMC).

12. Make available at the government’s request engineering support for the installation and configuration of the AMT at additional government sites.

(b) The expected cost of the enhancements identified above has an estimated life cycle cost of (of which will be taken from the remaining Surge CLIN) and would be completed in the current option year period of performance which concludes on March 12, 2019. Subtasks identified in the PWS, which includes paragraphs 6.4.3.1., 6.4.3.3, 6.4.3.9, and 6.4.3.12 marked optional are currently unfunded and will not be exercised at this time.

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. 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. This acquisition requires software enhancements and software support for ECGS and SMART.NeXt both of which are proprietary to Northrop Grumman. Both of these systems are very specialized and are the only current military organizational messaging products offered today. Because the market for organizational message switching is so small worldwide, no other contractor can be found to perform the required software support. If another alternate solution was found, the lead-time to get another contractor up to speed would be at least three years because the messaging software is extremely complex with many diverse processing paths and configuration options to support a diverse customer base.

(c) Justification.

(1) Minimum Government requirements. A minimum set of requirements had been defined to support organizational messaging. These requirements consist of providing connectivity/interoperability, message delivery, timely delivery, confidentiality/security, sender authentication, integrity, availability/reliability, training, identification of recipients, message preparation support, storage and retrieval support, and distribution and determination of delivery.

(2) Proposed sole source contractor. Northrup Grumman Corporation, 2340 Dulles Corner Boulevard, Herndon, Virginia 20171, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code 5FVX5 on an exemption to fair opportunity basis due to their proprietary data rights associated with the ECGS and SMART.NeXt. Northrop Grumman is the software developer and owner of the ECGS and SMART.NeXt software product. The Northrop Grumman Corporation was the original developer of the ECGS and SMART.NeXt software product, which was originally procured to support the Organizational Messaging Service program for organizational messaging and used exclusively by the National Gateway Center at Fort Detrick, Pentagon and Raven Rock Mountain Complex. The contractor can effectively and efficiently

Page 4 of 6 Pages provide the uninterrupted expertise to satisfy the software requirements for this increase in effort.

(3) Discussion regarding cause of the sole source situation. Northrup Grumman Corporation ECGS and SMART.NeXt software product is proprietary and the software support is only available from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) vendor. Northrup Grumman Corporation is the OEM for the software and does not authorize any third party software modifications or patches to its software.

(4) Demonstration of unique source. The government does not own the ECGS and SMART.NeXt software or software-related documentation. The coding standards and documentation available are not sufficient to allow another contractor to take over the required software support. ECGS and SMART.NeXt are very specialized and currently are the only military organizational messaging products offered today.

(5) Procurement discussion. The original contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Corporation with a total life cycle amount of and the software functional changes projected at the start of the contract was projected to be valued at approximately per option year when in reality the software functional changes have been approximately per option year resulting in a request to increase the ceiling of .

(6) Impact. The alternative of not modifying Task Order 0068 to increase the level of effort will result in a failure to provide secured military messaging interoperability across our customer community which included enhancements in support of interfacing with the Intelligence Community ITS infrastructure and enhancements to AMT component to maintain a supportable software baseline. Additional enhancements to the ECGC supports the functionality of the OMS messaging communications for the preservation of National Defense. Not modifying the Task Order would also put the National Gateway Center approved Authorization to Operate (ATO) type accreditation issued by the DISA Chief Information Officer at an unacceptable risk posture as the security IAVA and FENs for the OMS components and support at the Pentagon and RRMC would cease.

5. COST/PRICE FAIR AND REASONABLE DETERMINATION: The labor rates associated with the software enhancements shall be in compliance with the pre-established ENCORE II firm fixed price rates published to support a fair and reasonable determination. Also the labor category required for the increase LOE have been negotiated and utilized in the previous option year enhancements. However the government will request discounted pricing.

6. MARKET RESEARCH: Based on current market research conducted in February 2018, it has been determined that only Northrop Grumman can provide the requested software enhancement for the ECGS and SMART.NeXt to fully support the Governments need. This requirement is for proprietary product enhancements and no competitor functional replacement products exist in the market at this time to meet the Government's need due to the software and coding being owned by the OEM vendor. The Government will continue to conduct market research to determine if there are changes in the market place that would enable future competitive actions, i.e., there are similar products and/or product support in the marketplace that provides the same functionality, the OEM releases ownership rights of product, or it is economically feasible to procure a new system.

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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. The legacy switch replacement system technical refresh at NGC –

Ft. Detrick was competed as an open market competition, whereby only one contractor, NG, 2340 Dulles Corner Boulevard, Herndon, Virginia 20171, CAGE code 5V1X2, submitted a proposal and on May 31, 2013 was awarded HC1028-13-P-0101. The FFP contract was awarded for a POP June 3, 2013 through August 31, 2013 for a value of $5.2M. The follow-on contract, HC1028-08-D-2023 Task Order 0068 was awarded to NG via sole source on March 12, 2015. J&A number JA15-014 was approved by the Procurement Activity Competition Advocate on December 02, 2014.

(b) At this time only Northrop Grumman software/systems engineering can be used to provide an acceptable level of support for current Northrop Grumman proprietary products already in place at DISA facilities. Alternate software solutions will continually be researched to determine if they will function with currently used products. If the Government determines that Northrop Grumman products are no longer required, the Government will seek full and open competition for the required functionality.

9. REFERENCE TO THE APPROVED ACQUISITION PLAN (AP): In accordance with the exceptions under DISA Acquisition Regulation Supplement 7.103(S-91)(h), an AP is not required.

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TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the J&A are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NAME: Brian E. Woerner SIGNATURE: See separate PDF page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: National Gateway Branch

PHONE: (301) 619-2124 DATE:

REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the J&A are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NAME: Jeffrey R. Bentley SIGNATURE: See separate PDF page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Chief, National Gateway Branch

PHONE: (301) 619-3523 DATE:

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

NAME: Tiffany A. Haselhorst SIGNATURE: See separate PDF page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Contracting Officer, PL8311

PHONE: (618) 229-9132 DATE:

PROCURING ACTIVITY COMPETITION ADVOCATE APPROVAL: I have reviewed this justification and find it to be accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Since this justification does not exceed $13.5M, this review serves as approval and my written determination that the aforementioned FAR circumstances apply.

NAME: Gay Arnold SIGNATURE: See separate PDF page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Procuring Activity Competition Advocate/DISA/DITCO

PHONE: (618) 229-9517 DATE:

ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS JUSTIFICATION ARE TO BE REFERRED TO

Brittney Galle, 618-229-9327, brittney.e.galle.civ@mail.mil or Tiffany Haselhorst, 618-229- 9132, tiffany.a.haselhorst.civ@mail.mil mailto:brittney.e.galle.civ@mail.mil