1.27 LimitedSourceJustification_Global Lightning_FWC-N_FY24.pdf

Source Selection Information – See FAR 2.101 and 3.104

LSJ# 24-045

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION (above SAT)

1. Identification of Requiring Activity and Contracting Activity.

This is a Limited Source Justification. The requiring activity is the Fleet Weather Center, Norfolk; the contracting activity is the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP), Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Norfolk, Contracting Department.

2. Nature and description of contract action. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program (41 U.S.C. §152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. §501, Services for Executive Agencies). This is a limited source action to be awarded as a new Federal Supply Schedule order and/or modification of an existing order to the large business identified in paragraph 3 below. The placement of a firm, fixed price order is anticipated.

This procurement action supports the provision of Global Lightning Data Subscription services that are currently performed under Contract N0018919FQ050, which was awarded on a sole source basis to Vaisala, Inc., a large business. The existing contract expires on 23 March 2024. The action is considered a follow-on requirement.

3. Description of Required Supplies/Services. The proposed acquisition is intended to acquire a continuation of a turn-key, high-availability, satellite delivered, real-time, 24/7 global lightning data subscription to support ingest and data management capability in support of the Aviation, Maritime Safety, and Resource Protection missions performed by Fleet Weather Center-Norfolk (FWC-N), and in support of product delivery requirements to FWC-San Diego, CA and United States Marine Corps Regional Meteorology and Oceanography Centers located at Cherry Point, NC and Miramar, CA.

It is intended to acquire from Vaisala, Inc. a Global Lightning data subscription and maintenance for a base period of performance of 12 months followed by four 12-month options:

Base 3/24/24 - 3/23/25

OY1 3/24/25 - 3/23/26

OY2 3/24/26 - 3/23/27

OY3 3/24/27 - 3/23/28

OY4 3/24/28 - 3/23/29

The subscription includes:

• Global Lightning Data Subscription

• Maintenance Plan

a. Priority Technical Support

b. Extended Warranty Activity Module

c. Express Spare Part Delivery

The total estimated dollar amount in FY24 is $317,230.00. The total estimated dollar amount including the option periods is $1,669,600.58. The applicable North American Industrial Classification Code is 334519, Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing. This order must be in place no later than 24 March 2024 to avoid any disruption to receipt of data, which will represent an unacceptable risk to Naval Aviation, Surface Fleet, and worldwide Navy and Marine Corps installation resource protection and safety forecasting.

4. Identification of the Justification Rationale and/or Demonstration of Contractor’s Unique Qualifications to provide the required supply or service. The statutory authority which permits restricting consideration of schedule contractors to fewer than that required in FAR 8.405-1 or 8.405-2 is 41 U.S.C. §251, as implemented by FAR 8.405-6, Limiting Sources. The proposed requirement is to acquire Global Lightning data subscription and maintenance.

The justification for limiting sources is:

FAR 8.405-6(b)(1) – The item is peculiar to one manufacturer. (A brand name item, available on various schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer).

Initial market research has determined that only Vaisala, Inc. can provide the global lightning data that can meet the Government’s requirements to provide real-time lightning strike positions (including maritime environments), alerting and history worldwide, with a latency of less than one minute using a satellite delivery method. Only this brand name global data lightning subscription provides the global data by satellite transmission as broadcast delivery method. No other brand or company can provide data by this transmission method.

The following unique requirements must be met:

Lightning strikes can adversely affect Naval maritime and aviation mission operations and safety potentially and harming life worldwide. FWC-N requires a global lightning (GLN) data subscription that can provide real-time lightning strike positions (including maritime environments), alerting and history worldwide, with a latency of less than one minute for accurate and early detection and tracking of severe weather.

As an operational contingency during periods of Navy enterprise network outages and due to a latency requirement of one minute, the delivery method must be by satellite and independent of terrestrial telephone and IP networks.

Data delivered must be in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format to be used by other FWC-N applications and for ingesting, processing, and distribution of data to other government, commercial, and academic sources.

It is beneficial to the Navy to provide a 24/7 global lightning data subscription to provide ingest, data management, global lightning product creation and dissemination in support of the Aviation, Maritime Safety, and Resource Protection missions performed by FWC-N, and in support of product delivery requirements to FWC-San Diego, CA and United States Marine Corps Regional Meteorology and Oceanography Centers located at Cherry Point, NC and Miramar, CA.

Vaisala, Inc. is the only company that can meet the Government’s requirements to provide real-time lightning strike positions (including maritime environments), alerting and history worldwide, with a latency of less than one minute using a satellite delivery method. Open competition is not feasible because only Vaisala, Inc. provides the global data by satellite transmission as broadcast delivery method.

The previous provider, The Weather Company, no longer provides this product. No other company can provide data by this transmission method.

It is best use of command time, resources and funds to continue Vaisala, Inc.’s global lightning data subscription from the current contract to assure continuity of the data subscription, which is used for subsequent customized product creation. Vaisala, Inc. is exercising a current contract installed satellite hardware at the FWC-N and configured the hardware to receive a satellite delivered global lightning data subscription for option year 4 of Contract #N0018919FQ050. FWC-N is successfully receiving global lightning data through this Vaisala, Inc. contract. Continuing the current subscription provides a seamless data subscription without downtime. A switch to new satellite subscription will require new hardware, could be very costly and cause a delay in receipt of data.

The current contract ends on March 23, 2024 and must be renewed immediately following the end date.

