Redacted Justification and Approval.pdf

Control Number: SMB-J&A24-1782

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

Effective Competition: For the reasons stated in paragraph 5, effective competition is not feasible for this requirement. Pursuant to Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 206.302-1(d), a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) was published in the System for Award Management (SAM) site, SAM.gov, on 21 February 2024 and closed on 7 March 2024. Responses are discussed in paragraph 8. In view of the circumstances cited above, no further effort to obtain competition is anticipated for this acquisition at this time. Effective competition may be accomplished at the subcontract level. NGSC will be encouraged to promote competition for all subcontracts.

Subcontracting Competition: The solicitation will include the appropriate small business and subcontracting clauses, such as FAR 52.244-5: Competition in Subcontracting;

FAR 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan; and 52.219-28, Post Award Small Business Program Re- Representation. The Performance Work Statement (PWS) includes requirements to ensure contractor’s small business subcontracting performance is monitored on a routine basis and requires the contractor to select subcontractors on a competitive basis to the maximum practical extent.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

a. NGSC is the only source with the highly specialized knowledge of the complexities associated with the threat environment, and this knowledge is not available from any other source. No further action is being taken to increase competition at this time, due to the lack of additional sources, lack of TDP and MDP data rights, and the required level of expertise required to support the FAAD C2 and AMDWS systems.

b. The Government does not own and does not intend to acquire technical data and data rights required to perform this service because it is cost prohibitive. Therefore, it is not realistic to pursue the acquisition of propriety data to make it available for public use. Any source would require access to the data, in order to compete.

c. The IFMC project office within Program Executive Office (PEO) Missiles and Space maintains continuous surveillance of domestic suppliers, foreign suppliers, and cost-effective opportunities with other U.S. military or foreign suppliers has not found another contractor that possesses the capabilities, technical skills, and knowledge to support this requirement.

8. Market Research: The U.S. Government conducted market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 to determine if any prospective vendor possessed the ability to perform the necessary tasks of this requirement. The research techniques used consisted of a review of the vendor’s literature, pamphlets, and analysis of evolving capabilities. The U.S Government posted a Sources Sought Notices (SSN)/Request for Information (RFI) on SAM.gov on 21 February 2024. The posting directed interested firms that believed they were capable of supporting this effort to indicate their interest by providing business information (such as company name, address, and a point of contact), capability to support this effort, and financial capability. Paragon Cyber Solutions, small business, located at 400 North Ashley Drive, Suite 2050, Tampa, Florida 33602 Cage Code Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) was the only response received to the RFI. The government’s review of Paragon’s response determined their submission did not provide the relevant past experience for the government to determine their capability to perform the requirements of this acquisition.

This was the only market research conducted for the RFI. A Market Research Report/Commerciality Determination will be signed by the Contracting Officer prior to the issuance of a solicitation.

9. Interested Sources: The following company submitted a response to the RFI.

Paragon Cyber Solutions, 400 North Ashley Drive, Suite 20250, Tampa, Florida 33602 Cage Code . Paragon is a small business with a size standard.

The government’s review of Paragon’s response determined their submission did not provide the relevant past experience for the government to determine their capability to perform the requirements of this acquisition.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History.

(1) Contract W31P4Q-23-C-0057 for C-Net interface kits, software updates, engineering services, system integration testing, and support for interoperability and integration was awarded to NGSC, on 30 September 2023 in the amount of A J&A citing the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements,” was approved by on 14 July 2023.

(2) Contract W31P4Q-22-C-0063 for FAAD and AMDWS suites equipment, FAAD handheld computers, C-RAM network interface kits, digital training sets, software updates and training was awarded to NGSC, on 29 September 2022 in the amount of

A J&A citing the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.302- 1(a)(2), “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements," was approved by on May 26, 2022.

(3) Contract W31P4Q-21-C-0065 for the acquisition, modification, integration testing, and training for CUAS capability for Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia border protection was awarded to NGSC, on 27 September 2021 in the amount of A J&A citing the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 2304(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements," was approved by on 24 June 2021.

(4) Unusual and Compelling Urgency: Not applicable

(5) Subcontracting Competition: The solicitation will include FAR 52.244-5, Competition in Subcontracting. The contract will also include FAR 52.219-8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns; 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan, 52.219-28, and 52.219-16 Liquidated Damages--Small Business Subcontracting Plan. Interested sources, including Small Business, Veteran-Owned Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Historically Underutilized Business Zone Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business and Women-Owned Small Business concerns which are identified through the synopsis will receive due consideration as required by law. A small business subcontracting plan will be required per FAR 19.702.

Furthermore, any other applicable FAR and DFAR clauses will be included in the contract.

b. The current J&A, for contract W31P4Q-23-C-0057 Section 7, states the following:

(1) Currently, the U.S. Government does not have adequate technical documentation and funding to obtain the required level of software design data to consider competing.

The U.S Government explored the purchase of the Technical Data Package (TDP) and Manufacturing Data Plan (MDP) from NGSC prior to submission of this justification.

NGSC prices the FAAD C2 TDP in a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) at approximately and the AMDWS TDP in a ROM at approximately

(2) Currently, the U.S. Government only has the drawings for the C-NET. The U.S.

Government does not own the TDP and MDP to support a competitive procurement. No further action is taking place to increase competition at this time, due to lack of additional resources, lack of TDP and MDP data rights, and the required level of expertise required to support the Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) and Air and Missile Defense Workstation (AMDWS) system.

(3) No significant changes from the previous J&A have transpired that would make competition realistic. The FSRs are currently in place. Continuation of services is imperative; if this J&A is not approved, it would seriously impede mission readiness for FMS customers of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. The FSRs provide subject matter expertise to update the FMS customers in the skill capabilities required to operate and maintain the customer unique systems and installed subsystems. The absence of FSRs advice and immediate resolution of technical problems will jeopardize the safety and lives of personnel in foreign countries.

11. Technical/Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

12. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the estimated cost and price to the U.S. Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The basis for this determination will be a cost/price analysis, technical evaluation, comparison of proposed prices with an independent U.S. government estimate and negotiations. Additionally, certified cost or pricing data will be obtained pursuant to FAR 15.403-4.

13. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of services described above from Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Commercial and Government Entity Code , for support of the Border Security Integrated Air and Missile Defense Baltics Building Partner Capacity Case benefitting Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia at an estimated value of $4,698,591.00. This acquisition will occur on other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of Title 10, United States Code, Section § 3204(a)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302- 1(a)(2)(iii)(A) and (B), “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.” The approval is subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services described herein have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. The period of performance for this contract is estimated to be a twelve-month effort.