Justification and Approval (J&A) Information Technology Engineering Services

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A) FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION J&A Number N102A-18-D-1000 1. Contracting Activity: Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, VA, N102A IT/Engineering Supplies and Services (ITESS). 2. Description of the Action Being Approved: Providing notice and justification for continuation of services for a period of approximately six (6) months from 19 Oct 2018 to 18 April 2019 for the Military Sealift Command (MSC) Contract N32205-18-D-1000, for Information Technology Engineering Support Services (ITESS) and all of its Task Orders. MSC awarded Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract N32205-18-D-1000 for ITESS in August of 2018. A small business size protest was received prior to the issuance of the award to Sentient Digital, Inc. doing business as Entrust Government Solutions. The Small Business Administration (SBA) did not adjudicate the protest within 15 business days and the award was made in accordance with FAR 19.302(g)(2) on 07 August 2018. The SBA completed their size determination on 23 August 2018 and found Entrust Government Solutions to be an other than small business for this specific contract. An appeal to the SBA office of hearings by Entrust Government Solutions was rejected on 09 October 2018. The Government, under the authority of this Justification and Approval, will continue the current contract with Entrust Government Solutions until 18 April 2019 to conduct a proper and thorough recompete, at which that time the Government will terminate the base award and all task orders under contract N32205-18-D-1000 in accordance 13 C.F.R. 121.1009. This action is being conducted under an other than full and open competition basis to the incumbent contractor Entrust Government Solutions utilizing the single award IDIQ contract vehicle. 3. Description of the Supplies/Services: N32205-18-D-1000 provides "ITESS" that assists N6 manage emerging requirements, enhances and develops IT capabilities in support of MSC's mission, and assists in the development of governance to ensure IT capabilities align to MSC N6's strategic plan, align to MSC N6's technical architecture road maps, and meet DoD mandates. The total estimated dollar value for this action is approximately $2,979,048.30. The value for this action is derived from the labor rates, travel, and material costs proposed by the incumbent contractor under the current contract and all issued Task Orders. The period of performance for this action will be from 19 Oct 2018 through 18 April 2019. See paragraph 5 below for more information. The Task Orders included in this sole source justification are listed as follows: Windows 10 Secure Host Baseline (SHB) Contract Management NAVAIDS Mobile Communications Visual Information (VI) Change Management Integrated Configuration and Asset Management (ICAM) MSC C4 Engineering Lab (MCEL) Afloat CLAN GOSUP version 2 (ACGV2), and Afloat CLAN GOSUP version 3 (ACGV3) Service, Validation, and Testing (SV&T) Enterprise Architecture (EA) In Service Engineering Activities (ISEA) Windows Secure Host Baseline Process Engineering (WIN SHB) 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. This action is essentially continuation of performance under a valid current contract to cover a period before termination of that contract as required by 13 CFR - 121.1009(g)(2). Alternatively, it could be characterized as authorized as a sole-source, limited duration contract under the provisions of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), One source or limited sources, as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2). Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements, for the reasons set forth in paragraph 5, below, and in the unusual and unforeseeable circumstances described in paragraph 2, above. 5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority. Under Contract N32205-18-D-1000, Entrust Government Solutions is currently providing highly specialized services in the form of critical support to MSC by delivering Systems Network Engineering and IT Service Management support services. This includes systems planning, research, and development engineering that deliver secure and accredited networks and capabilities for both MSC's classified and unclassified ships networks. Additionally, these services support the configuration management and control for MSC C4S hardware and software assets and the C4S System Validation & Testing capability to ensure a secure network environment. The immediate termination of the current contract would ultimately result in a gap in service for the Government and an interruption or suspension of the support services and projects under this contract including the MSC C4 Engineering Lab. The termination would eliminate the current Service Validation & Tests required to field new software versions which prevents the Government from remediating IT vulnerabilities. This would also cause the Supporting Patching and Antivirus updating with support of the MSC C4 Engineering Lab (MCEL) for the N62 patch disk preparation and validation to no longer maintain the software images to be up to date and compliant including software associations in the DoN Application and Database Management System (DADMS). An immediate termination would deny the deployment of the Risk Management Framework (RMF) System categorization and MSC's accredited systems or software. Terminating the current contract would also disable MSC's ability to maintain compliant systems and networks within the In-Service Engineering SMIS including Windows 10 image deployment, mobile communications integration tests, the Afloat CLAN GOSUP version two upgrade and version 3 development, NAVAIDS Windows 10 system upgrade, visual information integration and testing, AC2 modem support and integration testing, and the integrated configuration and asset management. The continuation of services by Entrust Government Solutions enables MSC to continue to operate C4S systems worldwide in support of its mission. No other source is currently in a position to supply these critical services while providing continuity of operations, pending any effort to solicit new sources and re-compete the contract. Any award to another company to provide these services during this interim period would result in unacceptable delays and gaps in fulfilling MSC's critical requirements as well as immense budgetary restrictions. Awarding any interim contract is not feasible as there is insufficient time to solicit a new procurement, account for a turnover period between incumbent and awardee, and allow time for the awardee to obtain a Secret Facility Clearance. Any lag or gap in the continued provision of these critical services is operationally unacceptable. The incumbent contractor is the only source in a position to provide continued, uninterrupted service. As such, awarding a 6-month "extension," in essence continuing the contract awarded in August 2018 to the incumbent, is the best and only viable option. 6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable. The recompete effort for the ITESS contract is projected for award on or before 18 March 2019 with a start date of 18 April 2019, allowing for a transition period. Solicitation N32205-19-R-1000, the recompete effort, is currently underway with a scheduled release date of 18 November 2018. As the time period is critically short, see paragraph 5 above, and the market research conducted in 2017-18 is recent, no additional market research was conducted. It is anticipated that several companies will express interest in the solicitation, thereby ensuring good competition. 7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. The current contract has approved rates based on adequate competition and the task orders listed in paragraph 3 that have been determined fair and reasonable. This justification and approval enables the current contract and all Task Orders to remain in effect through 18 April 2019. The rates have already been determined to be fair and reasonable using price analysis techniques described in FAR 15.404-1(b). Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition. A new competitive Solicitation, N32205-19-R-1000, will be issued through Federal Business Opportunities no later than 19 November 2018. The new Solicitation will be very similar to that which was released for the current contract, N32205-18-R-1002, in both the scope of work and evaluation criteria to minimize the amount of Government re-work and in the proposal submissions, saving the Government both time and money. As such, the circumstances giving rise to the need for the extension of services through 18 April 2019 have been addressed by the Government and are not expected to recur prior to award of the new contract.