A03_W56JSR-18-C-0014_JA_Redacted.pdf

Control No: JA-18-E-424 Contractor: Conley and Associates, Inc. (CAI)

Program/Equipment: Army Watercraft Systems (AWS)

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

AFTER THE FACT

Program/Equipment: Army Watercraft Systems (AWS), Contract Number W56JSR- 18-C-0014.

Authority: 10 United States Code (USC) 2304(c)(2), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency.

Amount: $5,374,585.00

Prepared by: David Clark Phone: (443) 861-4860 Contract Specialist Date: 16 July 2018

Contracting Officer: Kathryn Ortel-Thatcher Phone: (443) 861-4905 Contracting Officer Date: 16 July 2018

Technical: Jared Day Phone: (443) 861-6248 Quality Assurance Specialist Date: 16 July 2018

Requirements: John Huebner Phone: (443) 395-5160 Project Lead Army Watercraft C4ISR Sustainment Date: 16 July 2018

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Project Manager:

Typed Name: John Huebner Phone: (443) 395-5160

Date:

Legal Counsel:

Typed Name: Tamiesha Robinson-Asbery Phone: 443-861-5264

Date:

FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: The United States Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Division E, 6565 Surveillance Loop, Building 6001, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-1846.

2. Description of Action: The United States Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), Integrated Logistics Support Center (ILSC), Field Support Sustainment Division (FSSD), Army Watercraft Systems (AWS) Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) Sustainment (CSB) program, on behalf of the United States Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), had the need to award a new Letter Contract, W56JSR-18-C-0014, on an urgent basis on 22 June 2018. The contract award was made to Conley & Associates, Inc. (CAI) of 812 City Center Boulevard, Newport News, VA 23606. The contract includes a six-month base period of performance (POP) with two three-month options for support services and repair items associated with AWS sustainment tasks. The award is a hybrid contract with Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) and Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) contract line item numbers (CLINs). The Not-to-Exceed (NTE) price specified in the Letter Contract is 0. The Determination and Finding to enter into an undefinitized contract was approved by the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC) on 22 June 2018. Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 funds are being used. The Government anticipates definitizing the letter contract by 24 September 2018.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This contract is providing C4ISR sustainment support services including program management, configuration management, supply support, facilities, maintenance planning, transportation, manpower, testing, and technology upgrades for AWS vessels and platforms positioned world-wide. The C4ISR equipment on all the vessels is a mix of non-commercial (10%) and commercial equipment (90%), with the Government supplying a portion of the repair items as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) and Material (GFM) and the contractor supplying the remainder.

This contract is providing sustainment support services to the watercraft community, acquiring services and repairs of C4ISR assets and on-call technical assistance services with availability at Continental United States (CONUS) and Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) sites, such as corrective, preventive and On- Condition Cyclic Maintenance (OCCM) support, Service Life Extension Program (SLEP), specialized support for military exercises and operations, failure analysis, obsolescence management, equipment installation, reconfiguration and/or removal of C4ISR equipment.

The anticipated period of performance for this effort is the Date of Award of the Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) of 22 June 2018 through 21 June 2019. The total estimated cost is

The program supports vessels in the following ports:

Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait; Yokohama North Dock, Japan; Tacoma, WA;

Baltimore, MD; Bishop Point, HI; Mare Island, CA; Port Hueneme, CA; Morehead City, NC; Tampa, FL and Fort Eustis, VA; and

Occasional support in the following ports: Bahrain; UAE; Puerto Rico; Korea;

Miami, FL; Philippines; Thailand; Guam; and clandestine ports.

4. Authority Cited: 10 USC § 2304(c)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

The Government competitively awarded contract W56JSR-17-D-0014 to Valkyrie Enterprises, LLC, on 27 September 2017 for the procurement of AWS Sustainment requirements. Contract W56JSR-17-D-0014 was subsequently protested by CAI through GAO protests B-415458.1 and B-415458.2. As a result, bridge contract W56JSR-18-C-0001 with the incumbent, CAI, was awarded on 7 October 2017 to provide for continued sustainment support for the AWS. The Government decided a bridge contract for 100 days of continued performance would suffice as an adequate period to overcome protest hurdles and award a contract. The bridge contract expired on 15 January 2018, and a follow-on to that bridge requirement was not pursued. This decision was primarily based upon TACOM’s inability to secure additional funding.

