M17 JA ARLIS Ceiling Increase FINAL 072922 (Acting Dir sign Page 6)Palmer.1.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES

1155 DEFENSE PENTAGON

WASHINGTON, DC 20301-1155

Control No. 2022-WHS-490

JUSTIFICATION FOR

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

UNDER FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION FAR SUBPART 6.3

1. AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: The contracting activity is the Department of Defense (DOD), Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), Acquisition Directorate (AD), Enterprise Acquisition and Sustainment Division (EASD). The requiring activity is Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSD(I)), Director for Defense Intelligence, Intelligence & Security

(DDI/I&S)

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: The purpose of this contract action is to increase the ceiling of the University of Maryland (UMD), University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC) by $35M from $142M to $177M. Contract HQ003418D0005 was awarded to UMD on November 29, 2017 with a period of performance of December 31, 2017 to December 30, 2022. The ceiling was increased from $92M to $142M on April 8, 2021. Increasing the ceiling amount would be an interim solution until the follow-on contract is awarded and is more representative of current trends and cost estimates. Demand for ARLIS’ work has continued to increase beyond forecasts due to the relevance of their human behavioral, cultural, and technological expertise to a wide variety of security and intelligence challenges as the COVID pandemic persists. Priorities of the current administration and the recently published National Defense Strategy have also increased demand for ARLIS’ areas of expertise more than our previous estimates anticipated. The awarded ceiling of all task orders under ARLIS, at the time this justification was drafted, equaled $127M, not including approximately $32M in-process or tentative actions. The new Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract is expected to be awarded by December 2022 and is anticipated to have a ceiling of $500M.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: The Applied Research Laboratory for

Intelligence and Security (ARLIS) is a unique partnership between the University of Maryland, the DOD, and the Intelligence Community (IC), and it has made significant contributions to the IC's language efforts. ARLIS provides valuable expertise to the IC and DOD in linguistics, language acquisition, cognitive neuroscience, decision science, and computer science to help solve some of the Nation's most difficult problems, USD(I&S) is the sponsor of the ARLIS

UARC.

10. INTERESTED SOURCES: To date, no other sources have expressed in writing, either the ability or interest to satisfy the requirements of this acquisition. Additionally, UMD possesses the appropriate core mission as a UARC to support the requirements covered by this IDIQ contract award.

11. ACTIONS TO INCREASE COMPETITION: As noted above, there are no other UARCs that specialize in these essential areas, which enhance the DOD capabilities other than JHU/APL. Therefore, no other UARC except for JHU/APL is able to meet OSD’s requirements. Consequently, WHS/AD has no plans at this time to compete future requirements as UMD is the only source that can meet the requirements set forth by the ARLIS IDIQ. If another potential source does emerge in the future, OUSD(I&S) will assess whether the competition for future requirements is more advantageous and would be in the best interest to the Government.

Subcontracting Competition: A thorough review of UMD/ARLIS’ annual subcontracting reports will be done to ensure they are making a good faith effort to meet their proposed subcontracting goals under each task order, when it is applicable. In the event a contracting officer does not believe UMD/ARLIS is making an effort to meet their subcontracting goals, the contracting officer will coordinate with WHS/AD’s Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and schedule a meeting with UMD/ARLIS’ Small Business Liaison Officer.

UMD/ARLIS’ Small Business Liaison Officer is responsible for identifying qualified small businesses that may be able to support UMD/ARLIS’ procurement requirements and in the event they have been unsuccessful, OSBP may be able to provide support in finding qualified companies.

12. Is this acquisition for a non-competitive follow-on acquisition previously awarded on a non-competitive basis?

Yes. A copy of the previous justification is attached. The actions to remove any barriers to competition cited on the previous justification were were not completed. This justification request is to increase the ceiling price on an established single award IDIQ to UMD.

There are no plans at this time to compete future requirements as UMD is the only source that can meet the requirements set forth by the ARLIS IDIQ. If another potential source does emerge, OUSD (I&S) will assess whether the competition for future requirements is more advantageous and would be in the best interest to the Government.

No. The original acquisition was conducted on a competitive basis.

Not Applicable. This is a new requirement.

CERTIFICATION

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

Amanda McGlone, Contracting Officer Representative/Program Office

Date

Elizabeth Fuller, Contracting Officer Date

CONCURRENCE

Base on the foregoing, I hereby concur with this justification and recommend for approval.

David H. Kao, Competition Advocate Date

David D. Sanders, Director, Acquisition Directorate Date

APPROVAL

This justification is, approved.

Regina F. Meiners, Acting Director Washington Headquarters Services

Date

July 28, 2022

July 28, 2022

MCGLONE.AMANDA.R.147

0342001

Digitally signed by

MCGLONE.AMANDA.R.1470342001

Date: 2022.07.28 18:15:07 -04'00'

FULLER.ELIZABETH.E.15

05328708

Digitally signed by

FULLER.ELIZABETH.E.1505328708

Date: 2022.07.28 09:54:02 -04'00'

SANDERS.DAVID.DELA

NO.1058391596

Digitally signed by

SANDERS.DAVID.DELANO.1058391596

Date: 2022.08.03 12:14:03 -04'00'

SANDERS.DAVID.DELAN

O.1058391596

Digitally signed by

SANDERS.DAVID.DELANO.1058391596

Date: 2022.08.03 12:13:43 -04'00'

MEINERS.REGINA.FACCHINA.1232122524

Digitally signed by

MEINERS.REGINA.FACCHINA.1232122524

Date: 2022.08.09 16:50:46 -04'00'