JOFOC_TTTech_Redacted_Final.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA)

LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

Pursuant to 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304(c)(1) and Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) 6.302-1

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition with TTTech for the purchase of avionics hardware, software, and support for the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Avionics and Software Project

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

This is a sole-sourced award to TTTech to acquire avionics hardware, software, and support for the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Avionics and Software Project. This document seeks to justify the sole source award to TTTech.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value): This procurement is being requested by the A&S (Avionics and Software) team in order to provide avionics hardware, software, and support to the Gateway Program. This procurement requires systems and expertise in Time- Triggered Ethernet (TTE) technology. The estimated value of this procurement is $XXXX.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1) states: “The head of an agency may use procedures other than competitive procedures only when…the property or services needed by the agency are available from only one responsible source or only from a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the agency.” Under FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(A), it states: “Supplies may be deemed to be available only from the original source…when it is likely that award to any other source would result in…substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.” TTTech is the sole manufacturer of the TTE hardware and tools that are being purchased. Any other TTE hardware would negatively affect cost and schedule because A&S has already developed drivers specific to the TTTech TTE hardware and tools and the Government has incurred a high percentage of the certification, integration, and testing costs specific to TTTech TTE hardware and tools. If awarded to any other source, it would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5)&(9) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited and any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition such as:

Over the last several years, the A&S Project has successfully leveraged TTTech Time- Triggered Ethernet (TTE) hardware and tools to build a reference implementation of a Distributed Integrated Modular Avionics (DIMA) architecture to support future exploration missions. Additional TTTech hardware and tools are required to replicate the A&S architecture reference implementations chosen to be part of Gateway spacecraft modules.

Using the same hardware that has already been implemented is critical to minimizing development schedule and cost for the Gateway implementation. A&S has developed drivers specific to the TTTech TTE hardware and tools. The support requirement of this procurement (XX%) by TTTech are unique in that they are the experts of their own hardware, and software support offered by a different vendor would not be sufficient. If awarded to any other source, it would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

In addition, the Gateway implementation has to be ready to support a May 2024 launch date.

If awarded to any other vendor, it would require additional time to learn the new hardware, develop drivers, and space-qualify the hardware, at which point the delivery date would not be achievable.

a. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) (ii) – When 6.302-1 is cited for follow on acquisitions as described in 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii), an estimate of the cost to the Government that would be duplicated and how the estimate was derived: Previous TTE hardware driver development for the commercially available TTTech hardware within the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Avionics and Software Project required an estimated XXXX for development. It is estimated it would cost over XXXX for certification and over XXXX for integration and testing to space-qualify the hardware that would be needed to support the first Gateway mission and eventually other Gateway modules. TTTech and NASA have already incurred a high percentage of the requisite development, certification, integration and testing costs for the TTTech hardware and associated drivers, so these costs would not have to be repeated with the purchase of the TTTech hardware, but would need to be repeated with other TTE hardware.

5. 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:

Synopsis number 80JSC019Q0007 was publicized on the Government wide point of entry (GPE) website http://www.fedbizopps.gov from 3/1/2019 to 3/7/2019 with no response.

6. 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 price for the required TTTech avionics hardware, software, and support services was determined to be fair and reasonable based on comparison to historical prices. The proposed price for lab-grade hardware, software and support are in line with historical acquisitions. The space-qualified TTE hardware is similar to the lab-grade hardware and the NASA technical expert affirmed that the price differential for space-qualified hardware is reasonable based on historical costs to certify hardware on projects of similar complexity to the Gateway.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market survey conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market survey was not conducted: One vendor, Honeywell, has proprietary space-qualified TTE hardware, but no other vendors of open source, space-qualified hardware have been identified. Hardware meeting the open (non-proprietary) avionics architecture is the first step to competing this requirement in the future. Other vendors have TTE products, but are not space-qualified.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition: No sources responded to synopsis number 80JSC019Q0007 that was posted from 3/1/2019 to 3/7/2019.

9. 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: NASA is not aware of any other source that is interested in this work or is capable of performing this work at the specified price and time frame. NASA will continue to research and assess the marketplace for alternative sources. NASA will continue to compare its requirements with the available capabilities to determine industry’s ability to competitively fulfill the requirements.