Justifcation and Approval-GRA OSU_Redacted.pdf

this document, OSU has the most well rounded and robust graduate history progam with an emphasis on military history in the United States. Founded in the mid-1970s, the OSU military history program is recognized as among the strongest in North America and the world. It routinely attracts the finest graduate students, some of them serving military officers, and exposes them to a demanding, broad-based curriculum that respects the field's traditional emphases in strategy and operations while encouraging them to relate war to society and other aspects of History. The military history field is part of a larger constellation-Human Conflict, Peace, and Diplomacy-that brings together OSU scholars in a number of disciplines, to include military and diplomatic history, political and economic history, various geographic fields, psychology, and political science. The history department has 61 faculty members, five of whom specialize in military history, and 19 of its 76 graduate students specialize in military history. Faculty members include the following:

i. Dr. Geoffrey Parker, Distinguished University Professor, is the author, editor, or co-editor of 40 books and over 100 articles. In addition to winning numerous awards, he is the author of The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800 (1988); The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare (1995); The Cambridge History of Warfare (2005); and, The Spanish Armada (1988).

ii. Dr. Bruno Cabanes, The Great War and the Origins of Humanitarianism, 1918-

1924 (2014); and August 1914: France, The Great War and a Month that Changed the World Forever (2016).

iii. Dr. Mark Grimsley:, author of The Hard Hand of War: Union Military Policy

Toward Southern Civilians, 1861-1865 (1995); And Keep Moving On: The Virginia Campaign, May-June 1864 (2002); The Collapse of the Confederacy (2001); and Gettysburg: A Battlefield Guide (1999).

iv. Dr. Peter R. Mansoor, Professor, author of The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945 (1999); Surge: My Journey with General David Petraeus and the Remaking of the Iraq War (2013).

v. Dr. Tryntje Helfferich, The Essential Thirty Years War (2015); The Thirty Years War: A Documentary History (2009).

vi. Dr. Williamson Murray, Emeritus Professor. Among many other books, Murray is the author of The Change in the European Balance of Power, 1938-1939 (1984); and, The Air War in the Persian Gulf (1995). Also, co-author of The Iraq War, A Military History (2003); The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988 (2014); Successful Strategies (2014); A Savage War (2016), America and the Future of War: The Past as Prologue (2017).

The OSU military history faculty is arguably the finest in the country. Together, Dr. Parker and Dr. Murray are more widely published than any other pair of military historians at one institution. Dr. Mansoor, who also serves as the president of the Society of Military History, is renowned both for his publications and his role as a brigade commander in Iraq in 2003 and as a chief planner and the executive officer to General Petraeus during the Iraq Surge. Reflecting the high quality of its faculty, OSU’s previous participation in the GRA Program from 2017 through 2021 was very successful. The four GRAs OSU sent to CMH were a diverse and talented group, and one authored the commemorative pamphlet The Marne, 15 July-6 August 1918 for the centennial commemoration of the First World

War. CMH subsequently hired that GRA as an Army historian, and he is now working on an official history of the war in Syria and Iraq from 2014 to 2020. OSU’s faculty, prior success in supporting CMH, and the high quality of its graduate students, including the ability to research and complete book projects, all justify a sole source contract with OSU.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective Competition: The Government does not intend to solicit additional sources for this effort for the reasons described in Paragraph 5 above.

b. Subcontracting competition: This action does not lend itself to subcontracting. The graduate research assistant will be a direct employee of the contracted university, which is the most efficient and cost-effective arrangement.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: No actions to increase future competition are contemplated at this time, as OSU meets CMH’s needs.

8. Market Research: Pursuant to FAR 10.002 (Procedures), Dr. Shane Story conducted market research from January to March 2022 to determine the ability of all potential vendors to provide GRA support services to CMH. This research began with a list of 30 MA/PhD granting institutions compiled by the Society of Military History (https://www.smh-hq.org/grad/gradguide/degree.html) to compare research universities that specialized in military history. Dr. Story eliminated foreign universities from the list because one critical purpose of the program is to promote military history in American universities, and he eliminated private universities in order to contain costs and to prioritize public institutions. Other institutions were eliminated because their programs are too small to meet CMH’s requirements or because, in two cases, we are already pursuing separate contracts with those institutions. That leaves OSU as the single most robust and well-rounded program of the entire group, with its successful performance on the previous contract providing excellent justification for a new contract.

The resulting market research indicated that, although there are a few universities that could provide general GRA support services, only OSU provides the required expertise that would meet this requirement.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express an interest.

The notices required by FAR 5.201 will be published and any proposals received will be considered.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History: In 2017, the US Army Center of Military History entered into a contract W56HZV-17-P-L530 with OSU for GRA support services for a purchase price of $250,229.00. This contract expired on 31 July 2021.

b. Other facts: None

11. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Typed Name: Dr. William S. Story Date: 21 April 2022

Title: Chief, General Histories Signature://wss//William S. Story

12. Requirements Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Typed Name: Dr. William S. Story Date: 21 April 2022

Title: Chief, General Histories Signature://wss//William S. Story

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on the Independent Government Estimate and past procurement history. The contractor will not be required to submit certified cost and pricing data because the proposed action will be a commercial procurement IAW FAR 15.403-1(b)(3).

Typed Name: Elida Kellezi Date: 21 April 2022 Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //EK//

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Typed Name: Elida Kellezi Date: 21 April 2022 Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //EK//