80NSSC18Q0511_JOFOC_Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER (NSSC)

Justification for Other than Full & Open Competition (JOFOC) FAR Subpart 13.5 (41 U.S.C 1901 or 41 U.S.C 1903)

(1) Agency and Contracting Activity

National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) Bldg. 1111, Jerry Hlass Rd.

Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

(2) Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved

Authority is requested to negotiate a firm-fixed price Purchase Order with Cullimore & Ring (C&R) to procure the Agency-wide licenses renewals of Thermal Desktop software modules, including Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, RadCAD, FloCAD, SinapsPlus, Thermal Adaptor for SpaceClaim and Mesh Generation for Space Claim.

This company is the only known source that can meet Agency requirements. The requirements will also include maintenance support for the existing C&R software modules, as well as additional Agency-wide maintenance licenses for Thermal Adaptor for SpaceClaim, and Mesh Generation for Space Claim. These products are C&R software modules and C&R is the only source that can meet Agency requirements. The Period of Performance will consist of a standalone one-year purchase order.

(3) A Description of the Supplies or Services (Including the Estimated Value)

Cullimore & Ring Technologies provides products and services in the areas of heat transfer and fluid system design and analysis. SINDA/FLUINT began with funding from Johnson Space Center, through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. C&R also created software codes that were the genesis for two of the company’s current front-end products, Thermal Desktop and RadCAD, using SBIR funding from Marshall Space Flight Center.

Cullimore & Ring offers products and solutions which assist thermal engineers in satisfying the niche of radiation analysis that this program provides and the Thermal Desktop software and associated modules.

Product Overview Describing Product Functionality:

• SINDA/FLUINT - The software is primarily used for thermal analysis, specifically targeting the demand for the design and analysis of thermal control and liquid propulsion systems.

• Thermal Desktop is a geometric, graphical-user interface (GUI) that enables concurrent engineering for thermal analysis by providing full access to CAD-based geometry, as well as data exchange to and from structural codes without compromising traditional thermal modeling practices.

• RadCAD is a CAD-based program which computes radiation exchange factors, view factors, for radiation-dominated systems such as cryogenic dewars and calculates terrestrial and extraterrestrial solar and infrared heat rates.

• FloCAD is a module for building and solving fluid submodels. With FloCAD, the mechanics of building fluid submodels is very similar to that of building thermal submodels, with many of the commands working on components of both types of submodels.

• SpaceClaim® enables Thermal Desktop users to import CAD parts and assemblies from virtually any CAD format simplify and heal the geometry, then send it to Thermal Desktop for meshing. New geometry can also be added using sketch-like Direct Modeling CAD technology, and the parts can be modified easily if the design changes.

• Mesh Generation for SpaceClaim provides more modeling power, including advanced meshing (e.g., quad elements, local mesh density controls, non-manifold geometry, merging and matching of multi-body assemblies) and thermal analysis preparations (including properties, radiation groupings, contact or heater regions, and post-mesh Thermal Desktop editing) that are automatically updated if the geometry changes.

The product offerings renewals have a total estimated contract value of for the procurement with a term of one year.

(4) Identification of the Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

Authority for the JOFOC is provided by 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5.

The authority found in FAR 13.5(a) authorizes the use of simplified procedures for the acquisition of supplies and services in amounts greater than the simplified acquisition threshold but not exceeding $7 million, including options, if the contracting officer reasonably expects, based on the nature of the supplies or services sought, and on market research, that offers will include only commercial items. Contracting officers may use any simplified acquisition procedure in this part, subject to any specific dollar amount limitation applicable to the particular procedure. The Contracting Officer for this action does expect that this procurement will only include commercial items. This JOFOC complies with the special documentation requirements of FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii).

