A03_PacStar___Sole_Source_Justification__Redacted_Redacted.pdf

Control No: JA-E-16-528

Contractor: Pacific Star Communications, Inc.

Program/Equipment: WIN-T INC1

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR SUBPART 13.5 SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN

COMMERCIAL ITEMS – BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

Program/Equipment: Warfighter Information Network Tactical Increment 1 (WIN-T INC

1) / PacStar Annual Support for Base and Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSFC) Software License Maintenance

Authority: Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 U.S.C. 1901(a)

(2) as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.501(a) (2) – Brand Name and FAR 6.302-1

Amount:

Prepared by: DSN:

IT Specialist/ Action Officer Date: 15-Jul 2016 Centralized Acquisition and License Management (CALM) Team

Contracting DSN:

Procuring Contracting Officer Date: 8/25/2016

Technical: DSN:

Requirements Planning Officer (RPO) Date:

7/19/2016

Requirements:

Chief, Contracts Division Date: 21 June 2016

Email:

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support sole source.

Program Manager:

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Contractor: Pacific Star Comm., Inc.

Legal Counsel:

Name:

Signature: Date:

FAR Subpart 13.5 Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items – Brand Name Justification and Approval

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command

Aberdeen Proving Ground – Division E 6001 Combat Drive, Building 6001 Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005

2. Description of Action: Warfighter Information Network Tactical Increment 1 (WIN-T INC 1) requests a firm-fixed-price purchase order for the procurement of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) PacStar brand name Base and Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSFC) annual software support consisting of pushed software updates with Pacific Star Communications, Incorporated. This requirement is for a twelve month base period and three (3), twelve (12) month option periods, for a total estimated amount of .

The Government projects an award in late August 2016 and Fiscal Year 2016, Operations and Maintenance, Army (OMA) funds are available and will be used. The applicable North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code for this requirement is 511210, Computer Software Publishers. An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i)(B).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: Warfighter Information Network-Tactical Increment 1 is a state-of the-art Commercial Off-The-Shelf/Government Off-The-Shelf communications network that enables the exchange of voice, video, and data throughout the tactical Army unit and into the sustaining base. It is the Army’s tactical communications backbone and provides services to units deployed worldwide. It leverages commercial satellite technology to provide beyond line of site capabilities and commercial internet networking technology to increase functionality and efficiency while reducing size, weight and power. WIN-T INC 1 components reside at the Theater, Corps, Division, Brigade and Battalion levels and provide interfaces to lower level systems including on the move and soldier platforms. The Software Engineering Center is obligated to provide support for this fielded system; the PacStar Base software, previously called IQ-Core, is an integral part of this system.

Failure to have the Base software would prevent network administrators from identifying and mitigating incorrect network configurations and failures, potentially resulting in the loss of video and voice communications, as well as data transmission, for tactical networks currently in the field.

The Base Software is an advanced adaptable network management system that simplifies and secures complex communications systems and tactical networks. It also integrates the key functions of many software packages into one convenient and consistent solution. This system management software package simplifies system setup and management, protects the system from incorrect configuration by preventing many operator errors, and reduces training and support requirements. It reduces the need for Information Technology (IT) personnel to maintain and operate communications equipment by extending functionality and reducing operating conflicts.

WIN-T requires annual support for a quantity of 6,835 licenses of the PacStar Base product for WIN-T INC 1 Secret Internet Protocol Network (SIPRNet) and Non-Secure Internet Protocol Network (NIPRNet) security enclaves as well as the annual support for a quantity of 598 licenses for PacStar CSFC. Each software license will be covered by an ordering capacity of a 1-year annual subscription of software maintenance/support which shall continue in twelve month increments for the length of the purchase order. This is a maximum of software maintenance for 7,433 licenses with subscriptions.

Base Period: 31 August 2016 to 30 June 2017 Value:

Option Period 1: 01 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 Value:

Option Period 2: 01 July 2018 to 30 June 2019 Value:

Option Period 3: 01 July 2019 to 30 June 2020 Value:

Total:

4. Authority Cited: Simplified Acquisition Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 U.S.C. 1901(a)(2) as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.501(a)(2) – Brand Name and FAR 6.302-1

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The use of a brand name description in this acquisition is essential to the Government’s requirements, thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company. Pacific Star Communications, Inc. 15055 SW Sequoia, Suite 100 Portland, Oregon is the original manufacturer and developer of the Base and CSFC software.

