JA21-002 Certus BPA Redacted for Beta SAM_Redacted.pdf

LIMITED SOURCE JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL (J&A)

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 8 ACQUISITIONS

Multiple Award Schedule (MAS)/Multiple Award Contract Orders under MAS/General Services Administration Schedules (GSA)/Federal Supply Schedules

(FSS) FAR 8.405-6

Purchase Request Number: To be determined (TBD) Contract Number: TBD Task/Delivery Order Number: Not applicable Procurement Title: Enhanced Mobile Satellite Service (EMSS) Certus Blanket Purchase

Agreement (BPA) Estimated Value:

Statutory and Regulatory Authority: 41 U.S.C. 152(3), FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B)

J&A Number: JA21-002

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as Head of the Contracting Activity, hereby approve this limited source justification in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(l)(i)(B). The acquisition referenced herein is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C. 152(3).

1. REQUIRING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requesting Agency:

U.S. Space Force (USSF) Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO)

EMSS

P.O. Box 549 Ft. Meade, MD 20755-9088

Contracting Activity:

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

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S): This action seeks to issue a single award, firm fixed price BPA contract to COMSAT, Inc., hereinafter “COMSAT”, a large business located in Herndon, VA. The contract shall have a base period of 12 months plus four (4) 12-month options for a total of 60 months. The requested life-cycle contract ceiling for this agreement is

. This requirement will be customer funded through orders placed against the BPA.

Task orders under this BPA will be issued by DITCO-Scott upon receipt of a Telecommunication Service Request via the DISA Storefront.

EMSS Certus BPA-JA21-002

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3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: The EMSS Certus BPA effort is designed to provide Government customers and authorized users with the only truly global pole-to-pole (± 90º latitude), mobile broadband data capability utilizing the Iridium constellation. This effort entails providing broadband satellite access for background Internet Protocol (IP), broadband data streaming at various speeds, value added services (training, managed service), tier 3 troubleshooting of Certus and data collection support to the EMSS Program Management Office (PMO). The contractor shall provide comprehensive order fulfillment for all items covered under this agreement and placed through the web-based DISA Storefront. Comprehensive order support means the contractor shall be capable of receiving and acknowledging automated orders within one (1) business day or less once issued by the Government. The contractor shall also ship the item within the timeframe requested by the EMSS customer; maintain detailed records on all purchases and shipments; support ordering issues, equipment/product returns; and cooperate with and support the EMSS PMO for data collection.

The Certus capability will become effective at the EMSS Department of Defense (DoD) Gateway no earlier than December 2021, following required baseband equipment installation and necessary software updates. Prior to completing this installation of baseband equipment, the EMSS PMO determined that Certus traffic of the initial adapters of this capability through the Iridium Commercial Gateway in Tempe, AZ are necessary to fulfill mission critical support functions. Users who are able to accept the terms and risks of using the Commercial Gateway will have their traffic rerouted through the EMSS DoD Gateway when that capability becomes operational. DoD users of Certus services at the Iridium Commercial Gateway will be required to use a dual-homed SIM card in their radios. This will allow a seamless transition, with no transition time required, from the Iridium Commercial Gateway back to the EMSS DoD Gateway when Certus services become available.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF LIMITED SOURCE AUTHORITY AND DEMONSTRATION OF

CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS:

(a) Circumstances Justifying Limiting the Source: The following circumstances justify limiting the source under FAR Part 8.

(1) FAR 8.405-6 (a)( 1 )(i)(B), only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

(b) Description of the Justification: Iridium LLC has confirmed that COMSAT has an exclusive Letter of Supply to be the sole provider of the Iridium Certus offering through the Iridium Commercial Gateway (interim basis) and the EMSS DoD Gateway. As the sole provider, COMSAT is the only Iridium authorized reseller who can fulfill the required services under this requirement. The early adopters of Certus who chose to utilize Iridium's Commercial Gateway will be required to abide by DoD policy regarding the acquisition of approved DoD capabilities and waivers. Waivers for the

Page 3 of 7 Pages use of commercial Certus will only be authorized until an approved DoD Certus capability is available at the EMSS DoD Gateway.

