JA18-170_COMPLETE_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION (OTFAOC)

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6 Justification & Approval (J&A), Supporting Procurements under FAR Part 12, and FAR Part 15

Purchase Request Number: To Be Determined (TBD) Contract Number: TBD Task/Delivery Order Number: Not Applicable (N/A) Procurement Title: Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) Geographic Broadcast Controller (GBC) Upgrade Estimated Value:

Statutory Authority: FAR 6.302-1 and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (l)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (OTFAOC)

Justification for OTFAOC Number: JA18-170

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as Procuring Activity Competition Advocate (PACA), hereby approve the use of other than full and open competition of the proposed contractual action pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(l) (FAR 6.302-1), only one responsible source and no other provides the supplies and services that will satisfy agency requirements.

1. REQUIRING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requiring Activity:

Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Operations Center (OC)/Infrastructure Executive (IE) EMSS Commercial Satellite Communications Sustainment Branch (IE21) P.O. Box 549 Ft. Meade, MD 20755-9088

Contracting Office:

DISA/ Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) DISA Services Section (PL8221) 2300 East Drive Scott Air Force Base, IL 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

This action seeks to issue a contract with both Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and Cost Reimbursable (CR) contract line item numbers (CLINs) to Iridium Satellite LLC, “Iridium”, a large business, operating out of McLean, VA. The purpose of this contract is to provide development and installation of enhancements to the EMSS GBC to support the operation of the Distributed Tactical Communications System (DTCS) Global Services (GS).

EMSS GBC Upgrade-JA18-170

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The requested life-cycle for this effort is and will be funded by Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Defense Working Capital Fund (DWCF).

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

In order to satisfy critical United States Government (USG) communication requirements, a USG dedicated Iridium gateway was constructed to provide EMSS to USG users. The USG gateway provides each of the commercial Iridium features and services consistent with the commercial Iridium baseline system. In addition, enhancements to the USG gateway were procured along with unique DTCS push-to-talk voice communications equipment and support.

To ensure that these services continue to satisfy the operational requirements of the DoD and other agencies utilizing EMSS, the EMSS Program Management Office is initiating a 15 month effort (with an option to extend services for up to 6-months in accordance with FAR 52.217-8) to upgrade the EMSS GBC system to support the operation of the DTCS-GS. The GBC is a network element within the EMSS gateway architecture that provides a central controller for DTCS GS functions, including registration, paging indicator service, associated basic application messaging service functions required for provisioning, geographic group call, satellite resource coverage mapping to geographic regions, one-to-many message replication for group calls, and operations control. The current GBC at the EMSS gateway is no longer supported by the manufacturer and can no longer be upgraded to the operating system version needed to achieve Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG)/ Information Assurance Vulnerability Assessment (IAVA) compliance. The system also is experiencing system faults that are impacting the ability to operationalize DTCS-GS.

The place of performance for this contract will be at the contractor’s facilities and/or the DoD Gateway as well as the Iridium test facilities at US-based locations that are both within the continental United States and outside of the continental United States.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY:

Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, 10 U.S.C.2304(c) (1). (FAR 6.302-1/DFARS 206.302-1);

5. DEMONSTRATION OF CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS:

(a) Description:

The contractor will design and develop an upgrade of the hardware and software for the GBC at the EMSS gateway. In addition, the contractor will install, integrate and test the operation of the GBC in the EMSS gateway. Finally, the contractor will provide manuals and training to enable gateway staff to monitor and operate the GBC.

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(b) Justification.

(1) Minimum Government Requirements: Minimum GBC requirements include providing systems engineering, development, and installation of the GBC hardware and software system upgrades at the EMSS gateway.

(2) Proposed Sole Source Contractor. Iridium Satellite, LLC.

(3) Discussion Regarding Cause of the Sole Source Situation: No other contractor is capable of providing the GBC upgrades. Iridium’s proprietary network does not allow the opportunity to introduce competition; no other contractor is permitted to access proprietary Iridium information necessary to perform the upgrades/modifications on the Iridium gateway.

Impact: Failure to upgrade the GBC could lead to mission failure. If the EMSS gateway GBC upgrade contract award is delayed, DTCS-GS will not be able to go operational and Government/sponsored operations and the deployed forces that rely on these services through the EMSS DoD gateway will have to be restricted to the Phase 2 DTCS capability that only supports 250 mile radius networks. This result is unacceptable to DISA’s commitment to deliver communication capability to the Warfighter. Implementation of the GBC upgrade fulfills DISA's commitment to provide tactical communications capability to the EMSS users.

6. FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES (FBO) ANNOUNCEMENT/POTENTIAL

SOURCES:

Potential sources were sought via a Sources Sought Announcement posted to FBO on July 16, 2018 and produced no responses. A Small Business Dynamic Search was conducted but yielded no results, as no other vendors are capable of working on the Iridium commercial baseline due to the proprietary nature of the Iridium satellite network.

7. DETERMINATION OF FAIR AND REASONABLE COST:

The contracting officer (KO), in conjunction with a cost and price analyst and the Technical Evaluation team, will determine whether the cost/price is fair and reasonable. In order to do so, price analysis to include comparison with prices obtained through market research, historical data of similar acquisitions, and comparison with the Independent Government Cost Estimate will be utilized. Cost analysis will also be used and technical evaluations will be conducted.

The KO and contracting specialist (in conjunction with the cost/price analyst) will ensure that the resulting negotiated price is fair and reasonable to the Government.

8. MARKET RESEARCH:

A Small Business Administration Dynamic Small Business search was conducted on July 30, 2018 using search filters that included “Iridium” and “Low Earth Orbit Geographic Broadcast Controller”. As a result, one 8(a), one HUBZone, and one Woman Owned Small Business were identified. However, Iridium will not allow third parties to have access to the proprietary data

Page 4 of 5 Pages required to complete the necessary services. Therefore, no small business has the ability to provide the elements necessary to fulfill this requirement.

Market research also included the review of Government Services Administration (GSA) Advantage, DISA contract vehicles, and other sources such as commercial web sites, industry experts and conferences/tradeshows. Since the GBC is unique to the Iridium commercial gateway and all data is proprietary, no contractor except Iridium is capable of providing the requested services.

9. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS:

Iridium retains the personnel, expertise, and proprietary elements to effectively complete this requirement.

10. LISTING OF INTERESTED SOURCES:

Iridium Satellite LLC 1750 Tysons Boulevard, Suite 1400 McLean, VA 22102

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

THAT LED TO THE EXCEPTION TO FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

(a) Procurement History:

There is no procurement history for this acquisition. This will be a new contract.

(b) The Government will post a redacted J&A on FBO. At this time, Iridium is the only source capable of customization to the Iridium equipment at the EMSS gateway. Should the Government become aware of any other contractor in the future who could demonstrate the ability to accomplish requirements outlined in the proposed contract, the Government would at that time consider competition.

12. REFERENCE TO THE APPROVED ACQUISITION PLAN (AP): In accordance with the exceptions under DISA Acquisition Regulation Supplement 7.103 (S-90)(1), an AP is not required.