10.12 Redacted FINAL JOFOC CMC.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For 80GSFC21R0022 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Project

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) Goddard Space Flight Center

(GSFC):

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is Goddard Space Flight Center.

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 Firm Fixed Price, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (FFP/IDIQ) contract to CIMEL Electronique in support of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) project. This procurement is a follow-on to NNG16HQ02C that ends on September 27, 2021.

NASA owns and/or manages over 600 CIMEL Sun-Sky Scanning sun photometers as part of NASA’s Earth Science Aerosol Validation Program called AERONET. The program is part of a Federated Global Network of identical instruments designed to measure aerosol properties from land and ocean sites. In order to ensure compatibility within the network, any additional instruments must be identical in optical characteristics, measurement protocol, data acquisition and field hardness. This JOFOC is for the acquisition of several models of the CIMEL 318 family of sun photometers, and parts necessary for the repair, upkeep, and upgrade of the sun photometers.

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 anticipated follow-on contract will have an ordering period of five (5) years, with an estimated maximum ordering value of $9,900,000. The hardware listed below provides examples of the types of orders that will be purchased as need arises during the course of the contract.

There are six 318-T models of the sun/sky scanning sun and lunar spectral photometer that serve as the backbone of the AERONET measurement suite and provide the functional hardware of the AERONET project. It has a broad spectral range from the UV to the short-wave infrared. It incorporates the 24-bit digital electronics, and its components are compatible with earlier models of the CE318 including the robots.

The following components will also be critical pieces to the AERONET project:

- Advanced CE-318T Control box – will have programmable capability, advanced instrument control including micro stepping robot control, advanced communications options and large memory capacity.

- CE318 Robots – includes sensor head cables, collimators, control box components such as integrated circuits, PC controller cards, and sensor head canisters and modular IC control cards and filter wheels.

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

Additionally, FAR 6.302-1(a)(ii)(A) provides that supplies may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, including major components, thereof, when it is likely to award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

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) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, is that there is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements as described below.

AERONET is an internationally federated network of sun photometers that has grown from 6 instruments in 1993 to approximately 525 instruments today. It has grown due to the standardization on all aspects of the program. This includes data processing, data measurement protocols, calibration procedures and scientific equipment used. With respect to the latter, one fundamental radiometer produced by CIMEL Electronique, the CE318, has been the only instrument used in and designed to the specific requirements of the AERONET program.

As demonstrated by the shadow band network and satellite remote sensing in general, prompt delivery of the data for analysis is fundamental for obtaining a comprehensive, continuous database and allows assessment of the collecting instruments health and calibration. In order to achieve this goal, minimize costs and expand the coverage globally, the project uses simple and inexpensive Data Collection System (DCS) operating on the geosyncronous GOES, METEOSAT and GMS satellites providing nearly global coverage in near real-time at minimal expense.

With well over 100 sites the sun photometer must be able to consistently transmit data under a wide variation of climate conditions. Because this is a global network, the instrumentation must be able to withstand harsh weather conditions and still be able to transmit data reliably.

In addition to the requirement to withstand climate, the instrumentation should be portable and easy to install in the field. This ease of use greatly reduces the cost of labor enabling less skilled site managers and employees to be able to set up the equipment to begin data collection. Because of the remote locations and inconsistent availability of power to the photometers, the instrumentation should have low power requirements. The CIMEL 318 family of sun photometer operates on 5watt solar panels. Due to the magnitude of this global network and the almost constant flux of instruments being calibrated and shipped out to sites, the instrumentation should be light. The CE318 family meets this requirement by weighing in at less than 20kg, allowing for ease of shipping and reduction of cost for freight. The CE318 suite of photometers are the only photometers that meet the requirements of functionality, science and operations of NASA’s AERONET program.

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 (beta.sam.gov) was published on February 26, 2021 in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to CIMEL Electronique. 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 proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable.

Upon receipt of the CIMEL Electronique proposal the Contracting Officer’s Representative and the Contracting Officer will conduct a thorough proposal analysis to determine if the proposed costs are fair and reasonable. The analysis shall include the processes outlined in FAR 15.404-1, the comparison of the proposed prices to historical prices paid, by the Government, for the same or similar items as well as the comparison of proposed prices with independent Government cost estimates. NASA’s GSFC Contracting Officer and the Contracting Officer’s Representative will monitor CIMEL Electronique’s performance and deliverables.

