A03_-_REDACTED_J&A.pdf

Control No: JA-18-Adel-624 Contractor: Alion Science and Technology

Supply/Service: HSI Software Tools and Models

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Programs/Equipment: Human Systems Integration (HSI)

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible

Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

Amount: $2,787,900.00

Prepared by: [REDACTED]

Contracting Officer: Daniel Balizan DSN: 258-4349

Contracting Officer Date: 08/14/2018

Email: daniel.j.balizan.civ@mail.mil

Technical: [REDACTED]

Requirements: [REDACTED]

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

[REDACTED]

mailto:daniel.j.balizan.civ@mail.mil

FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than

Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity: Adelphi Contracting Division, Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen

Proving Ground (ACC-APG), 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, MD 20783

2. Description of Action: The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Human Research &

Engineering Directorate (HRED), Complex Ground Systems Operations Branch requests a new

Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) contract with Alion Science and Technology Corporation. The

Government projects award in September 2018 and Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, 6.2 Research

Development Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be used for the entire effort.

_X_ An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement either does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i), or is an R&D acquisition and does not meet the definition of services in 10 U.S.C. 2330(c)(2).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: ARL-HRED requires Human Systems Integration (HSI) and associated Human Performance Modeling (HPM) software tools for supporting the Army

System Acquisition. [REDACTED] The required HSI software tools consist of Improved

Performance Research Integration Tool (IMPRINT) and Command, Control and

Communication Techniques for Reliable Assessment of Concept Execution (C3TRACE) software packages that are used to develop cognitive models to obtain a general understanding of the knowledge, skills and abilities that are needed by operators, maintainers or battle staff to operate military systems and Army specific equipment for monitoring and conducting military missions.

IMPRINT is a dynamic, stochastic, discrete event network modeling software tool designed to help assess the interaction of the [REDACTED] and system performance throughout the lifecycle from concept and design to field test system upgrades. IMPRINT is utilized to help establish realistic system requirements, identify soldier-driven constraints on system design, and evaluate the capability of available manpower and personnel to effectively operate and maintain a system under environmental stressors. C3TRACE is a software modeling tool used to conduct

"what if" analyses of alternatives organizational, personnel, and system configurations, all as a function of information flow and information quality.

Both software tools are also used to develop cognitive workload and Soldier performance models used by practitioners to conduct human factor, manpower and personnel integration analysis, directed towards the assessments of design concepts, all to implement Soldier performance design principles and the evaluation of Soldier performance. These software tools require research efforts for the customization, upgrade and/or modification to ensure they are unique and specific to Army systems and analysis requirements and incorporate the most current HSI research findings.

Base Period: 29 September 2018 to 28 September 2019 Value: [REDACTED]

Option Period 1: 29 September 2019 to 28 September 2020 Value: [REDACTED]

Option Period 2: 29 September 2020 to 28 September 2021 Value: [REDACTED]

Total Value: $2,787,900.00

It is in the best interest of the Government to employ options due to the need of continuity of

R&D operations and the anticipated need for the service beyond the first contract period. The current contract vehicle, W911QX-17-C-0036, was issued with only a one (1) year period of performance ending 30 September 2018. The requiring activity determined that these services would be required longer than one (1) year. Thus it is advantageous to include two (2) optional performance periods in the subject award which are likely to be exercised. The option periods will be exercised in accordance with the conditions of FAR Part 17.207.

4. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(A), services may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of follow-on contracts for the continued provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The required HSI Software Tools allows ARL HRED to conduct cognitive model development and HPM efforts through the software applications of IMPRINT and C3TRACE. IMPRINT was developed for ARL HRED for the means of estimating manpower, personnel, and training requirements and constraints for new weapon systems early in the acquisition process. It is a discrete-event simulation and HPM modeling software tool designed to help assess the interaction of Warfighter and system performance throughout the system lifecycle from concept and design to field testing and system upgrades. IMPRINT is utilized to establish realistic system requirements, identify soldier-driven constraints on system design, and evaluates the capability of available manpower and personnel to effectively operate and maintain a system under environmental stressors. This software allows users to model realistic operator actions under different work overload conditions.

C3TRACE is also a software modeling tool used to conduct "what if" analyses of alternatives organizational, personnel, and system configurations, all as a function of information flow and information quality. This tool provides the capability to represent an organization within the

Department of Defense (DoD), the people assigned to the organization, the task and functions performed, and a communications pattern all as function of information flow and information quality. This tool that has been developed [REDACTED] in support of ARL over the last 15 years and provides unique capabilities to assess individual, team performance, and maintenance issues under various environmental conditions (stressors).

