TAK JA-redacted.pdf

DEFENSE THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY

8725 JOHN J. KINGMAN ROAD, STOP 6201

FORT BELVOIR, VA 22060-6201

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Nature and/or Description of Action

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) contracting activity proposes to procure, without using full and open competition, a software plug-in, software updates, and general modifications for bug fixes for the Nuclear Enterprise Contingency Operations Department’s (NE-CO’s) Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Tactical Assault Kit (TAK).

2. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

DTRA NE-CO requires maintenance support, technical services, training, depot engineering, and associated travel related to the TAK CBRN software plug-in. The plug-in enables NE-CO’s CBRN detection equipment and the data that equipment generates to be incorporated into SOCOM’s TAK environment, which provides real-time situational awareness to Special Operations Forces engaged in real-world weapons of mass destruction (WMD) response scenarios. This effort represents follow-on work to the developmental effort undertaken by DTRA’s Research and Development (RD) directorate to produce the CBRN plug-in. The period of performance for this effort shall be one (1) base year plus four (4) option years, for a total of five (5) years from the date of award. The total dollar value of this effort is estimated to be not more than $1,500,000.00.

3. Statutory Authority

The statutory authority for this non-competitive action is:

FAR part 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B) states that, “[f]or DoD, NASA, and the Coast Guard, services may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of follow-on contracts for the continued provision of highly specialized services 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.”

4. Applicability of Authority

DTRA RD developed the CBRN TAK software plug-in over the course of multiple years, all through Draper Laboratory. This proposed effort is a follow-on to the RD contract, to purchase the plug-in that was developed under the DTRA RD contract to be used in on-going DoD operations.

The services required are highly specialized services. While NE-CO is only procuring the developed/released software, DTRA RD has an ongoing developmental contract with Draper Laboratory (Draper) to continue to develop the CBRN plug-in based on user needs. Draper maintains the CBRN plug-in functionality and support updates as Android operating system and Android TAK (ATAK) versions are updated.

An award of the requirement to anyone other than the original manufacturer would result in unacceptable delays because it would require an additional layer of coordination. Any issues identified by or maintenance performed by another contractor would require substantial coordination through NE-CO, DTRA RD, and Draper to ensure that the operation of the TAK is coordinated and controlled. As changes are made for new versions, Draper is responsible for merging these changes into their maintenance branch, then builds a test version for internal validation. Once the new version is validated and confirmed to be stable, Draper approves it for release by SOCOM’s TAK Product Center. Using another contractor would delay the release of the software updates.

Using another contractor would also result in duplicative costs because it would:

a) require modifications to DTRA RD’s developmental contract with Draper, to support the integration of third-party changes to the CBRN plugin because the RD work is based on the last version of the released software;

b) would require additional time and resources for Draper to fully understand any third-party changes (as opposed to if Draper’s team identified the problems and made the changes themselves) to ensure those changes were properly integrated into the plugin’s source code;

c) delay development schedules and implementation as a result of items “a” and “b”, which could negatively impact CBRN search teams during “real-world” missions; and

d) increase potential for transcription and/or syntax errors that are introduced by the inclusion of additional parties.

Should NE-CO utilize Draper as its performer for enhancing the CBRN plug-in, Draper could both incorporate NE-CO’s requested changes and provide a field version that could be rapidly incorporated within a single development cycle. Draper would be able to make any necessary changes and continue to develop the plug-in, to release the official update alongside the TAK core release schedule. This would also make use of Draper's existing relationship with SOCOM’s TAK Product Center development team in following new releases and ensuring complete and timely testing.

For these reasons, DTRA NE-CO believes that use of a source other than Draper creates the significant likelihood of increased costs and schedule delays, as specified by FAR part 6.302-1.

5. Effort to Solicit Potential Sources

A Request for Information (RFI) was posted on beta.sam.gov from 16 February 2021 to 2 March 2021. The RFI was a sources sought notice in support of DTRA’s NE-CO for services and support of TAK requirements. DTRA sought to determine if, in addition to the company that developed NE-CO’s TAK applications (Draper), there were other qualified providers capable of performing these services in order to foster a competitive proposal environment. A notice to synopsize this procurement will be posted to sam.gov in accordance with FAR 5.203.

6. Fair and Reasonable Costs

The anticipated cost/price of this contract action to the Government will be determined to be fair and reasonable based on a price analysis conducted by using historical data from prior similar purchases, developmental costs, and direct production cost conversations with the developmental manufacturer.

7. Market Research

Market research was originally conducted by DTRA RD in 2015-2016, in support of contract number HDTRA1-16-C-0007, DTRA’s TAK developmental contract with Draper.

Market research for this effort was conducted via sources sought RFI, as referenced in section 5, “Effort to Solicit Potential Sources.” That market research determined that, while there are multiple vendors that are technically capable of modifying and supporting TAK plugins, any support provided would still be required to go through Draper to ensure the overall integrity of the CBRN plugin. Therefore, DTRA NE-CO determined that additional coordination would create duplicative costs and would cause unnecessary schedule delays.

8. Other Facts

DTRA found the production work effort described here to be out of scope of its RD contract and thus, this work was not included in the RD contract. However, there are interdependencies between the NE-CO effort and the RD contract. The updates to the fielded version of the software is incorporated into the development effort under the RD contract.

9. Interested Sources

DTRA’s RFI was posted on beta.sam.gov from 16 February 2021 to 2 March 2021, and identified eight (8) interested sources:

DTRA’s evaluation team determined that all provided responses that met the evaluation RFI criteria. For that reason, those three respondents were deemed qualified providers capable of performing the services needed by DTRA. However, as discussed in sections 5 and 7, market research determined that, while there are multiple vendors that are technically capable of modifying and supporting TAK plugins, any support provided would still be required to go through Draper Laboratory to ensure the overall integrity of the CBRN plugin.

DTRA NE-CO determined additional coordination would create duplicative costs and cause unnecessary schedule delays.

10. Subsequent Actions

DTRA NE-CO would consider full and open competition in the event that SOCOM’s TAK Product Center moves the CBRN plugin from a developmental status to a maintenance status.

Until such time, coordinating third-party changes to the CBRN plugin through Draper will create unnecessary costs, delays, and potential execution errors.

Technical Certification I certify that the data and information forming the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Program Manager

Contracting Officer Certification

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

Contracting Officer

General Counsel Coordination

This justification is/is not legally sufficient.

Attorney

FEIGE.TAMMY.MO

Y.

Digitally signed by

FEIGE.TAMMY.MOY.

Date: 2021.08.30 16:46:13 -04'00'

Approval

Based on the above justification, I hereby approve accomplishment of this acquisition by means other than using full and open competition.

Competition Advocate