JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

FAR Part 16.505(b)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

The Office of Acquisition Management (AQM) is conducting this acquisition of other than full and open competition for SAIC’s Vanguard 2.2.1 Interim information technology services task order on behalf of the Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM). IRM estimates that the contract maximum would be Redacted.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

AQM intends to non-competitively issue an interim contract action to provide continuity of the services provided under task order 19AQMM21F2945 issued against contract number

47QTCK18D0001 which was competitively awarded under GSA’s Alliant 2 GWAC.

The interim requested is required to allow the services under the above task order to be realigned under a new contract that is currently being solicited. The Department is issuing a solicitation for a multiple award IDIQ Redacted suite of contracts under which it will award multiple task orders as a total enterprise solution for IRM IT services. Redacted will provide significant opportunities to small businesses (which have been historically awarded to large businesses) which will provide properly planned and transitioned continuity of services for the Department. This interim task order has multiple services that will be included as part of this new enterprise solution.

The current contract will expire on 2/8/2023 before a successor contract under Redacted can be issued. The Department of State requires an interim contract to allow sufficient time for competition of successor Task Order(s). The interim request is for a one (1)-year base period followed by two (2) six-month option periods.

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

Vanguard 2.2.1 provides the primary engineering, Tier II/III operations and maintenance, and cyber security support for the Department’s core data networks and services such as command and control messaging, email, and remote systems access. Vanguard 2.2.1 supports both domestic telephone and data network installations and overseas/domestic data, radio, and WiFi installations. About 800 contractor employee FTE support IRM’s core infrastructure and services through Vanguard 2.2.1.

IRM requires a wide array of Information Technology services to include program, project, and portfolio management to support the Chief Information Officer (IRM), Cyber Operations (IRM/CO), Operations (IRM/OPS), Foreign Operations (IRM/FO), and Business Management and Planning

(IRM/BMP). These services are critical in continuing IRM’s mission domestically and overseas in support of over 77,000 Department of State employees at 275 posts worldwide.

This task order will have a one (1)-year base period of performance with two (2) six-month options.

The task order will also include an option to Extend Services (FAR 52.217-8) which may be executed either after the base period of performance or after each of the six-month options. As this is an interim contract, the Government will begin transitioning out as soon as possible. The option periods may or may not be exercised, in whole or in part. If a portion of an option period is exercised, a pro-rated option may be exercised by mutual agreement of the parties.

4. Authority permitting a Fair Opportunity Exception and the supporting rationale.

This acquisition is conducted pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 4103 and 4106 as implemented by FAR

16.505(b)(2) and substantiated by the following:

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A) – The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

Current operations under the incumbent contract are mission critical. The Department has developed a highly mature recompete strategy for the next iteration of the required services under this contract

(which includes a major overhaul of the technical requirements) expected to result in significant opportunities for small businesses; however, the recompete strategy will not be available until the

Redacted IDIQ is awarded. The Department anticipates award of the Redacted IDIQ in calendar year

2023, with task order awards possible beginning fiscal year 2024, hence necessitating an interim contract for continuity of services and transition to new contracts.

If the Department were to competitively solicit the current work as-is, the Department would incur an unreasonable amount of risk:

• Loss of incumbent staff due to changes in the prime contractor

• The current acquisition strategy for the subject contract, as awarded, was not set aside for small businesses due to the size, scope and complexity of the work required. This means that the requirements, if recompeted as-is, would not include opportunities for small business prime contractors.

