JA HMMS Software and SustainmentRedacted 2425.pdf

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DLA CONTRACTING SERVICES OFFICE - PHILADELPHIA

700 ROBBINS AVENUE

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19111-5092

ADDENDUM 2

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY.

Requiring Activity:

Contracting Activity:

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED.

This justification approves award of a sole-source Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract to Sphera Solutions, Inc. (Sphera) to provide multiple Department of Defense (DoD) Components with brand name Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Waste Management System (HMMS) Software and Sustainment Services Support for the Inventory, Environmental, Safety, Occupational and Disposal Requirement (IESOD) Program. Sphera is the only responsible source capable of providing the required software and sustainment support.

Accordingly, this requirement will be awarded on a sole source basis to Sphera as provided in more detail below.

The required HMMS Software and Sustainment Services support ensures compliance with the rules and regulations for the safe handling and use of hazardous materials and hazardous waste (HM/HW), to include transporting and tracking, warehousing (stocking, storing, issuing packaging and labeling), and disposing of HM/HW. HM/HW are materials that are heavily regulated through various Federal Rules and Regulations imposed by the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR); Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); Department of Transportation (DOT); and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The HMMS is the single proprietary software housing the DoD Repository of Record, as identified in DoD HAZCOM 313, for OSHA Safety Data Sheet, Global Harmonization System (GHS) of international labeling, which is a mandatory requirement for movement of Military Services property necessary to support the war fighter mission.

On September 28, 2015, DLA took over contract administration oversight of the HM/HQMS program from the United States Air Force, and has since managed the HM/HW program for

SUBJECT: Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition

Source Selection Information See FAR 2.101 and 3.104 multiple DoD Components, using the HMMS software, to include the United States Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Army and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), as well as other Federal Government agencies and international organizations including, but not limited to, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and United Nations Partners.

The HMMS software is a turnkey solution that includes various software capabilities that were proprietary to IHS Global Inc. (IHS Global). In May 2017, IHS Global was acquired by Sphera Solutions, Inc. (Sphera). The current IDIQ contract (SP4701-18-D-0001) for HMMS Software and Sustainment Support was awarded to Sphera Solutions, Inc on December 29, 2017. The IDIQ contract ended on September 29, 2020. The final Task Orders issued under the IDIQ prior to its expiration will end on February 28, 2021 and April 23, 2021.

3. A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE).

The scope of this effort includes providing HMMS Software Licenses and Software Sustainment Support for multiple DoD and Federal Government organizations, through the following tasks:

Task 1 –Program Management Support Task 2 – Licensing and Support Packages Task 3 – On-Site IT Applications Support

TASK 1: PROGRAM MANAGEMENT SUPPORT: The Contractor shall provide program management support under the contract. This task includes the management and oversight of all activities performed by contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The Contractor shall identify a Project Manager (PM) by name that shall provide management, direction, administration, quality assurance, and leadership under the contract.

TASK 2: LICENSING AND SUPPORT PACKAGES: The Contractor shall provide licensing and support packages for each participating HM/HW site. Each package shall include site licensing, technical expertise, a help desk, site visits as necessary, software releases, software release forum, report support, web site support, application rationalization support, and cyber security accreditation support.

TASK 3: ON-SITE IT APPLICATIONS SUPPORT: The Contractor shall provide permanently assigned on-site application support personnel for the sites identified when required and may include data input/retrieval, functional assistance and report writing on hazardous management in the warehouse or office setting as necessary to support the functional group.

Addendum: Since IDIQ award on February 16, 2021 there have been many changes to the HMMS mission that were not anticipated when the Independent Government Cost Estimate was developed in 2020. DoD Modernization, to including increased Cyber Security, has evolved gaining an unanticipated momentum being classified as the most critical requirements for implementation across DoD. Due to these changes, an IDIQ ceiling increase is required to continue support on current task orders and allow for additional task orders prior to the base period of performance ending on February 28, 2022. DLA J62 has outlined the necessary changes to HMMS to meet these requirements listed below, noting that each project will increase the level of effort for each task for the remaining one (1) option year.

The changes are as follows:

1. In December 2020, the Defense Logistics Management System (DLMS) announced that Approved DLMS Transaction (ADC) 996H was cancelled, requiring the replacement by the following auditable ADCs identified as 846S, 841W and 527R as mandated in DoD 4140.1-R. These regulatory changes, driven by policy change how HMMS operates replacing a process called GenCOMM. GenCOMM violates cyber-security policy by using email as a transmission form to turn in hazardous waste.

