JOFOC_Quintron_final signed.pdf

Rev.:7/2022

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Kennedy Space Center (KSC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For Solicitation 80TECH22Q0046

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

The procuring agency is NASA and the contracting activity is KSC.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award a new, sole-source contract for Solicitation 80TECH22Q0046 for Operational Intercomm System (OIS) keysets.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The keysets will be used by the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program across KSC and will be connected to an existing center wide OIS system. There are multiple types of keysets that are used for various purposes such as rackmount, desktop, wall-mount, outdoor and hazard-rated. Keysets are used for intercom teleconferencing (similar to multiple channel telephones) to support operations and processing of flight hardware. The estimated value is $419,000. Other procurements from Quintron totaling over $2M have already been completed for this project.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) 1, as implemented by FAR 6.302-1 (Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements).

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) 1 is due to unique software and hardware integration requirements as described below.

NASA has an existing contract with Leidos (AEGIS) and Quintron (Mission Next Generation Voice - MNGV) to provide Operational Intercom System (OIS) services to any NASA center that has adopted the new OIS. Quintron was selected to be the OIS provider for the full and open competition MNGV contract. KSC began the transition to MNGV (Quintron OIS) in 2021. All keysets and servers that are used for this system must be electrically, physically, and software compatible with the existing system. Any other source would require extensive integration and verification to ensure interoperability, adding undue cost and schedule impact to the project. The equipment contains highly specialized software written by Quintron that has been integrated to work with the keyset components and existing KSC system.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (Sam.gov) was published on 8/24/2022, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to Quintron. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable. In accordance with FAR 15.4, the Contracting Officer expects to use historical prices for the price analysis.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market research was not conducted:

Quintron was awarded the NASA Agency-supported contract with NICS in 2020. This was an open competition contract. At that time, prices for all the keysets were set in a catalog with year-after-year escalation. When NICS transitioned to AEGIS in 2022, the catalog prices were expected to port over to AEGIS. SAIC was on the NICS contract and then the AEGIS contract, so the prices were expected to remain the same. However, when AEGIS was disputed and then awarded to Leidos instead of SAIC, there no longer existed a contract for the prices of the equipment. On contract 80TECH21DA002, AEGIS was contracted to be the procurement mechanism for Quintron equipment, but they do not yet have a process for these procurements. In an effort to move forward with the procurements, NASA was instructed by the NASA AEGIS contracting officer’s representative to deal directly with Quintron. Up until this time, NASA was able to complete all Quintron procurements via NICS. Since Quintron was awarded the original contract and NASA KSC is upgrading all

OIS equipment to Quintron, it is not possible to change to a different vendor. Too much time has been invested in selecting a source for this system and over $2 million has already been invested in previous Quintron procurements. Millions of dollars would be lost if NASA KSC were forced to change vendors for this equipment.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

If any other keysets or servers are purchased besides Quintron, KSC will be required to integrate the equipment to function with the existing system. System integration costs performed by NASA or a KSC NASA contractor would cost much more than for Quintron to provide the integration. Quintron already has the integration included in their service and NASA would have to provide extensive engineering to become proficient in the integration.

An actual cost comparison is not currently available.

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (Sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above).

Other vendors that proposed against the original MNGV NICS contract in 2018 were Compunetix and Frequentis, but Quintron was awarded the contract as lowest-price, technically acceptable.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

The original MNGV was competed fairly in open competition.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIGNATURE PAGE

I certify that the facts presented in this justification are accurate and complete.

Debra Caldwell

I hereby certify that the above justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Nikkole Stites Contracting Officer

CONCURRENCE:

Sarah Pollock Procurement Officer

APPROVED:

Jeffrey Seaton Competition Advocate Chief Information Officer