Redacted_JA_.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (OTFAOC)

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6, Justification & Approval (J&A) Supporting Procurements under FAR Part 15

Tracking Number: 831608048 Contract Number: To be determined Task/Delivery Order Number: Not applicable Procurement Title: Blue Force Tracker-2 (BFT-2) Estimated Value:

Statutory Authority: 10 U.S.C. §2304(c)(1)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTFAOC

Justification for OTFAOC Number: JA17-090

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Procuring Activity Competition Advocate, hereby approve the use of OTFAOC of the proposed contractual action, pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. §2304(c)(1) and the regulatory authority of FAR 6.302-1, Defense FAR Supplement (DFARS) 206.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

1. REQUIRING AGENCY AND CONTRACTING OFFICE:

a) Requiring Agency:

United States (U.S.) Army, Program Executive Office Command, Control, and

Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) Project Manager, Mission Command (PM MC) 6007 Combat Drive Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005-1848

b) Contracting Office:

Defense Information Systems Agency/Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DISA/DITCO/PL8322) 2300 East Drive, Building 3600 Scott Air Force Base, Illinois 62225-5406

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION(S):

a) On March 20, 2017, the Senior Procurement Executive (SPE) for DISA, approved a Justification for OTFAOC in the amount of for a sole source award to ViaSat for an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to procure ground and aviation BFT-2 transceivers, satellite ground stations (SGSs), satellite network control centers (SNCCs), and engineering support services in support of the U.S. Army PEO C3T, PM MC. Since that time, there have been numerous delays in issuing the solicitation, most notably a disagreement with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), ViaSat, regarding commerciality of the products and services to be purchased.

Blue Force Tracker-2 (BFT-2)-JA17-090

Page 2 of 7 Pages

There is now insufficient time to release and negotiate the IDIQ contract prior to the expiration of the Army’s current contract, W15PT-10-D-C420, which expires on July 19, 2017. Due to the criticality of the BFT2 Network, the customer must continue engineering support services during the interim period until the IDIQ can be negotiated.

b) The nature of this action is to procure engineering services for the BFT-2 program in support of the U.S. Army PEO C3T, PM MC. This procurement will be accomplished via an IDIQ to the original equipment manufacturer, ViaSat, utilizing a cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) type contract. The period of performance shall be a maximum of six months, consisting of a three month base, plus three 1-month option periods. Task orders will be issued to outline the services to be performed. The total estimated life-cycle value of this acquisition is

c) The applicable North American Industry Classification System code is 541330, Engineering Services, with size standard of $15.0 Million. All funding will be obligated using the appropriate fiscal year procurement funds and other customer funds.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

a) The Army has a requirement to distribute accurate digital command control (C2) and situational awareness (SA) data at all echelons to the platform and dismounted domains, populating a common operating picture and reducing risk of fratricide. In addition, the Army requires a networking solution that utilizes commercial L-band satellite services as the communications media to share platform-level C2 and SA information. The requirement is to be comprised of ground and aviation transceivers, satellite ground stations (SGSs), and satellite network control centers (SNCCs); all products must be interoperable with the current infrastructure and products. Ground and aviation transceivers are required to withstand a myriad of environmental requirements related to tactical ground vehicles and aviation platforms while operating on a single L-band satellite channel to communicate data. SGSs are also required to receive this data and, via terrestrial or satellite link, transfer the data to the SNCCs located in network operating centers (NOCs) throughout the world. The SNCCs then must ensure each NOC has a complete military theater view of all platform data to support C2 and SA. The requirement is a “turn-key” solution where all components within the solution seamlessly operate together to maintain a network operational availability requirement of 99.95 percent.

b) The herein stated requirement is for engineering support services to the BFT-2 program consisting of: tier 4-6 help desk support, out of warranty repairs, SGS/SNCCs maintenance/inspections, and software assurance.

c) BFT-2 is a part of the Joint Battle Command - Platform (JBC-P) family of systems. The

JBC-P is a networked battle command information system that enables units to share near real-time friendly and enemy SA information, operational maps and graphics, and C2 messages. JBC-P is an upgrade from the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and- Below (FBCB2) Joint Capabilities Release and is fielded in both mobile and command

