JA24-064_AWS FINAL Redacted_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION & APPROVAL FOR FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION

SUBPART 16.5 ACQUISITIONS

EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Multiple Award Contract

Orders under Fair Opportunity Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505, Defense FAR Supplement 216.505-70, Procedures, Guidance, and Information 216.505-70

Military Purchase Request Number:

Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) Contract Number: HC105023D0005 Task Order (TO) Number: To Be Determined Procurement Title: Minotaur Family of Services (MFoS) Estimated Value:

Statutory and Regulatory Authority: 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304c(b) and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B)

EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Number: JA24-064

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Procuring Activity Competition Advocate (PACA), hereby approve this exception to fair opportunity pursuant to the Statutory Authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304c(b) and Regulatory Authority of FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

1. REQUESTING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

Requesting Agency:

U.S. Navy (NAVY)/Program Management Aviation-290 22389 Joyce Road Patuxent River, MD 20670 United States of America

Contracting Activity:

Defense Information Systems Agency/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization/PL8511 2300 East Drive Scott Air Force Base, IL 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

This action is to issue a firm-fixed-price TO against the JWCC Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Contract for MFoS. This TO will be issued directly to The anticipated period of performance is for a 1-year base period, plus two 1-year option periods. The total estimated value is of FY24 Research, Development, Test & Evaluation funds.

Controlled By: DISA Controlled By: PS8511 CUI Category: PROCURE Distribution/Dissemination Control: FEDCON POC: disa.scott.ditco.mbx.ditco-jwcc@mail.mil

JA24-064 Minotaur Family of Services

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3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

The MFoS Program Office plans to deploy a software product called “Minotaur” in IL-5 and IL- 6 infrastructure owned by the United States Navy to enhance data distribution capabilities for the enterprise of Minotaur users across the Department of Defense (DoD), US Coast Guard (USCG), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). To do so, MFoS needs to procure virtual central processing units, graphics processing units, and block storage of varying size and capacity at the Controlled Unclassified Information level (IL-5) and at the Secret level (IL-6).

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.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) - 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.

MFoS Program Office has a need to seamlessly tie into existing AWS cloud infrastructure within the DoD Intelligence community. The MFoS development team has previously completed extensive engineering work on the Minotaur software and created a web-enabled version. This previous work was conducted within AWS cloud infrastructure and used native AWS tools. Units within the DoD, USCG, and DHS have created similar cloud infrastructure for their own instances of Minotaur. The U.S Navy’s infrastructure will utilize developmental advances that have been made with other agencies in order to reduce development costs to the government. To do so, however, requires that MFoS uses the same cloud infrastructure and tools as the other agencies.

MFoS developers possess AWS certifications (i.e., AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and AWS Certified Developer – Associate) and knowledge that do not directly translate to other cloud service providers (CSPs). In addition to AWS certifications already possessed by the MFoS development team, development work has been done within the Minotaur Enterprise by other agencies (USCG, DHS, and DoD) that the MFoS development team will continue to utilize. Additionally, the MFoS development team has extensively used the Diode batching simulator processes emulating the AWS Diode architecture. These AWS certifications that enable them to begin immediate work on the current cloud infrastructure development. We require IL-5, IL-6, and TS authorized clouds. The deployment of Minotaur into IL-5 and IL-6 services under this task order will need to maintain form, fit, and function so that we seamlessly integrate with software development that has already been tested and used.

(c) Justification.

(1) Minimum Government requirements.

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The MFoS Program Office is establishing an IL-5, IL-6, and TS cloud environment to provide Minotaur data distribution and cloud computing capability of the Minotaur software platform to the U. S. Navy, Marine Corps, and other DoD and DHS entities.

This capability must be in place by end of May 2024 in order to support on-going fleet experimentation events happening across the U.S. Navy fleet.

(2) Proposed sole source contractor. AWS.

(3) Discussion regarding the cause of the sole source situation.

Further, the only source capable of supporting the MFoS Cloud Environment at the level and quality required is AWS based on two primary factors. First, the form, fit, and function of Minotaur software must remain the same when deployed to a cloud environment. The USCG funded and completed software development work that enabled Minotaur software to run in the AWS cloud environment and, more importantly, integrate with the AWS Cross Domain Solution. To retool and reengineer the Minotaur codebase to integrate with a different CSP would incur unnecessary cost and risk to software stability (i.e., reengineering software inherently creates software stability risk). Second, Minotaur software is already engineered to be compatible with AWS edge solutions.

Reengineering Minotaur for other edge solutions incurs the same unnecessary additional costs and risks as previously mentioned. The cloud development work done to date by the DoD and the USCG via separate efforts (e.g., VPC configurations, RHEL implementation in resources, and blog/organized storage) would be of little use in another CSPs environment.

(4) Demonstration of unique source.

AWS possesses the knowledge, skills, capabilities, certification, clearance, and experience required to continue the program without a break or degradation in critical mission services. MFoS was given an emergent requirement in Q2 FY24, and subsequently worked to design network architecture that meets that requirement. Given the timeline of this emergent requirement, AWS is the only CSP that is capable of providing services compatible with current Minotaur software configuration for the DoD in order to meet the current required timeline - which is, infrastructure in-place by the end of May 2024 for developers to begin required development work to support a fleet exercise in June 2024.

(5) Procurement discussion. None.

(6) Impact.

If an avenue other than an exception to fair opportunity were pursued, the Government would need to restructure current cloud infrastructure in order to accommodate and

Page 4 of 5 Pages seamlessly integrate with the Minotaur Cloud. Furthermore, the Government would have to hire additional software developers, engineers, and system administrators, or retrain current Government software developers, engineers, and system administrators, in order to support ongoing Minotaur Cloud development. This new infrastructure will immediately support ongoing fleet experimentation and operational use-cases across the DoD and DHS.

5. COST/PRICE FAIR AND REASONABLE DETERMINATION:

A determination that the price is fair and reasonable will be based on a comparison of the contractor’s proposal to the independent government cost estimate and the JWCC Catalog pricing, including any discounts, which was previously found to be fair and reasonable and based on the contractor’s commercial pricing.

6. MARKET RESEARCH:

Market research for the basic JWCC Contracts was conducted and resulted in a signed market research report on 9 Nov 2021. After a survey of the market, it was concluded that the JWCC Contract is in the Government’s best interest due to technical feasibility and cost to the Government.

Additional research was conducted from December 4, 2023, to January 14, 2024, by reviewing the specific capabilities in the JWCC Contracts and it was determined that AWS is the only source capable of fulfilling the Government’s minimum needs in the manner and time frame required. Cloud environments across all three of domains is a requirement for the MFoS project.

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:

Not Applicable

(b) If the Government should determine AWS is no longer required or other software meets the Government’s need, the Government will seek a competitive acquisition approach for the required functionality. Lifecycle replacement for the systems will be evaluated and if the technology is replaced, the Government will seek a competitive acquisition approach for the replacement solution if feasible. To overcome future barriers to competition, the U.S. Navy will also pursue training and certification for Government engineers in other technologies.

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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: SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION:

PHONE: 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.

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

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 $15M, this review serves as approval and my written determination that the aforementioned FAR circumstances apply.

NAME: Gay Arnold SIGNATURE:

TITLE/ORGANIZATION: PACA/DISA

ALL QESTIONS REGARDING THIS JUSTIFICATION ARE TO BE REFERRED TO