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

Market research consisted of thorough internet investigation and interview of several peers in the field, as well as the project scientist. The results of the market research were that no other commercial product could be identified that met the needs of the AERONET project.

The criteria of the research was as follows: (1) the ability to transmit data via cellular and internet consistently in various climate settings, (2) the ability to program and scope automated sun and sky-canning measurement capabilities, (3) integration with and the ability to use the required set of optical filters, (4) the ability to collect and transmit data via the Data Collection System (DCS), and (5) the ability to consistently calibrate and work seamlessly with the required correctional sphere and quality assurance calibrated instruments here at GSFC; combined with portability, ease of use and cost.

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

FAR 6.303-2(b)(9)(i): The precision of the instrument is defined by its ability to accurately reproduce results from multiple measurements under constant conditions using standardized techniques. Three methods will be used to assess the radiometric precision: (1) the variability of the digital numbers from the spectral response acquired from the two meter diameter integrating sphere at Goddard Space Flight Center which is used to determine the gain and offset calibrations of the sky radiance channels, (2) examination of dark current values taken during each sky radiance measurement, and (3) the triplet variability of digital numbers taken from Maun Loa Observatory Langley observations used to evaluate the sun channels. All instruments are routinely calibrated with GSFC’s two meter integrating sphere at least once per year and the reference instruments are calibrated approximately monthly.

As a result of the equipment standardization, the entire AERONET infrastructure, lab maintenance, website organization and staff and global site manager knowledge base are developed around the CE318. The components or parts from the CE318 come from various vendors and have been designed specifically, for NASA GSFC. The CE318 is designed to the AERONET specifications made 30 years ago. No other vendor provides the unique characteristics of the Cimel CE318 necessary to produce the unique data that AERONET provides to the community. Changing equipment would not adequately support the technical performance requirements of the program. The amount of labor, equipment purchases, travel, software testing and calibration to attempt to introduce or modify less capable sun photometers would be astronomical.

Acquisition from a source other than Cimel Electronique will result in a substantial duplication of cost related to parallel operations. For any contractor other than Cimel Electronique, a bridge contract would need to be put in place with the existing contract to overlap current operations with the potential new vendor and execute parallel operations while the new vendor becomes proficient with AERONET mission operations, instrument maintenance and calibration, software engineering support, international site manager training, data validation and ground system modifications. Parallel or dual operations for a 2 to 4 year overlap would result in significant additional costs to the Government (AERONET operations team estimated to cost $2M per year for the NASA program and massive disruption to the international collaborative partnership). The award of a contract to Cimel Electronique eliminates the technical risk and cost associated with parallel operations.

In addition, acquisition from a source other than Cimel Electronique would result in the need to establish a new maintenance and calibration protocol at GSFC as well as tools to support the operations (estimated cost of $1.2M). This includes test hardware and software (including analysis tools) and engineering models. The AERONET analysis tools were developed by NASA for instrument assessment to support integration calibration, and development of mission operations. Cimel Electronique is therefore in a unique position to utilize the already existing ground components to provide equipment that is fully compatible with legacy instruments and the firmware and data analysis software to provide the necessary measurements needed for a seamless continuation of the NASA AERONET aerosol mission.

Therefore, CIMEL Electronique is the only reliable source.

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 (beta.sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). The Synopsis was posted on February 26, 2021 and closed on March 15, 2021.

On March 1, 2021, Jason Collier, Contracts Manager with Allied Solutions Enterprises submitted a request to receive the specifications. An Amendment to the notice was completed to provide the Statement of Work and Specifications. On March 16th and 17th of 2021, the Contract Specialist called and emailed Mr. Collier to follow-up and inquire if there was any intent or interest in the follow-on procurement. No response was received by email or call to reflect that there was any intent or interest.

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:

At this time CIMEL Electronique is the only known source with the necessary expertise and capability that meets the Government’s requirements. However, 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.