JOFOC - FY24-11 v2-signed.pdf

Sole Source Justification Enterprise Services Office of Acquisition

1401 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20230

FY24-11

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION FOR SIMPLFIED ACQUISITIONS

FAR Part 13.501(a)(1)(ii)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity:

Program Office: National Telecommunications and Information Administration Institute for Telecommunication Sciences

1401 Constitution Ave, NW

Contracting Activity: Department of Commerce Enterprise Services - Acquisition

1401 Constitution Ave, NW

2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1) in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901 or the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1903, the Department of Commerce (DOC) proposes to award a contract on the basis of other than full and open competition with Nokia of America Corporation (NAC) for technical support of hardware and software associated with the Table Mountain 5G Cellular Testbed on behalf of the Institute for Telecommunication Sciences (ITS).

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Department’s needs.

In 2023, the Department of Defense (DoD) sponsored the installation of a four tower, one core 5G cellular system, which, when combined with the twenty UEs (User Equipment;

aka cell phones) delivered simultaneously, established a 5G Cellular Testbed at ITS’s Table Mountain Field Site. While much of the hardware installed is Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) equipment and related COTS software, there are several limited-production, prototype hardware components (notably prototype cell tower radio heads and cell phones) that require custom (or non-COTS) software to operate. In FY24, ITS assumed the responsibility of sustaining and operating the Table Mountain 5G Cellular Testbed in support of currently scheduled and subsequent future spectrum-sharing-related co-existence assessments as well as 5G cellular phenomenological studies.

The objective of this requirement is to provide professional technical support services remotely and on-site at the Table Mountain Field location. Continued support for this testbed will allow ITS to measure the RF characteristics of 5G cellular technology, identify the impacts of primary and secondary shared spectrum license holders on incumbent

Federal systems, and collect data to validate modeled interference protection criteria. It is essential to sustain the operability of the 5G Cellular Testbed so that ITS’ spectrum co-existence assessments can continue unabated into the future.

The total estimated value of this over a twelve-month base period and two six-month-option periods is $3,960,000.

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

This acquisition is conducted under the authority permitting other than full and open competition pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the action require use of the authority cited.

The Institute for Telecommunications Sciences (ITS) needs to acquire technical support for the Table Mountain 5G Cellular Testbed. This 5G Cellular Testbed was bought, delivered, and installed by the Department of Defense (DoD) via a research and development contract which tasked the Nokia of America Corporation (NAC) to design, develop, and deliver prototype cellular equipment. The cellular equipment is designed for a part of the radio spectrum that is currently only used by the Federal Government, but is under consideration for near-future auctions by the FCC. The DoD procured this equipment and established three testbeds, of which one is at the Table Mountain Field Site.

In response to the DoD contract, NAC invested resources into designing, building, and delivering the required quantities of equipment and services necessary for performance.

However, given no current commercial value, NAC has ceased production of the equipment. Additionally, the delivered hardware and software are custom, limited production products so Nokia did not make them commercially available. Due to the limited hardware production of these custom products, NAC is the only supplier of technical support with a comprehensive awareness and understanding of the design and operation of the equipment installed at the Table Mountain Field Site. NACs software engineers designed the components of this unique 5G testbed and have been involved with the project since its inception. Notably, the hardware and software use NAC proprietary designs and algorithms, and thus, at this time, only the NAC engineers and developers have the technical knowledge to perform required periodic maintenance and updates, as well as "real-time" remedies to system failures or shortcomings that occur during day-to-day 5G Cellular Testbed operations. By extension, NAC is the only vendor that can sustain the testbed.

6. A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, include whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

A special notice of intent to sole source was published to the government point of entry site sam.gov on January 19th, 2024 with a closing date of January 29th, 2024. No potential suppliers responded with capability statements or any other indication of interest in the proposed contract action.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the

Government will be fair and reasonable. Note: dollar amounts may not exceed statutory limitations for the commercial items test program identified in FAR 13.500.

The Contracting Office determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on review of market rates for similar labor category positions in the commercial market and historic contract data for related technical support procurements with NAC for other 5G systems.

8. A description of the market research conducted (per FAR Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

The proposed procurement requires Contractors to be familiar with and have access to a highly customized and unique configuration of the FACTS 5G cellular system. The specialized nature of this system is a significant barrier preventing businesses other than Nokia from providing this service. Nokia is the manufacturer of the four NTIA-ITS Nokia 5G systems. They are the only qualified entity to support, debug and maintain their custom software and hardware that was developed for this non-standard installation.

An intent to sole-source was posted by the Contracting Officer to the Government Wide Point of Entry website (sam.gov) on January 22nd, 2024 and closed February 5th, 2024.

Potential vendors were encouraged to respond if they believed they could meet the Government’s need. One response was received from Oceus Networks, LLC, a wireless solutions provider and integrator, stating they believed they could meet NTIA’s requirements because of their working relationship with Nokia. Subsequent conversations with Oceus Networks, LLC revealed that they did not have requisite non-disclosure agreements in place with Nokia to work on the proprietary hardware or software required to meet NTIA’s need.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition such as:

Not applicable. The hardware and software components supported by the proposed contract were developed by NAC and customized to the Department of Defense’s needs. These specialized resources have been passed on to ITS for continued use. Due to the unique nature of the components, no other vendor is capable of performing on the contract.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

Oceus Networks was the only entity to express interest in this acquisition. No other sources have expressed interest in this acquisition.

11. A statement of any actions the agency will take to remove or overcome any future barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

The technology supported by the proposed contract is rapidly evolving within the industry and is expected to be obsolete by the time the contract ends. Therefore, it is unlikely that ITS will pursue a subsequent procurement for these same services. If the Government needs to pursue a future contract action for similar services, the program office and contracting activity will perform additional market research to determine capable vendors.

12. Program Official’s and Contracting Officer’s Certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer's knowledge and belief:

Based on the above information, it is determined to be in the Government’s best interest to acquire 5G Cellular Testbed technical support. I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

John Carroll Date Program Official

Ronald Greene Date Contracting Officer