Lab Demo Studies JA Ceiling Increase_Signed_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

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APPROVAL ( DAFFARS 5306.304(a))

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

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I. Agency and Contracting Activity.

Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace System Directorate, Contracting Division, Enterprise Acquisition Branch (AFRL/ PZLE), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio;

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

National Defense Authorization Act 2019, Section 1106, required Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) to conduct an annual assessment of the effectiveness and status of the Demonstration Personnel systems across the 20 Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories (STRLs) and to submit an annual report to Congress. The annual report provides insight to Congress on the effectiveness, authorities, and flexibilities they have enacted in NDAAs and determine future legislation for further Improvements for recruiting and retaining the science and technical (S&T) workforce to ensure the DoD laboratories are competitive with the commercial technical workforce.

This action will result in a modification to the current multi-year IDIQ contract FA8650-21-D-4601 that will increase its ceiling from o further allow OUSD(R&E) to conduct their annual assessments of effectiveness across the 20 STRLs and allow them to continue to submit their annual report to Congress. The due to the need to award quickly and with the understanding that a ceiling increase would need to be done at a later date due to the known growing needs, but the ceiling amount was unknown at the time of award. Several task orders have already been issued on an as-needed basis for the laboratories being studied each year. The ordering period for the IDIQ remains at five (5) years with the extension of services clause for six (6) months. The task orders will have a period of performance determined based on each requirement. Each task order will remain being priced separately based on the individual requirement.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

OUSD(R&E) requires an S&T workforce analysis an on annual basis. This analysis results in an annual report to Congress describing the identification of items that need course correction and it provides recommendations for improvement in the S&T personnel flexibilities and authorities granted by congressional legislation in their annual NDAA. The annual analytical techniques and processes are critical to remain consistent from year-to-year to identify subtle trends or artificial results created from misrepresented workforce statistics and relationships resulting in Laboratory leadership changes to personnel policies or new Congressional legislation that is based on erroneous data. OUSD(R&E) has invested considerable resources with previous analytical studies for proper usage of the Office of Personnel & Manpower (OPM) group file supplied to the study and the various laboratory S&T statistics to ensure compatibility with historical results.

Task Order 1 was awarded on 23 November 2020 with a value of The scope of this task order provided meeting, legislative, and policy analysis support for OUSD(R&E) and the specific laboratories being studied, to include the following:

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Dev Command - Armament Center; U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Dev Command - C5ISR;

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Dev Command - Chem Bio Center; U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Dev Command - Solider Center; Naval Sea Systems Command Warfare Center, Office of Naval Research.