Both tools were developed and are currently maintained by Alion Science and Technology

Corporation which has proprietary rights and is the only source that can modify and/or customize these software tools. By procuring the software tools from Alion Science and Technology

Corporation, the U.S. ARL is provided a subscription for unlimited usage over the course of one

(1) Year. The Government does not gain any type of license rights to the software and the license must be renewed on a yearly basis. . However, the software packages require continuous updating to include new theories, stressors, and case base models that are necessary to meet the challenges of assessing new technology development such as machine learning and artificial intelligence related to Soldier team performance in the battlefield. Alion Science and Technology is the only qualified vendor capable of updating this specialized IMPRINT and C3TRACE software to meet the Army’s mission. Alion Science and Technology was the original developer of this software and code, along with the unique highly specialized research experience to implement the new theories that are identified in the research literature. The required effort supports HSI evaluation in the areas of planning, recording observations and insights, conducting system analyses, and developing models based upon results. Alion Science & Technology

Corporation has the technical expertise and maintains exclusive development and ownership rights to perform the services to allow for the upgrade, enhancement and/or modification to existing software tools and models in order to customize system analyses to support a specific design of military systems and material.

IMPRINT and C3TRACE software support and maintenance requires continuous research and developmental efforts for the customization, upgrade and/or modification to ensure they are unique and specific to Army Systems and the analysis required as well as addressing any new

Army technology needs. Currently ARL HRED is providing individual and specific support to the

Army. [REDACTED]Each effort ARL HRED supports, requires HSI software tools to be customized, upgraded and/or modified for the effort. The information acquired from the tools needs to be specific to the particular effort as the information is used to obtain a general understanding of the knowledge, skills and abilities that are needed by operators, maintainers or battle staff while using these systems for monitoring and conducting military missions. It also is used to assess the usability of the platform system design in helping the soldiers complete their tasks.

Without the services provided by Alion Science and Technology Corporation that allow for the customization, upgrade and/or modification of the IMPRINT and C3TRACE software to include new research theory and stressors and propriety knowledge to run the software to validate these changes, ARL HRED and the DoD would not be able to perform cognitive development or HPM to support development decisions for the equipment to be suitable for the soldier. In addition, manpower, personnel, human factors, and design requirements could not be validated to ensure that the equipment being developed by the Project Manager (PM) or tested for fielding fulfill the mission. This could result with the Government fielding a system that the soldiers cannot use.

Alion Science and Technology Corporation is the sole vendor that can customize, upgrade and/or modify the existing HSI software tools IMPRINT and C3TRACE as they maintain all propriety rights to the developed code within the software. Market Research determined that no other vendor can fulfill this requirement as Alion Science and Technology Corporation maintains exclusive development and ownership rights and the required software tools being used are specific to Army systems and have been developed and modified by Alion Science and

Technology over the past ten (10) years. In addition, if award was to be issued to another contractor other than Alion Science and Technology Corporation, all base models would be lost and years of data and customization would not be available to ARL-HRED. It would take years to validate information acquired from a new contractor as data formats and base models are contractor specific and cannot easily be transferred to a data format of another contractor due to the propriety nature of the software. Alion Science and Technology Corporation is uniquely qualified to continue uninterrupted support to the HSI development as they have the internal insight of the development of current tools and models to expand ARL-HRED’s current research and development (R&D) efforts. If the Government does not procure the required HSI tools

IMPRINT and C3TRACE ARL-HRED will not be able to complete suitability analysis and cannot validate requirements or make field decisions that in turn affect the safety of the warfighter. In addition, Alion Science and Technology Corporation is the sole maintainer to upgrade new HSI theories to ensure availability and utility. [REDACTED].

Based on the aforementioned, the only source capable of fulfilling this follow-on requirement is

Alion Science and Technology Corporation since they are the original source of this follow-on effort and have proprietary rights to software toolsets of the required HSI tools, IMPRINT and

C3TRACE and due to the unique qualifications and knowledge of the R&D capabilities to customize, upgrade and/or modify these technologies and analytics. An award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays of up to two (2) years or longer in fulfilling the effort and in addition to losing previously developed models that would take years to re-create and validate to offer the same capability. The anticipated unacceptable delays coupled with the loss of the previously developed models are not expected to be recovered through competition. Thus, a sole source award to Alion Science and Technology Corporation inclusive of optional performance periods is determined to be in the best interest of the Government to support Soldier performance requirements in the near future.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The Contracting Officer shall publish the notices required by

FAR 5.201 and any bids or proposals received shall be considered. The contracting office published two (2) notices required by FAR 5.201 and DFARS (PGI) 6.302-1 in effort to gain competition. On 13 September 2018, a Sources Sought Notice W911QX-18-Q-0106 was posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities, and qualifications of various members of the industry. A synopsis was posted 03 August 2018 notifying the public that any capability statement, proposal or quotation will be considered.