• Abbreviated transition time, increasing the risk of breaks in service and learning curve delays

• Shortened period of performance resulting in lower capital investment of contractors, higher prices, and attrition of highly skilled contractor staff

• Higher prices and less innovation due to lack of diversity within the pool of capable offerors

• Duplicated administrative costs and increased administrative burden to recompete a major acquisition on a shorter cycle than is necessary

• Technical costs resulting from continued redundancy under the current contract model

• Technical risk

• Failure to retain incumbent contractor staff through the competitive solicitation process would create harm to government operations due to a lapse in service supporting several major Department-wide services and applications, which include the following, but are not limited to:

ENM: Vanguard 2.2.1 support within the Enterprise Network Management Office (ENM) provides

Engineering and Operations & Maintenance (O&M) services for a multitude of networks used not only by the global customer base but also by the core enterprise network. Vanguard 2.2.1 is specifically responsible for the day-to-day Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of critical components of the global network including, but not limited to: the unclassified and classified networks, connectivity to mission partners, Active Directory Services and Engineering, Dynamic

Host Control Protocol (DHCP) Services, Domain Name Services, and the delivery of patches and security hotfixes. Additionally, all Engineering and O&M of perimeter security equipment including firewalls, proxy services, email security appliances and other security related systems and services are managed by Vanguard 2.2.1. In addition, Vanguard 2.2.1 also provides the tools and capabilities to monitor, analyze, evaluate, and remediate services across the enterprise. Ultimately, the core network and core Enterprise IT services would collapse with the abrupt end to the Vanguard 2.2.1 task order.

ITI: Vanguard 2.2.1 supports the Information Technology Infrastructure Office’s (ITI) mission critical systems up to the highest levels of the Department, providing operational services for voice, data, and video communications for S Bureau and overseas posts that directly support the agency’s diplomatic mission. The services summarized below would be severely impacted with the end to

Vanguard 2.2.1 task order and its support to ITI’s Divisions:

• SI Division - Secretary of State’s secure voice, data, and video communications in addition to Red

Switch communications and the Department’s Operations Center responsible for monitoring 24x7 global incidents. Management of the digital identities for PIV cards for all employees / contractors in addition to managing the hardware certificates on DOS managed devices. Vanguard 2.2.1 is also responsible for the COMSEC solution deployed through the DOS Enterprise, which provides secure/encrypted communications across the globe. Support is also provided for the IT Mart as a direct touch point for end user digital certificate issues.

• LWS Division – Operational and Engineering activities of the Enterprise Wi-Fi at overseas posts along with providing emergency communication capabilities via the REACH kits and Radio. The

Vanguard 2.2.1 team often travels to support global activities such as the Olympic Games.

• GITM Division – Provides engineering and O&M support for the ECP, EPIC, and other IT infrastructure to support the global workforce. Work would halt on the implementation of the EPIC pilot, as well as troubleshooting or issues with any ECP implementation.

MSO: Vanguard 2.2.1 provides the Messaging Systems Office (MSO) with labor resources that provide 24x7 global support to critical DOS services including: Unclassified / Classified email services, State Messaging (ACP-127) services and, Mobile and Remote Access services. The office has achieved ISO20k certified status, under Vanguard 2.2.1, in industry best practices in

IT service delivery. If the Vanguard 2.2.1 were to end without a follow-on in place there would be an immediate impact to the operational support functions listed below:

• ~125k OpenNet mailboxes, which process ~365M emails, annually

• ~24k Microsoft Teams sites

• Resolution of ~26k ServiceNow tickets, annually

• ~35k Class Net users, which processes ~31M messages, annually

• Processing of ~1.4M cable messages, annually, via the MSMC Division

• Remediation of ~75k message spills per year with 99.91% accuracy

• ~53k GO Mobile (iPhone) users

• ~46k GO Virtual (Citrix) users

• ~14k GO Desktop (Win10) users

• Answering ~96k calls in to the Service Desk with resolution of ~100k ServiceNow Tickets, annually.

Without the companion engineering support to operations, the capabilities of the Department’s networks and services will degrade vis-à-vis a secure baseline for example:

• Without engineering support, performance issues can’t be addressed through remediation fixes or enhancements;

• Even more critical than performance is the security of the infrastructure and services. The engineering resources implement all software/hardware patches to include monthly and emergency security patches;

• Smooth and low risk transitions to follow-on task orders are necessary to minimize operational/engineering disruptions. The incumbent contractor and its workforce can’t be leveraged properly if there is not sufficient transition time.

