RedactedJandA.pdf

Control No. 14-19

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Program/Equipment: [REDACTED]

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (3) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3 Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Engineering; or Expert Services.

Amount: $75,000,000.00

Prepared By:

Typed Name: [REDACTED] DSN: [REDACTED] Title: [REDACTED] Date: 26 June 2014

Procuring Contracting Officer: DSN: [REDACTED] Typed Name: Daniel Balizan Date: 26 June 2014

Technical Representative:

Typed Name: [REDACTED] DSN: [REDACTED] Title: [REDACTED] Date: 26 June 2014

Requirements Representative:

Typed Name: [REDACTED] DSN: [REDACTED] Title: [REDACTED] Date: 26 June 2014

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

DSN: [REDACTED]

X Legal Advisor

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1a. Contracting Agency:

United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Contracting Center, Adelphi Contracting Division (CCAP-SCA), White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) Branch, Bldg 1622, White Sands Missile Range, NM 88002.

1b. Requiring Agency:

United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate (SLAD), Bldg 1624, White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), NM 88002.

2. Description of Action:

Approval is requested to solicit for a new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract in support of ARL SLAD to maintain essential research capability in the areas of [REDACTED]. The requirement will be a cost reimbursement, no fee bearing contract with a period of performance estimated to be five (5) years. The proposed contract ceiling is $75,000,000.00 utilizing Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds.

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

This requirement is to [REDACTED] The purpose is to provide support across all U.S. Army mission areas in the realm of Research, Development and Engineering (RD&E) with the intent to increase the military knowledge base in the following areas:

a) [REDACTED]

b) [REDACTED]

c) [REDACTED]

d) Systems of Systems Survivability Analysis

e) [REDACTED]

f) Measurement and Experimentation Techniques

g) Data Collection and Analysis

h) Prototype Hardware Development

i) Platform Survivability Enhancement which includes but is not limited to:

f) [REDACTED]

g) [REDACTED]

h) [REDACTED]

i) [REDACTED]

j) [REDACTED]

k) [REDACTED]

i. [REDACTED]

ii. [REDACTED]

iii. [REDACTED]

iv. [REDACTED]

v. [REDACTED]

vi. [REDACTED]

vii. Related enabling technologies such as meteorological data assimilation/data fusion and methods to transfer very large and highly perishable data sets

viii. Theoretical studies to support the above services as required

ix. The design and performance of laboratory and field experiments to support the above services as required

4. Authority Cited:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (3) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3 Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

ARL SLAD requires continuation of significant state-of-the-art advances in the aforementioned RD&E areas for [REDACTED] The authority of FAR 6.302-3(a) (2) (ii) is necessary to maintain an essential research and development capability by an educational institution or university. The proposed contractor for this effort is New Mexico State University (NMSU), 1780 E University Ave, Las Cruces, NM, 88003.

NMSU has developed a long relationship in research effort with WSMR in areas of [REDACTED], allowing SLAD to produce significant accomplishments in the following [REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

The research experience that NMSU has obtained since inception of their previous contracts DATM05-01- C-0026 awarded in August 2001 (transferred from the U.S. Army Robert Morris Acquisition Center, WSMR office around the 2001 timeframe via contract migration) and W911QX-10-D-0004 awarded 30 September 2010 has been an on-going evolving transition as the Army continues progression toward a more networked and connected architecture. NMSU has been responsible for [REDACTED] and is the cornerstone of system-of-system analysis for ARL/SLAD. The program is currently being utilized by the Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) in a pilot program to determine [REDACTED]. NSMU conducts [REDACTED]

The Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) falls under the purview of NMSU and is located with Anderson Hall on the main campus in Las Cruces, NM. PSL operates as a semi-autonomous arm of the university but remains under the NMSU campus structure and the board of regents. The personnel that work in the PSL on the campus of NMSU are experienced engineers which have been employed under the previous contract since inception by NMSU and have broadened expertise in the areas of [REDACTED].

