Justification and Approval for AMSO Support Services_Interim Bridge Contract_Redacted.pdf

CMO Control Number: 2021-047

Department of the Army Justification and Approval for Other than

Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Agency: The United States Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) is the contracting activity for this action.

2. Description of Action: ACC-DTA is proposing to award a sole source stand-alone interim bridge contract, consisting of a three month base period and two one-month options, to Trideum Corporation (Trideum) (CAGE Code: 351S9) to provide continuous Modeling and Simulation (M&S) services to the U.S. Army Center for Army Analysis CAA) in support of the Strategy and Resources (SR) and Simulation Proponent and School (SP) Divisions of the Army Modeling and Simulation Office (AMSO).

ACC-DTA solicited a competitive follow-on to Contract W56HZV-14-C-L712 under Solicitation W56HZV-20-R-L850 for M&S services, which resulted in the award of Contract W56HZV-21-C-L346 to Trideum on 11 February 2021. On 17 March 2021, ACC-DTA received a Government Accountability Office (GAO) level protest of the award. GAO’s decision on this protest is expected by 21 June 2021. The three month base period is meant to cover services through issuance of the GAO decision. The two one-month options are included to allow for a transition period in the case of protest sustainment by GAO and request for corrective actions.

The proposed interim bridge contract will prevent a disruption in critical M&S services, currently performed under Contract W56HZV-21-C-L346, until the protest can be resolved and ensures the stability and mission performance of AMSO. The total estimated value of this interim bridge contract, inclusive of options, is $2.1M.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: M&S services to be provided under this interim bridge contract are a continuation of tasks previously provided under the Performance Work Statement (PWS) detailed in Contract W56HZV-14-C-L712 that expired on 08 March 2021. Under this interim bridge contract, the contractor shall continue to provide M&S services to the SR and SP Divisions of the AMSO.

The AMSO provides services and subject matter expertise to support identification, prioritization, integration, and overall synchronization of M&S capabilities across the Army. The AMSO has the responsibility to ensure the Army has a trained and educated M&S mission force of military officers and Department of the Army civilians to support all M&S needs in this highly technical and dynamic field. It executes this mission by conducting analysis of M&S education needs across the Army, then as appropriate, designs, develops, implements, and evaluates courseware for online, mobile, and resident education and training.

The SR Division support services include assisting the Army in M&S policy and strategy analysis; Army M&S Enterprise requirements and integration analysis; geospatial analysis; technical analysis to support Department of the Army resource decision-making (with consideration to Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational (JIIM)); Army M&S Enterprise resource analysis; and the conduct of staff-level research to identify emerging issues and provide comprehensive solutions to those issues. In addition, support services include the utilization of M&S tools, services, and standards to identify M&S capability gaps in support of the Warfighter, Army readiness and modernization priorities, and to recommend cost effective solutions that are reusable throughout the Army M&S Enterprise.

The SP Division support services include instructor, school house, and personnel proponent support to assist the Army in managing, educating, and training career field FA57 officers and Career Program (CP) 36 civilians. Critical tasks for this division include:

a. teaching up to four Simulation Operation Courses (SOC) annually to qualify a minimum of one hundred four (104) FA57 officers and CP36 civilians;

b. teaching one (1) Intermediate and one (1) Advanced Simulation Course;

c. teaching two (2) Simulation Professional Courses targeting civilian M&S workforce;

d. teaching one (1) Exercise Planner Introduction Course (EPIC);

e. teaching eight (8) M&S community of practice courses;

f. conducting monthly M&S workshops;

g. updating and revising courseware material in a fast and constantly evolving environment;

h. performing workforce support to include education management and force structure concepts and analysis; and

i. operating highly technical and complex computer simulations within the school’s

