Computing and Network Security Support Services (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance [C5...

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENTFAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITIONSupply/Service: Computing and Network Security Support Services (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance [C5ISR] Transition award).Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(2) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-2 -- Unusual and Compelling Urgency.Amount: $4,375,681.60Contracting Officer: Mr. Phillip J. Amador DSN: 258-3523Contracting Officer Date: 8/28/2017Email: phillip.j.amador.civ@mail.milReviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.1a. Contracting Activity: Adelphi Contracting Division, Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG) Soldier, Chemical, Research & Test (SCRT),[redacted]1b. Requiring Activity: The United States (U.S.) Army Research Laboratory (ARL),Computational

& Information Sciences Directorate (RDRL-CI) [redacted]2. Description of Action: In support of RDRL-CI, Cost-Reimbursement Contract W911QX-17-C-0037 was awarded in the amount of $3,896,510.75 to Parsons Government Services Inc., located at 100 West Walnut Street, Pasadena, California 91124-0001 (CAGE Code: 1BVK6, DUNS Number: 006908511) pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency on 29 August 2017 using Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds, see Verbal Approval Memo dated 21 August 2017 in the file, signed by the Legal Advisor, Contracting Officer (KO) and ACC-APG's Advocate for Competition. This justifications is being made and approved after contract award as the preparation and approval prior to award would have unreasonably delay the acquisition in accordance with (IAW) FAR 6.302-2(c)(1).✓ 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) 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:This Contract provides for the transition of the research, development, test, evaluation, production and fielding support services for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) services provided to the Army under a Navy C4ISR award while the RDRL-CI's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) undergoes Source Selection. RDRL-CI currently does not have a contract in place for these services while the transition from the Navy award is being completed. The C5ISR effort includes additional requirements from the C4ISR requirements being performed such as new areas of research and development for Computational Sciences, Information Sciences, and Network Sciences.Base Period: 30 August 2017 to 29 September 2017 Value: [redacted]Option Period 1: 30 September 2017 to 29 October 2017 Value: [redacted]Option Period 2: 30 October 2017 to 29 November 2017 Value: [redacted]Option Period 3: 30 November 2017 to 29 December 2017 Value: [redacted]Total Estimated Value: $4,375,681.604. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling Urgency.5. Reason for Authority Cited:RDRL-CI does not have a contract in place that provides the required C5ISR support services which includes highly specialized R&D services as well as highly specialized network and computer security support services for the U.S. Army and Warfighter in general. RDRL-CI obtained a significant portion of the required C5ISR support services through a non-Army vehicle provided under the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) [redacted] contract issued to Parsons Government Services Inc., formerly Secure Mission Solutions, LLC. This award provided C41SR services to the Navy and its customers, including ARL. In October of 2014, SPAWAR notified RDRL-CI of their decision to reduce or eliminate much of the support being offered to non-Navy customers and informed RDRL-CI that eventually they will not be permitted to use their C4ISR award. As a result, RDRL-CI began researching and developing its own contract vehicle to support its C5ISR mission and eliminate dependence upon outside contracts. This is a new requirement for RDRL-CI and there is no RDRL-CI incumbent. By issuing their own C5ISR contract, RDRL-CI will have greater control over requirements development, contract execution, and contract surveillance. [redacted]The nature of the requirements defined in the SPAWAR contract have provided RDRL-CI with highly qualified staff with the specialized skill set needed to be successful in a Research and Development (R&D) centric environment. The availability of qualified R&D and other technical support staff has subsequently allowed for significant growth and has become a large scale effort supporting a variety of research, science and technology task areas which has developed into a firm requirement for C5ISR. A lapse in the services provided under the SPAWAR C4ISR award will significantly degrade CISD's ability to support the mission in a number of critical areas, including RDRL-CI's research in: Dynamic Optical Networking, Software Defined Networking, the investigation of new Computer Architecture Designs, Tactical Computing, Extreme Scale Computational Frameworks, Multi-Scale Modeling Research, Network Modeling, and others.RDRL-CI initiated market research efforts on fulfilling the C5ISR requirement in October 2014. In February 2015, RDRL-CI began working with the Contracting Activity on the market research for C5ISR and has judiciously been working with the Contracting Activity to ensure thorough and accurate Acquisition Planning. The R&D services required are highly specialized services that include computer science and engineering research and development; network, network sciences, and network security research, development and operations; cyber security research and operations to include Computer Network Defense Service Provider (CNDSP); and network integration and development. However, C51SR is constantly changing thus the requirements were constantly redefined during this period. In addition, efforts during the market research and Acquistion Planning phase included: contract type selection, market analysis, competition considerations, Small Business Administration consultation, review of theappropriate use of pre-existing contracts, performance