In effort to obtain competition the following websites were used to search for potential sources:

UNICOR, Ability One, CHESS, One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS), and

GSA. This included discussions held with knowledgeable individuals that are subject matter experts within Government and industry to review other similar HSI, software tools in various catalogs and other generally available product literature published by other manufacturers, distributors, and dealers available on-line. All of these efforts failed to find another source that contained all the capabilities or abilities to alter base models, stressors and training modules in the required HSI tools and it was determined that no other vendor other than Alion Science and

Technology Corporation was identified to be able to fulfill the Government’s requirement.

a. Effective Competition: Due to this action being sole source, effective competition is not applicable.

b. Subcontracting Competition: The contractor will be required to provide a subcontracting plan in accordance with FAR 19.702(a). This will promote competition and ensure small business concerns will have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in contract performance consistent with its efficient performance.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: ARL-HRED has actively conducted extensive market research to identify other sources with similar capabilities and will continually survey the marketplace in order to determine whether any other source has emerged that can fulfill the

Government’s requirements. At this time the codes are not available since Alion Science and

Technology Corporation has exclusive rights and the Government does not own any of the technical data packages. To date, there are no other known sources of coding able to validate the

Army’s current data sets, which have been acquired over the last ten (10) years. In the event that another source is identified as being capable of meeting the Government’s minimum requirements, future competitive acquisitions considered. Since Alion Science and Technology

Corporation holds all data rights to the software tools such that no portion of this requirement can be broke out for competition. Attempting to do so is estimated to be significantly be more expensive since the individual parts would have to be integrated to offer the same current capabilities which would require significant investment of man-hours and resources.

8. Market Research: Market Research was conducted from May 2018 to June 2018 by

[REDACTED] of ARL. Market research for this effort consisted of discussions with HSI users who conduct HSI analysis across DoD and industry and are part of the Joint HSI community of interest that use the software. For the Army, HSI efforts are managed by the G1 and required by

Army regulation 602.1, ATEC personnel. The Government also looked into the availability of sources through GSA, OASIS, and consideration from the previous contract listed in Section 10.

The COR contacted five (5) companies that are known to perform HSI work: Basic Commerce and Industries (BCI), Sonalysts, Monterey Technologies (MTI), Humanproof, and BMT

Designers and Planners. None of these companies identified during market research have access to the IMPRINT source code or any compatible software tools as they are held solely by Alion

Science and Technology Corporation and thus other vendors cannot fulfill the Governments requirement. Alion Science and Technology Corporation is the only vendor with the rights and institutional knowledge in HSI modeling and tool development specific to this Army program based on previous performance as a subcontractor in this area over the past ten (10) years. In conclusion, the conducted market research revealed that there is no other vendor that can fulfill the requirement of the Government’s need for HSI tools and software aside from Alion Science and Technology Corporation.

In accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 205.205-71, DFARS 206.302-1(d), and DFARS Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) 206.302-1(d), a sources sought was posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website on 13 September 2018 for five (5) days and the results were (1) one response received from Monterey Technologies, Inc.(MTI). The capabilities response was sent for technical review to the COR. The technical evaluation determined that MTI had experience primarily in using HSI tools to conduct analysis for HSI assessments and is very limited in writing and developing software code to modify or improve HSI tool. No other vendors expressed interested in regards to the posting.

9. Interested Sources: In accordance with FAR 5.201 a synopsis was posted to the Federal

Business Opportunities (FBO) website on 03 August 2018 with a closing date of 20 August 2018.

As a result, two (2) interested parties replied to the synopsis, Wispero and IPsoft Government

Solutions, LLC. Both responses were sent to Contracting Officer Representative (COR), [REDACTED] for technical evaluation. The technical review of both companies are as follows:

Wispero: Contractor provided an email introduction on 07 August 2018 with a limited summary of software development and testing integration services. The Contract Specialist, Jessica

Camunez replied back to the contractor on 07 August 2018 requesting a capabilities statement. No capabilities statement was provided prior to the closing date of the synopsis. The COR could not determine if the services summarized in the introduction email could meet the scope of the requirement and deemed technically insufficient.