(c) Justification:

(1) Minimum Government Requirements: The procurement of broadband satellite access to the global Iridium satellite network for background Internet Protocol (IP), broadband data streaming at various speeds, value added services (training, managed service), tier 3 troubleshooting of Certus, and data collection support to the

EMSS PMO.

Provide full operational mission support to Certus service end-users, provision and support dual-homed SIM cards that will allow for the services to leverage both the Iridium Commercial Gateway and eventually be transitioned to the EMSS DoD Gateway. COMSAT has been identified as the only contractor capability of providing this dual-homed capability.

(2) Proposed Sole Source Contractor: COMSAT is the proposed sole source contractor. COMSAT is the only authorized reseller of the Certus capability to the DoD through both the Iridium Commercial Gateway and the EMSS DoD Gateway. They have significant experience in the mobile broadband sector and currently hold multiple International Maritime Satellite (Inmarsat) BPAs.

COMSAT also offers the full suite of required services and is postured to begin performance immediately upon contract award.

(3) Discussion regarding cause of the limited source situation: Certus represents a new product line and business strategy for Iridium LLC. Not all Iridium Value Added Resellers (VARs) possess the ability to resell Certus in every market or have the vertical model necessary within the Iridium business portfolio. Providers are limited based on their region, vertical business model, and market presence, which depends on the scale to which Iridium authorizes their agreements. Iridium has confirmed that COMSAT is the only authorized provider of Certus to the EMSS PMO through the Iridium Commercial Gateway and the EMSS DoD Gateway.

Iridium, as a commercial entity, has determined that a sole service provider to the DoD is the most appropriate commercial business model for this effort. This decision is not unprecedented in the mobile satellite industry. Inmarsat, a competitor of Iridium, has adopted similar historical business models with their Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) services to the DoD.

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Iridium provides the terms of their agreements via a Letter of Supply. This Letter of Supply delineates the terms of the agreement between the VAR and Iridium in terms of their region and markets for reselling of Certus services. COMSAT is the only provider who has a Letter of Supply to resell Certus to the EMSS PMO through both the Iridium Commercial Gateway and the EMSS DoD Gateway.

(4) Demonstration of limited source: The Iridium Next satellite constellation provides a unique advantage due to it being the only truly global coverage, low earth orbit (LEO) constellation that provides a pole-to-pole network of satellites. The Certus service offers a mobile broadband capability that can only be procured through the utilization of the Iridium network. As an Iridium service offering, this service is only available to contractors whom possess a valid reseller agreement with the satellite operator.

Furthermore, to successfully fulfill this requirement the offeror must be capable of supporting data traffic through both the Iridium Commercial Gateway and, during the life of this effort, the EMSS DoD Gateway. In order to support the transmission of traffic to both Gateways, dual-homed SIM cards are required for all DoD Certus terminals which COMSAT is the only authorized reseller for this equipment. COMSAT is the only authorized reseller who has the ability to provide Certus service to the DoD through the Iridium Commercial Gateway and the EMSS DoD Gateway, as well as the ability to provide the necessary dual-homed SIM cards.

(5) Procurement discussion: The sole source contract will be established on or about January 2021 to establish Certus service for EMSS customers. No other sources are capable of meeting requirements due to the exclusive Letter of Supply from Iridium.

Customers that choose to adopt the Certus capability prior to the installation of the Certus equipment at the EMSS Gateway will be made fully aware of the infrastructure that will be utilized during phases at the Iridium Commercial Gateway.

