A03_Redacted__FBO-JA__W15P7T-10-D-D421_0009-FINAL-2017APR20_Redacted.pdf

Control No:

Contractor: AASKI Technologies, Inc. (AASKI), Supply/Service: Research and Development

3. Description of Services: The proposed modification will enable AASKI to continue providing a wide range of engineering and technical services to the CERDEC S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division in support of meeting research and development requirements.

These services provided by AASKI include: providing SATCOM Systems Division with system engineering and technical support, laboratory support, test support, field engineering support, and the acquisition of communications equipment; in support of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), Defense Satellite Communication Subsystem (DSCS), and Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (MILSTAR) SATCOM programs, projects, and initiatives, as well as, customer support to the Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM-DCATS) and the S&TCD Ultra Lab. The Performance Work Statement tasks pertinent to this modification are:

PWS 3.1 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING and ANALYSIS SUPPORT

PWS 3.2 ACQUISITION SUPPORT

PWS 3.3 LOGISTICS SUPPORT

PWS 3.4 SHIPPING SUPPORT

PWS 3.5 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, QUALITY ASSURANCE, AND

CERTIFICATION

PWS 3.6 HARDWARE / SOFTWARE ENGINEERING SUPPORT

PWS 3.7 INTEGRATION AND TEST SUPPORT

PWS 3.8 NETWORK INTEGRATION SUPPORT

4. Authority Cited: In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(b)(3) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) – The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division has requested that the current effort be extended for six (6) months to meet its operational objectives. The specific requirement continues as the PWS tasks accomplished under this extension (PWS 3.1-3.8) are interrelated and provide mission critical support to other efforts for S&TCD. The Government would benefit from continued performance by AASKI in order to avoid delays in mission critical tasks, gaps in critical services and increase costs for the Government. It would be neither cost effective nor realistic to expect another contractor to perform during the brief period of performance of this six (6) month extension. It would be impossible to provide immediate full service due to the time and expense involved in recruiting and replacing those contract employees with the expertise of the current contractor. AASKI is the only contractor capable of timely providing the level of services required. Non-recoverable start-up costs, performance delay, and a learning curve will be experienced with a different contractor. Without the extension, missions will have to stop. The tasks to be completed in this extension are in scope to the tasks in the original PWS. The work completed during the original task order provides the framework for the task to be continued in this extension. The contractor AASKI has significant experience and expertise

Control No:

Contractor: AASKI Technologies, Inc. (AASKI), Supply/Service: Research and Development resources necessary to identify, train and transition another contractor to perform the work at a comparable technical level.

AASKI has a qualified and experienced workforce already engaged in and successfully performing the required services. There are currently fifty (50) AASKI employees working in support of the mission. The labor categories range from subject matter experts, logisticians, telecommunications specialists, technical writers, computer engineers to network engineers. In light of AASKI’s knowledge and experience with the contract requirements, it is the most cost and time efficient contractor capable providing the services needed to fulfill S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division’s needs due to the current existing work under task order 0009. This is the first time this FAR clause 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C) has been used.

If W15P7T-10-D-D421 TO-0009 is not extended, there will be an unacceptable delay in achieving the activity’s mission. This Order provides critical support to S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division. Specifically, the delay of an approved extension of this Contract will result in a disruption of S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division mission-critical services that are designed to identify, develop, and implement quality and timely state-of-the-art technologies in support of the American Soldier in battlefield operations and protection of our Nations’ most critical assets. AASKI provides critical support towards Protected SATCOM, identified as a top priority mission of S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division.

Without this support, there will be a schedule impact to the Project Manager Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems (PM-DCATS) Wideband Satellite Operation Centers (WSOCs) modernization acquisition for which AASKI is developing the Protected SATCOM performance specifications. Furthermore, AASKI is providing key support to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Gateway effort to incorporate the Digital Intermediate Frequency (DIG IF) into the Defense Information Systems Network (DISN) Enterprise. DISA has an acquisition schedule for DIG IF that began in FY 2016 and has milestone requirements to be delivered in FY 2017, which will not be achieved if this effort is severed this after 23 April, 2017. Without this extension, there will be an immediate impact to the S&TCD SATCOM Systems Division mission accomplishment with detrimental effects that include possible SATCOM communications disruptions to numerous world-wide locations if the contractor personnel cannot continue.

If the services required under this Order are not provided, these and other mission essential tasks will not be completed in the required time resulting in critical milestones slippage causing program execution and transition delays. Without these services, US Army commanders will be unnecessarily challenged to complete missions deemed instrumental to America’s interests. In addition, the soldier in the field will be negatively impacted, in that they will not receive the advanced state-of-the-art communication and technological equipment designed to provide an obvious advantage on the battlefield and ultimately save the lives of American soldiers. It is vital to provide continuous services in order to prevent a break in these mission critical services. All awardees were given fair opportunity as this action was issued competitively under the R23G effort which was issued on 13 November 2013 in addition to the most recent competition in the Task Order Request which occurred on 21 July 2016, and the Notice of Intent distributed on discussed in Section 7, page 7, “Market Research” of this document.