IPsoft Government Solutions, LLC: Technical evaluation determined the contractor does not poses the necessary organization, experience, and technical skills or tools to support HSI evaluations related to development and use of tools to support the evaluation of all the HSI domains. IPsoft Government Solutions has only demonstrated its ability develop an Artificial

Intelligence (AI) Digital Warfighter that uses natural language to mimic human actions, and intelligence to extend the workforce which is not applicable to this requirement. The capabilities statement has been deemed technically insufficient to meet this requirement.

10. Other Facts:

Procurement History

1. Contract: W911QX-17-C-0036; Award Date: 29 September 2017 Contractor: Alion Science and Technology

2. Competitive Status: Sole Source

3. Less than Full and Open Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

4. Justification for Less than Full and Open: Proprietary to Alion.

Only source capable of fulfilling this follow-on requirement is Alion Science and Technology

Corporation due to being the original source of this follow-on effort with the unique qualifications and knowledge of the previously developed HSI tools. An award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the effort.

5. No prior award was accomplished by full and open competition; this contract was sole source to Alion Science and Technology.

6. No unusual patterns

7. Any justifications prior to this award: The required software tools required are Proprietary to

Alion Science and Technology and there have been no significant changes.

1. Contract: W911NF-10-D-0002-0025; Award Date: 9 May 2016; Contractor: DCS Corp

(Prime); Alion Science and Technology (Sub)

2. Competitive Status: Fair Opportunity

3. Less than Full and Open Authority: N/A, Fair Opportunity

4. Justification for Less than Full and Open: N/A, Fair Opportunity

5. This contract was solicited competitively via Fair Opportunity under a Multi Award contract vehicle. Since Alion was not a prime contractor under that MATOC any participating vendor in the contract action would be required to sole source subcontract with Alion to obtain the proprietary knowledge of the aforementioned source code which is was DCS accomplished.

6. No unusual patterns

7. Any justifications prior to this award: N/A, Fair Opportunity

1. Contract: W911NF-10-D-0002-0017; Award Date: 21 April 2015; Contractor: DCS Corp

2. Competitive Status: Fair Opportunity

3. Less than Full and Open Authority: N/A, Fair Opportunity

4. Justification for Less than Full and Open: N/A, Fair Opportunity

5. This contract was solicited competitively via Fair Opportunity under a Multi Award contract vehicle. Since Alion was not a prime contractor under that MATOC any participating vendor in the contract action would be required to sole source subcontract with Alion to obtain the proprietary knowledge of the aforementioned source code which is was DCS accomplished.

1. Contract: W911NF-10-D-0002-001210; Award Date: 29 Sep 2014; Contractor: DCS Corp

2. Competitive Status: Fair Opportunity

3. Less than Full and Open Authority: N/A, Fair Opportunity

4. Justification for Less than Full and Open: N/A, Fair Opportunity

5. This contract was solicited competitively via Fair Opportunity under a Multi Award contract vehicle. Since Alion was not a prime contractor under that MATOC any participating vendor in the contract action would be required to sole source subcontract with Alion to obtain the proprietary knowledge of the aforementioned source code which is was DCS accomplished.

1. Contract: W911NF-10-D-0002-0008; Award Date: 5 Sep 2012; Contractor: DCS Corp

2. Competitive Status: Fair Opportunity

3. Less than Full and Open Authority: N/A, Fair Opportunity

4. Justification for Less than Full and Open: N/A, Fair Opportunity

5. This contract was solicited competitively via Fair Opportunity under a Multi Award contract vehicle. Since Alion was not a prime contractor under that MATOC any participating vendor in the contract action would be required to sole source subcontract with Alion to obtain the proprietary knowledge of the aforementioned source code which is was DCS accomplished.

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.

Signer’s Title: Supervisory Mathematical Statistician:

12. 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.

Signer’s Title: Electronics Engineer:

[REDACTED]

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.

This determination will be made using the following:

_X_ Cost analysis

_X_ Price analysis

_X_ IGCE

_X_ Audit: Indirect Rate Review

As a part of this basis, certified cost or pricing data:

_X_ Will be required.

Contracting Officer (KO):

Mr. Daniel Balizan

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

Contracting Officer (KO):

Mr. Daniel Balizan

9/26/2018

Contracting Officer (KO)

Signed by: BALIZAN.DANIEL.J.1271347800

9/26/2018

Contracting Officer (KO)

Signed by: BALIZAN.DANIEL.J.1271347800

X Daniel Balizan

X Daniel Balizan

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Human Systems

Integration (HSI), Human Performance Modeling (HPM) Software Tools, and Cognitive Model

Development (CMD), in the total amount of $2,787,900.00, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(1) subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Special Competition Advocate (SCA)