NGHH JNA_2 OPS_ Final Redacted Posted.pdf

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

Justification and Approval (J&A) For Next Generation Handheld (NGHH)

Radio IDIQ Contract Extension

3 March 2021

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

Authority: (10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(c))

Project/Program Name: Special Operation Forces (SOF) Tactical Communications (STC)

Component/PEO/Other: Program Executive Office, Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (PEO-C4)

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): $36M in Year 7 & 8 ($0.00 maximum IDIQ contract ceiling value)

Type J&A: (Individual or Class )

J&A No.

21-2014 Generated when entered in log

1. Agency and Contracting Activity: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(1))

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Directorate of Procurement, Headquarters Procurement Division, 7701 Tampa Point Blvd, MacDill Air Force Base, FL 33621-5323.

2. Description of Action: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(2)) Bridge Action (Yes or No )

Approval of this justification will authorize the incorporation (via contract modification) of two additional ordering periods (OP) to current Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, H92222-15-D-0031, for STC Next Generation Handheld (NGHH) Radios with L3 Harris Technologies Inc., 1680 University Avenue, Rochester, NY 14610

(CUI) This contract is currently set to expire on 23 September 2021, and due to significant production delays, USSOCOM was not able to begin replacing legacy HH radios until FY20 vs. FY17 as originally planned. Given the delays and the current budget, it would not be feasible to conduct a full Capital Equipment Replacement Program (CERP) by the current contract expiration date. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the original 6-year OP by 2 years for a new total of 8 OPs in order to execute the CERP of the legacy HH radios.

(CUI) The current contract was competitively awarded with a total IDIQ contract maximum ceiling value of $390M. This modification will not require an increase to the IDIQ contract maximum ceiling value, however the Government estimates approximately $36M will be obligated during OPs 7 and 8. This contract shall remain primarily Firm Fixed Price (FFP) with funding obligated at the delivery/task order levels using FY21-23 Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and/or Procurement funding as appropriate.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(3))

This IDIQ contract is for the production and delivery of the NGHH Radios and associated ancillaries. This includes, the support requirements needed to conduct a CERP to replace the legacy HH radios such as, Program Management and Configuration Management and Control, Systems Engineering to include possible software design/development, testing and production, Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) Requirements, Operational and Depot Level Maintenance, Technical Data and Reporting, Training, and Field Service Representative (FSR) Services as outlined in the Statement of Work (SOW).

4. Authority Cited: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(4))

10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, as implemented by FAR 6.302-1.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(5)) FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii) states; Supplies may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, including major components thereof, when it is likely that award to any other source would result in --

(A) Substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition, or (B) Unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements.

L3Harris was competitively selected to produce the SOF NGHH Radio, PRC-163, in September 2015. They are the sole manufacture of this radio and all associated ancillaries. As such, the system hardware, software, and associated technical data necessary for production and to provide the related training and sustainment services are proprietary to L3Harris.

Acquiring a new HH radio at this time would cause substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements.

(CUI) To date, USSOCOM has purchased 13,988 NGHH Radios under this IDIQ, valued at approximately $167.6M. That investment does not include the Program Management Office (PMO) costs incurred since the initial competition beginning in 2014, which would be duplicative costs not expected to be recovered through competition. The L3Harris NGHH radio has been qualified for unique SOF missions.

The qualification process entails extensive configuration and compatibility testing, training, vulnerability assessments, and other activities required to ensure it is qualified, which includes proven interoperability and receiving required operational documentation (NSA Certification, Authority to Operate, Information Assurance (IA), Field and Deployment Release, Naval Safety Certification (immersion), Aircraft Certification (30k feet ASL operation), JITC Interoperability and Standards Compliance Certifications, Safety Certifications, etc.).

Further, the Government has invested significant additional resources due to the production delays. The reasonable to assume that they are significant given all the additional test events/exercise involvement, travel costs, multiple funding reprogramming events, and increased PMO oversight, involvement, reviews, etc.

required as a result for over an additional 22+ months.

To conduct a new full and open competition and then qualify a new HH radio is at least a 36-month effort to complete. To do so at this time, would cause substantial duplication of program costs, increased schedule risk, and above all, result in unacceptable delays in meeting SOF mission requirements. Moreover, the cost of recreating these efforts with another contractor would greatly outweigh any potential cost savings or capability enhancements that could potentially result from competition.

(Reference Section 8 for additional details regarding price analysis conducted)

6. Efforts/Actions to Increase Competition: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) & (11))

A pre-solicitation notice was or was not publicized as required by FAR 5.2. The notice was posted to beta.SAM.gov website along with a draft copy of this J&A on 8 March 2021 informing Industry that USSOCOM intends to issue a modification to add 2 additional 1-year OPs.

(CUI) As stated previously, this contract was competitively awarded in 2015 to L3Harris, and the CERP to replace our legacy radios just commenced in late 2019.

Therefore, a complete replacement of all legacy radios will not be completed until the end of FY23 at the earliest. Given the 5-year warranty associated with these HH radios, there are currently no plans to purchase a new HH radio capability until FY27 or later barring any substantial new capabilities becoming available within Industry that would justify the associated costs with replacing over 20,000+ radios.

That said, there are on-going efforts which may result in future competitive acquisitions potentially beginning some time in FY22 to acquire one or more smaller form factor radios in much lower quantities, that can be tailored to specific missions. These radios are not intended to replace the PRC-163, but rather be, in addition to and fielded only to specific SOF units.

7. Market Research: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(8)).

A Request for Information (RFI) notice was posted to the beta.SAM.gov website from 19 February 2021 through 1 March 2021 DFARS PGI 206.302-1 (d). When the notice closed, there was only one interested source that responded requesting additional details regarding the specifications.