(6) Impact: If this contract award is delayed, the Certus capability will not be readily available to EMSS customers through the Iridium Commercial Gateway. The only available alternative will be to acquire non-secure commercial variants at costs dictated by the marketplace and subject to commercial and foreign government intercept laws. The DoD and Government partners currently have a significant number of disadvantaged users at extreme latitudes that lack proper broadband data capabilities to support their critical

Page 5 of 7 Pages missions. Certus offers the only truly global, mobile broadband capability and has already started to be integrated into Continuity of Operations in anticipation of release. The earliest adopters of the Certus capability include the Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) who have participated in the initial capability testing through partnerships with Iridium, Thales and COMSAT. The success of these initial tests have prompted the brigades to outfit their vehicles with Certus terminals and full integration into their Concept of Operations (CONOPS). The SFABs have reached out to the EMSS PMO to ensure the program that their intention is to use the EMSS Gateway with all of their terminals. Certus services support real world mission requirements for mobile satellite services.

5. BEST VALUE DETERMINATION: GSA has already determined that prices of these satellite services as fair and reasonable for the purpose of establishing the schedule contract. However, the contracting officer, with the assistance of a price analyst and technical team, will also make a determination of fair and reasonable pricing for this BPA in accordance with the proposal analysis techniques at FAR 15.404-1. A fair and reasonable determination will be made using price analysis based on comparison of historical prices paid for similar products, comparison with competitive published price lists, and technical analysis in evaluating the pricing to similar items.

6. MARKET RESEARCH: Based on current market research, dated May 11, 2020, it has been determined that only the aforementioned product and/or product support can fully support the Governments need for a broadband capability with global coverage and leverages both a Commercial Gateway and eventually a secure DoD Gateway facility once operational. This requirement is for proprietary products and/or product support and no competitor functional replacement products exist in the market at this time to meet the Government's need. 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 original equipment manufacturer releases ownership rights of product, or it is economically feasible to procure a new system. No other contractor has the authority as a Value-Added Reseller, from Iridium, to sell Certus to the DoD through either the Iridium Commercial Gateway or the EMSS DoD Gateway.

7. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS: Not applicable

8. ACTIONS THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE BARRIERS THAT LED TO THE

RESTRICTED CONSIDERATION:

(a) Lifecycle of the current architecture.

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Certus services are a new service capable of leveraging higher data rates through the new Iridium Next satellite constellation. This contract will provide for the provisioning of mission essential Certus services through COMSAT, Inc. who currently is the only reseller with authorization to provide the service to the DoD through both the Iridium Commercial Gateway and EMSS DoD Gateway.

(b) Actions to remove barriers. Given that this requirement is an emerging commercial service offering, the Government believes that as the service offering matures over the next five years additional resellers may become capable of supporting the necessary services and requirements.

i. The EMSS PMO will encourage Iridium to identify, and consider, other possible resellers that have the capability to provision Certus services over the Iridium Next constellation.

ii. In the event that market research identifies additional qualified resellers, and they are approved by Iridium, to provide Certus services over the Iridium next constellation, the Government will utilize a competitive procurement method.

iii. It is anticipated that COMSAT will remain the only approved Iridium provider for Certus services over the Iridium Next constellation throughout the life of this contract. The Government will continue to perform ongoing market research prior to exercising each option period.

In the future, the Government will monitor the Certus commercial landscape to ensure the service and pricing provided by COMSAT is fair and reasonable and in the best interests of the Government. The Government reserves the right to address the lack of competition within this industry, directly with Iridium, in hopes of increasing competition through additional value added resellers.

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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: Mr. Leroy Long SIGNATURE: See separate signature page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Program Manager / EMSS PMO

PHONE: (301) 225-4066 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: Ms. Clare Grason SIGNATURE: See separate signature page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Chief, CSCO, United States Space Force

PHONE: (301) 225-2030 DATE:

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

NAME: Mr. Jarid Schulte SIGNATURE: See separate signature page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Contracting Officer / DITCO / PL8221

PHONE: (618) 418-6567 DATE:

HEAD OF THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY (HCA) 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 , this review serves as approval.

NAME: DOUGLAS W. PACKARD SIGNATURE: See separate signature page

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: Head of Contracting Activity

PHONE: (301) 225-4120 DATE:

ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS JUSTIFICATION ARE TO BE REFERRED TO:

Kristina Lewis, (301) 225-4580, kristina.l.lewis.civ@mail.mil.