Currently, NMSU is the only university that maintains this core group of engineers and scientists, each having 20 years of experience with the knowledge of the [REDACTED]. Key personnel are

[REDACTED]

Additionally, the key personnel are also familiar with [REDACTED]. The close working relationship between NMSU and ARL/SLAD allowed for 20-25 research task functions to be conducted at any given time, which represents the current level of effort that has been reached as a result of ten (10) years of productivity that cannot be adopted under the current development and operation plans. With the current pace of technological advancement, insular research and development (R&D) organizations will rapidly lose relevance and value, which is why ARL/SLAD has adopted business practices that have created a strong research environment between themselves and NMSU to stay on top of the Army’s current operations, and their evolving technology and development which is at an ever increasing pace and are anticipated to continue into the future.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

No effort was made to develop a competitive procurement. No notice will be posted to the federal business opportunities website (FedBizOps) per FAR Part FAR 5.202(a) (10). Competitive proposals are not anticipated for this procurement due to limited experience in highly specialized applied research in [REDACTED] across the broader university community. NMSU has proven its highly skilled experience in engineering support to ARL/SLAD and has earned a distinguished national reputation for its applied research in such [REDACTED]. Continuation of these efforts requires the extension and support of an essential research and development which per the authority used in Section 4 can only be provided by an educational institution or university. Should the contract be awarded to another vendor, this would result in the loss of experience and expertise within NMSU. There would be significant loss of continuity, as a new contractor would not be familiar with the ARL/SLAD’s programs and the Army programs of record that SLAD supports. This would lead to program delays, a requirement for increased costly Government oversight, and cause the Government to incur transitional costs; these impacts would significantly harm the Army’s mission.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

ARL has made a practice of researching institutions of higher learning to focus on capabilities in technical areas of interest to the Army. Through continual research conducted by ARL, numerous contracts and technical relationships have been developed with American universities and colleges such as Tulane

University, University of Alabama at Huntsville, Texas Tech University, North Carolina A&T State University, and the State University of New York. ARL also participates in on-going collaborations with the University of Texas El Paso, Stanford University, and the University of Southern California where ARL has adopted business practices to create a collaborative research environment. Currently, ARL outsources 70% percent of its research programs to external entities including 250 academic partners in all 50 states via Broad Agency Announcements and other research vehicles. These ongoing efforts help establish relationships with universities that can grow into articulation of specific Army requirements that can be satisfied by a particular university relationship. For future procurements ARL will seek joint collaboration studies to allow schools with appropriate niche engineering backgrounds to partner together in an effort to expand the Government’s knowledge of [REDACTED]. Until additional universities choose to develop applied research niche expertise in the [REDACTED] covered, it is unlikely that increased competition would be practical.

During the performance period of this contract, the requirements will be reviewed by Government technical personnel to determine what areas can be solicited using competitive methods, and such methods will be employed whenever practical. NMSU is a Minority Institution (MI) in accordance with DFARS 226.370-4, “Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Institutions” set-aside criteria, there is not reasonable expectation that at least two (2) responsible HBCUs or MIs will submit proposals.

8. Market Research:

In order to determine specifically, which universities within the United States might possess the capability to provide simultaneous applied research expertise in [REDACTED] a market analysis of the universities that maintain an active presence in the various communities was performed. SLAD supports these areas as 3 of ARL’s Major Laboratory Programs. The market analysis is a continuing and ongoing effort. Much of the market analysis began in June2010 and has continued through February 2014 in anticipation of the follow-contract. The market analysis was conducted by the following personnel, [REDACTED] conducted market analysis in the area of [REDACTED] Although current DoD and Army rules have precluded almost all conference attendance by ARL/SLAD personnel, several other methods for seeking out additional university expertise in ARL/SLAD’s applied research niche areas have been employed.

As one of only a handful of Army Organizations that have been involved in the field of [REDACTED] for over 50+ years, SLAD is uniquely involved across DoD with regard to this field of [REDACTED].

SLAD provides critical [REDACTED] support to the Army Test and Evaluation Command, (ATEC), numerous Program Executive Officers (PEOs), and Program Managers (PMs) as well as organizations from the other services. As a result, SLAD is acutely aware of organizations, corporations, and universities that maintain an active role or have unique capabilities in the support of [REDACTED] throughout the United States as well as the rest of DoD.