constraints, cost risks, and evaluation approach, defining requirements/PWS revisions, budget constraints, security considerations, and safety considerations . As a result of the acquisition planning discussions between RDRL-CI and the Contracting Activity, the Government posted a Sources Sought Synopsis / Request for Information (SSS/RFI), W911QX-16-R-0003 on 22 Feb. 2016 and closed on 15 Apr. 2016. This posting included a draft PWS to allow contractors to provide solutions for meeting the Government's requirement. As a result, the Government prepared a thorough Acquisition Plan that was approved by the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (PARC), ACC-APG, see solicitation W911QX-17-R-0008. The number of responses received for the C5ISR effort is close to the estimated expectation of responses based on the extensive market research conducted during the acquisition planning for these highly specialized network and computer security support services. The C5ISR requirements were not ready for award due to unanticipated complexities experienced during the source selection process to include, but not limited to: legal counsel only staffed at one (1) legal advisor due to maternity leave required by lead attorney assigned to the action delaying legal review of Source Selection materials; extensions issued to the solicitation to ensure answers to questions by interested parties were thoroughly accounted for in proposal submissions; technology issues with networking at the Source Selection Support Center of Excellence (S3COE) location; down time/time out of the Virtual Contracting Enterprise (VCE) Acquisition Source Selection Interactive Support (ASSIST) Tool; Problems with the VCE ASSIST tool mechanical aspects of separating Task Order proposals from the Base Award proposals in the VCE ASSIST Platform; estimated review time required for awarding the C5ISR award; and the Offeror's interpretation of the Government's complex PWS resulted in unanticipated ambiguity of certain proposals which demanded excessive review and write up by the Source Selection Team..Due to the unanticipated delays mentioned above, the C5ISR award date fell short of the goal set during acquisition planning. The Government anticipated that the award of the C5ISR Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC) would meet the estimated award date and it was not until after the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) kick-off that it was realized that there were some errors during the planning phase and that a contingency may be required to ensure no lapse in service is experienced. As mentioned above, there were many incidents that attributed to the delays during the pre-solicitation phase, SSEB phase, and the delays not accounted for initially for the award phase. A breakdown of the more significant incidents follows:(1) The Government posted a Sources Sought Synopsis / Request for Information (SSS/RFI), W911QX-16-R-0003 on 22 Feb. 2016 and closed on 15 Apr. 2016. This posting included a draft PWS to allow contractors to provide solutions for meeting the Government's requirement. The Army finalized their C5ISR PWS on 17 May 2016.(2) Acquisition Plan - Submitted for PARC level review on 07/27/2016. Adelphi local review returned various areas to clarify due to the highly technical nature of the requirements and results of the extensive market research conducted, to include contract type selection, competition considerations, appropriate use of pre-existing contracts, performance constraints, cost risks, and evaluation approach.Adelphi approval to send for PARC review was received on 11/28/2016. Due to the retirement of PARC, personnel changes and shortages, etc., PARC approval was delayed until 02/09/2017. The forecasted award date at this time in the process was 05/15/2017. Although the timeline in this plan was revised on the Source Selection Plan (SSP), this delay did attribute to putting the Army in this situation where an urgent action is required.(3) Source Selection Plan (SSP) - Submitted for PARC level review on 01/05/2017. Due to review clarifications, edits, complications in scheduling PARC presentation, Mr. [redacted] retirement which caused a transitioning in Procurement Analyst (PA's) assignment, etc. PARC Approval on SSP was not received until 04/18/2017. Due to this delay, the forecasted award date was revised to 08/01/2017.(4) Solicitation - Per legal guidance, a second round of questions and answers were permitted which was not provided for during the original solicitation. This resulted in an amendment to extend the proposal submission date to ensure ample time for interested parties to account for the Government's clarifications/answers in their proposal. This extra time was provided in an attempt to receive quality proposal submissions. Therefore the original response date of 05/29/2017 was revised to 06/21/2017. Although this extension was provided, the award forecast date of 08/01/2017 was still expected to be achievable.A lapse in support in these services would have significantly impacted CISD's critical role as a Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) which ultimately increases the risk of a cybersecurity breach at ARL and its Army and DoD Customers. Given the sensitive nature of the information that these information systems hold, successful cyberattacks could pose a significant risk to the national security of the United States. As such, it is important that the Government takes steps in order to further mitigate cyber risks. Without direct and uninterrupted contractor support in this arena, the real time cyberattacks would be accomplished without identification, notifications, response and recovery. Systems would be allowed to exist at a lower security posture without notice, increasing the realistic opportunities to compromise them without interception. Looking further out, this delay in capabilities would have a ripple affect across the entire DoD and the harm to national security is immeasurable. ARL RDRL-CI recognizes that mission success is defined by ARL's CSSP ability to [redacted]. ARL must sustain operations and defenses before, during, and after an attack by reducing the attack