Responses received as well as additional on-going market research revealed that there is currently no other HH radio available in the marketplace that has all the capabilities of the L3Harris PRC-163 within one device, is both NSA and JITC certified, and meets all SOF required threshold capabilities as defined in the contract. However, PEO-C4 continually tests and evaluates new hardware and software enhancements and product improvements to improve responsiveness to user requirements.

As mentioned previously in Section 6, these efforts currently include potentially increasing the Tactical Communications Program’s portfolio by including more than a single material solution in an effort to achieve more flexibility for a subset of users and tailored to specific missions.

Moreover, PEO-C4 also continually utilizes a variety of other market research techniques to include technical team attendance at trade shows such as the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference (SOFIC), briefings submitted to the Technical Industrial Liaison Office (TILO), site visits, and discussions with various Industry partners, as well as other Government agencies. The TILO database was also reviewed as part of market research, however, the results did not impact the need for this justification for the reasons outlined in Sections 5 and 6.

8. Other Authorities/Factors: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(9))

As outlined previously, L3Harris failed to meet the schedule requirements and therefore, did not receive approval to enter into full rate production until late September 2019 (over 700 days late).

Therefore, negotiations were held in September 2019 between USSOCOM and L3Harris regarding what consideration should be provided to USSOCOM for such delays. The results of these negotiations included an agreement to incorporate these two OPs with only a 1.015% increase each OP to all unit prices.

All prices were previously determined fair and reasonable through adequate price competition, however additional analysis was still conducted to ensure the prices were still reasonable several years later, and that the proposed increases for OP 7&8 were also reasonable. Therefore, the Government compared the proposed unit prices (inclusive of the 1.015% increases) to current and historical prices for the same or similar items on competitively awarded or previously negotiated contracts as well as, L3Harris’ Commercial Price list.

This price analysis revealed that the Army is paying significantly more for their “Leader” radio, while also receiving significantly less capability than the USSOCOM NGHH Radio. Specifically, for a quantity of 1, our overall system unit price is 36% lower. For quantities similar to our initial low rate production order for 2,975 radios, our unit price is 10% lower. When considering the additional costs of just two of the waveforms included in the USSOCOM NGHH, that are not provided in the Army Leader radio, an even larger savings is evidenced (up to 60%). Moreover, the Army pays separately for various Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) items and other program related services, while USSOCOM receives those deliverables and/or programmatic support services as part of the equipment unit prices.1

1 FOIA exemption (b)(4)

9. Interested Sources: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(10))

Thales Defense & Security, Inc.

NOTICE 1

Prior to approval, J&A will be screened to identify proprietary data and information exempted from disclosure by 5 U.S.C. 552, Freedom of Information Act, so that the final J&A may be prepared for required posting to BETA.sam IAW Section 844 of NDAA 2009 as implemented via DPAP Memo, Public Disclosure of Justification and Approval Documents for Noncompetitive Contracts, dated 13 February 2009. J&As shall be posted to BETA.SAM within 14 days unless 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(2), Unusual and Compelling Urgency is cited. In that particular case the J&A will be posted within 30 days. Information selected for removal will be highlighted in yellow much like this statement so that signature authorities will know what information will be removed after approval, before posting.

10. Technical and Requirements Certification: (FAR 6.303-2(c))

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

NAME: Mr Jason Nelson TITLE: Acquisition Program Manager

SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE: ____________

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(7))

I I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action are fair and reasonable. The fair and reasonable determination was based on detailed price analysis outlined in the Pricing Memorandum assoicated with modificaiton P00015 to the subject IDIQ contract.

CONTRACTING OFFICER SIGNATURE IN SECTION 12 BELOW ALSO SERVES AS

THE PRICE FAIR AND REASONABLENESS DETERMINATION IN THIS SECTION.

12. Contracting Officer Certification: (FAR 6.303-2(b)(12))

I hereby certify that this J&A is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

NAME: Ms. Jennifer Pruente TITLE: Contracting Officer

SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE: ___________

13. Legal: SOFARS 5601-1

I have reviewed this document and find J&A No. 21-2014 legally sufficient to support other than full and open competition:

NAME: Mr. Travis Vaughan TITLE: Attorney-Advisor.

SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE: ___________

14. Agency Advocate for Competition (AAC): (If over Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition Authority (PAAC), [see SOFARS 5601-1 for your component’s approval authorities], up to $13.5M. Note AAC must also sign above $13.5M. SOFARS 5601-1

I have reviewed this document and find J&A No. 21-2014 adequate to support other than full and open competition:

NAME: Mr. Charles E. Bright TITLE: Agency Advocate for Competition

SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE: __________

15. Approval: (HCA Over $13.5M to $93M or SPE Over $93M )

Based upon the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the incorporation (via contract modification) of two additional ordering periods (OP) to current Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, H92222-15-D-0031. The action(s) pursuant to this J&A are subject to the availability of funds and the completion of all required statutory and regulatory reviews and approvals.

NAME: Col Eric D. Obergfell TITLE: Director of Procurement

SIGNATURE: _______________________________ DATE: _____________

NOTICE 2

POST APPROVAL REQUIREMENT: IAW Section 844 of NDAA 2009 as implemented via DPAP Memo, Public Disclosure of Justification and Approval Documents for Noncompetitive Contracts, dated 13 February 2009, this J&A will be posted to BETA.sam within 14 days unless 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(2), Unusual and Compelling Urgency is cited. In that particular case the J&A will be posted within 30 days. Prior to posting, previously identified proprietary data and information exempted from disclosure by 5 U.S.C. 552, Freedom of Information Act, that has been identified IAW Notice 1 via yellow highlighting, will be removed in order to create a document that is no longer classified as “controlled classified information” and is thus, appropriate for public release. Follow the guidance found in the DCG for the redaction procees prior to public release.