J&A Number: 17-10166 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1. Contracting Activity. The Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC), Fort Detrick, MD is the contracting activity. The requiring activity is the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL), located at the Naval Submarine Base New London, Box 900, Groton, CT 06349-5900. 2. Description of the Action Being Approved. The contract action being approved is an award for a cost-plus-fixed-fee (CPFF) bridge contract, on a sole source basis, in order to provide research and development support services for the purposes of NSMRL research efforts. The proposed source is Leidos, Inc. (Cage: 5UTE2) (incumbent under the current contract: N62645-12-C-4075). Leidos, Inc. is located at 11951 Freedom Dr., Reston, VA, 20190-5640. 3. Description of Supplies/Services. This requirement is for research support services to be provided at NSMRL, located in Groton, CT. The research conducted at NSMRL provides human-centric research solutions, aligned with Submarine Force strategic direction, to sustain superiority in the undersea domain. This requirement requires research and development investigations of medical, psychological, physiological, and other issues associated with the health and performance of naval personnel in operational and non-operational settings. The base period of performance (POP) is 01 September 2017 to 28 February 2018 (6 months). There will be three (3) additional one-month option periods as follows: option period one will have a POP of 01 March 2018 to 31 March 2018, option period two will have a POP of 01 April 2018 to 30 April 2018, and option period three will have a POP of 01 May 2018 to 31 May 2018. The entire contract action results in a potential total of 9 months of performance (if all options are exercised). The estimated total contract value of this contract action (if all options are exercised) is $3,929,115.00, which will be funded incrementally. The type of funds being utilized are Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds for Fiscal Years (FY) 2017 and 2018. 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), One source. (FAR 6.302-1) 5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority. Contract N62645-12-C-4075 was awarded through full and open competition to Leidos, Inc. N62645-12-C-4075 currently provides research support services at NSMRL. N62645-12-C-4075 has a total contract value of over $22 million dollars and has a period of performance end date of 31 August 2017. The follow on contract to N62645-12-C-4075 must start providing services by 01 September 2017 to prevent a detrimental break in services. The published NMLC Published Action Lead Time (PALT) for service contracts under $50 million dollars is 182 days. The 182 day timeline is after the receipt of a complete requirements package. A complete requirements package consists of a Performance Work Statement (PWS) with a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP), Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and a Market Research Memorandum (MRM). Furthermore service requirements, due to their nature, require up to a thirty day start up time (after award of the contract, but before the start of performance) to allow for completion of a background check, verification of candidates' security clearance level (Secret and Top Secret) and issuance of a Common Access Cards (CAC). The PALT date for this requirement is 182 days to contract award (after receipt of a complete package) and in order to account for the 30 day start up period, a contract award date of 2 August 2017 is required. To meet the required contract award date of August 2, 2017, a complete requirements package must have been received by NMLC by 01 February 2017. To this end, NMLC initially reached out to NSMRL on 17 November 2016 to request the requirements package. Frequent follow ups were made until the PWS (minus the QASP) and IGCE were received on 07 February 2017. The QASP and MRM were received from NSMRL on 06 March 2017. Ongoing revisions to the PWS and DD254 were not finalized until 05 April 2017. In addition, due to ongoing vacancies in Contract Operations Division (COD) 54 at NMLC (exacerbated by the hiring freeze), COD 54 has been significantly understaffed. The workload has remained at a level consistent with past years when COD 54 was fully staffed. Due to the delay in receiving a complete requirements package from the customer, the revisions that were required once NMLC had received a requirements package and vacancies in COD 54, NMLC will be unable to award this contract in time to prevent a break in services. The services provided under N62645-12-C-4075 and the proposed bridge contract is the primary research support at NSMRL. Failure to complete this bridge contact will cause a detrimental break in services to the vital research efforts conducted by NSMRL. This research is not only critical to the mission of NSMRL and the entire Naval Submarine Force, but to the mission of the United States Department of the Navy as a whole. A sound business case analysis of the present facts cannot support risking the vital research conducted by NSMRL by allowing a break in services. Leidos retains the key personnel from the legacy contract. Leidos is the only company that has the capability, the resources, and the expertise to provide these critical services in time to prevent a costly break in critical R&D support services. 6. Description of Effo1i s Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable. The proposedcontract will be synopsized on the Fed.BizOpps we bsite fo r the req uir ed pe ri od o f five days for the Sole Source Notice and fifteen days for Notice of Intent to Sole Source. If another company submits a written interest as a result of the synopsis, the company's capability to provide the required services will be evaluated before the contract with Leidos, Inc. 1s awarded. 7. Detennination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. The Contracting Officer will pe1fo1ma cost analysis in order to detennine that the anticipated cost to the Government of the services covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable. 8. Actions to Remove Ban iers to Future Competition. The requirement for a NSMRL bridge contract is a one-time requirement. This six-month (plus 3 option months) bridge contract allows for the time necessaiy to fully compete a full five-year (60 month) vehicle for the necessa1y research suppo1i services. This bridge action is being used as a tempora1y means of preventing a gap in critical services to NSMRL while simultaneously allowing the time needed in order for effective, full and open competition to occur.