surface, continually improving defensive cyberspace operations, and effectively commanding and controlling Cyber. Without CSSP services, DoD CSSP customers cannot connect to a DoDIN, thus disrupting their ability to execute their mandated mission. Many of these DoD CSSP subscribers provide direct Warfighter support and any interruption in these CSSP services provided under the C4ISR effort would lead to adverse effects to the Warfighter and nation in general.Furthermore, a lapse in contract support provided under the C4ISR effort will significantly degrade and delay CISD's ability to deliver other Army critical warfighting capabilities including: Dominance in C4ISR on the battlefield through advanced technologies inDynamic Optical Networking, Software Defined Networking, new Computer Architecture Designs, Tactical Computing, Extreme Scale Computational Frameworks, and Network Modeling, and 2) Life-saving ballistic protection technologies against current and future threats enabled through Multi-Scale Modeling Research and materials by design..As the Army's laboratory for Research and Development, ARL provides critical war fighting capabilities in support of deployed Warfighters and provides technologies, assessments, and analyses for tomorrow's systems, to the Army acquisition community and other customers. ARL guides fundamental research that is expected to significantly impact short to medium term capabilities as well as the capabilities available to the Army of 2040 and beyond. RDRL-CI plays a substantial cross-cutting role as the ARL lead for Computation Sciences, Information Sciences, and Network Sciences. Contract support provided under the C4ISR effort has played a significant role in RDRL-CI's success in these core areas.In Computational Architectures, RDRL-CI, with the help of the ending SPAWAR C4ISR contract, is conducting research in the development and application of new and novel computational hardware and associated software that use vastly different methods of executing tasks. These newer processors are part of the computational sciences campaign in ARL, and as such are being inserted on technology insertion roadmaps across the lab[redacted] Any delays to these efforts will result in at least a full year of delays to project deliverables targeted for transition to DARPA, TARDEC, and CERDEC. As these technologies are not commercial in nature, any delay in [redacted], and hence new processors could be delayed up to two (2) years. The carryover impact is pervasively negative since that means all systems being deployed cannot take advantage of the reduced power processing, and even large supercomputing centers maintained by the DoD (ARL hosts one of these sites) cannot leverage these technologies which would be putting U.S. efforts behind international competition.Directly related to RDRL-CI's research in tactical applications, Network Sciences covers a broad range of theoretical and applied research and development areas including secure tactical ad-hoc mobile networks to support battlefield communications. Secure and reliable communication on the battlefield is imperative for mission success but is technically challenging due to the dynamic and unpredictable circumstances. RDRL-CI Government researchers, and the services provided by the SPAWAR C4ISR researchers, investigate these areas using[redacted] to provide our Soldiers with secure and reliable information. Current efforts are directed toward ensuring that secure communication lines are available. In some cases, these lines are either on or off; there is no degradation scaling. Loss of signal means that Soldiers have no access to intel or other situational awareness, and hence they are directly placed into harm's way. The loss or interruption of this R&D support provided under the SPAWAR C4ISR effort would significantly reduce RDRL-CI's ability to investigate solutions for these mission critical applications. Without these applications, the Soldier would be left without accurate and time critical data to conduct their mission which could cause serious damage to the Warfighter and Government operations in general. As the contractor currently performing C4ISR Support Services at ARL through the Navy, Parsons Government Services, Inc. is the only firm postured to perform the required work within the very short time frame provided above. The proposed contract had to be awarded before the current order expired on 29 August 2017 to ensure no lapse in these critical services provided to RDRL-CI. Parsons has been providing C4ISR services to RDR-CI[redacted] through the SPAWAR contract and has a full complement of employees capable of working on day one.Maintaining these services during this short period of transition is the least disruptive path for the Government. Failure to continue the current effort at this time has the potential to jeopardize not only the technical areas described above but also future ARL funding if ARL and Army execution goals are not met. Awarding this short transitional contract to Parsons also significantly reduces risk to the Government as the current personnel have the appropriate level of security clearances [redacted], training, credentials, and specialized experience to continue operations without a significant negative impact.Therefore, it is determined that Parsons Government Services, Inc. is the only source capable of meeting the requirements for this transition contract.6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: No efforts to obtain competition was sought as this was an Urgent requirement as provided above. In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(2), this contract action was not synopsized given that it was made under all the conditions described in FAR 6.302-2 as detailed in section 5 above. These services were required to ensure that no lapse in these critical services was experienced by RDRL-CI which would have impacted the various areas identified in section 5 above. Parsons Government Services, Inc. was the only vendor capable of responding to this request in such a short time frame given Parsons is currently performing the duties under the Navy's C4ISR contract.7. Actions to Increase Competition:No additional