JOFOC xEMU LCVG - _Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA)

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER (JSC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

For the Exploration Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) Sub-Assembly Procurement

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-1(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) JSC, Houston, Texas. The procuring agency is NASA and the contracting activity is for JSC, Houston, Texas.

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 contract with Gibson & Barnes (G&B) for the xEMU LCVG sub-assembly in support of the xEMU Project.

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):

NASA’s JSC is currently working on an advanced space suit system called the xEMU. The xEMU will provide environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing Extravehicular Activities (EVA) in space. The Agency’s immediate plans are to use this suit for a demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and for the initial 2024 mission to the lunar surface. Internal teams at JSC have been working for years to support these missions by performing testing on components, refining the xEMU design to meet lunar requirements, and creating the infrastructure to certify the suits for space flight.

Future space suits must be able to reliably support missions in an environment with almost daily EVA space walks. The next generation space suit is being designed for simplicity, high reliability, on-orbit maintenance, and robustness while operating in adverse environmental conditions. Among the improvements is the evolution of a new dual-loop LCVG assembly.

An LCVG is a garment worn by the crewmember which contains small tubing, through which flows cold water from the life support system to aid in removing metabolic heat from the crewmember, preventing them from overheating. The xEMU LCVG will have two independent cooling loops as redundancy against potential leakage or failure.

The Crew and Thermal Systems Division’s xEMU Project Team requires this new LCVG sub-assembly for use in 1-g, the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, micro-gravity, and planetary EVA

JOFOC xEMU LCVG Sub-Assembly 2 operations. This design will be utilized in certification testing as well as flight operations of the xEMU for demonstration and lunar 2024 Suits. The xEMU LCVG will interface with the Exploration Primary Life Support System, and together, will help to ensure astronaut health and safety during operation on the ISS and Planetary operations due to enhanced cooling and redundancy over legacy designs.

This LCVG hardware delivery supports the xEMU Project during Qualification and Flight.

The estimated total value of the contract is Not-to-Exceed $700,000.

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)(2), as implemented by FAR 6.302- 1(a)(2)(ii)(A) and (B), which enables the use of other than full and open competition procedures in cases when the supplies or services required are deemed to be available from only one or a limited number of responsible source(s), and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

Supplies/Services may be deemed to be available only from the original source for the continued development and production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, including major components thereof, 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, or unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements.

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:

G&B has over 40-years of experience designing and fabricating flight suits, uniforms, and cooling garments. Its customers range from NASA, all branches of the United States (U. S.) armed forces, police, hospital, and agricultural helicopter pilots. It is the sole provider for cooling garments for servicemen and servicewomen of the U. S. Army and is the largest manufacturer of flight suits and helmets inside the U. S. It is also NASA’s selected vendor for the Orion launch and entry suit, liquid cooling garment, procured under NASA contract number 80NSSC19P1241.

G&B is currently the only company capable of delivering LCVGs for the xEMU qualification on schedule because it has already completed significant Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) on the design, patterning, tubing layout, and manufacturing of the xEMU dual-loop LCVG.

Market research was performed on another vendor (Vendor B below) but this vendor does not make a dual-loop LCVG nor has it completed any work on one.

This lead time would result in the xEMU project receiving garments no earlier than

(b) (4)

JOFOC xEMU LCVG Sub-Assembly 3

, well past xEMU qualification.

Its specialized fabrication processes and equipment that are specifically designed to make liquid cooling garments will allow for a vastly accelerated fabrication process compared to all other vendors, which will ensure that the xEMU project receives garments in time to integrate and conduct testing as part of xEMU qualification for flight.

As such, contracting with anyone other than G&B and the expertise that it brings, would significantly extend the current project schedule and ultimately affect the readiness of the pressure garment system to meet NASA’s mission milestones for the ISS and Artemis missions to the Lunar surface.

If another contractor were to perform the LCVG requirements there would be significant duplication of NRE costs and increase in schedule time required to fabricate flight versions of this LCVG sub-assembly.

The xEMU project requires an LCVG for the program to be successful, and the xEMU would be unable to fly without the LCVG, as it is considered a critical part of the space suit assembly. Without a dual-loop LCVG the program will not meet redundancy requirements, which will artificially limit how far astronauts can traverse on the Moon, affecting exploration objectives. The project would be at risk if these components cannot be obtained and included in hardware testing. Based on the Statement of Work requirements and deliverable schedule, there is no other single contractor source that could provide the required expertise on NASA’s unique prototype space suit systems and deliver them on schedule.

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 April 8, 2020, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to G&B. 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 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. The analysis may include comparison of proposed prices to historical prices paid for the same or similar items and comparison of proposed prices with prices obtained through market research for the same or similar items.

JOFOC xEMU LCVG Sub-Assembly 4

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:

In the effort to determine potential viable vendors, multiple market research methods were conducted. The xEMU Project Team members performing market research analysis have over 20-years of experience in this area and maintain current technical knowledge. The xEMU project team performed market research through participation in technical conferences (International Conference on Environmental Systems – the premier conference for technical interchange on EVA; and EVA Workshop – JSC EVA Office-led workshop to inform the community of NASA plans and technical needs and allow vendors to discuss hardware), review of NASA resources such as the NASA Technical Reports Server, historical purchases, communication with academia and industry, site visits, and internet searches. The results of the sources sought, and synopsis are below.

G&B has been working with NASA on xEMU LCVG design and development for more than a year and already has a preliminary design. A high-fidelity prototype is currently undergoing fabrication. NASA does not currently possess critical design expertise to manufacture these particular pieces of hardware. Sole sourcing the procurement of the xEMU LCVG garment sub-assemblies would allow the Exploration Pressure Garment Subsystem team to meet its schedule commitments and save the government considerable funding, which would be required to redevelop this hardware design, fabrication processes, and documentation that ensures the same level of performance, quality, and reliability that

JOFOC xEMU LCVG Sub-Assembly 5

G&B cooling garments have provided to the Department of Defense, NASA and civil helicopter pilots over the last 40-years.

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

None.

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) on April 8, 2020, and closed on April 17, 2020. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to G&B. No responses were received.

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:

NASA will continue to assess the LCVG industry capabilities and qualifications to see if it can satisfy the Government’s requirements. As opportunities to fulfill the new xEMU space suit requirements materialize, NASA will compare the government’s need with the qualifications available in the industry. The new requirements will be assessed pre-award for the industry’s ability to competitively fulfill the requirement.