It would result in extensive research and functional testing to identify potential products, developmental efforts to re-engineer, which would be followed by production and certification testing efforts. This would result in increased costs of approximately for the System. This duplicated cost will not recouped through competition. Replacement of this product in the baseline would only

Currently there is no other software application available with similar functionalities as the IQ-Core Software to accommodate the necessary requirements within the WIN-T INC 1, Colorless Core and Centrix baselines.

many of the monitoring capabilities of the currently used by . If this software was not purchased, the Solarwinds suite could fill a portion of the capability gap. However this network monitoring and configuration management solution is essential to the continued operation of the WIN-T INC 1 system in providing communications to the Warfighter.

Control No: JA-E-16- 528 Contractor: Pacific Star

Comm., Inc. Program/Equipment:

WIN-T INC1

The detailed cost to re-engineer the baseline systems would be approximately dollars, and would take between . The dollar value and time frame is developed based on information provided by the original program office and SEC CALM on the original software selection process and adjusted to accommodate any changes to the selection, testing, certification, integration and other procedures to obtain funding and complete the transition to an alternate software application.

The functionality requirements were determined by the systems’ stakeholders (e.g., Program Manager WIN-T) based on their mission requirements. Those defined requirements were the standard used to check which products that can best meet them.

This resulted in the selection of Pacific Star Communications, Incorporated (PacStar) Base and Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSFC) annual software products. In addition, as referenced in the previous paragraph, the cost and time to re-engineer and field new baselines to replace the PacStar products with other potential products would be cost prohibited and impact meeting the mission requirements in a timely matter.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research is conduct of each requirement, the details are included in Section 8.

a. Effective Competition: Each time the requirement is submitted for acquisition, SEC CALM surveys the market place to determine if any changes have taken place that would affect competition.

b. Subcontracting Competition: There are no subcontracting opportunities for this effort. PacStar is the original developer owner and does not subcontract out any portion of the service.

. Engineering

. Configuration Management

. Engineering Verification & Validation

. Information Assurance

. Integration

. Independent Verification & Validation

. IAVA

. DAMI GE Certification

. Fielding and Support

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Market research will be conducted each time the requirement is being considered for acquisition but no less than annually on the current baseline to determine if changes have occurred in the market place that would enable greater competition. All commercial software developers are encouraged to use or increase the number of authorized resellers. The developers are also encouraged to pursue distribution of their products/services through Small Businesses, HUBZONE, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, and Woman Owned Small Businesses.

Acquisition Data Availability: The Government possesses only a commercial purchase description for the software. Technical data for the licenses is proprietary to PacStar.

The commercial purchase description does not provide enough technical information to allow other vendors to create the functionality of this product.

8. Market Research: Market research was performed by the SEC CALM Team in March 2016. During the month of March 2016 the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) decided to allow resellers to provide pricing, however during the month of July 2016 the OEM decided to revert back to dealing directly as sole source with the Army. The research that was conducted during March 2016 was accomplished by reviewing information on the Internet from various software sources, reviewing in-house information, contacting the OEM, and searching various Government contract vehicles including the General Services Administration (GSA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement-V (SEWP V) and the Army’s Computer Hardware and Enterprise software and Solutions (CHESS) websites.

GSA and CHESS did not yield any pricing. A CHESS Statement of Non- Availability (SoNA) Number 216707787 was received from this requirement on 13 April2016.

Below are the responses received from the RFQ.

Vendor Contract Business Category

BAHFED Corporation NNG15SD09B HubZone, Veteran-Owned Small Business

Intelligent Decisions NNG15SE08B Small Business

Blue Tech Inc. NNG15SC63B HubZone, Small Disadvantaged Business, and Women Owned Small

Mercom Corporation NNG15SD84B Small Disadvantaged Business

Subsequent communications with the software developer/owner PacStar explained that the Base and CSFC software is proprietary to PacStar, and that licenses and support services are only available through PacStar. Software support is provided in the form of software updates/patches ‘pushed’ via electronic download to end-user systems and email, telephonic, and online IT support. The software support is provided entirely by PacStar employees and does not involve travel to end-user locations.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition beyond the vendors listed in paragraph 8. In accordance with FAR 5.201, a source sought notice will be published on the Federal Business Opportunities Page. Any proposals received will be

Title: Contracting Officer

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

Title: Contracting Officer

Program/Equipment: WIN-T INC1

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of a Firm-Fixed- Price purchase order for a one year base period and three (3) twelve (12) month options for PacStar Base and CSFC Annual Support for software maintenance in the support of the WIN-T INC 1 program on a brand name basis pursuant to the authority of the Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5 and FAR 6.301-1, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

The total estimated cost of the contract award, including options is

If the proposed contract action is not completed within 180 days from the below date or if there is a change to the substance of the Sole Source Justification that does not meet the AFARS 5106.303-1-90 conditions for an amended Justification and Approval, the Contracting Officer shall document these changes in a memorandum for the file and obtain revalidation from the approval authority below.

Special Advocate for Competition