Further, as the obligated under the protested contract was inaccessible for support of an additional bridge effort due to the freezing of the funds pending the results of the GAO protest, it was not even possible to take funds from that effort and divert them to ensure continued AWS support.

Instead, the Government elected to realign organic resources to accommodate the most critical AWS requirements. The Government received additional Government Accountability Office (GAO) protests B-415458.3 and B-415458.4, also filed by CAI, on 16 and 26 January 2018 respectively, which established the period of providing organic support to the watercraft vessels, for which the Government felt an exclusive critical mission focus could be maintained without overly detrimental effects. However, when protest actions continued, per the following paragraph, sustainment requirements began to reach critical mass, and organic support was no longer sufficient.

On 26 April 2018, the GAO sustained protests B-415458.3 and B-415458.4 finding that the Government had not evaluated proposals in accordance with solicitation requirements relating to areas within the Technical and Program Management factors, and had not performed an adequate cost realism analysis. In the GAO sustainment determination, a recommendation was made to re-evaluate proposals in accordance with solicitation requirements, re-open discussions, if necessary, and award a contract based upon the re-evaluations. To date, the Government is still in the process of performing GAO’s recommended corrective action. Actions are underway to provide for an award to be made no later than 14 August 2018, to ensure the funding protected during the protest periods will not be lost. While the organic resources aligned to provide AWS support under protests B-415458.3 and B-415458.4 were adequate for the limited mission envisioned for that 100-day period, the backlog that was building and the additional 100-days associated with the GAO sustainment decision could not be sufficiently supported by those same organic resources. As such, the protest period has lapsed into a timeframe no longer conducive to independent Government management of the AWS requirements; the Government can no longer maintain the most critical support of AWS with organic personnel only.

The impact of not having full sustainment support was detrimental to the fleet. Although the Government provided support in the interim, the Government support structure did not provide full services to maintain complete mission readiness. Because Contractor Field Support Representatives (CFSRs) are located throughout the world, the area of operation is vast. Through a Department of Defense (DOD) contract award, a contracted company can provide a supply chain, inclusive of support services, which is readily available to perform repairs at a moment’s notice. The Government could not maintain the same footprint, thus many repair tickets with long lead times could not be processed to maintain fleet readiness. The long lead time delays in repairs were amassing to an AWS fleet nearing disrepair. Additionally, many of the areas of operation are defined as hostile locations, and the Army watercraft are used in allied operational missions. The lack of operational vessel readiness jeopardized the entire fleet; developing into a state of vulnerability that amounted to an increased probability of mission failure and enhanced risk of potential harm to United States (US) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) service personnel.

This after the fact justification and approval for the immediate award of C4ISR sustainment support services including program management, configuration management, supply support, facilities, maintenance planning, transportation, manpower, testing, and technology upgrades for AWS vessels and platforms positioned world-wide under the basis of unusual and compelling urgency to the incumbent spans the period needed to complete the protest corrective action and put into place a new competitive five (5) year IDIQ, as well as definitize this UCA, and provide options that can be used in the event the new IDIQ competitive action is again timely protested. The incumbent was the only contractor that could be awarded the sole source letter contract.

The incumbent had the CFSR’s for core support, had the necessary facilities and resources for contract execution, possessed all the Government Furnished Property

(GFP) required for contract performance on a worldwide basis, and had established vendors for CFSR’s for non-core support.

There was consideration given for a Competition in Contracting (CICA) stay override, which was not a viable option as there was no longer a contract in place.. With the organic resources being utilized, the Government was only able to support priority incidents, and this degraded routine operations of the worldwide fleet. This did not fulfill all necessary requirements, and brought the Government to the need for this sole source urgent contract action, which is intended to provide required AWS sustainment services until the competitive action is awarded. A base contract period of 6-months was established to provide sufficient time for award of the competitive action, which is slated for award by 14 August 2018, but could extend beyond that date; as well as providing the time necessary to definitize this UCA. Options were included in this urgent award, as there is a high probability that the competitive award will again be protested.

