Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity for posting_Redacted.pdf

ITSS Number: ID03200025 Acquisition ID: 47QFMA20K0031

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

This document is prepared in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B).

1. Identify the agency and contracting activity.

The requiring activity is for Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) 400 Gigling Road, Seaside, CA 93955- 6771. The contracting activity is General Services Administration (GSA)/Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Mid-Atlantic Region, the DOW Building, 100 S. Independence Mall West, 3rd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106.

2. Nature/description of the action/contract type.

The action submitted for approval is a Justification for an Exception to the Fair Opportunity process. The government intends to negotiate a sole sourced Time and Materials (T&M)/Labor Hour (LH) contract modification to expand the effort for the services that have been procured with Deloitte Consulting LLP under Contract HHSN316201200018W, Task Order 47QFMA20F0021. This task order was previously solicited using competitive contract procedures, awarded and administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC), under the Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partner 3 (CIO-SP3) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) program. A hybrid Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP)/T&M task order, order HHSN31600006, was awarded on 07 September 2018 for a period of performance (PoP) of one Base Period (7 September 2018 – 6 September 2019), plus two one-year option periods. The contract was awarded with a Base Period ceiling price of $9,158,601.00 and a total contract ceiling price of $28,248,728.00. NIH transferred the administration of the task order for Option Year 2 to the GSA Region 3 FAS for performance from 7 September 2020 – 6 September 2021. GSA awarded task order 47QFMA20F0021 on 08/25/2020 as an administrative continuation of the NITAAC order for Option Year 2 with an overall potential ceiling value for Option Year 2 of $10,771,164.70.

3. Description of supplies/services.

The objective of this existing task order is to assist the DMDC by:

Implementing program management best practices which reduce cost and complexity of IT systems and applications Increase the resiliency, adaptability and agility of DMDC’s systems Improve collaboration and cooperation with the Lines of Business, while achieving DMDC’s strategic mission objectives.

In order to manage its significant data holdings and to use data to support decision-making processes, DMDC acquired information technology-related program management support services, to assist in establishing and maturing the DMDC service delivery model, under the existing task order. The nature of this work requires the Contractor to quickly respond to stringent deadlines. Work falls under the following nine Task Areas:

(1) IT Capital and Strategic Planning Support

(2) Business Process Reengineering Support

(3) Business and System Requirements Management

(4) Policy and Program Management Support

(5) IT Budget, Financial

(6) Audit and Cost Management Support

(7) Communication and Knowledge Management Support

(8) Customer Service and Relationship Management

(9) Systems Engineering Support.

In August 2020, the DoD Chief Information Officer (CIO) published the DoD Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) Reference Design which includes specific development activities for DMDC to transform existing legacy DoD identity capabilities to support a future-state Zero Trust (ZT) Architecture.

Thus, DMDC has been recently tasked with re-engineering the existing enterprise capabilities and to initiate new DoD enterprise capabilities to facilitate the following in order to better prevent fraud and insider threats:

cloud-native ICAM capabilities auditability right access decisions artificial intelligence and machine learning

Thus, this new guidance impacts DMDCs current workflow because it requires them to deliver the artifacts in support of the establishment of new identity programs, architectures, and capabilities identified within the DoD ICAM-space. It is anticipated that these additional requirements can be supported by expanding the existing levels of effort being performed on Task Areas 1 & 4 (IT Capital and Strategic Planning Support & Policy and Program Management Support) listed above which are currently being utilized to facilitate, participate and provide logistical support to ICAM working groups.

Based on the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), which was developed by the DMDC based upon technical knowledge and experience and reviewed by the GSA Project Manager (PM), the additional effort anticipated to be included via a task order modification it is estimated at $1,960,376.96.

4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity.

In accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), the order must be issued on a sole-sourced basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because the new work is a logical follow-on to an existing order, for which all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order. The new work to be performed falls within scope of this existing task order award which provided fair opportunity for competition. The existing Performance Work Statement (PWS) shall be modified to include new tasks, which are within scope of the original order, to support the expanded level of effort needed to support the newly identified ICAM develop activities. Thus, modifying the existing order to expand the current requirements is the best way to satisfy the customers’ needs.

The current PWS, section 4.4.21, requires the Contractor to facilitate, participate and provide logistics support to ICAM working groups. At the time of the solicitation, the ICAM working group was not a chartered forum and only met periodically to gather customer requirements and concerns. Since the publication of the DoD CIO ICAM Strategy in the 4th quarter of FY 19, the frequency of the meetings and the purpose of the forums have changed. In August 2020, with the DoD CIO publication of the DoD Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) Reference Design, DMDC responsibilities have drastically increased as DMDC engagement is required at multiple meetings each week with the Joint Program Integration Office and ICAM requirements development activities are initiated. Thus, in order to meet the growing demand on DMDC to deliver the artifacts in support of the establishment of new identity programs, architectures, and capabilities within the DoD ICAM-space, DMDC will require additional support under the existing task order. Therefore, it is anticipated that an expansion of support is needed for the following areas to develop the program documentation and to obtain approval from the DoD CIO and support from the DoD community of interest and external DoD mission partners:

(1) IT Capital and Strategic Planning Support ( as described in section 4.1 of the existing PWS)

(2) Policy and Program Management Support (as described in section 4.4 of the existing of the PWS)

Recompleting the new requirements, which consists of services currently being filled under the existing task order, would result in a substantial duplication of costs to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. Such costs include the time of technical and contracting personnel to review and evaluate the requirement, proposal and task order; as well as the costs associated with re-credentialing if a new contractor is chosen.

5. Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

CIO-SP3 prices have already been determined fair and reasonable under a competitive acquisition. The Contracting Officer will make a determination whether the cost to the Government for the additional task to be performed is fair and reasonable prior to awarding a modification. The existing task order labor rates were determined fair and reasonable at the IDIQ level and prior to the existing task order award. It is anticipated that the contractor will quote the existing labor hour rates. The assigned GSA Project Manager (PM) will complete a technical evaluation on the contractor’s technical submission to ensure that the quoted labor mix and number of hours are acceptable and commensurate with this requirement and that the contractor has adequately responded to all technical requirements. The Contracting Officer will ensure that the labor-based pricing quoted is consistent with the NITAAC CIO-SP3 contract pricing. It is anticipated that the fair and reasonable determination will be based in comparison to the independent Government cost estimates (IGCE) for the additional tasks to be added.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Failure to obtain this additional support in a timely fashion may result in potential compromises to National Security as the current legacy solutions are failing to meet current DoD requirements.

7. Statement of actions to remove or overcome barriers to exception to fair opportunity.

At this time there are no actions being taken to remove or overcome barriers leading to the exception to fair opportunity under this task order. The requirements (including the new ICAM work) are due to be competed again in FY21 for an award no later than 30 August 2021.

Signatures on Next Page

8. Certifications and Approvals

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

Date

Project Manger GSA FAS, Mid-Atlantic Region

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

Katie Hughes Date Contracting Officer GSA FAS, Mid-Atlantic Region

Special Advocate for Competition Certification:

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

Date

KATIE HUGHES Digitally signed by KATIE HUGHES Date: 2020.10.08 13:58:21 -04'00'