Leav_JA_2017_31_Redacted.pdf

Control No. 2017-31 Contractor: nFocus Solutions

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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

1. Contracting Activity: Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Fort Leavenworth, 327 Pope Avenue, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-1391.

2. Description of Action: The Combined Arms Center (CAC) requests a new firm-fixed-price contract with nFocus Solutions (6225 N 24th Street, Suite GL100, Phoenix, AZ 85016) for a maintenance support agreement for the Army Training Management System (ATMS). The new contract will consist of a base period and four additional option years. Fiscal Year 17 OMA funds will be used to procure the base year of the required software Maintenance Support Agreement (MSA) with a required start date of 28 July 2017. 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 Services: This new contract will provide software maintenance services for the Army Training Management System (ATMS), a component of the Army Training Integration System (ATIS). ATMS is a total Army system used by the Army’s active and reserve components to automate training management processes.

Base Period: 28 JUL 2017 to 27 JUL 2018 Value: $861,800 Option Period 1: 28 JUL 2018 to 27 JUL 2019 Value: $861,800 Option Period 2: 28 JUL 2019 to 27 JUL 2020 Value: $861,800 Option Period 3: 28 JUL 2020 to 27 JUL 2021 Value: $861,800 Option Period 4: 28 JUL 2021 to 27 JUL 2022 Value: $861,800

Total Value: $4,309,000

4. Authority Cited: This action is authorized under provisions of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: As described at FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), when the supplies or services required by the agency are available only from one responsible source, or for DoD, NASA and the Coast Guard, from only one or a limited number of responsible sources, and no other types of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for.

a. Background: ATMS is an Army user interface built on a suite of Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Software products. ATMS is comprised of the Digital Training Management System (DTMS), Army Training Network (ATN), the Unit Individual Training Manager (UITM) and Combined Arms Training Strategies (CATS) Development Tool.

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

The backbone of these components is TraxSolutions software for Student Management Server, Classroom Management Server, Catalog Server, and Curriculum Management Server. nFocus Solutions, a Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB) is the sole manufacturer and data rights holder of TraxSolutions software. There is no other company that can provide the nFocus copyrighted TraxSolutions licensed software. The Government requires an annual Maintenance Support Agreement for TraxSolutions Student Management Server, Curriculum Management Server, Classroom Server, and Catalog Server software.

A TraxSolutions Enterprise MSA will support the sustainment of ATMS and ensure that the COTS software for ATMS remains current with changes in Information Technology thereby extending the Army’s unit training management system lifecycle. The MSA also provides for rapid repair of the ATMS system if the COTS software causes system failure.

The MSA will provide the following required services:

(1) Diagnosis of problems/issues or performance deficiencies of the nFocus Software reported and reproducible errors.

(2) Resolution of problems/issues or performance deficiencies of the nFocus Software.

(3) Copyrighted patches, updates, releases, and new versions of the nFocus Software along with other generally available technical material.

(4) Technical assistance under this agreement and to rectify or provide solutions to problems where the Software does not function as described in the nFocus Software documentation.

b. Alternatives: In 2015, in coordination with CAC G8, CAC-T Training Management Directorate (TMD) initiated contract W91QF4-15-C-0004 for an in-depth Capabilities and Cost Benefit Analysis (CCBA) to determine if the nFocus proprietary software application should be sustained or replaced with an open source, or other DoD, application. That CCBA was delivered on 6 April 2016 and determined that: “… comparable Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force training management systems do not have the same large scale system of employment as ATMS nFocus TraxSolutions, with far reaching capabilities on a global basis to support depth and complexity within system requirements….” This CCBA analyzed training management systems used by sister services, both Government and COTS systems which included the Navy’s Authoring Instructional Materials (AIM) Toolset used for the Navy Education and Training Command (NETC) Enterprise and the Navy’s Corporate Enterprise Training Activity Resource System (CeTARS); the Marine Corps Training Information Management System (MCTIMS); and the Air Force AQT Solutions Advance Training Management System (ATMS). All systems were compared to ATMS current capabilities, cost, and load capacity to support Army Operational, Institutional, and

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Reserve Component forces worldwide.

c. CCBA Findings:

(1) The Navy’s cost for AIM Toolset and CeTARS are expected to be significantly higher than ATMS nFocus TraxSolutions costs at $3,755,000.00 more in FY17 (FY17=$13,548,000.00) and their costs are expected to rise through FY21 by $3,445,000.00 (FY21=$13,866,000.00). The two systems of CeTARS and AIM Toolset are together employed as a Training Management System with one website CANTRAC.

