20PJP041JAFINALRedacted.docx

J&A Number: 0233-20-010-00

IN REPLY REFER TO:

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER

PHILADELPHIA DIVISION

5001 SOUTH BROAD STREET

PHILADELPHIA PA 19112-1403

J&A Number: 0233-20-010-00 Code: 0233 P.R. Number: 1300868645

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

JUSTIFICATION

1. Contracting Activity

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD), Code 0233.

2. Description of Action Being Approved

Award of a Firm-Fixed-Price purchase order for Brand Name basis for Acromag VME Boards.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services

The procurement is for the purchase of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) for thirty-four (34) ACROMAG VME Boards P/N: ACR5429 and thirty-four (340) ACROMAG VME Boards P/N: ACR5430. These items are required for full operation of the DDG1000 MCS Controls and Automation Land Based Test Environment (LBTE) and across the entirety of the USS Zumwalt Class ships. This equipment will be used to perform technology refresh of the USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) Engineering Control System (ECS) Software-based Programmable Logic Controllers (SoftPLCs). The part numbers, quantities and estimated costs are as follows:

TOTAL

The total estimated cost of the equipment is $374,000. The following is a breakdown of the estimated funding amounts for this proposed contract action:

The Period of Performance (POP) for this effort will be sixteen (16) weeks after date of award. There are no option quantities or periods. The order will be fully funded using FY20 OMN Funds. The Government’s minimum needs have been verified by the certifying technical and requirements personnel.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2), a brand name acquisition under the authority of Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR Subpart 13.501(a).

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

PMS 500 has tasked NSWCPD to develop a replacement product for the existing General Micro Systems (GMS) board used on DDG 1000 class ships for the ECS. The ECS is a critical system of the DDG 1000 ship, and the ship would be unable to operate without this system fully functional. NSWCPD began executing this project in 2016, evaluating a number of products from a multitude of vendors including the original OEM GMS. The original board, which was not Acromag, became obsolete in 2017 and the current spare inventory is depleted.

By way of background, a critical requirement for these GMS boards was the ability to run the Siemens WinAC Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software and the existing DDG 1000 tactical ECS software with no changes to the software. The Siemens WinAC software is fairly dated. Engineering investigations by the ECS In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) found that there were a number of products which appeared to run the WinAC software, but under further testing and evaluation were not capable of meeting the communications requirements. This was due to WinAC only working with older Intel Network Interface Cards (NICs) that were no longer supported by Intel and/or available commercially on single board computers.

With support from Siemens the ISEA was able to identify the Intel NIC 82580EB chipset as a replacement option requiring minimal changes to the WinAC product line. This chipset was found on Acromag boards. NSWCPD contracted Siemens to provide the modifications to WinAC via N64498-17-P-5361. Siemens performed testing of the WinAC changes using the Acromag boards over a period of approximately 6 months successfully.

This testing was then performed by NSWCPD for a period of a year using DDG 1000 tactical software, the WinAC COTS product, and the Acromag boards. Originally, it was planned during this time that the team would also perform additional testing on other vendor boards that used the Intel 82580EB chipset. However, during that time the software development team identified a number of unexpected latent defects in the tactical software that required software changes. The team was able to resolve these defects when using the Acromag boards and successfully complete testing.

As such, only Acromag VME Boards are technically acceptable with the existing system. Additional testing would be required on competitive products in order to ensure that they would function, and this testing would take at least a year based on recent history. This testing would also cost an additional $100K per tested product on top of the approximately $500K currently spent in development and testing. Furthermore, at this time the Navy has a critical need to replace at least 1/3rd of the existing GMS boards currently used on the DDG 1000 class ships within the next 6 months. Failure to do so will result in Casualty Reports across the class rendering the ships inoperable. Thus, Acromag VME Boards are essential to the Government requirements thereby precluding products manufactured by another company.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable

The proposed acquisition was synopsized via beta.SAM.gov on 07 July 2020, in accordance with FAR Part 5.2. No responses were received by the closing date 17 July 2020 of the synopsis.

Market research was conducted through a survey and analysis of alternative equipment brands that are available in industry. The thorough analysis conducted reviewed the available brands to see if there were any possible alternatives. Additionally, several companies were surveyed to see if they would be able to provide a satisfactory solution. At this time no other brand name other than Acromag exists to satisfy the requirement.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs

The Contracting Officer will make a determination as to whether the costs to the Government for the supplies covered by this J&A are fair and reasonable, prior to award.

This purchase will be competed amongst certified, ACROMAG Brand resellers. In addition, significant quantities of this requirement have previously been purchased. Past cost/pricing data was received for these previous procurements and will also be utilized to provide sufficient fair and reasonable cost determination.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition

NSWCPD will continue to monitor the marketplace and identify potential sources of the supplies identified in this Justification. Any sources discovered that can potentially satisfy this specific procurement will be taken into account for any future requirements.

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION (FAR 6.303-2(b)):

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

TECHNICAL AND REQUIREMENTS COGNIZANCE:

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW (NMCARS 5206.303(90)):

I have determined that this justification is legally sufficient.

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION FAR 6.303-2(a)(12)

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

APPROVAL BLOCK (FAR 6.304 for Approving Official)

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve, as Contracting Officer, the solicitation of the proposed procurement described herein using other than full and open competition, pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901.

CONTRACTING OFFICER

Jillian Randazzo

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