requirements are anticipated for this effort. The C5ISR MATOC award will capture all requirements for RDRL-CI's future C5ISR requirements once awarded. ARL's C5ISR Requirements under solicitation W911QX-17-R-0008 are currently undergoing Source Selection as a result of a competitive full and open solicitation. Any future C5ISR requirement will be solicited through the MATOC procedures.This transition award was estimated to only be required for one (1) month to allow for continued C4ISR performance which will transition to both the C5ISR task order awards. The Government will exercise the second month option period to allow for finalizing the C5ISR Source Selection. The third and fourth option periods will provide the option to extend services if any additional delays are experienced.8. Market Research:Market research and evaluation was reviewed for the W911QX-17-R-0008 C5ISR effort which was conducted between 10 May 2016 and 17 August 2017 by [redacted] a Computer Scientist within RDRL-CI with over 15 years of experience within the field. [redacted] reviewed the potential sources identified during that market research to determine if any other sources would be capable of providing the required services in an urgent request. It was determined that only Parsons would be capable of: (a.) responding to an urgent request for services, (b.) fulfilling the requirements to include providing personnel that have the appropriate level of security clearances, and (c) ensuring no lapse in service is experienced, and they are currently providing these services to RDRL-CI through the Navy's C4ISR award and there is no need for on ramping of a new contractor. It is in the best interest of the Government to stay with Parsons for this transition allows for immediate continuation of services.9. Interested Sources: Not applicable. The contract action was not synopsized in accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(2). This award was issued on the basis of Urgency to ensure that no lapse in these critical services was experienced by RDRL-CI which would have impacted the various areas identified in section 5 above. Although it is understood that various vendors may be qualified to perform these services, no other source was determined to provide the services required to be continued without a lapse in service in such a rapid timeframe. Since Parsons was providing these services under the Navy's C4ISR award, they were determined to be capable of: (a.) responding to an urgent request for services, (b.) fulfilling the requirements to include providing personnel that have the appropriate level of security clearances, and (c) ensure no lapse in service is experienced.10. Other Facts:a. Procurement HistoryN/A This is a new requirement for the Army, RDRL-CI. There is no procurement history for this contract through the Army. Although these required services were provided to the Army through the aforementioned Navy C4ISR contract, the C5ISR award will be the Army's first contract award for any of the C4ISR services that have been provided thus far. The data available to the Army for the Navy's award is as follows:Contract: [redacted]Contractor: Secure Mission Solutions LLCAward Date: 30 August 2016(2) The competitive status of these actions. Not available.(3) Authority previously cited if less than full and open competition was used. Not available.(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. Not available.(5) If any prior contract for this requirement was accomplished using full and open competition, include a detailed explanation of the changed circumstances causing this action to now limit the sources. Not available.(6) An explanation of any unusual patterns that may be revealed by the history, e.g., several consecutive, urgent buys. Not available.(7) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, briefly describe the circumstances justifying the procurement and whether there have been any significant changes. Not available.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: Computer Scientist12. 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.Signer's Title: Acting Branch Chief13. 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. Detailed documentation and justification of cost/price reasonableness will be disclosed in the official contract file to include a cost analysis and comparison of the proposed price with prices found reasonable on previous purchases.This determination will be made using the following:_X_ Cost analysis__ Price analysis __ Should cost __ IGCE __ Audit: (identify the audit type) __ Other: (identify the methodology or combination of methodologies that will be used)As a part of this basis, certified cost or pricing data:_X_ Will be required.__ Will not be required and the following exception applies (FAR 15.403):__ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on adequate price competition.__ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on prices set by law or regulation.__ A commercial item is being acquired.__ A waiver has been granted by the head of the contracting activity (HCA) in accordance with DFARS PGI 215.403-1.__ The contract action is a modification to a contract or subcontract for commercial item(s).__ The estimated cost of the contract action is less than the threshold for certified cost or pricing data.14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.ApprovalBased on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Computing and Network Security Support Services (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance [C5ISR] Transition award) on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(2), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.If the proposed contract action is not completed within 180 days from the below date, this Justification and Approval shall be returned to the Special Competition for Advocate (SCA) for revalidation. Additionally, if any changes to the requirements, basis for the justification, market conditions, or increases in the estimated value of the proposed action occur at any time, the Contracting Officer shall document these changes in a memorandum and obtain review/concurrence from the Competition Advocate.