Utilizing SLAD’s involvement in the [REDACTED] arena, several institutions were considered including NMSU/PSL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT/LL), Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Consideration was provided to these universities during the time frame of March 2013 to March 2014, market research continues to be an on-going effort. When considering the involvement of the universities in Army [REDACTED] as well as relevant expertise in, [REDACTED] [REDACTED], the following information was evaluated: NMSU/PSL is the sole university readily supporting Army [REDACTED]. Evidence of this can be shown in NMSU/PSL’s support of SLAD in the development of the [REDACTED] GTRI required assistance, as they neither possessed the expertise nor owned the required equipment. This was another example of an area where NMSU leads other institutions is in the area of developed [REDACTED] in support of ground operations, whether it be to provide support testing or tactical requirements. NMSU/PSL, in coordination with SLAD, developed one of the [REDACTED]. Many of the principles and techniques developed by NMSU/PSL can now be found in devices produced in the leading industry partners of DoD.

Since that development there has been no other university producing IED jamming devices that are utilized in Army warfare.

[REDACTED]. ARL and the NMSU/PSL have been applied research partners in this area for more than fifteen years. During this time, they developed and continue [REDACTED]. SLAD is continually seeking to find educational groups that can provide or contribute to the requisite [REDACTED] capability. For the past several years Army Material Command and RDECOM policy have precluded travel not regarded as “mission essential” as well as conference attendance by Army scientists. These regulatory modifications have necessitated a [REDACTED]. Since site visits and discussions with universities and vendors and active participation in workshops are largely prohibited by the policies mentioned above, the developed work-around has been the continual review of the published literature in these relevant R&D areas. These reviews have not revealed an emerging substantial capability in any university concerning engineering-level consideration of the mission impact of combat threats using [REDACTED] tools.

SLAD has also aggressively exploited many of its day-to-day contacts throughout the defense community to mine for information concerning available expertise of the relevant type. For example, the [REDACTED] managers [REDACTED] The [REDACTED] managers and staff also began a Government collaboration that lasted for more than a year with PEO-I (July 2010); who inherently had numerous university connections because of the nature of the mission. The PEO office asserted that they had spent months looking for the kind of [REDACTED] capability ARL/SLAD offered and had not found it anywhere. In January 2011 the National Research Council (NRC) conducted a “mini” technical assessment board which was convened by ARL SLAD expressly for the purpose of assessing the [REDACTED] program. A dozen experts from industry and academia comprised the review board. Although opinions differed about some of the details about the [REDACTED] program, there was certainly no suggestion that there was a similar or even analogous capability elsewhere. The US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity (AMSAA) is the Army’s expert on system simulations and serves as performing activity for Verification and Validation of many Army models. SLAD had extensive discussions and presentations of its [REDACTED] program to AMSAA personnel throughout 2012, and provided an update to the new AMSAA Director in February 2014. AMSAA appreciates the [REDACTED] tools developed by the NMSU-ARL/SLAD partnership as unique, and despite their very widespread view into industry and university expertise could identify no suggested specific partners. In March, 2012 a SLAD-NMSU team briefed its [REDACTED] program to [REDACTED] This task force had previously surveyed the US industrial and university base to assess where they should obtain the capability.

In addition to the above outreach activities, SLAD also worked very closely with the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA’s faculty experts in quality control for complex simulations such as the engineering-level [REDACTED] tools. ARL/SLAD hosted several workshops throughout FY 12 where those faculty experts shared their expertise with the ARL/SLAD-NMSU team. They not only acknowledged the uniqueness of the [REDACTED] SA simulation tools, but asserted that those tools were unique to a degree that they raised new mathematical problems with respect to the general issue of model quality assurance.

Finally, the ARL Director has begun pursuing an initiative to improve the performance of Army squads. The ARL Technology Directorates are each bringing forth candidate technologies with potential for improving Army squads. In order to assess whether the technologies are as valuable in a mission context as actually hoped, they will be evaluated by the [REDACTED] tools that have been developed by the NMSU- ARL-SLAD partnership. Since the ARL Director and his staff have access and information about the capabilities of hundreds of American and international universities, this is strong evidence of the unique niche capability that has been developed.

9. Interested Sources:

This contract will be issued in accordance with FAR Part 6.302-3, “Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services.” A notice will not be posted in accordance with FAR 5.202(a) (10).