CeTARS meets 34% and AIM meets 54% of functionality within the 215 ATMS functions. MCTIMS is simplistic, easy to use and customer focused but operates at a smaller scale of employment and lacks the complexity of ATMS integrated “system of systems.”

(2) The Marine Corps’ MCTIMS is based on the legacy Army Systems Approach to Training (SAT) which was discarded since it did not meet the Army’s operational and training mission requirements. MCTIMS meets 93% of functionality within 215 ATMS functions. With 93,000 users, the Marine Corps employs only 14% system user capacity of ATMS nFocus TraxSolutions. Costs are expected to continue to run about half as much as ATMS costs in FY17 at $4,393,000.00 with significantly reduced system capabilities and performance abilities.

(3) The Air Force’s AQT Solutions ATMS meets 84% of functionality within 215 ATMS nFocus TraxSolutions functions. With 130,000 faculty, administrative and students, AQT Solutions ATMS has 20% system user capacity of ATMS nFocus TraxSolutions with significantly reduced system capabilities and performance abilities. As a closed and separate system of employment, there is minimal sharing of data to support standardization and enhanced performance goals.

This CCBA resulted in similar findings as others, conducted in 2011 and 2014. Those CCBAs concluded that no competitive vendors or near-term commercial systems were found to deliver the unique Army training management process automation available in DTMS cost effectively. The results preceded awarding the previous and current sole source contracts award to nFocus Software.

d. Justification: The CCBAs searched for likely competition and found none, either commercial or government, that will provide web delivery of Army training management functionality and data services economically. The current MSA costs compare extremely favorably with similar systems being developed and sustained by the Army and other DoD agencies. The cost of the nFocus TraxSolutions MSA is fixed at 20% of the cost of the Army Enterprise License. Ultimately, the CCBA revealed that the status quo alternative presents the best value to the Government, with minimal risk. Additionally, if the US Army chose to move to another vendor, 12 years of institutional and tacit knowledge would be lost. Use of ATMS built on TraxSolutions is saving the Army approximately $3,000,000.00 annually by replacing multiple systems.

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

DTMS directly replaced Standard Army Training Systems in 2005 and in 2008 DTMS worked with the Army National Guard (ARNG) to eliminate the ARNG Training, Readiness & Operations, Unit Planning, Execution, & Resourcing System, developing ARNG specialized annual training plan capabilities in DTMS. In 2015 ATMS capability eliminated the Resident Institutional Training Management System (RITMS).

e. Prior Acquisitions: The United States Army has invested over $28M in establishment and maintenance of ATMS over the past 12 years. This investment includes the original purchase and configuration of the TraxSolutions products and perpetual enterprise licenses. It also includes continued enhancements to ATMS for security and operability, sustainment contracts for ATMS, helpdesk functions for ATMS, the annual Trax Solutions MSA, as well as ATMS functional training products and instruction.

f. Impact: As noted, despite several CCBAs searching for architecture alternatives, there are no comparable solutions on the market or within the DoD that deliver the same value. Any close alternative will require substantial modification, tremendous implementation cost, and add significant risk for the Army as it migrates. If the J&A is not approved, the Army will have to transition to another interim software solution that, as evidenced by CBA results, will likely place current ATMS functionality at risk, increase cost, and/or lack the ability to be responsive and tailorable to the Army’s needs. DTMS is being used in the new Unit Status Reporting System Objective Training Evaluation that is being implemented in the November 2017 USR Report, IAW FRAGO 2 DA EXORD 002-16 DTMS feeds unit training data to DRRS-A to use for calculating Training Ratings. The work flow is; DTMS feeds training proficiency data to the DRRS-A Defense Readiness Reporting System-Army which feeds NetUSR in building the Unit Training Rating. DTMS is scheduled to be replaced by the ATIS Enterprise System, Army Training Management Capability (ATMC) in about 2022 (5 years from Milestone A Decision on ATIS). Lack of this J&A will break the work processes that are specified tasks in DA EXORD 002-16 to support the new Unit Status Report until 2023.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: A Sources Sought Synopsis was published on FedBizOpps.com on January 26, 2017, with a response due date of February 6, 2017.

