SPECIAL NOTICE
70 -- Intent to Sole Source
- Notice Date
- 7/19/2013
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 511210
— Software Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Space Command, 21CONS (Bldg 350), 21st Contracting Squadron, 135 Dover Street, Suite 2225, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 80914-1055, United States
- ZIP Code
- 80914-1055
- Solicitation Number
- FA2517-13-R-9001
- Archive Date
- 8/6/2013
- Point of Contact
- Aaron Caraway, Phone: 719-556-6281, Zandra F. Hearn, Phone: 7195566398
- E-Mail Address
-
aaron.caraway@us.af.mil, zandra.hearn@us.af.mil
(aaron.caraway@us.af.mil, zandra.hearn@us.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- TITLE: FA2517-13-R-9001, Sole Source Acquisition for EDMSIM. The 21st Contracting Squadron, Peterson AFB, CO intends to award a sole source purchase order to Applied Training Solutions, LLC (ATS). The scope will be to purchase software for Emergency and Disaster Management Simulation (EDMSIM), to include: social media emulation in disaster response, and Certification and Accreditation of the associated upgraded software for release on Department of Defense (DOD) networks. Requirement: a) One (1) upgraded release of current EDMSIM to include social media emulation. b) Certification and Accreditation of software. The current EDMSIM software employed by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) J7 Joint Training and Exercise Directorate (N-NC/J7) is a proprietary product of C4i Consulting, who has proprietary rights to all EDMSIM software to include upgrades. C4i confirmed they only have one authorized US distributor who has the ability to sale or modify their software which is ATS. This purchase will be made under Simplified Acquisition Procedures and Other Than Full and Open Competition as authorized by FAR 13.501 Special Documentation Requirements, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract lies solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive requirement. The closing date for this synopsis is 22 Jul 13 at 3:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time. The anticipated award date is 31 Jul 13. For information regarding this purchase, please contact Zandra Hearn at (719) 556-7858/zandra.hearn@us.af.mil or SSgt Aaron Caraway at (719) 556-6281/aaron.caraway@us.af.mil. APPLICABILITY OF AUTHORITY: EDMSIM was evaluated against other available simulation software tools (such as Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation [JCATS]) in 2009 and selected for use by United States Army North (ARNORTH) in support of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Response Enterprise (CRE) training, certification, and confirmation exercises, as described in Resource Management Decision 700 (RMD 700). It has since been adapted for use by State National Guard forces for CBRN and DSCA training and exercises, and over the last four years substantive effort and expense (approx $2M ARNORTH training and exercise contract and $1.5M NGB training and exercise contract) has been devoted to refining the software to satisfy DOD requirements. Its widespread use for the military in the US has led to its proposed use by the Department of Homeland Security in the National Exercise Program, which includes substantial DOD participation. A more recent market study was conducted in December 2012 and concluded that EDMSIM continues to be the only software training solution that meets DOD's highly specialized CBRN and DSCA training requirements (which include to conduct small-to-large scale, organizational entity-based, national disaster scenario driven, training audience customizable, in exercise adjustable, realistic operational disaster management software). Applied Training Solutions, LLC (ATS) is the sole distributor of EDMSIM software in the US, and also has the capability and authority to change the software source code for US customers, including DOD. Over the last four years, DOD has used EDMSIM to train large-scale Defense CBRN Response Forces (5500 personnel), medium scale Homeland Response Forces (10 HRFs each consisting of 566 personnel) and CBRN Enhanced Response Force Packages (17 CERFPs each consisting of 167 personnel), and 54 State/Territory National Guard Joint Task Forces. EDMSIM scenarios and entity replication capabilities have been optimized for DOD training audiences, and exercise participants have been trained on and become familiar with the software. These unique characteristics of EDMSIM that are the result of sustained, exclusive use of the only software that continues to meet DOD training needs cannot be replicated by another source without a similar investment of time and effort over several years, during which time EDMSIM would need to remain the capable software of proven capability. Even if a viable competitor for EDMSIM existed today, DOD would require a prohibitively expensive investment in training exercise participants to use a new software application (at least one year and at least $3M, based on the previous experience with EDMSIM). This would also postpone Certification and Accreditation of the replacement software, delaying the transition to DOD networks for two years. During that delay, DOD would be forced to continue to maintain an inefficient and expensive standalone server and workstation architecture, which costs 1-2 days in cargo vans to transport to and from each exercise, lengthens each exercise at both ends to accommodate transportation, and requires setup and teardown at each site (as opposed to turnkey availability once installed on DOD networks). Therefore, this acquisition is necessary to continue to meet existing DOD CBRN and DSCA training requirements and to transition this highly DOD-optimized training software for use on DOD unclassified networks. Accordingly, ATS, the sole source for EDMSIM, is the only firm capable of performing the software upgrade and certification and accreditation of EDMSIM to meet DOD training requirements without experiencing unacceptable delay and cost. The duplication of cost is not expected to be recovered through full and open competition.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFSC/21CONSb365/FA2517-13-R-9001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: NORAD/NORTHCOM, Peterson AFB, Colorado, 80914, United States
- Zip Code: 80914
- Zip Code: 80914
- Record
- SN03122301-W 20130721/130719234910-13134ac8dc3f1cb6e24394b65b92377f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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