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history:

This requirement is a continuation effort of [REDACTED] DATM05-01-C-0026 awarded in August 2001 (transferred from the U.S. Army Robert Morris Acquisition Center, WSMR) and contract W911QX-10-D-0004 awarded to NMSU on 30 September 2010. W911QX-10-D-0004 was issued as a sole source under the authority of FAR Part 6.302-3, “Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services.”

(1) Contract Numbers and dates of last several awards.

W911QX-10-D-0004 issued on 30 September 2010.

(2) Competitive Status of these awards.

W911QX-10-D-0004 was issued sole source under the authority of FAR Part 6.302-3, “Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability; or Expert Services.”

(3) Authority previously used for less than full and open competition.

FAR Part 6.302-3, “Industrial Mobilization; Engineering, Developmental, or Research Capability;

or Expert Services.”

(4) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, a summary of the contents of paragraph 7 of the justification for that procurement and an explanation of the results.

Currently, ARL outsources 70% percent of its research programs to external entities including 250 academic partners in all 50 states via Broad Agency Announcements and other research vehicles.

These ongoing collaborative efforts help establish relationships with universities that can grow into articulation of specific Army requirements that can be satisfied by a particular university relationship. For future procurements ARL will seek joint collaboration studies to allow schools with appropriate niche engineering backgrounds to partner together in an effort to expand the Government’s knowledge of warfare threat areas. Until additional universities choose to develop applied research niche expertise in the military threat areas covered, it is unlikely that increased competition would be practical.

(5) If any prior award was accomplished by full and open competition, a detailed explanation of the changed circumstances.

Not Applicable, no prior award accomplished by full and open competition.

(6) An explanation of any unusual patterns which may be revealed by the history, e.g. several consecutive, urgent buys.

Not Applicable, no unusual patterns.

(7) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, briefly describe the circumstances justifying the buy and whether there have been any significant changes.

It has been determined through extensive market research in support of this new contract award to NMSU that the marketplace for advanced [REDACTED] research and development engineering has not changed to allow for competition, nor has another vendor with the same caliber in as NMSU been identified in this narrow field. The marketplace for these types of services remains very limited and the NMSU remains the predominant vendor. For future procurements ARL will seek joint studies to allow schools with appropriate niche engineering backgrounds to partner together in an effort to expand the Government’s knowledge of [REDACTED] areas. Until additional universities choose to develop applied research niche expertise in the [REDACTED] areas covered, it is unlikely that increased competition would be practical.

b. Acquisition Data Availability:

Not Applicable

c. Unusual and Compelling Urgency:

Not Applicable.

d. Subcontracting Competition:

Appropriate subcontracting clauses will be included in the contract; however, the research and development being accomplished falls under the NMSU procurement office for subcontracting opportunities which is subject to the procurement regulations of the state of New Mexico.

e. Follow-on Contracts:

Not Applicable, this is a new award to the Physical Science Laboratory (PSL) located on the campus of New Mexico State University (NMSU).

11. Technical Certification:

I certify that the required research and development services to be performed have been reviewed to be accurate and complete to best of my knowledge and belief. I also certify that I have reviewed this effort and have determined that it falls within the special capabilities of New Mexico State University. Additionally, the proposed contract maintains an essential research and development capability which will be provided by an educational institution.

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. Requirements Certification:

I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum needs based on the ongoing continuation of research and development support required for [REDACTED]. I also certify that I have reviewed this effort and have determined that it falls within the special capabilities of New Mexico State University.

Additionally, the proposed contract maintains an essential research and development capability which will be provided by an educational institution.

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.

Requirements Certifier

Technical Certifier (Tech)

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable by comparing the proposed rates with current rates for similar services which is the basis for the government estimate. In accordance with FAR 15.403-1(c) (2), prices set by law or regulation, cost or pricing data will not be obtained. NMSU pricing is pursuant to agreement with the Department of Health Human Services and the State of New Mexico.

Contracting Officer (KO)

14. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification:

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

Contracting Officer (KO)

Associate Division Chief – Contracting (ADC)

Chief of the Contracting Office (COCO)

Special Competition Advocate (SCA)

APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Information Operations, Vulnerability/Survivability Assessment Research, Development and Engineering Services to support ARL/SLAD on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.

2304(c)(3), to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center with a contract ceiling of $75,000,000.00, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Signature: __________________________ Date: _________________

[REDACTED]