Also, if an interim contract is not put in place as the recompete efforts are under way, the

Government will incur significant additional costs in obtaining new resources separately through other contract means and/or government employees conducting the work. The additional costs that would incur would primarily be due the amount of time, familiarization, and training it would entail for other resources (both government employees and contractors) to come up to speed on the roles and responsibilities that are conducted through the current contract.

Due to the critical nature of the State Department’s mission, enterprise support services, applications, and continuity to deliver the highest level of service and quality, SAIC is an exceptional choice based on past experience and longevity in working to support the State Department and IRM’s missions.

5. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Vanguard 2.2.1 Interim will be a follow-on time and material (T&M) task order against SAIC’s

GSA Alliant 2 contract. By using the same contract and with no material changes to the scope of work, costs will remain consistent under this follow-on interim. The rates on the parent contract have already been determined to be fair and reasonable and they are the same for both the current task order and proposed interim task order.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

The incumbent is the only viable candidate to continue supporting the critical and integrated services covered by the scope of this task order. The incumbent contractor has been performing the work since 2011 and has a uniquely qualified and cleared workforce and program management infrastructure in place to continue to support all required services. The incumbent has hundreds of contractor employees with thousands of elevated privileges to systems along with Top Secret clearances with approved SCI access where required.

The cost, complexity, and risk to IRM operations of breaking the work into many parts for one year would be most disruptive. If the task order ends abruptly, the impact to the global Department of

State systems, services, and end users would be significantly and profoundly degraded or, potentially, completely void of service. This task order supports many offices within the Information Resource

Management (IRM) Bureau, all of which would experience an impact should it cease to provide support.

Furthermore, this extension is needed so that IRM can enable low risk transitions of work to follow-on Redacted task orders. The SAIC contract will most likely be the last contract to transition to

Redacted but it is essential to understand the essence of the contractual transition out strategy that we have in-place with SAIC. SAIC and the government have a contractual agreement of only 45-days’ notice (FAR 52.243-3) before we transition pieces of the work to the follow-on Redacted task orders.

SAIC has participated in in previous transitions of work from its contract based on the 45-day agreement vice necessitating transition to occur at an option period.

Were the government to break apart the contract to secure numerous one-year interims from other vendors, it would need to pay a premium to secure one-year interims from those other vendors for such short-term contracts. In addition, the government would not have the ability to transition the work to follow-on contracts with only 45-days’ notice. Our agreement with SAIC affords the government the capability to stop any or all of the work in order to transition it on the government’s preferred and tailored timeline.

SAIC is prepared to assist the government with unwinding the contract as the replacement Redacted task orders are awarded and it currently provides an integrated and robust Program Management

Office (PMO) that will keep services stable and participate in the transition of the work and knowledge to the follow-on Redacted task orders. SAIC’s PMO provides PM, Business, Security/Admin, Quality Assurance (ISO certification, metrics), and Information Management

Services (SharePoint, Power Bi Dashboards, Robotic Process Automation) for this integrated program. This management infrastructure can’t be recreated for a year at the maturity that exists today and the disruption from transition in and out of numerous interims/vendors would be significantly disruptive to services.

Workforce instability is a significant risk and therefore it is in the Department’s best interest that it maintains the contract (workforce) stability that will afford the follow-on Redacted contractors the opportunity to recruit staff from the current contract.

7. Actions the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to increase fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services is made.

The Redacted IDIQ RFP is under-way and award is anticipated in FY23. This means that the IT services under this task order will be recompeted amongst Redacted contract holders shortly thereafter.

As soon as Redacted is awarded and new task orders issued, services will be transitioned away from this interim to improve technical efficiency, avoid any further duplication of costs, and to provide immediate benefits to the small business community.

If the Redacted IDIQ award is delayed, the option periods for this interim contract will act as a stopgap measure to ensure continuity of services. If there are additional unforeseen delays extending into the final option period of this interim contract, this task order will be recompeted in place until

Redacted is available for ordering activities. No additional interim contracts will be issued.

Certifications Redacted