The renewal of the data subscription will continue for one base year with a period of performance from March 24, 2024 through March 23, 2025 followed by four 12-month options.

Failure to approve this procurement will result in a disruption of mission critical meteorological and oceanographic services. The loss of these services will result in an immediate and unacceptable risk to naval aviation, navigation, and resource protection of fleet assets afloat and ashore. For example, the Navy would not be able to safely conduct forward naval operations involving fuel/ammunition handling without the ability to have lighting strike position data, which provides critical information about impending dangerous storms in the area.

5. Determination of the Best Value. The GSA has determined the prices of supplies of the schedule contracts to be fair and reasonable for the purpose of establishing the schedule contract. Per FAR 8.404(d) DEVIATION, GSA’s determination does not relieve the ordering activity Contracting Officer from the responsibility of making a determination of fair and reasonable pricing for individual orders. Therefore, ordering activities are responsible to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing for individual orders, BPAs, and orders under BPAs. The Contracting Officer will determine, using the procedures in FAR 15.404-1, that the prices are fair and reasonable and will document such determination with a level of detail commensurate with the complexity and circumstances of each order. By placing an order against a schedule contract, the ordering activity Contracting Officer concludes that the order represents the best value to the Government.

6. Description of market research among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted. The requiring activity and contracting activity have conducted market research among schedule holders. Market Research techniques included partnering with customers and industry experts and other knowledgeable individuals in Government and industry regarding market capabilities to meet requirements. Market research was conducted from November 10, 2023 to December 27, 2023.

Market Research was conducted and it was found that Vaisala, Inc. is the only vendor with the technical ability to satisfy the Navy Oceanography Operations Command’s (NOOC) requirement for satellite delivery of data with a latency of 1 minute or less. Vaisala, Inc. currently provides this subscription to FWC-N via order N0018919FQ050 issued by Fleet Logistics Center- Mechanicsburg on 15 March 2019, which has a base period of performance of 12 March 2019 to 11 March 2020, and four 12-month option years. The procurement of this requirement must be done in advance of 23 March 2024 to prevent a gap in global lightning data subscription coverage.

Based on current market research completed in December 2023, it is determined that only the Vaisala, Inc. data subscription can fully meet the Agency’s needs. Government market research revealed the required items are not available through a Department of Defense Enterprise Services Initiative Blanket

Purchase Agreement, or the National Aeronautics Space and Administration Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement Government Wide Acquisition Contract. The required Global Lightning Data Service is provided by Vaisala, Inc. under a GSA FSS.

This requirement is for proprietary products and/or product support and no competitor functional replacement products exist in the market at this time to meet the Government's need. The Government will continue to conduct market research to determine if there are changes in the market place that would enable future competitive actions.

The review was conducted on the results of recent market research undertaken to meet similar or identical requirements.

A Sources Sought (SS) Request for Quote (RFQ) was posted on the GSA eBuy website for widest dissemination on Schedule 66 to potential vendors that provide information relevant to agency acquisitions. The SS RFQ specifically stated the intent to solicit on a brand name basis given the previous market research. The SS RFQ stated that the Government’s determination was that only the Vaisala, Inc.

brand global data lightning subscription provides the global data by satellite transmission as broadcast delivery method. No other brand or company can provide data by this transmission method. The SS RFQ requested responses from industry on their best pricing available. The SS RFQ was posted on 11 December 2023 and closed on 18 December 2023.

Number of vendors contacted: 13 vendors were contacted, with only two vendors responding: Technical Communities, Inc. and Vaisala, Inc. Technical Communities, Inc. stated they do not sell these products, while Vaisala, Inc. provided the only quote.

Final list of potential suppliers: Vaisala, Inc. response number 110269-2. POC: Gary Frey, Vaisala, Inc., 720-304-4416, e-mail: gary.frey@vaisala.com

Summary of research

The following research actions took place: Reviewed DoD Multiple-Award Contract Vehicles and Other Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), specifically, a review of NASA SEWP and Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts did not find any companies who could fulfill all of the Government’s requirements. Searched GWAC site: https://www.gsa.gov/technology/technology-purchasing-programs/governmentwide-acquisition-contracts-gwacs. The requiring activity certifies that the requirement can be met by a commercial item and provides supporting documentation.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification. This procurement uses a GSA Schedule and will be solicited and awarded in accordance with FAR Subpart 8.4.

8. Actions the Agency may take to remove or overcome barriers to competition.

For the reasons set forth in Paragraph 4, the contracting activity has no plans at this time to compete future contracts for the types of supplies/services covered by this document. If another potential source emerges, NAVSUP FLC Norfolk will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.

9. Contracting Point of contact. The point of contact at Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, is Stuart Davis, Code 235.2, at 757-443-1444 or 757-619-3125 or by e-mail at stuart.b.davis.civ@us.navy.mil.

CERTIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL- LSJ #24-045

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance which are included in this Justification and its supporting acquisition planning documents, except as noted herein, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Technical/ Requirements Cognizance:

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW

I have determined this Justification is legally sufficient.

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I certify that this Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. To the extent that the Justification value is >$250K and <$750K, the Contracting Officer’s signature below also represents approval of the Justification.

CONTRACTING ACTIVITY COMPETITION ADVOCATE REVIEW

To the extent that the Justification value is >$750K and <$15M, the Competition Advocate’s signature below also represents approval of the Justification.