Should that occur, the Army would be able to ensure continued AWS sustainment support through the execution of options put in place under this requirement. As was noted, the anticipated date for award of the competitive action, which is currently in the evaluation stage, is being worked for 14 August 2018. Should the award move beyond this date, the frozen throughout the various protests and protest periods would then be lost.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

This action was not synopsized in accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(2), as the proposed contract action was made under the conditions described in FAR 6.302-2, and the Government would have been seriously injured if the agency complied with the time periods specified in FAR 5.203. Because this is a sole source action, effective competition is not applicable to this one-year contract. However, effective competition will be achieved on the new, five-year IDIQ contract anticipated to be awarded by 14 August 2018, which this contract is assisting by providing services while the new contract evaluations are completed. Should the competitive award be protested again, the Government would require bridge support of the AWS sustainment systems. Use of the options established under this vehicle would provide the necessary AWS sustainment support pending the outcome of the protest period. The incumbent is a small business and has one subcontractor for this effort which is also a small business.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

The Government is actively working the re-evaluation actions for a new competitive, five year FFP / CPFF, IDIQ type contract. This new contract is estimated to be awarded by 14 August 2018. A sources sought notice was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website on 11 May 2018. Details and results are listed below in the Market Research section of this document.

8. Market Research: A Sources Sought notice, Request for Information (RFI), was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website on 11 May 2018 for a period of 10 days. This RFI was conducted for an Army Watercraft System (AWS) URGENT support services sources sought/request for information by ACC-APG- Aberdeen, Division E. This was the initial method of validating any interest by the public to support this type of program. The following is a summary of the responses received from the market research.

1) Contractor #1, Incumbent – Small Business

The incumbent has provided the requested services for more than seven years.

They have maintained much of the critical staff that had supported the program, including the Program Manager and Logistics Manager, among others. They have maintained relationships with much of their previous technical staff who look forward to continuing the support of the program. The Contractor intends to pursue this work as the prime contractor and will be ready to execute upon award of the contract. They have developed a staffing matrix which will provide an experienced, qualified, turnkey team to the Government in response to Army Watercraft repair and maintenance requests within 10 days for CONUS and 20 days for OCONUS. The Contractor’s operational team will consist of a management team, qualified experienced technicians, expert AWS C4ISR logisticians, an automated inventory, supply chain management system and an administrative support staff. This team has expertly performed the work specified in the PWS, which was provided with this sources sought notice, for more than seven years.

2) Contractor #2 – Small Business

Contractor #2 is an employee-owned small business, founded in 2004. They develop, field, and support hardware and software intensive training and analysis systems for DOD and Department of Homeland Services (DHS) customers.

They employ over 250 employees at various CONUS/OCONUS locations, with principal offices in Orlando, FL; Boston, Ma; and San Diego, CA. Their primary strengths are in: systems engineering/architecture, software development, and Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) simulation systems, as well as Training Support Services. The Contractor #2 Team is a proposed team of themselves with 2 named primary subcontractors, who bring vast experience as Field Service Representatives (FSR) and in the Army Watercraft Systems sustainment arena.

The Contractor #2 Team has a qualified and experienced Program Manager (PM) who will immediately relocate to provide effective leadership supporting the urgent needs of the AWS program. They will immediately provide on-site leadership and assemble the critical team personnel to simultaneously plan/conduct transition and support activities, build an infrastructure base, and transition urgent support operations from the incumbent.

3) Contractor #3 - Large Business under NAICS code 488390, Small Business under 336611 and 336612.

The Contractor #3 Team consists of the prime contractor providing overall program management, administrative support, material acquisition, shipping, receiving, Core Field Service Representative( CFSR), and data collection/ dissemination. A named subcontractor will provide AWS C4ISR technical support to include Core CFSRs through its service and distribution network. Core CFSRs will be identified and assigned to geographical areas of responsibilities effectively establishing clear and defined lines of communications within program management, non-core CFSRs and Soldier Mariners.

4) Contractor #4 – Small Business

The Contractor #4 Team consists of the prime contractor and a named subcontractor. They propose to utilize experienced Key Personnel to execute this effort. Given this is an Urgent Sources Sought and the timelines no longer afford an extended 90 day transition period, Contractor #4 proposes to prioritize the staffing and will be able to support CONUS based incidents within 10 days of contract award and OCONUS response within the 20 days from award.

Contractor #4 Team will use existing personnel; the Program Manager

), SIF/STAMIS SME

) and the balance of the Material Management personnel. These key functions will be staffed to support CONUS Incident Reports (IR’s) day 10 of the contract and be fully staffed by day 20 of the contract. These positions constitute the key functions required to support any and all incidents that arise from the field. The balance of the workforce is transitioned/on boarded as they become available but no later than 30 days from award.

