REVISED 80GRC020C0015 - (JOFOC) SIGNED.pdf

Revision: A

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Glenn Research Center GRC

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

For 80GRC020C0015

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center.

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is Ohio University.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award an extension to contract number NNC15CA25C with 80GRC020C0015 for maintenance, support, and documentation services for the Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) implementation developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), known as ION (Interplanetary Overlay Network). The period of performance for NNC15CA25C was from August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2020.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The support services include the secure distribution, version control, software testing, documentation, and support of the ION code base. This support is required by NASA in order to maintain the unique services necessary for the ongoing development of the ION code base. The period of performance is 1 year guaranteed with 4 optional years for a maximum of 5 years. The total value per year is $116,438.84. The maximum value of the procurement is $582,194.20. The period of performance is August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2025.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1), the property or services needed by the agency are available from only one responsible source or only from a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the agency.

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) is that Ohio University has been providing this service for 10 years, originally under Grant Number NNX09AD87G, under purchase order number NNC12VE58P and most recently under Contract Number NNC15CA25C and has intimate experience with the NASA ION code base and its unique support requirements. Ohio University currently maintains under NNC15CA25C, the existing automated build and test environment for the code that has been validated by the NASA DTN Project, maintains the secure code distribution servers and provides support services and documentation for the ION releases. NNC15CA25C expires July 31, 2020 and NASA must maintain the relationship with Ohio University because of their expertise in the ION implementation. The current proposed effort is exclusively for services.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (beta.sam.gov) was published on June 26, 2020, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract extension to Ohio University.

The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

Because of Ohio University's particular experience with NASA's Ion code base, expertise not available from any other market participant, only Ohio University has the technical experience capable of servicing the NASA's Delay Tolerant Networking. No other contractor or entity is capable of providing this service.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market research was not conducted:

There is no other known generic IT services provider that has the necessary familiarity with the ION DTN reference implementation so it would require that NASA spend a significant amount of additional resources, beyond what is available to support this service, to train a new IT services provider as a replacement capable of providing the required ION maintenance service. This would cause an unacceptable financial burden upon the project and create an enormous lapse in support that would jeopardize the project’s milestones.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: N/A

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition: N/A

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (beta.sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above).

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

No action can reasonably be taken to overcome the barriers to competition as the provider offers unique capabilities in support of the NASA DTN code base that would be difficult and unreasonable to attempt to recreate with another provider with the limited resources available to the project. Recreating the capabilities of the provider would enact a significant burden upon the project both financially and from a schedule standpoint.

Supporting the NASA Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) Code Base Interplanetary Overlay Network (ION)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIGNATURE PAGE

I certify that the facts presented in this justification are accurate and complete.

Dennis Iannicca Technical Representative

I hereby certify that the above justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Brian Evans Contracting Officer