Additionally, GenCOMM is no longer supported by the software vendor as the vendor is no longer in business. If GenCOMM fails, the process to turn in hazardous waste will halt until users can transition to paper-turn in. Lastly, GenCOMM does not meet the logistics communication standards of DLM 4000.25. The work associated to this project to replace GenCOMM has prompted a full set of changes to the way HMMS communicates with the DoD trading partners by developing new sets of Electronic Data Interchanges (EDI). EDI is the core to DoD data modernization creating standardized logistics transaction format moving data when called from one system to another system will reduce replicated or stored in any new location making HMMS the system of record for all data needed to move, handle, store, package and ship hazardous material, dangerous goods and hazardous waste for DoD. Funding was not attained to support this project until June 2021, when the DLA J62 Program Executive Officer (PEO) concluded that this was a critical project and reprogrammed funding.

This will reduce risk, costs and increase the DoD’s ability to attain pristine data from the data source.

2. Modernization of the Defense Health Agency (DHA) has identified the DoD need to expand the existing HMMS H2 (HMIRS) data warehouse to push via new EDI inventory from DoD Agencies, Warehouses and Workstations to HMMS as driven by the NDAA 22-24 and PACT ACT. HMMS will match the inventory data with Safety Data Sheet information containing the chemical constituents, then push this data through an API to DHA creating a record of the longitudinal exposure record as outlined in the PACT Act and National Defense Authorization Act that will follow the DoD employees through their careers to retirement and assist in medical decisions through the Veterans Administration and/or commercial medical facilities.

This will give DHA the opportunity to reduce harmful uses of chemicals once data can be aggregated and analyzed and support the effects of exposure in a more targeted manner. This is a critical project to ensure DoD is taking steps to reduce hazardous materials that are harmful to humans and the environment. Modernization (rationalization) of DLA Legacy Warehousing systems supporting Major Subordinate Commands (MSC) DLA Distribution and DLA Disposition Services, Distribution Standard System (DSS), is being replaced by SAP Warehousing. It has been identified that SAP Warehousing does not meet the DoD modal, handling or packaging policies and must attain this data from HMMS Systems or federal statutory requirements for OSHA, EPA or DOT without the purchase of additional modules. HMMS has the capabilities needed to fill these gaps without purchasing the additional SAP modules which require significant development to meet the DoD mandatory requirements. This new requirement for HMMS includes two new DLMS transactions. The first DLMS transaction will call H2 data to the receipt screen in SAP Warehousing. Today this is manual data entry and does not connect the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) to the contract level data, introducing the risk that the incorrect SDS is attached to the item being received. H2 maintains a 1:1 relationship with the SDS and contract data. The second DLMS transaction is bi-directional call and send to support the CFR 40 Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). EPCRA is a live report for emergency planning and response teams identifying how much and where dangerous chemicals are located on a base and how to respond to an emergency event. This also produces the Tier II Annual Report due to EPA, in March, showing the quantities of chemicals on the site to ensure the site is operating within the quantities permitted by the EPA’s licensure structure.

3. Citing the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and

OMB CIRCULAR NO. A-130 requiring DoD agencies to reduce/consolidate infrastructure including hosting sites, the Navy Fleet Readiness Center (FRC) is required to migrate the HMMS sites to the DLA J62 standardized cloud-based hosting structure. This project entails the build, migration, management, and sustainment of the four (4) FRC sites that are currently hosted by the Navy. Second issue identified for FRC is outlined in the DoDI 8510.01 stating Risk Management Framework (RMF), cyber security policy for DoD, it is a risk to provide inheritance to instances of software outside of the Authority to Operate (ATO) owner’s enclave (hosting structure). The ATO gives the software owner the permission to put the software on the DoD Network Meeting this requirement significantly drives up the cost to host and sustain these large sites.

4. The Navy Fleet Readiness Centers (formerly NavAir) and NASA Space Flight and

Research Centers are preparing a project plan to bring 15 additional HMMS sites to DLA in the next 1.5 years from Option Period 3 and/or Option Period 4 of this IDIQ contract’s period of performance.