Page 3 of 7 Pages post versions. Platform communications will be supported by the required satellite for mobile operations and the tactical internet for command post operations. The JBC-P program fulfills its mission requirements through multiple products/systems: vehicle computer systems (i.e., JV5, mounted family of computer systems), satellite transceivers (i.e., BFT-1/2), encryption devices (i.e., KGV-72), JBC-P software, and associated installation kits. The program is managed by U.S. Army, PEO C3T, PM MC, and Product Manager (PdM) JBC-P.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY:

This acquisition is conducted under the statutory authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1) and the regulatory authority of FAR 6.302-1/DFARS 206.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. DEMONSTRATION OF CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS:

a) Description of events: Contract W15P7T-10-D-C420 was awarded by Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground on July 20, 2010. The single-award IDIQ contract, comprised of Firm Fixed Priced (FFP) and CPFF contract line items (CLINs), was awarded via full and open competition to ViaSat with a $477M ordering ceiling and a 5-year base period plus one 1-year option period. The contract allowed for the procurement of BFT-2 ground and aviation transceivers, SGSs, SNCCs; leasing of commercial L-band satellite and communication connectivity bandwidth, and BFT-2 network engineering support services. The BFT-2 was procured as a turn-key industry non-development item (NDI) solution to meet Government performance requirements. At the time, a BFT-2 turn-key NDI acquisition strategy was assessed to be the best strategy to leverage private industry technology advancements and investments while reducing development costs to the Army. Under Contract W15P7T-10-D-C420, technical data rights were not obtained by the Government from the OEM, ViaSat. This lack of data rights has resulted in BFT-2 being a propriety solution that can only be provided by ViaSat.

b) Justification: Minimum Government requirements. At a minimum, the Government requires maintenance of all system components with current patches with at least three IAVM patches per month, conduct the following activities Information Assurance activities as needed; One (1)ACAS scan and analysis for 2.5.10, maintain network devices and update IOS, Maintain current 24/7 engineering support staff at Tier 3, 4 & 5 levels. Provide emergency maintenance at any SGS location to resolve any outage and procure replacement hardware if needed.

c) Proposed sole source contractor. The only contractor capable of providing the required engineering support services to meet the Government’s requirements is ViaSat. ViaSat is the OEM of the BFT-2 solution which includes the proprietary BFT-2 waveform and networking software, ground and air transceivers, SGSs, SNCCs, and engineering support. The BFT-2 waveform and networking software were developed at private expense by ViaSat and are not for sale. Failure to procure the required BFT-2 engineering support would result in not having the technical expertise on hand to resolve

Page 4 of 7 Pages any outages in the field or being able to correct any deficiencies on the network that could make the BFT 2 system vulnerable to foreign intruders.

(1) Discussion regarding cause of the sole source situation. The Army did not obtain data rights on BFT-2 hardware, to include the ground transceiver, the waveform, and/or software when the original BFT-2 solution was procured since the acquisition strategy was for a turn-key, NDI product. This lack of data rights has resulted in BFT-2 being a propriety solution that can only be supported by ViaSat.

(2) Demonstration of unique source. The BFT-2 solution, to include the ground transceiver, is manufactured by only one source, ViaSat, as the intellectual property associated with the BFT-2 waveform and networking software were designed and developed at private expense. The BFT-2 waveform and networking software are the heart of the BFT-2 solution since they provide the ‘network.’ Without the proprietary BFT-2 waveform and networking software installed on the associated hardware, there is no way to access the network, resulting in no way to communicate.

(3) Procurement discussion. The BFT-2 network runs on the proprietary BFT-2 waveform and networking software of ViaSat. As the waveform and networking software are proprietary to ViaSat, the Government cannot maintain the network without ViaSat, the OEM. As ViaSat is not willing to sell their proprietary waveform and networking software, the Government is limited to contracting with the OEM for support.

(4) Impact. If the required BFT-2 engineering support services from ViaSat are not procured, this could result in the units operating with a number of vulnerabilities that can be exploited by an adversary. This could ultimately lead to blind operational forces, a destruction of mission integrity, mission failure, and loss of life.

