JOFOC_Redacted 80JSC020P0023.pdf

JOFOC xEMU Toggle Switches

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (JOFOC)

For Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit Toggle Switches

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) Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas.

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is for Johnson Space Center, 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 new acquisition of Class 3 hermetically sealed toggle switches from Sensata Technologies.

The anticipated delivery date is 12 months after authority to proceed.

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 Johnson Space Center (JSC) is currently working on an advanced space suit system called the Exploration Mobility Unit (xEMU). The xEMU will provide environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) 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.

The Exploration Portable Life Support System (xPLSS) is a major part of the xEMU, and provides the life support functions. It is located on the back of the space suit and contains many components needed to support life for 8 plus hours in the space environment. Control of the xPLSS is provided by the Display and Control Unit (DCU) located on the front of the suit. The DCU enables the astronaut to control all life support functions of the suit through the use of toggle switches and other mechanisms. The hermetically sealed toggle switches in the DCU are used to provide manual control of critical life support functions and are designed specifically to fit in the tightly packaged

DCU.

This procurement is for the Class 3 Design Verification Test (DVT) unit switches. This version of the switches is based on a previous design generated during the pre-DVT phase on contract

. The pre-DVT design will be updated to address opportunities for improvement in the design. This updated flight version of the switches will also incorporate any features needed to support the lunar mission given additional requirements from the xEMU Delta-System Requirements Review. This contract will also provide for the manufacture, testing, analysis, and delivery of xEMU DCU toggle switches and associated documentation. The scope of this contract includes updating the switch design to address issues/opportunities for improvement based on pre-DVT switch lessons learned, generating drawings and models of the updated design, manufacturing the switches, testing the switches, and performing various requirements verification activities.

The total cost for this effort is estimated to be $ .

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) which states, “supplies may be deemed to be available 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 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.”

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:

NASA has invested over a decade of time and tens of millions of dollars developing the performance and interface requirements that define the xEMU PLSS. Along the way, numerous iterations of hardware were developed to validate and refine these requirements/interfaces. Most recently, the xEMU project spent over $ developing and testing a pre-DVT toggle switch assembly with Sensata Technologies on contract . This switch design was heavily based on a similar design used during NASA’s Apollo program.

The xEMU project now needs to acquire more toggle switches for DVT testing. Because of Sensata’s previous work on previous programs, selecting another vendor for manufacturing of these switches would require duplicate effort well in excess of a $ . In addition, if another vendor were selected, there is no guarantee of technical success for this highly specialized and precise switch technology. Technical challenges encountered with a less familiar or less knowledgeable vendor would only add unnecessary risks. These switches were based on switches originally developed during the Apollo program, but were updated and customized to fit inside the highly constrained packaging of the DCU. Over the past 4 years, the DCU packaging has been developed and Sensata switches are the only known switches capable of meeting the interface/packaging requirements of the DCU in a timely manner.

This acquisition is to procure Class 3 non-spaceflight hermetically sealed toggle switches for xEMU DVT testing. Given the history of these switches on contract , their highly customized/specialized nature, and the fact that Sensata Technologies is the original equipment manufacturer, Sensata has unique qualifications to produce these switches.

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 25, 2020, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source contract to Sensata Technologies. 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 quote 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.

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:

Given that Sensata Technologies is the original equipment manufacturer for the switch design subject to this acquisition, the criticality of the xEMU human spaceflight application, and the highly specialized nature of this specific switch design, no other company has been identified that can meet NASA’s requirements. This is supported by the posted synopsis that yielded zero responses from industry.

A site-visit to Sensata Technologies was also performed during the pre-DVT switch development effort to evaluate their quality processes and the level of in-house manufacturing capability. This visit confirmed Sensata has extensive experience manufacturing aerospace quality switches for highly critical applications. A tour of Sensata’s facilities demonstrated adequate quality controls/measures to ensure production of xEMU PLSS switches.

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

In order to fulfil the agency’s requirement of providing space suits, the xEMU project requires DVT DCU switches for pre-qualification and certification testing. Acquiring these switches from any other company would create a direct and unacceptable delay in meeting NASA’s space suit requirements for the 2024 lunar mission. In addition, any other vendor would have to design, develop, qualify, and test the hardware, which would result in duplication of costs in excess of $ . Since Sensata is modifying an existing product, choosing another vendor would mean funding the development of an equivalent product for this application. This would require funding several engineers likely over multiple years to develop, test, and certify the product. The expected labor for this product would be several hundreds of thousands of dollars, not including material procurements. This still would not yield the level of confidence that exists in Sensata’s product due to their multiple decades of experience with their switch. Trying to match this level of confidence in the product would necessitate additional testing which is time consuming and would require extensive duplication of costs. Testing would be time consuming and require test set-ups that can also result in several hundreds of thousands of dollars in cost.

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).

A synopsis was posted to beta.sam.gov of February 25, 2020 and concluded on March 6, 2020. 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:

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.