5. HMMS was audited in June 2021 resulting in 51 Low and Very Low findings under NIST SP 800-53. The NIST controls, Security System and Service Acquisition (SA) Controls, are to be added to the IDIQ contract as mandatory requirements to maintain the ATO.

6. DLA Disposition Services has identified a requirement for 16 or more HMMS

Hazardous Waste Disposal classes, each option year, for the field and headquarter staff. To fulfill this requirement, the vendor will need to develop a server for sustainment and identify Computer Technicians, to maintain this new environment with the correct version control, cyber security, and staged data. This requirement was identified because of an Integrated Project Team (IPT) with participants from DLA J3, Disposition Services and DLA J62 whom reviewed approximately 800 tickets submitted from the Disposition Services Field Offices showing 74% of request for support are training related. This will require an increased level of effort for Sphera to train the HWD Customers.

7. Letterkenny Army Depot and Shipyard Pearl Harbor have identified requirements for additional LOE by the onsite Computer Technicians (CT), while other agencies have shown interest in the capabilities provided by the CT Teams and are seeking funding to increase the CT LOE for their teams. DLA J62 has also identified a gap in support where organic positions have been swept and these positions may be temporarily filled using the CT Teams This is advantageous to DoD as a less expensive option to perform work found to be non-inherent to the government, as found in the IDIQ Contract 2.2.3 On-Site Support.

8. In 2023, DLA implemented a policy that all Application Programming Interface

(API) shall follow the DLA API Gateway through the Defense Automatic Addressing System (DAAS) and those API that are Logistics will follow the Defense Logistics Management Standards as directed by DLM 4000.25. The managing office for hazardous material, hazardous waste and dangerous goods has 18 APIs to deploy, with 5 deployed and 13 remaining deployments under this current IDIQ in Option Years 3 and 4.

Addendum 2: Since IDIQ Addendum 1 award, there have been many changes to the HMMS mission that were not anticipated. Contested Logistics and legislative changes to the EPA’s list of Toxic Chemicals is a threat to National Security by reducing critical chemicals required to manufacture, build and sustain weapon systems. Emerging Chemical Policy

4715.18 has stated that DoD will capture the full material disclosure of every product DoD Purchases. In FY25 DoD found that HMMS and Hazardous Waste Disposal now fall under DoD Financial Management Regulation for Internal Control of Financial Reporting (ICoFR) DoD 7000.14R and will begin audit testing, evaluation and attestation. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service and DLA J8 have determined that HMMS and Hazardous Waste Disposal fall under the Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) Bulletin No.2022-03 to move into G-Invoice EZ Processing.

DoD assigned the work to provide visualizations for the Red Hill Closure Task Force for ground and drinking water. DLA HMMS was also selected for emergency evaluation and roll out of 13 NASA Sites within the United States to support OIG 2020 and tracking to support EPA Waiver to continue use of critical to mission chemical trichloroethylene (TCE). HMMS is the only program in DoD and system that can provide the support to these requirements.

Due to these changes, an IDIQ ceiling increase is required to continue support on current task orders and allow for additional task orders prior to the OY4 period of performance beginning on February 28, 2025. DLA J62 has outlined the necessary changes to HMMS to meet these requirements listed below, noting that each project will increase the level of effort for each task remaining last option on the IDIQ.

1. Support development and implementation for mandated G-Invoice EZ Intra-Fund Policy as found 31 U.S.C3512(b) across HMMS and for HMMS users. To include design, build and deploy no more than 8 APIs replacing 4 legacy and non-DLMS Compliant APIs.

2. Support development and implementation for mandated Internal Control over Financial Reporting (ICoFR) for HMMS and HWD as required by NIST 800 171 and DoD 7000.14R

3. Support Site Surveys, Development and Deployment of the following NASA Research

Centers: Ames, Armstrong, Marchall, Michoud, Stennis, Langley, Glenn, Armstrong, Johnson, White Sands, Kennedy and Goddard in support of NASA TCE Waiver for EPA and OIG 2020 findings.

4. Develop, manage and deploy the Red Hill Closure Team ground and drinking water data

SUBJECT: Justification and Approval for Othe Than Full and Open Competition visualization communications

5. Design and deploy Chemical Hazard Extraction Manager Tool in the Hazardous Data Warehouse for the Chemical Information Program

4. IDENTIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER

THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION.