6. FEDBIZOPPS (FBO) ANNOUNCEMENT/POTENTIAL SOURCES:

On June 12, 2017, a Sources Sought/Sole Source Intent was posted by DISA in order to identify potential sources capable of providing support PM MC-BFT-2 managed systems and related subsystems of PEO C3T requirements, as well as to inform industry that the Government intended to award a non-competitive contract to ViaSat. Additionally, the Notice of Intent encouraged interested sources to submit their interest in the procurement in writing to DITCO.

No responses were received from industry.

7. DETERMINATION OF FAIR AND REASONABLE PRICE:

A determination will be made by the contracting officer that the anticipated price to the Government is fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 15.4, based upon price comparison to the independent Government cost estimate, previous contract history, and other considerations.

Page 5 of 7 Pages

8. MARKET RESEARCH:

September 15, 2015 through October 30, 2015, the Government conducted market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 by issuing a RFI, PL83220020, via the FBO website. The intent of the RFI was to identify potential sources capable of producing, manufacturing, testing, and delivering BFT-2 ground and aviation transceivers, SGSs, and SNCCs to support PM MC-managed systems and related subsystems of PEO C3T requirements.

In response to the RFI, the Government received six responses from industry including Comtech Mobile, large business; Hughes Network Systems, small business; General Dynamics Mission Systems, large business; TrustComm, Inc, small business; ViaSat, Inc, large business; and Ultisat, small business. Each vendor addressed 18 specific areas outlined in the RFI which included, among other things: detailed descriptions of proposed transceiver; proposed equipment size; description of ability to meet delivery schedules; and proposed packaging of equipment. In addition to these formal responses, the Government received phone calls/emails from six additional vendors: STS Global, large business; Core Source Technologies, small business;

Glocom, Inc, small business; Alico Systems, small business; The Genus Group, small business;

and Lockheed Martin, large business, informally expressing their interest in this requirement.

However, none of the vendors that corresponded via phone or email provided complete responses to the RFI requests or questions to a degree where their adequacy to participate could be evaluated.

Government technical experts reviewed all responses and determined that there is only one source available to meet Government requirements, ViaSat. All other interested vendors, in their response to the RFI, either proposed a new “turn-key” BFT family of systems that exceeds the current performance envelope (which the Government did not request and cannot afford) or assumed the Government would provide the current BFT-2 waveform for use. As discussed, the BFT-2 waveform and network software are proprietary to ViaSat, and the Government cannot provide the BFT-2 waveform or network software to other potential offerors to support a competition. The requirement for the ground transceivers is part of the “turnkey” BFT-2 solution, and all components within the solution must seamlessly operate together to maintain a network operational availability requirement of 99.95 percent. Therefore, the OEM of the BFT-2 solution, ViaSat, is the only available source for this proposed acquisition.

Results of the previous market research were reviewed and as of June 12, 2017, the customer has not identified any new potential sources of supply due to the proprietary waveform issue discussed above. Also as stated above a Sources Sought/Sole Source Intent was posted June 12, 2017 by DISA in order to identify potential sources capable of providing support PM MC-BFT-2 managed systems and related subsystems of PEO C3T requirements. No responses were received.

9. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS:

Not applicable.

Page 6 of 7 Pages

10. LISTING OF INTERESTED SOURCES:

None.

11. ACTIONS THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME BARRIERS

THAT LED TO THE EXCEPTION TO FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

a) Procurement History.

b) The Government is not currently able to procure the data rights to the BFT-2 waveform and networking software. However, the Government has established a BFT next generation integrated product team (IPT) with the general Army Science and Technology community and industry to assess options for the next generation of BFT. One of the main focuses of this IPT to finding a backwards-engineered compatible solution that will allow interoperability between BFT-2 and the next generation. This would ensure the Army can continue to capitalize on its current BFT-2 investment while also reducing its dependency on the sole source solution and introduce competition.

c) 12. REFERENCE TO THE APPROVED ACQUISITION PLAN (AP): In accordance with Defense Acquisition Regulation Supplement 7.103(S-91)(1)(vii), an AP is not required.

Contract/Delivery Order Number: W15P7T-10-D-C420 Brief Description: FBCB2 BFT-2 Contractor: ViaSat, Inc.

Business Type: Large business Life-Cycle Contract Value: $477M PoP (including all options): July 20, 2010 – July 19, 2017 Contract Type: FFP and CPFF Basis of Award: Full and Open Competition Previous Protests/Congressional Inquiries: None