Justification FAR Part 13 (JandA) Belgium Circuits_Approved_Redacted.pdf

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Control Number: T-26-0001

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JUNE 2025

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR Part 13 Justification and Approval

Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

Program/Equipment: The government has a requirement to provide fixed line telecommunication services with a mix of voice gateway, other voice, and data circuits throughout the 2d Theater Signal Brigade’s (2d TSB) area of responsibility in Belgium.

Authority: Title 41 United States Code (U.S.C.) §1901(e)(2) as implemented in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii), sole source (including brand name) under the authority of the simplified procedures for certain commercial items.

Amount: Estimated K

Prepared by: Karyn Williams Phone:

Contract Specialist Date: 2 December 2025 E-mail: karyn.m.williams2.civ@army.mil

Contracting Officer: Kila K. Lindstrom Phone:

Contracting Officer Date:

E-mail: kila.k.lindstrom.civ@army.mil

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

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this requirement is a recurring essential service fulfilled by three separate contracts theater wide. Deutsche Telekom is the incumbent vendor providing this commercial service in Germany and Italy, KPN provides the service in the Netherlands, and Proximus provides the service in Belgium. The objective of this contract is to award a contract that will provide a single source for circuit acquisition and management throughout the 2d Theater Signal Brigade’s (2d TSB) area of responsibility in Belgium.

The TCC in coordination with 2TSB performed extensive market research, held contractor engagements, and issued notices on sam.gov, to seek multiple sources to provide the service in Belgium. Proximus is the only reasonable source who can provide fixed line telecommunication services as this is the only vendor that has the infrastructure established for all 95 circuits in Belgium and expressed genuine interest in responding to our solicitation for this requirement. Proximus has provided satisfactory uninterrupted services to U.S. government personnel in the Belgium and EU areas of operation since 01 October 2020. There is currently no other vendor with the required infrastructure and SAM registration capable of providing the required services. Proximus has expressed interest and capability to continue providing fixed line services in Belgium.

b. Alternatives: There is no viable alternative solution as Proximus is currently the only vendor with the current infrastructure capable of providing the required fixed-line communication services. It is not in the best interest of the Government to attempt a competitive solicitation as market research shows that competition is not likely to be achieved.

c. Impact if not approved: If this justification is not approved, there will be an interruption of fixed line telecommunication services for end users in Belgium including NAMSA USAREUR NATO, USAG Chievres, LRC Benelux, 202nd MP, 39th Signal BN, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Distinguished Visitor Support Element, EUCOM J65- CIO, Defense Intelligence Agency, and DODSS ISLES. Without fixed lines, U.S. forces in Belgium will immediately lose important data circuits, emergency phone lines, and alarm circuits. Additionally, 2d TSB will incur a financial loss of almost $270,000.00, which they have invested in circuit upgrades. A change in vendor would require a transition phase for the migration of lines to occur from one vendor to another for a new vendor to begin full range of performance. A migration would cause a break in service due to the known timeline of 4 – 6 months to facilitate a full transition.

7. Efforts to Obtain Competition:. The Contracting Officer will publish the notices required by FAR 5.201 and any bids or proposals received shall be considered.

a. Effective competition: The requiring activity issued a Request for Information (RFI) between 22 May 2025 and was open for comment until 01 July 2025. Two vendors—Proximus and Colt Technology—responded to the RFI and both are registered entities on sam.gov.

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The TCC sent an RFI directly to Orange in June 2025 as Market Research from the previous procurement indicated Orange could potentially be capable of providing the required service. Orange responded on 27 June 2025 but does not have an active registration in SAM at the RFI response date.

The 409th TCC also posted an RFI to sam.gov on 06 August 2025 with responses due 22 August 2025. The TCC received three responses from U.S. based vendors. A U.S.-based company can sell telephone services in Belgium, but only if they meet the following conditions:

File for authorization with the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT).

Comply with the Belgian Electronic Communications Act.

Adhere to consumer and data protection laws.

Establish a contact point for Belgian authorities.

Currently, none of the U.S.-based companies who responded to the sources sought notice satisfy these requirements. It would take approximately 12-24 months for a company to achieve all of the conditions listed above. It is our intent to broaden the market to grow competition for the next solicitation, but requires time to work with the companies to gain interest in doing this process and then compete the requirement.