The authority of 10 U.S.C 2304 (c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), permits the acquisition of these services by other than full and open competition because the services are available from only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency’s requirements.

The HMMS software was developed by IHS Global, which provided the services to the DoD for over 24 years until IHS Global was acquired by Sphera in 2017. The software is now proprietary to Sphera. While DCSO-P has identified a few firms that offer similar HMMS software capabilities, Sphera is the only known firm capable of providing the required software and sustainment services detailed in paragraph 3 above.

5. A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF

THE AUTHORITY CITED.

In accordance with FAR 6.302-1, brand name HMMS software licenses and support are essential to the Government’s requirements because the supplies and services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source, and no other type or supplies or services will satisfy the agency’s requirements. A brand name, whether available on one or more contracts, is an item particular to one manufacturer and may be procured by brand name specification if essential to the Government’s requirements. The required HMMS software and support is a brand name item peculiar to one manufacturer. The HMMS brand name product is essential to the Government’s requirements, thereby precluding consideration of products manufactured by another company. Furthermore, Sphera is the only known firm capable of providing the required HMMS Software and Maintenance Sustainment support detailed in paragraph 3 above.

The HMMS software is a vibrant, robust, and efficient system that manages materials and waste effectively. The continuation of this system is considered to be the most advantageous method of meeting the Government’s requirements for managing materials and waste because the software has been configured and customized to meet specific DoD regulations and requirements. The HMMS software is proprietary to Sphera and there are no authorized resellers of Sphera’s HMMS Software and Maintenance Sustainment Support.

The Government’s minimum needs include the following requirements:

- A single software program capable of housing the DoD Repository of Record, as identified in DoD HAZCOM 313 and CFR 29 for Safety Data Sheet and Global Harmonization System (GHS) of international labeling. This information is necessary to meet European and other foreign government shipping regulations and is mandatory for movement of Military Services property to support the war fighter mission.

- Capable of containing and feeding the Federal Logistics Information System and the Hazardous Material Indicator Code.

- Capable of providing information to Electronic Turn-In

- Capable of tying Safety Data Sheet Information to Wide Area Workflow contractual information and to warehousing information at the Disposal Turn-In Document and then to LIIN/NIIN level for Tier II reporting with National Stock Number (NSN) data.

- Capable of tracking and supplying United Nations Standard acceptable packaging at the NSN level with the international shipping labels at the NSN level.

- Capable of exchanging real-time DML 4000.25, Defense Logistics Management Standards (DLMS), Volume 1, dated October 3, 2017, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) regulations for multiple global government and military agencies supported on three hosting configurations for attaining Authority to Operate.

- Pre-Acquisition Process a systematic control in place before hazardous product purchase.

This requirement ties a safety plan to the chemical level ensuring unsafe chemicals or chemicals that are not capable of being handled are not brought onto the base.

As explained in Section 8 below, while there are other hazardous material and waste management systems available in the marketplace, none of these systems can fulfill all of the Government’s minimum requirements. Additionally, purchasing another hazardous material and waste management system at this time would impact the continuity of support and would require it to be integrated into the DoD Information Technology infrastructure and tailored and configured for DoD acceptance and use. Therefore, it is imperative that Sphera be retained to continue the HMMS software system support services, as it is the only source capable of providing the required HMMS software and Maintenance Sustainment Support.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE

SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS IS 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.

Market research has demonstrated that there are no authorized resellers of Sphera’s HMMS software and no authorized resellers of third party maintenance. Sphera is the only known firm that provides the necessary HMMS software and authorized maintenance support. Therefore, the proposed HMMS Software and Maintenance Sustainment Support shall be awarded on a sole source basis to Sphera. A notice will be publicized in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.2. A Request for Proposal (RFP) will be issued via the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps/beta.SAM.gov) website informing industry of the Government’s requirement in accordance with FAR 6.305(c).

7. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE.

The Contracting Officer hereby determines that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable based on utilizing various price analysis techniques including, but not limited to, the following: (1) comparison of the proposed prices to historical prices paid, whether by the Government, for the same or similar items (FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii)); (2) comparison with the independent Government cost estimate (FAR 15.404-1(a)(2)(v)); and/or (3) comparison of proposed prices with prices obtained through market research of the same or similar items (FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(vi)).

