D416-0006_Exception_to_Fair_Opt.pdf

Control No. 15-B027

Waiver of Competition For an Order Under Multiple Award Contracts (MAC)

Contract Number: W15P7T-10-D-D416/0006 Contractor: DRS Technical Services, Inc (DRS) Task Order Title: Last Tactical Mile (LTM) Solutions Requested Increase Amount: $3,054,657.67

1. Contracting Officer Certification:

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

Typed Name: Ashley E. Keating Date: ______________________________ Title: Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ___________________________

2. Technical Certification:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the exception to the fair opportunity process, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Typed Name: Thomas Somers Date: _____________________________ Title: Chief, Trojan Branch, I2WD Signature: __________________________

3. Legal Counsel:

Typed Name: Tamiesha C. Robinson Date: ______________________________ Title: ______________________________ Signature: __________________________

4. Approval

I hereby approve the exception to the fair opportunity process for procurement of technical support services in a ceiling increase modification to Cost Plus Fixed Fee Task Order Number 0006, under Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Contract Number W15P7T-10-D-D416 pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304 (c)(2) and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), in the amount of $3,054,657.67, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. If the proposed contract action is not completed within 180 days from the below date, this Justification and Approval shall be returned to the Competition Advocate for revalidation. Additionally, should there be changes to the requirements, basis for the justification, market conditions or increases in the estimated value of the proposed action, the Contracting Officer shall document these changes in a memorandum and obtain review/concurrence from the ACC-APG Competition Advocate.

Typed Name: Cynthia A. Jackson Date: ______________________________ Title: Special Competition Advocate Signature: __________________________

5. Contracting Activity:

U.S. Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground, Division B

ATTN: ACC-APG/CCAP-CCB

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005

6. Description of Action:

The proposed action is a bilateral modification to increase the ceiling on W15P7T-10-D- D416 Task Order 0006 pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C). The estimated value of the proposed action is $3,054,657.67 bringing the total labor cost to $4,285,077 for a total Option Year 2 (OY2) ceiling of $11,144,988.66. The equivalent level of effort will be increased from 25,428 manpower hours to 60,010. Based on the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) dated 25 March 2015, the requested ceiling increase is sufficient to provide coverage until the OY2 period of performance (PoP) end date of 29 January 2016. This Task Order was competitively awarded to DRS on 30 Sep 2012 (due to protest a stop work was issued, and the PoP was delayed until 30 January 2013) for a base period of twelve (12) months with two (2) twelve-month options using a Cost-Plus-Fixed Fee (CPFF) term type contract. The increase in the ceiling is requested by 08 May 2015. The current ceiling for this OY2 T.O. is $1,230,420.22 for labor, $6,754,159.99 for materials and $105,750.78 for travel for a total OY2 of $8,090,330.99.

Labor is currently fully funded.

Fiscal Year of Funds: F14/15/16 OPA, FY15 O&M, FY14/15 R&D

Name of Proposed Contractor:

DRS Technical Services, Inc (DRS)

Street Address: 12939 Worldgate Drive STE 700

Herndon, VA20170-5807

Cage Code: 1KU75

7. Description of Supplies/Services:

TROJAN Last Tactical Mile (LTM) Solutions provide lifesaving technologies to the Warfighter. This capability is in demand by the Soldier and will support a broad spectrum of mission requirements.

LTM Solutions provides disconnected soldiers at the tactical edge with enhanced intelligence collection and dissemination capabilities. As intelligence architecture, LTM links the Warfighter to a distributed network of sensors with centralized processing that delivers actionable information in near real-time. It provides early-entry access at the tactical level to national resources that will redefine the intelligence producers ability to conduct operations.

LTM leverages Relevant Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) to the Tactical Edge (RITE) principles to deploy 4th Generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) Cellular and other wireless technology to extend secure wireless communications across the battle space. The LTM distributed architecture coalesces with existing Department of Defense (DoD) communications and processing technologies to provide a modular and highly-mobile mesh topology across terrestrial, aerial and spatial platforms. LTM secure wireless technology supports Classified User Equipment (CUE) operations by linking handheld intelligence collection and dissemination devices to forward services, which provides a near-immediate and actionable response.

