SIGNED - 3. JOFOC _Redacted.pdf

Version 4.0

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

(AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901)

Requirements-24-3909

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), Acquisition and Grants Office, Eastern Acquisition Division, and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO), and National Ocean Service (NOS).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This is a sole source justification for a follow-on to contract 1305M220DNMAN0069 for a requirement to establish and Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Trimble Applanix, LLC (Applanix) for services and parts. It is planned to award a single IDIQ contract that will have a five-year ordering period under which firm-fixed-price task and delivery orders will be issued.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the total estimated value).

NOAA program offices rely on proprietary Applanix systems and support services to accomplish NOAA’s overall mission of hydrographic survey and aerial mapping and imaging. These systems include but are not limited to Global Navigations Satellite System (GNSS)- Inertial Navigation System (INS), Position and Orientation System for Airborne Vehicles (POS AV) and Marine Vessels (POS MV), Post-Processed CenterPoint RTX (PP-RTX) and Position and Orientation System Package (POSPac) Mobile Mapping Suite (MMS) Software. Applanix systems include equipment employed to observe, map, analyze, and photograph coastlines and other land masses for the purposes of hydrographic surveying, snowpack analysis and other weather-related functions.

NOAA utilizes the Applanix POS AV and POS MV respectively to provide georeferenced airborne sensor data utilized by NOAA Aircraft and deliver precise position, heading, attitude, heave and velocity data for NOAA ships and their remote sensing equipment. This also assists NOAA in tracking the position of its vessels and aircraft. The Applanix PP-RTX allows for highly precise post-processing of GNSS data without the need for a dedicated base station on-site which is critical for NOAA to operate aerially and in remote areas.

Rigorous use of this equipment during shipboard and airborne studies throughout NOAA causes the equipment to deteriorate and degrade, which can result in less accurate data collection. The instruments require performance assessment, testing, evaluation, repair, re-certification and calibration to maintain the accuracy of the data collected which will be attained through award of this ordering vehicle. These support services may only be provided by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Applanix.

The ordering period of the IDIQ contract will be July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2030. The estimated value in accordance with the Independent Government Estimate (IGE) is approximately

Requirements-24-3909

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

X 41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7.5M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

41 U.S.C. 1903, using SAP up to $15M for contingency operations as authorized by FAR 13.500(c) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited. The contracting officer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

Only one source is capable of providing the systems and services needed at the level of quality required because the systems are unique and highly specialized. No competing products or services currently achieve worldwide positional accuracies on par with those obtained with the post-processing implementation of Applanix PP-RTX on Applanix MMS software. The PP-RTX capability is unique to the Applanix systems and allows NOAA to operate without a base station in remote, high-latitude areas, a critical requirement for NOAA survey work in Alaska, other remote areas and aerially. Applanix, as the OEM, is the only provider capable of servicing their systems to maintain integrity and warranty.

It is necessary for all NOAA offices using systems for hydrographic and geospatial mapping and imaging to use the same software and hardware systems so that the information can be shared seamlessly within the organization.

Existing equipment, summarized in section 3, is designed to work within the Applanix portfolio of products and is deployed across NOAA platforms. For example, the GNSS INS is currently used on all NOAA hydrographic survey ships, launches, and small boats. The POSPac MMS software processes mission critical global positioning system data collected from the GNSS INS units to precisely position and orient NOAA survey platforms for hydrographic survey. The accuracy of the post-processed position and orientation information generated via POSPac software provides the highest quality data to be applied to nautical charts and is designed to exclusively work with the data recorded by the Applanix POS MV.

NOAA Aircraft Operation Center (AOC) aircraft rely on Applanix software and hardware for aerial imaging and mapping. AOC utilizes the POS AV, a hardware and software system specifically designed for direct georeferencing of airborne sensor data. By integrating precision GNSS with inertial technology, POS AV enables geospatial projects to be completed more efficiently, effectively, and economically and is compatible with technology NOAA uses such as aerial cameras, scanning lasers, imaging sensors and synthetic aperture radar.

As explained above, Applanix systems are already employed across NOAA. An effort to replace or integrate a different system would incur a cost estimated to exceed $1,500,000.00 and disrupt critical operations. For example, the NOS Office of Coast Survey and Coastal Survey Development Lab have developed tools and procedures that use Applanix POS MV systems and POSPac software that will not work with other systems without a complete overhaul of NOAA’s business processes. Conservatively, the cost of replacing the Applanix POS MV system with a comparable alternative would have a huge cost burden for the Coast Survey platforms alone; the lack of POSPac software licenses would prohibit Coast Survey from processing data delivered by the existing equipment. Additionally, redesigning these automated processes to accommodate a different system would require 3-6 months of software development and testing by 2-3 Coast Survey staff. The need for continuity and reliability of NOAA data products is paramount to mission success.

Applanix has affirmed that “Trimble Applanix equipment and services are proprietary in nature and subject to strict confidentiality obligations” and that “the use, disclosure, or dissemination of any Trimble Applanix technology, software, documentation, or related information without express written authorization from Trimble is prohibited” which limits repair services to Applanix (see Attachment I). It is necessary for NOAA to purchase systems directly from Applanix for standardization across the fleet and to ensure all warranty and maintenance services are maintained for these systems. The establishment of a sole source IDIQ contract with Applanix to provide systems and support services is in the best interest of the Government as it will improve the quality of data products and efficiency and reduce administrative costs while streamlining operations.

6. Description of 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 FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

A notice of intent to sole source was posted to SAM.gov website. The notice closed on 10/22/2024 at 4:00PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) and one response was received prior to the closing date and time of the announcement from BHPE, LLC. Their response was an email that failed to demonstrate their capability to meet the requirement or provide an alternative solution; it was not followed by any additional information. Further, BHPE, LLC is not authorized to work on Applanix systems and they are not an authorized distributor. A notice of award will be publicized on SAM.gov within 14 days after the contract award per FAR 13.501(a)(1)(iii). A copy of the redacted Justification will be included in the award posting.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii) “Comparison of the proposed price with prices found reasonable on previous purchases”, FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(iii) “Current price lists, catalogs, or advertisements” and FAR13.106-3(a)(2)(vi) “Comparison to an IGE”

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

A Notice of Intent to Sole Source was posted to SAM.gov. The notice closed on 10/22/2024 at 4:00PM EST and only one company, BHPE, LLC responded prior to the closing date and time of the announcement.

Applanix provided a letter (Attachment 1) stating its parts and repair services are proprietary in nature. While Applanix has some distributors, they cannot complete repairs of Applanix hardware and software; therefore, NOAA will need to contract directly with Applanix.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

All Supporting facts have been documented herein.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

BHPE, LLC was the only respondent to the Notice of Intent. Applanix is the only company capable of meeting the requirement.

11. A statement of the 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.

Due to the proprietary nature of Applanix hardware and software, the Government cannot overcome barriers to competition in regards to developing an IDIQ to support and upgrade the current systems that NOAA utilizes without replacing the entire Applanix system. Replacing the entire system for ships and aircraft would represent a significant additional cost to the government. The Government will continue to monitor the market and evaluate new technologies and new systems.