Udacity_sole_source_justification redacted_Redacted.pdf

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

CUI

18 Jun 2019 CUI Page 2 of 4

I. Contracting Activity.

AFLCMC/HIK

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

This requirement is for 234 Udacity licenses in support of Digital University.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

Item: Udacity user licenses, in support of Digital University Quantity: 234 Total Estimated Value:

Period of Performance: 30 Sept. 2021 - 24 June 2022 Funding Type: 3400 Allows users of Digital University taking intermediate to advanced career and skill pathways to access required course content.

IV. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

This acquisition is completed IAW FAR 13 simplified acquisition procedures and this requirement is a sole source requirement. IAW FAR 13.501(a)(ii) sole source justifications must be prepared using the format at FAR 6.303-2. FAR 6.303 specifies that the justification for other than full and open competition come from FAR 6.302. Therefore, this acquisition's authority for permitting other than full and open competition is 6.302-1 only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

Digital University (DU) was launched in the summer of 2020 with the intent to revitalize the way that the Air and Space Forces recruit, train and retain cyber talent. The DU team performed significant market research and collaboration with career field functional managers, training managers, educational platforms, and industry experts from companies such as Google and Lyft to identify the ways that our Airmen and Guardians were deficient when compared to industry or our peer-adversaries. From this research, the BESPIN software factory built a prototype of an online learning platform that would provide access to world-class online cyber training from companies such as Udemy, Udacity, and Pluralsight. The DU prototype was launched, and the 338th SCONS (AFWERX 'RapidX') was appointed to rapidly award 8x contracts to the above vendors.

Udacity offers industry-leading courses in intermediate to advanced cyber skills required by Digital University. In the areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), Udacity provides capability not available from other vendors. Specifically, content is created with leading tech companies like Google and Amazon, and students are provided in-browser visualization, giving them access to all the tools, data, and computing power necessary to complete their coursework without having to purchase hardware or software (which would represent significant cost to an individual or organization). As an anecdote, one of the courses' capstone events for completion of its 'nanodegree' requires students to design an algorithm for a self-driving car. Individuals completing this exercise successfully have gone onto careers with industry leaders such as Tesla, indicating the quality of the training provided.

Additionally, Udacity courseware has been integrated into DU's intermediate to advanced career pathways and skill pathways. Udacity courseware is unique and dictates the layout of AI/ML courses. Substitution of another vendor would require 3-4 months to redesign DU's curricula, which would then require coordination with career field managers (who own the training requirements that DU presently satisfies) to validate the changes. Additionally, once the curriculum was updated, the DU development team would be required to make changes to the DU codebase to re-

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

18 Jun 2019 CUI Page 3 of 4 work the pathways at an expected schedule cost of 1-2 sprints (2-4 weeks) which would unacceptably de-prioritize/ delay other DU development actions such as digital badging and migration of the platform inside the CloudOne computing environment resulting in an inability to meet mission priorities.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

Since the inception of the DU program, the government has had continuing conversation with a plethora of "massively open online courses" (MOOC) and training platforms to evaluate which might best serve the needs of the Air Force via Digital University. In the summer of 2020 the Air Force made contract awards to 3 vendors that satisfied separate parts of the overall Air Force/DU need. Udacity was contracted to provide intermediate to advanced courseware supporting advanced skill and career paths that were built inside DU as they truly represented the pinnacle of AI & ML training.

The government has and will continually evaluate its needs and perform continuous market research with as many training platforms as practical to ensure DU always provides world-class, industry-leading training curricula at the best possible value to the government.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable as the estimated cost is largely identical to previous pricing granted to the government for the same capabilities. The price of this contract will be determined to be fair and reasonable based on FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii).

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Market research has demonstrated that there are many massively open online courses (MOOC)-style online training platforms that provide courseware consistent with the training pathways offered by Digital University. However, Udacity provides required intermediate to advanced courseware topics including but not limited to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) that are critical to a number of ongoing DoD efforts such as the Joint AI Council (JAIC) AI accelerator programs.

This research demonstrated that Udacity was the clear leader in advanced topics such as AI and advanced software development as evidenced by their partnerships with Amazon and nVidia for their AI courseware, and Google and AWS for advanced software development. No other MOOC vendor can claim they are as integrated with these unquestioned industry leaders.

Additionally, incorporating other vendors to satisfy the requirements currently met by Udacity - assuming an acceptable replacement could be found - does not represent the best value to the government, as 3-4 months would likely be required to redesign DU's curriculum and update the DU codebase to incorporate the replacement vendor.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

Udacity courseware is specifically required in a number of existing DU career and skill pathways. Replacing these courses would require significant re-work of existing curricula, which requires non-trivial engagement, staffing with functional career field training managers, and changes to the DU codebase all of which would result in an unacceptable mission risk.

Additionally, it could cause second or third order effects in that developers who took the same learning path, but the courses to complete that path differed, would cause a disconnect (likely a degradation) in the consistency of training and learned skills. Udacity's integration with industry leaders (Google, nVidia, AWS) would tend to mean that students completing the track that was composed of courses from a vendor(s) that replaced Udacity would have a lesser final outcome.

Lastly, the AI and ML disciplines generally require specialized tools, software, and hardware. Udacity was singularly unique in that it provided virtualized access to world class hardware, software, and tools for their advanced courses, Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

18 Jun 2019 CUI Page 4 of 4 which would otherwise require purchase (at significant cost) by an individual or organization. In this way, even the most junior of troops would have the opportunity to receive a truly world-class training opportunity. As one of the core principles of DU is to 'democratize technology training' (i.e. make it available to all) this unique capability of Udacity is particularly significant.

X. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

N/A

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

The Digital University team is continually evaluating other offerings from companies similar to Udacity and continually making determinations as to whether the capabilities of those companies will further expand the capabilities of DU, or provide value over existing companies. Additionally, as DU has expanded, additional career fields (i.e. HAF/A9, Data Scientists/Analysts) have approached the DU team about building in new pathways which would open up opportunities to onboard other MOOC-style content providers that had capabilities in these new subject areas. As funding becomes available, it would be the government's intent to continue to expand DigitalU in this way.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.