LTM Solutions is part of a continuously evolving family of systems (Section 9). It supports and interacts with a wide range of hardware and software systems and capabilities including TROJAN SPIRIT and TROJAN NexGEN. TROJAN's overall objective for STORMFORCE 15 and Enterprise Challenge 15 (Section 9) builds upon the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Fabric architecture demonstrated during STORMFORCE 14-3. This objective demonstrates the end-to-end interoperability of multiple, open standards based Government-Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) and Commercial- Off-The-Shelf (COTS) sensors and intelligence systems to bring cross-domain intelligence collection and dissemination capabilities to users at multiple unit echelons.

Section 9 of this document will provide great details of the service requested for this action and justifications for the request. All work performed under this ceiling increase will be from date of modification until the current end of period of performance of 29 January 2016.

8. Authority Cited:

In the interest of economy and efficiency, the order 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 [FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C)]

9. Reason for Authority Cited:

A ceiling increase to the subject task order is requested to support an ongoing intelligence collection and dissemination mission. This modification is required to ensure uninterrupted support to the LTM program which facilitates information collection, sharing, visualization and dissemination of data and workflows necessary for the intelligence community, as well as other DoD stakeholders.

The original level of effort for Option Year 2 was estimated lower than what is currently required due to the then-projected drawdown in Operation Enduring Freedom. With the recent acts of terrorism in the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) Area of Responsibility, Communications-Electronics Research, Development Engineering Center (CERDEC) Information and Intelligence Warfare Directorate (I2WD) is working closely with partners/customers to extend the availability of actionable intelligence to the tactical edge.

There are several efforts and events that justify the need for this ceiling increase. They are the Classified User Equipment (CUE) system, STORMFORCE 15, Enterprise Challenge 15, and NIE 15.2.

First, this ceiling increase is necessary to support the testing and integration of a CUE system which I2WD with DRS’ support has been developing in the last two (2) years, and is anticipating to complete this integration within the PoP of this task order. When completed, this system will enable the warfighter to securely receive and send classified information using the CUE system. The CUE solution has generated interest and collaborative partnerships with the Army, Marine Corps (USMC), and Special Operations Command, among others. LTM received a CUE Interim Approval To Test (IATT) on SECRET Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET) and TOP SECRET/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) Networks on 17 Mar 15, and is moving forward with component and system testing against the National Security Agency (NSA) Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) standards. The current team stood up the Mobile Tactical Gateway for secure Data in Transit in Q2 FY15, and has developed the best-in-class Data at Rest (DaR) solution for the Android based platform(s) and received the first IATT including a DaR solution. If this ceiling increase is not approved, LTM will suffer from an adverse impact on the CUE such as the loss of newly developed solutions that fill technology gaps in the systems architecture. A gap in support service will disrupt the program’s ability to move in step with the accreditation path while concurrently developing the technology to make the program successful. The importance of the concurrent relationship is best defined through other initiatives that sought to achieve the same goal, but failed to meet the stringent constraints of the NSA such as Inside Secure, Green Hills, and the USMC Trusted Handheld. Denying the request would jeopardize the path forward for CUE, and the ability for policy and technology to move forward at the same pace. This loss of program rhythm would possibly result in the team losing the confidence of the NSA during the development process, which in turn would lead to an increase in program risk.

Second, I2WD team with DRS’ support has also built, tested and deployed the cellular communications system supporting the Opposing Force (OPFOR) at Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) events at Fort Bliss, TX. In the next six (6) months there are three critical milestones involving fielding, systemization and integration activities at scheduled exercises: STORMFORCE 15, held at Mountain Home AFB, ID; Enterprise Challenge (EC) 15, held at Fort Huachuca, AZ; and NIE-15.2, held at Fort Bliss, TX.

Not all of these events were forecasted in the original ceiling, but I2WD has been requested by HQDA G2 to attend. Each of these exercises require experienced personnel with intimate familiarity with the current system sets to deploy for approximately one (1) to two (2) months. As of early April 2015, this team is deployed to NIE-15.2 and STORMFORCE, and not planning to return until mid-May 2015. Upon return from these exercises the team is scheduled to deploy to EC15 starting in July 2015. This compact, short-turnaround schedule leads to significant schedule risk should the current incumbent be unseated ahead of the six (6) month period. If this request is denied, the schedule for an Approval to Operate will slip causing delays in fielding which will impact the use and risk of end user devices not being provided to support STORMFORCE and Enterprise Challenge. The tactical infrastructure of the EC15 event may collapse, resulting in a cancellation of the event in which I2WD has invested in countless time and effort.

