015. 3D Printer JOFOC_Signed by All_Red__Redacted.pdf

Rev.:07/2022

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Marshall Space Flight Center

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

For a LAPMASTER INTERNATIONAL, LLC Admaflex 130

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is MSFC, located in Huntsville, Alabama.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award a sole-source contract with LAPMASTER INTERNATIONAL, LLC for the procurement of the Admaflex 130 metal and ceramic 3D printer for use in the SIBatt-3D Early Career Initiative project (ECI).

The SIBatt-3D ECI project was selected in September 2021 to develop in-space/on-surface 3D printing of sodium ion batteries from in-situ resource utilization materials. The SIBatt-3D project furthers several of NASA’s taxonomy areas for technological development (TX03 Aerospace Power and Storage, TX07 Exploration and Destination Systems, & TX12 Materials, Structures, Mechanical Systems and Manufacturing), and is traceable to NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Missions Directorate technology gaps 12-56 through 12-59 which focus on additive manufacturing using in-situ resources (i.e., Lunar and Martian regolith). The full list of NASA taxonomy areas of technological development can be found on the NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy’s website at https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/taxonomy/index.html.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The Government requires a 3D printer that has capabilities in all of the following areas to support the printing of novel electroactive materials and ceramics.

Area 1. Printing Ceramics: Capable of printing complex geometries with high resolution and fine details from highly viscous ceramic slurries and demonstrate success with no cracking with up to

10 mm wall thickness.

Area 2. Printing Metals: Capable of printing complex geometries with high resolution and fine details from metals and other heavy powders and demonstrate success with no cracking with up to 5 mm wall thickness.

Area 3. Small Quantities of Material: Efficient feedstock management that allows for re-use of excess material and requires less than 25cc of feedstock material to begin printing.

Area 4. Material Swapping: Allow for easy material switches without cross contamination and with low amounts of wasted material. Capable of switching from ceramic to metallic feed stock materials in less than 45 minutes, with minimal amount of wasted material.

Area 5. Viscous Materials: Able to successfully print highly viscous loaded ceramic slurries, metal slurries, and custom-made loaded resins.

Area 6. Sedimentation: Capable of 3D printing highly viscous material in a VAT or feedstock transport system that does not exceed 200μm depth of material to avoid sedimentation/settling of high-density materials loaded with metals and other heavy powders during the printing process.

Area 7. Resolution: Minimum XY resolution of l00μm pixel resolution and a minimum layer thickness of less than 50μm

Area 8. Realtime Monitoring: In-process quality monitoring of a variety of factors including temperature, humidity, and material usage that can issue warning and pause the print if problems are detected and allow defects in the final print to be traced.

Area 9. Custom Print Parameters: Have a Multi-Part Printing Software, which enables different printing parameters for each part within a single build job (light intensity and exposure time).

The estimated value of this procurement is and the required lead time for delivery is 8- 12 weeks.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)

(1) , as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements”.

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) is that LAPMASTER INTERNATIONAL, LLC is the only seller in the United States that sells this machine capable of meeting the Government’s requirements as further described below.

The Admaflex 130 is the only machine capable of supporting the SIBatt-3D ECI Project to enable the printing of novel electroactive materials and ceramics. The Admaflex 130 can print ceramics and metals and is specifically designed for materials loaded with heavy powders and to avoid sedimentation. The printer can also handle materials with higher viscosities than other 3D printers. To print the electroactive materials for the battery components the project is developing loaded resins for each component. Higher loading improves the electronic performance of the printed batteries.

The Admaflex130 is a completely open system that gives the user full control of the printing parameters and process which is essential when developing custom materials. The Admaflex 130 also has a unique system that allows for printing with much smaller amounts of materials than VAT printers which will allow the project to reduce costs while testing a variety of formulas leading to improved final materials.