Simulation Training Environment (STE) in accordance with the Department of Defense Risk Management Framework (RMF) procedures for DoD Information Technology (IT) systems.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is Title 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304(c)(1) and Title 41 U.S.C. 1901, as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a), Sole Source Acquisitions, which authorizes the use of simplified procedures for the acquisition of supplies and services in amounts greater than the simplified acquisition threshold but not exceeding $7.5 million, including options if the Contracting Officer reasonably expects, based on the nature of the supplies or services sought and on market research, that offers will include only commercial items.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: In March 2014, the M&S support services effort was awarded on a competitive, small business set-aside basis to Trideum under FFP Contract W56HZV-14-C-L712, which consisted of a base year and four 12-month options. A bridge to Contract W56HZV-14-C-L712 was subsequently awarded to Trideum on 06 March 2020 to extend these critical M&S services through 08 March 2021 to ensure there was no lapse in service while the competition for the follow-on

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective Competition: The Government does not intend to solicit additional sources for this interim bridge effort for the reasons described in Paragraph 5 above. In accordance with FAR 5.202(2), this procurement action will not be synopsized on beta.SAM.gov to alert interested contractors. A five-month interim bridge contract will provide sufficient time to cover the period needed to resolve the on-going GAO protest.

b. Subcontracting Competition: The contractor is a small business and is subject to the requirements of FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting, based on the status of the procurement as a total small business set-aside.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Contract W56HZV-21-C-L346 was competitively solicited as a total small business set-aside, and award was made to Trideum on 11 February 2021. On 17 March 2021, a GAO level protest was received by ACC-DTA in response to this contract award, and a Stop-Work Order was subsequently issued. This interim bridge contract is being put in place only until the on-going GAO protest is resolved; therefore, there are no current plans to increase competition as the on-going GAO protest was filed against a competitively awarded contract.

8. Market Research: Technical experts from AMSO, the requiring activity, perform market research and surveillance on an on-going basis to identify potential sources for M&S policy staff, personnel proponent, and training support services. Pursuant to FAR 10.002(b)(2), market research was conducted by the ACC-DTA Contract Specialist between 22 July 2020 and 03 August 2020. A Request for Information (RFI) consisting of seven open-ended questions were posted on https://beta.sam.gov/. A total of eight small business vendors responded to the RFI. In August 2020, AMSO performed a detailed review and analysis of the responses to the RFI and determined that three of the eight respondents were viewed as fully capable of performing the AMSO requirements. The others have the capability to perform with the right teaming relationships. Overall, the market research indicated that, in comparison to the previous re-compete, there are certainly more robust vendors in the M&S community today. As a result, the M&S effort was solicited as a Total Small Business Set-Aside on https://beta.sam.gov/ on 15 October 2020. Two proposals were received in response to the solicitation. Proposal selection was made utilizing the best value trade-off process.

As a result, Contract W56HZV-21-C-L346, a five-year FFP contract, was awarded on 11 February 2021 to Trideum, the incumbent. On 17 March 2021, ACC-DTA received notification via e-mail of a post-award GAO protest.

In conclusion, the results of the recent AMSO market research yield that Trideum is the only company capable of continuing to provide the M&S policy staff, personnel proponent, and training services support to AMSO without a delay in order to mitigate any significant risks that impact the current AMSO training mission should a disruption of service occur.

9. Interested Sources: To date, only the protester, Aerospace Training Systems Partners, LLC (ATSP), has expressed an interest in this requirement outside of the incumbent.

10. Other Factors:

a. Procurement History:

(1) Contract: W56HZV-21-C-L346 (Current Contract Protested)

Contractor: Trideum Corporation Award Date: 11 Feb 2021 Competitive Status: Full and Open Competition

(2) Contract: W56HZV-14-C-L712

Contractor: Trideum Corporation Award Date: 14 Mar 2014 Competitive Status: Full and Open Competition

11/12. Technical and 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.

Name: COL Scott D. Gilman__ Date: 18 April 21_______ Title: Deputy Director, AMSO_ Signature: _//Signed// SDG_

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I hereby determine that the anticipated price for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on the Independent Government Cost Estimate and other than certified cost and pricing data. 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).

Name: Jaclyn M. Flewelling Date: 25 March 2021__________ Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //signed// JMF_______

14. Contracting Officer Certification:

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

Name: Jaclyn M. Flewelling Date: 25 March 2021__________ Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //signed// JMF_______