Lastly, the test and exercise events play a significant role in the development, integration and fielding of TROJAN LTM capabilities. The LTM effort encompasses many technologies from the commercial industry tailored for specific use by the Intelligence Community (IC) supporting the goals of the Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), NSA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)), and lateral stakeholders. A gap in these services would prevent collaboration between LTM and relevant partners such as the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM), PM Nett Warrior, the Intelligence Center of Excellence, and the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Capabilities Managers in preparation for this event. The LTM team with DRS’ support is planning to field, test, and demonstrate the solution sets at SF15/EC15

– and provides the commercial communications (cellular/Wifi) networks for the event -and any schedule slippage could result in a cascading effect and event failure. If this request is denied, the associated gap in services will cause a rapid degradation of the LTM program, and I2WD will be behind the power curve of actionable intelligence to the tactical edge.

If this effort is not awarded, there would be roughly 6 months for the program to pick up where it currently is. That would result in roughly $1.5M cost up front to support new training and learning curve.

It is in the best interest of the Government for the incumbent, DRS to continue supporting above projects because all work is within scope of the initial order, and DRS has been supporting these projects for the last two (2) years. All work performed is using an engineering spiral approach- a spiral motion for faster update and be agile to the changing requirements from the NSA- for agile development, and DRS is in place with highly qualified personnel with exceptional engineering, communications, information assurance and programming security capabilities that reduces technical, cost and schedule risk in the development, procurement, testing, and fielding of intelligence collection and dissemination systems. With the support from DRS’ expertise, CERDEC I2WD is the second program to receive an Interim Approval to Test (IATT) a Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) system, and the first program to receive an IATT for a CSfC compliant Data at Rest solution for Android devices. This effort is bringing the Services together to help meet the security requirements and protection of the Warfighter.

10. Actions to Increase Competition:

I2WD will continue to seek contracting strategies to improve efficiency in the processes and services to reduce cost to the Government, and provide the greatest opportunity for competition. The I2WD will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be broadcasted to a broader based audience for increased competition. The I2WD is researching alternate Multiple Award Contract vehicles as well as the use of Full and Open Competition under a Best Value Trade Off process to award the follow on effort in an effort to allow all responsible and qualified parties to compete to help reduce cost and increase competition. I2WD leadership is considering whether to utilize an I2WD Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quality (IDIQ) contract which will be awarded next week for the follow-on requirement. Upon the expiration of this task order, the follow-on task order will be issued under that I2WD IDIQ contractual vehicle if that is determined to be the best acquisition approach.

11. Market Research:

Market Research was conducted by Contract Specialist Halan Ngo, via a survey to the 18 (eighteen) R2-3G prime contract holders through email sent at 09:08 AM on 3 April 2015 with a suspense date of 10:00 AM on 7 April 2015. The email stated the Government intends to seek approval for an Exception to Fair Opportunity pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304 (c)(2) and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), in order to increase the Level of Effort for LTM Solutions requirement resulting in a ceiling increase to W15P7T-10-D-D416-0006. The Government stated that the R2-3G contractors shall provide a response whether it could fulfill the requirements to submit a proposal within seven (7) days including a detailed plan on how the offeror will hire qualified personnel and get work force ready in a short suspense, and if they would be interested in bidding for this ceiling increase. Response emails were received from AASKI, BAH, CACI, DRS and URS, all with negative responses except for CACI and DRS, the incumbent. CACI was then asked to provide a staffing plan so that it could be determined whether the plan is feasibly implemented. CACI did not provide the staffing plan. However, based on historical knowledge with R2-3G task order competitions, a minimum of 90 days is required to compete and award a task order when fair opportunity procedures are used.

A ceiling increase appears to be the best source of meeting the timeline needed to ensure adequate support for I2WD without disruption in services for LTM solutions program.

12. Procurement History:

This Task Order was competitively awarded on 30 September 2012 with a base period of twelve (12) months with two (2) twelve (12) month option periods. Due to a protest, a stop work was issued and released, and the PoP of OY2 ends on 29 January 2016.

There has yet no ceiling increase or PoP extension issued under this task order.

13. Contracting Officer’s Determination:

I hereby determine that this order represents the best value to the Government. The anticipated cost to the Government for this order will be fair and reasonable, based on cost analysis, including the utilization of existing capped rates which were evaluated and awarded through competition with fair opportunity given to all R2-3G primes. A cost analysis, to include a cost realism analysis, was performed on the Pre-Negotiation Objective Memorandum (POM) for Task Order approved on 23 July 2012 per FAR 15.404-1(c). Additionally, certified cost or pricing data will be obtained.

Typed Name: Ashley E. Keating Date: ______________________________ Title: Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ___________________________