8. A DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED (SEE FAR PART

10) AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET

RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED.

The following market research techniques were used:

Sources Sought Announcements via JETS Sources Sought Announcements via FedBizOpps/beta.SAM.gov Sources Sought Announcement via GSA E-Buy Industry Day

Sources Sought via JETS – The Request for Information was posted through JETS vendor on April 25, 2019 but no responses were received.

Sources Sought via FedBizOpps/beta.SAM.gov - The Request for Information was posted throughFedBizOpps/beta.SaM.gov on June 5, 2019. The government received one response from interested vendors, Plateau, Inc.

Sources Sought via GSA E-Buy - The Request for Information was posted through GSA E-Buy on June 18, 2019. The government received one response from interested vendors, Plateau, Inc.

Industry Day – Plateau, Inc. was the only interested vendor to provide a demonstration of their software capability for the Government on July 10, 2019 through July 11, 2019.

Only one vendor (Plateau, Inc.) provided a response to Government’s Sources Sought Announcement via JETS, FedBizOpps/beta.SAM.gov, and GSA E-Buy.

Plateau Inc., responded to the Source Sought Announcement with a response to demonstrate the capability of their Hazardous Material Information Database System (HMIDS) Software. The IESOD Program Management Office (PMO) reviewed and evaluated whether Plateau, Inc.’s software and sustainment team was capable of satisfying the DoD Requirements for software and sustainment for the DoD IEOSD Program. After consideration, DoD HMMS Users requested a software demonstration from Plateau, Inc. on their HMIDS Software which was held on the Industry Day. The DoD HMMS Users received an 8-hour demonstration of the HMIDS Software from Plateau on July 10, 2020. On July 11, DoD Users requested the ability to test the software, hands on, in a mock environment and Plateau agreed. On September 25, 2019 Plateau provided two online training sessions to the DoD Users and opened their testing capabilities to the DoD HMMS Users to evaluate the HMIDS software until November 2019. Each evaluation team provided the results of their evaluation of the HMIDS Software against the DoD requirements in December 2019. The DLA J62 PMO Team collected the evaluations from the DoD Users, combining the results into a single document describing why HMIDS software did not meet the DoD requirements.

The Contracting Officer received feedback from DLA Battle Creek in December 2019:

Plateau’s proposal failed to demonstrate knowledge of the current DoD and DLA -supported HMMS processes or capabilities. The subject proposal failed to demonstrate the turnkey ability to implement a software suite with real-time that complied with DML 4000.25, Defense Logistics Management Standards (DLMS), Volume 1, dated October 3, 2017, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) regulations for multiple global government and military agencies supported on three hosting configurations for attaining ATO.

Additional concerns were relating to the following:

The proposal for HMIDS did not demonstrate that HAZMAT could be tracked at the locker level.

The demonstration of the HMIDS Software did not show the capability to support

Base/Shop preparedness intake of Hazardous Material.

The proposal did not demonstrate the ability of the software to manage the

IESOD Program warehousing operations mandatory to the use, handling, storing and shipping of hazardous material that meet DoD and/or Services specific business rules and requirements.

The proposal did not demonstrate the ability to perform air quality tracking, on-site support or DLMS compliance interfaces.

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION.

N/A

10. A LISTING OF THE SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN

INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION.

Plateau Software, Inc. (1LUX1): Proposal for Hazardous Material Information Database System

(HMIDS)

11. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES.

DLA has and continues to exercise competition as often as possible and is required to conduct ongoing reviews to keep abreast of new technology, both in industry and in the Government.

DLA uses a variety of vendors, manufacturers and contracts to fulfill its requirements and will continue its practice of surveying the market to ensure full and open competition to the maximum extent practicable.

DLA will continue to attend trade meetings and participate in industry demonstrations to ensure the most effective and cost-efficient solution is being used to meet the user community’s needs.

This continuous effort will include meeting bi-annually with the DLA J62 HAZMAT PMO to understand improved capabilities and hosting methodologies as this application matures. In the event the DLA becomes aware of another HMMS management software product that can satisfy the requirements, a competitive acquisition will be conducted to determine the best value to the Government.

12. CERTIFICATIONS.

Requirements/Technical Certification:

I hereby certify that the support data provided for which I am responsible and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

Contracting Certification:

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

I have reviewed and approve this justification.