No responses were received from other interested parties. Competition is not available for this requirement due to copyright and data rights restrictions.

DTMS is scheduled to be replaced by the ATIS Enterprise System, Army Training Management Capability (ATMC) in about 2022 (5 years from Milestone A Decision on ATIS). Army Training Management Capability (ATMC) is the Enterprise System scheduled to replace DTMS. ATIS is a Category II Business System, in accordance with Department of Defense Instruction 5000.75, Business System Requirements and Acquisition, dated 2 Feb 2017.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to increase competition, the Army has

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY separated the system sustainment and enhancement requirements from the MSA requirement. This separation has created competition for all sustainment and enhancement efforts that are not impeded by the manufacturer’s copyrights. TMD plans to continue with this strategy as it has proved effective in supporting ATMS and controlling costs through competition. Additionally, the Combined Arms Center has committed to completing a CCBA for this program during the last option period of each MSA contract. This justification and approval is for a Maintenance Support Agreement (MSA) for the COTS software. MSAs are standard in the software industry.

8. Market Research: In 2015, in coordination with CAC G8, TMD initiated another contract, W91QF4-15-C-0004, for an in depth Capabilities and Cost Benefit Analysis (CCBA) to determine if the nFocus proprietary software application should be sustained or replaced with an open source or other DoD application. That CCBA search for alternatives determined: “No COTS evaluated provides the sophisticated functionality needed to meet the US Army training management and planning requirements.”

“Course of Action #2, adopt the Navy’s AIM Toolset and CeTARS, provides only 36% of the Army training functionality out of the box.” “If the US Army chose to move to another vendor, 12 years of institutional and tacit knowledge would be lost.”

More recently, the sources sought synopsis was published on FBO. No vendors, other than nFocus, showed interest or the capability to provide this software. There is not anything comparable to ATMS. There are many Learning Management Systems (LMS) available, several training tracking systems, but nothing nearly as capable as ATMS.

The market research also reviewed Government-off-the-shelf or other Modified-COTS systems used by the other services/agencies. These systems are more like LMS as opposed to training management systems. They do not demonstrate a fraction of the capability required to replace ATMS.

9. Interested Sources: To date, no other sources have expressed an interest in writing. All notices required by FAR 5.201 have been published and any responses will be considered.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History: Based on the procurement history and previous negotiations for this requirement, the price is expected to remain constant. Negotiations to purchase the perpetual enterprise license included a provision that the future annual MSA price would be fixed at 20% of the price of the enterprise license. Additionally, the result of negotiations under modification P00002 to contract W91QF4-12-C-0007 provides that the Government receives an enterprise MSA for the items which were previously limited to an express license. Previous to FY13, TMD was only licensed for 100 users of Curriculum Management Server under an express license. SWMG Solutions upgraded this license to an enterprise license (unlimited users) at no additional cost to the Government. The following procurement history details the previous contracts for the MSA.

Program: ATMS MSA

Version – February 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

(1) W91QF4-14-C-0002, sole source, $2,585,400.00

(2) W91QF4-12-C-0007 Option Year MOD, sole source, $871,000.00

Modification P00002 to contract W91QF4-12-C-0007 increased the requirement by $435,500.00. This modification added the TRAXSolutions Classroom Server Enterprise MSA. This modification also increased the requirement for Curriculum Management Server from an Express Edition to an Enterprise MSA. This increase was required due to the increase in features and capabilities of ATMS.

(3) W91QF4-12-C-0007, sole source, $441,800.00

(4) W91QUZ-06-D-0012 B007, Item No. 0002 MSA $428,795.00

(5) W91QF4-11-P-0072, sole source, $441,800.00

(6) W91QF4-10-C-0015, sole source, $441,800.00

(7) W91QF4-09-C-0011, sole source, $441,800.00

(8) W91QF4-08-C-0005, sole source, $433,800.00