Sole Source Notice of Intent (This is a follow-up to Previous RFI/Sources Sought Notice for CADRG Maps/Charts Data Conversion

The below Notice of Intent is a follow-up to the original CADRG RFI/Sources Sought that was posted on 11/26/19, for which NGA did receive responses. These responses were reviewed, and after careful analysis, NGA intends to pursue the CADRG requirement on a sole source basis, as described below. NGA would like to thank the respondents to the RFI/Sources Sought -- we appreciate your time and effort. ******************************************************************************************** 1. Contracting Activity & Authority for Other Than Full & Open Competition The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Office of Contract Services (OCSW), 3200 S. Second Street, St. Louis MO 63118, intends to contract by other than full and open competition. This Notice of Intent sets forth the justification and approval for use of one of the exceptions to full and open competition under the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) of 1984. EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY CONSIDERATION: Pursuant to FAR Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B) for Orders Exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT). 2. NATURE OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION REQUESTED FOR APPROVAL The NGA Source Acquisition Services Office (SCP) proposes a follow-on contract action to the current Janus Program, CADRG, ECRG, Geo-Referenced PDF Contract, hereafter referred to as Janus CADRG. Foundation GEOINT (FG) Global Products & Services (GP&S) Janus CADRG currently includes Compressed ARC Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG), Enhanced Compressed Raster Graphics (ECRG), and Geo-referenced Portable Document Format (GeoPDF) digital file requirements under contract HM157517D0012 with Leidos, Inc., located in Reston, VA. The current contract, which was also procured on a sole source basis, will expire on 30 June 2020. The proposed acquisition is to issue a sole source, firm-fixed-price delivery order to Leidos against their Janus Geography ID/IQ contract HM157518D0019 (note: there is a total of 10 contract holders under the Janus Geography multiple-award contract suite). The delivery order will consist of a 1-year base and four 1-year option periods. 3. Description of Supplies or Services CADRG, ECRG, and GeoPDFs are the result of converting digital and hardcopy products (i.e., standard and non-standard maps & charts) to formats suitable for mission planning systems and moving map displays. These products are used with systems and applications requiring rapid display of a map image or manipulation of an image of a map in raster form. NGA is required to provide raster map data CADRG, ECRG, and GeoPDF to a wide variety of customers across the entire National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG). Additionally, the Janus CADRG follow-on will provide services designed to automate and streamline processes, whereby improving the delivery of NGA-formatted products to customers. The operational environment will require the contractor to be self-sufficient with respect to electronically harvesting source material in an increasingly cloud-based computing environment. The Contractor will be required to provide CADRG, ECRG, and Geo-Referenced PDF formatted data of global extent, at all possible levels of detail and scale that source material allows. Delivery of content will be digital and cloud-based. To an ever-increasing degree, the contractor is expected to expose content as services and interface directly with the distribution chain. The follow-on will be a five-year Indefinite Delivery Requirements contract for one base 1-year period and four optional 12-month periods. The proposed acquisition is to issue a sole source, firm-fixed-price delivery order to Leidos against their Janus Geography ID/IQ contract HM157518D0019 (note: there is a total of 10 contract holders under the Janus Geography multiple-award contract suite). The delivery order will consist of a 1-year base and four 1-year option periods. 4. IDENTIFICATION OF THE EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY AND THE SUPPORTING RATIONALE, INCLUDING A DEMONSTRATION THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR'S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF THE EXCEPTION CITED FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B)Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at a level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized. A. Interoperability. CADRG and ECRG production utilizes a software package called the Common Mapping Production System (CMPS), the only validated and approved system by the Joint Services for producing these products. The military services and international partners develop and design their navigational and planning systems around the charts produced in CADRG/ECRG format. While the CMPS software is government-owned and maintained by BAE, Leidos owns the hardware used to produce CADRG/ECRG through CMPS. Leidos is the only supplier that thoroughly understands the processes, tools, databases, schemas, coding, systems outputs, and information management associated with the chart processing in CADRG/ECRG format using CMPS. Leidos has developed and mastered the production capabilities for special products, expurgation/country-specific CD-ROMs and Digital Chart Update Manual (DCHUM) updates, whereby providing seamless integration into a multitude of processing environments used by global consumers. Another example of developed production capabilities for special products is Color Table Manipulation, a unique CMPS process to optimize the CADRG/ECRG production. Color Table Manipulation is a highly operator-interactive software used by Leidos for approximately 20 years, and consequently, Leidos has a deep understanding in utilizing this specific software package. If another supplier was to be selected, that supplier would be required to purchase their own hardware and its configuration must be identical to that currently being used by Leidos. Changes to the approved hardware configuration would necessitate additional software installation and configuration cost to the government, and would require revalidation of the products. B. Proprietary Software. Leidos uses its proprietary software, known as Raster Master, to produce uncompressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (ADRG)a necessary precursor to producing CADRG with CMPS. This production process has been vetted, approved, and utilized by the Joint Services for more 20 than years. No respondent to the 26 November 2019 Request for Information (RFI), except for Leidos, demonstrated that they have turn-key solution, the experience or capability to generate ADRG. Therefore, only Leidos is currently capable of performing the entire CADRG production workflow. C. Cost. Significant costs would be incurred in order for another vendor to reach the level of preparedness as Leidos to create CADRG and ECRG products that meet the specifications of the Joint Services. In order to bring on another supplier while preventing the mission from failing, the government would have to continue procuring Leidos services while also incurring the cost of equipment for the new supplier, purchase data rights of the Raster Master software (or pay for the development of equivalent software), and compliance testing of the supplier's products with the Joint Services. As the current hardware and equipment used to produce CADRG and ECRG is owned by Leidos, another supplier would need to procure their own hardware, which would then need to be configured identical to that currently being used by Leidos. The cost of such hardware and configuration would likely be priced into the contract with a different supplier than Leidos. Additionally and as mentioned earlier, the Raster Master software is propriety to Leidos, and is essential to the production of ADRG, a precursor to the production of CADRG. Another supplier would need to be provided Raster Master as Government Furnished Information (GFI), which would require the government to purchase Raster Master from Leidos prior to providing it as GFI. Alternatively, a supplier would need to develop similar software, which would require acceptance testing and accreditation with the Joint Services, a process that could last twelve months. In summary, only Leidos can fully perform the contract requirements without incurring additional costs. D. Risks/Impact of Mission Failure. This production process has been vetted and approved by the Joint Services for more 20 than years. No other software other than CMPS is approved as a part of that production process. Attempting to use another software solution would require up to 12 months for testing, and possibly acceptance, through the Joint Force Readiness Review (JFRR) and would further delay timely delivery, severely impacting Safety of Flight requirements. Any supplier other than Leidos would be required to provide their own source of ADRG production as input for CMPS, which would have to be tested and approved. Such process would run the risk of introducing interruptions or work stoppage(s). Only Leidos is capable to perform fully without unacceptable delays in NGA's critical support to the Safety of Flight mission. The technical nuances of this production process require expert knowledge of the source data, data layers, finishing practices, legibility, software constraints and reoccurring legacy issues. These nuances also include knowledge of the supporting military specification (MIL-specs) as they relate to CADRG/ECRG production, necessary file structures for dissemination to the user, and supporting databases containing years of cumulative updates. The CADRG/ECRG chart finishing formats and configuration with each product have been continuously enhanced by Leidos to incorporate specific FG production requirements over the past 20 years. ********************************************************************************************