The Government received four responses to the Sources Sought notice. Upon the analysis of the responses, and absent a full source selection inclusive of detailed proposals, the Program Office deemed it plausible that all four responders could satisfy the Government’s AWS requirements. However, only the incumbent could satisfy the Government’s requirements within the timeframe noted, as there was no transition period allotted for transition of the Government Furnished Property (GFP) necessary to support the mission worldwide, none of the other respondents had the necessary facilities and resources for immediate contract execution, to include the CFSRs for core support and the established vendors for non-core CFSR support, and none of the other vendors had the personnel in placve to ensure all support services could be provided immediately. This was necessary as the contract is considered to be little more than a modified “bridge” type contract to carry the Government through until the competitive action is in place. It would further serve as a modified “bridge” type action should the competitive action be protested, and the AWS sustainment services continued to require support throughout the protest period. The incumbent is the only respondent with the ability to provide the URGENT support the Government requires on a short term, limited basis as they are the only respondent who can meet the Government’s needs within the timeframe specified.

9. Interested Sources: See Paragraph 8 above for contractors who might be interested.

10. Other Facts: The previous bridge contract, W56JSR-18-C-0001, which had a 100-day period of performance, had expired and services had lapsed. The AWS mission requirement effort was at critical mass and in jeopardy of mission failure. This was unacceptable.

The AWS sustainment support services had been a Program Executive Office Command Control Communications-Tactical (PEO C3T) effort for all actions prior to June 2016. At that point, the effort came into the CECOM ILSC-FSSD C4ISR for sustaiment.

The following chart provides a summary of the previous contracts and the current letter contract.

Contract Number /

Task Order

Period of Performance (PoP)

Contractor Extent Competed / Authority

W56JSR-18-C-0001 07 Oct 2017 – 15 Jan 2018

CAI Sole Source FAR 6.302-1

100 Day Bridge

W56JSR-17-D-0014

and W56JSR-17-D- 0014 / 0001

27 Sep 2017 – 26 Sep 2022 and

27 Sep 2017 – 26 Sep 2018

Valkyrie Small Business Competitive

Currently under GAO Protest

Stop Work Order Issued

W56JSR-16-C-0027 23 Sep 2016 – 26 Sep 2017

CAI Sole Source FAR 6.302-2

W15P7T-10-D-A218 / 0001 - 0009

29 Sep 2010 – 27 Sep 2016

CAI Small Business Competitive / Task Orders Under SATOC as Authorized by FAR 16.505

W15P7T-10-C-H618 22 Sep 2010 – 01 Apr 2011

URS Small Business Competitive

As noted in Section 5 above, Contract W56JSR-18-C-0001 was put in place as a 100-day bridge contract upon receipt of GAO protests B-415458.1 and B-415458.2.

The bridge contract provided for all AWS sustainment services for the 100-day period, providing the time necessary for the Government to perform a corrective action as a result of the protests. Prior to that, Contract W15P7T-10-C-H618 and Contract W15P7T-10-D-A218, both for AWS sustainment services, were competed as Small Business Set Asides. During the timeframe of the final task order 0009 under W15P7T- 10-D-A218, the action was transitioned from Division B to Division E; but not until approximately 23 August 2016. Apparently Division B had thought the transfer had happened earlier in the task order timeframe, while Divison E was still unaware of the action. This timing did not allow for completion of a competitive source selection and award, as Division E had little more than a month to put the new award in place.

Contract W56JSR-16-C-0027 was then quickly awarded on a sole source basis as a bridge contract to provide for adequate time to conduct a full and open competition.

Contract W56JSR-17-D-0014 was established as a result of full and open competition.

Protests were filed against W56JDSR-17-D-0014, corrective action was taken, additional protests were filed against the corrective action, and the final protest actions were sustained. The Government is currently working through the GAO corrective action recommendation set forth in the sustainment determination,and is hoping to make a contract award by 14 August 2018 as a result.

11. Technical 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.

Jared Day Quality Assurance Specialist

12. 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.

Project Lead, Army Watercraft C4ISR Sustain...

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. In accordance with FAR 15.404, an IGCE will be used in support of determining a fair and reasonable price. Certified cost or pricing data is not required IAW FAR 15.403-1(b)(3).

Kathryn Ortel Thatcher Contracting Officer

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

Kathryn Ortel Thatcher Contracting Officer

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of AWS sustainment support services in the amount of on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.§ 2304(c)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2(a)(2), Unusual and Compelling Urgency, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Cynthia A. Jackson Special Competition Advocate - 443 861-5349