Market research is provided in section 9 below, with an analysis of these efforts to obtain competition. Ultimately, it indicates it is highly unlikely that competitive bids from eligible and capable vendors would be received should a formal request for proposal be issued. There is no indication that there would be sufficient/accurate competition during the procurement for circuits in Belgium.

b. Subcontracting competition: N/A

8. Actions to Increase Competition: The 409th TCC along with 2TSB will continue to work with vendors in the European Theater with commercial fixed line telecommunication service capabilities to provide information on the scope and other contract requirements as well as contracting with the U.S. government to increase competition for future requirements. The TCC and 2TSB will have more in-depth discussions with vendors, provide the vendors interested but not registered in sam.gov the support and resources to become registered, and continue with RFI’s and market research to discover the possibility of new vendors developing in the market to provide the capabilities. The TCC will participate in Industry Days held by the regional contracting office in Belgium. 2TSB will also continue upgrading their circuits so that they may become more streamlined in new technology, appealing to commercial providers.

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9. Market Research: The circuit requirements are commercial in nature and not military unique. No trade-offs are required to accommodate the commercial marketplace. The service requirements are performance based. 2d TSB contacted and interviewed engineers and project managers to include private industry, NATO, and DoD within Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Belgium. Those professionals contacted were knowledgeable of fixed-line requirements and with service offerings of telecommunications providers within the European Union market.

A Request for Information (RFI) was issued between 22 May 2025 and was open for comment until 01 July 2025. Two vendors, Proximus and Colt Technology, responded to the RFI and both are registered entities on sam.gov. The TCC and 2TSB had discussions with each vendor to assess capability. Proximus communicated that it was possible to have a single contractor provide services, and they would provide a competitive quote, should a formal request for proposal be issued. Colt Technology expressed that they did not have interest in responding to a competitive solicitation at this time.

The TCC sent an RFI directly to Orange in June 2025 as Market Research from the previous procurement indicated Orange could potentially be capable of providing the required service. Orange responded on 27 June 2025 that they would not be interested in participating in competition for the procurement of circuit services in Belgium. Orange did not have an active registration in SAM at the RFI response date.

The 409th TCC also posted an RFI to sam.gov on 06 August 2025 with responses due 22 August 2025. Three U.S. based vendors provided a response to the RFI. As stated above, a company must meet certain condition to provide services in Belgium. Without meeting these requirements, a U.S. based company would have to subcontract the services and the U.S. Government would likely incur 100 percent pass through costs to the prime contractor. A contractor cannot provide telecommunication services in Belgium unless they are based in the country and registered in the Belgian government’s system due to legal and regulatory requirements aimed at ensuring compliance with local laws and standards. Belgium has specific regulations governing foreign entities that wish to operate within its borders, including the necessity for local registration to ensure that contractors adhere to labor laws, taxation, and industry-specific regulations. Without local registration, a contractor would lack the legal standing to operate, which could lead to penalties, the lack of value added tax relief, and jeopardize the success of any projects undertaken in the country.

Therefore, market research indicates it is highly unlikely that competitive bids would be received should a formal request for proposal be issued. There is no indication that there would be sufficient/accurate competition during the procurement for circuits.

Based on the information described above and the procurement history for this requirement, it is concluded that this requirement satisfies the definition of a commercially available service and that, based on the responses to the RFI, the required services can only be performed by one vendor, Proximus SA. Due to the

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W564KV23C0005 Deutsch Telekom

Full and Open $1.2M 18 APR 2023 through

31 MAR 2028

W91RUS20P0133 Proximus Full and Open $1.4M 30 SEP 2020 through

30 JUN 2022

W91RUS22P0063 Proximus Sole Source

FAR 6.302-

1(a)(2)

$738K 30 June 2022 through 30 June 2023

W564KV25PA003 – Current award for required services. During this period of performance, the requiring and contracting activities directly communicated with potential vendors to increase competition. The two vendors that were potentially capable of fulfilling the required services, were not interested in participating in competition for this requirement at this time.

W564KV24P0010 - Proximus performed successfully with no issues or interruption of services.

W564KV23C0005 - The fixed line service contract W564KV-23-C-0005 for European Theater Telecommunication Services - Commercial Circuits was awarded to Deutsch Telekom on 17 April 2023. The intent was a single contract that would cover the four countries currently covered under separate contracts (Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy) and potentially other European countries where there is a US Army presence. However, services for Belgium were removed from the contract effective 28 May 2024 as Deutsch Telekom was not able to provide services since they do not have the necessary infrastructure established to support the circuit requirements.

At this time, Deutsch Telekom still does not have the necessary infrastructure to support this requirement.

W91RUS20P0133 - was procured under Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP) and only one offer was received—Proximus. This contract ended on 30 June 2022 and Proximus performed successfully with no issues or interruption of services.

W91RUS-22-P-0063 - was procured as a follow-on contract (FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii/iii) and was awarded to Proximus. No issues were reported for services and Proximus successfully provided services with no interruptions.

b. Other facts. N/A