The SIBatt-3D ECI project at NASA MSFC has been partnered with Youngstown State University (YSU) since its beginning. YSU’s role is to assist in developing the printing parameters and post processing steps to be used on the sodium-ion batteries. For the past 8 months YSU has been using the Admaflex system to print the battery components. Changing to a new machine at this stage would reduce printing capabilities for the project and would cause the project to lose 6-8 months of work leading to delays and additional costs to NASA.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (Sam.gov) was published on July 06, 2022 through July 20, 2022 in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to LAPMASTER INTERNATIONAL, LLC. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a price analysis will be performed using the techniques described in FAR 15.404-1(b). The price analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted:

The ES33 Space Systems program office conducted extensive online research on state-of-the-art ceramics and metal 3D printers prior to submitting the SIBatt-3D ECI project proposal in 2021.

The Government has confirmed that the market research is still current/valid. While there are many options for 3D printing metals or ceramics, the research indicated that there are no other machines capable of printing both metals and ceramics as the Admaflex 130 machine can, while still meeting the remainder of the Government’s capability requirements as described in Section

3. Alternative printer options may be capable of printing both metals and ceramics from loaded resins, however, they use a vat of material instead of the Admaflex 130’s conveyor belt method, which leads to sedimentation and light scattering when printing highly loaded resins and wasted material. Since the project goal is to print custom developed highly viscous loaded resins, the Admaflex 130 is the only printer that can meet the Government’s needs based on market research. The Admaflex 130 has the added benefits of being faster and less wasteful than many printers that can print both metals and ceramics. By using direct light processing technology (DLP), the entire layer is cured at once instead of each pixel being traced by a laser as is the case for stereolithography (SLA) printers. Depending on the size and density of the print DLP can greatly reduce print times compared to SLA. Avoiding waste is a huge benefit to the project, as it allows the Government to save funding by only having to procure and/or produce the precise amount of material needed instead of enough for a full vat.

Youngstown State University (YSU), who MSFC partners with on this project, currently owns an Admaflex 130. The ES33 Space Systems program office has discussed the machines benefits and drawbacks with YSU’s , a specialist in printed ceramics and post processing techniques. Based on these discussions and the market research described above, the project office is confident that the identified machine will meet all project requirements as identified in Section 3.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

Purchase of the Admaflex 130 was included in the original SIBatt-3D project proposal which was reviewed by Space Technology Mission Directorate management at NASA MSFC and NASA HQ when the proposal was chosen for funding. Use of a machine with capabilities as described in Section 3 is critical to successful completion of the project.

A partner on the SIBatt-3D early career initiative project, YSU, has been working since October 2021 on printing custom resins using the Admaflex 130 system. YSU has successfully printed the negative electrode materials and have nearly completed work on the positive electrode prints using the Admaflex 130. This work has been successful because the Admaflex 130 meets all of the previously identified capability areas for 3D printing under the project. If MSFC does not procure its own Admaflex 130, MSFC will need to outsource all future prints to YSU for the remainder of the project and any follow-on work, leading to the SIBatt-3D project requiring additional funds to pay for the added work being completed at YSU the remainder of FY22 and

FY23.

Procuring a different machine, with lesser capabilities, at this stage would require NASA MSFC to redo much of the work that has already been completed over the past 8 months, leading to significant delays as the project reworks the printing methods for the battery electrodes materials. Taking this approach will likely prevent the project from being completed within its two-year timeframe.

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (Sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). The posting opened on July 06, 2022 and was closed on July 20, 2022. The Government received one response to the posting from

The technical point of contact for this action reviewed the response to determine if the offered solution demonstrated capabilities in the areas described in Section 3 of this document. The technical evaluator determined that the solution, a was unable to provide capability in 4 areas of the 9 identified.

As summarized below:

Area 1- The printer has never been used to print ceramics so it may not be capable to print ceramics, and it cannot print from slurries only meltable powders.

Area 3- Information from suggested use of 1 kg of metal powder however NASA intends to use batches with closer to 10g-25g of active material or about 25cc by volume.

Area 5 and 6- NASA requires the machine to print slurries/loaded resins not powders like the does.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

The Agency will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements. As 3D printing technology continues to progress, alternative solutions to this requirement will likely become available which will allow for more competition on future acquisitions.

Lapmaster International, LLC Admaflex 130 3D Printer

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIGNATURE PAGE

I certify that the facts presented in this justification are accurate and complete.

Cameroun Sherrard

Technical Representative

I hereby certify that the above justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Hervie. B Williford

Contracting Officer