(5) A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

This is the annual software maintenance renewal for existing products, services, and new products in the areas of heat transfer and fluid system design and analysis. This is the only thermal software in use at eleven NASA Centers including multiple licenses at AFRC, ARC, GRC, GSFC (WFF), JSC, KSC, LaRC, MSFC, SSC, and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). The following NASA projects leverage C&R products and services: Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, Launch Abort System (LAS), International Space Station (ISS), SAGE III, Mars Exploration Rover System, NASA Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and

Seasons (ASCENDS), NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Thermal engineers at NASA LaRC selected this software for use at LaRC approximately 18 years ago, based on the fact that many other NASA Centers were utilizing the product and that NASA originally contracted with Cullimore & Ring to develop the product. Several other software programs were evaluated by LaRC to satisfy the niche of radiation analysis that this program provides and the Thermal Desktop software and associated modules were the most successful. The consensus among NASA’s thermal engineers and scientists using this code across all Centers is that it is outstanding and that C&R provides exceptional, fast, and flexible customer support. As the only thermal software that is standard across all the major NASA Centers, it offers a unique capability for sharing information between Centers, and affords Centers’ the ability to make thermal work more compatible.

Cullimore & Ring developed the Thermal Desktop software and in collaboration with SpaceClaim Corporation, the two companies built a software module that links C&R Technologies’ products to Space Claim’s products. As such, C&R is the only company in industry that offers the unique ability to integrate with SpaceClaim’s software. Although SpaceClaim is available for purchase through multiple vendors, the ability to integrate SpaceClaim with C&R Thermal Desktop software is only available through C&R SpaceClaim module.

Additionally, SpaceClaim allows the thermal engineer to import CAD geometry directly into Thermal Desktop, remove defects, simplify it, mesh it, and manipulate it directly in the thermal model. The thermal engineer saves time by not having to remove defects (i.e., healing), and the geometry. Furthermore, due to embedded functionality, thermal engineers do not have to contend with interconnecting the functionality to an external tool, or snap thermal surfaces manually onto an existing geometry. Another advantage of using SpaceClaim with Thermal Desktop is that if geometry changes, the thermal analyst can simply update the portion of the file in SpaceClaim and all of the healing, simplifying and meshing operations are recalculated automatically, so the new portion of the geometry appears in the model with no manual work by the thermal engineer. This is the only software of this type that is able to integrate with Thermal Desktop in this seamless manner.

As the only thermal software that is standard across all the major NASA Centers, it offers a unique capability for sharing information between Centers, and affords Centers’ the ability to make the analysis and manipulation of thermal work more compatible with other software used by NASA engineers and scientists throughout the agency with Cullimore & Ring being the only source capable of providing this specific software.

(6) A Description of Efforts Made to Ensure That Offers are Solicited From as Many Potential Sources as is Practicable

This requirement will be synopsized on FEDBIZOPPS in accordance with FAR 5.201(b)(1)(i).

(7) Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government Will Be Fair and Reasonable

As NASA has historical contract information from previous awards with Cullimore & Ring for software licenses and maintenance, there are no anticipated issues that would circumvent a fair and reasonableness price determination. The Contracting Officer will determine price reasonableness during the proposal evaluation process prior to contract award, based on historical pricing/IGCE and commercial pricing, if available.

(8) Description of Market Research

The NSSC Enterprise License Management Team (ELMT) conducted a review of SEWP, GSA Advantage, and a targeted internet search using the specific titles of Cullimore & Ring’s Thermal Desktop, SINDA/FLUINT, RadCAD, FloCAD, SinapsPlus, Thermal Adaptor for SpaceClaim and Mesh Generation for Space Claim. This search yielded no results.

Additionally, Cullimore & Ring was contacted directly and confirmed that it does not have any authorized resellers capable of entering into an agreement with NASA to support our software requirements for this agreement.

(9) Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other than Full and Open Competition

In the event that the Agency is to select an alternative source for thermal modeling software to standardize on for the Agency, the change in publishers and software products would adversely impact NASA’s ability to meet its mission. NASA would have to redesign multiple systems, some of which are currently being utilized in space. The risk for mission failure due to an attempt to change software mid-mission for these programs is too high. Moreover, the cost to redesign and test those systems using a new modeling software package would be cost prohibitive, based on current budget constraints within NASA. Additionally, funding would be required to train the entire thermal engineer workforce on new software which would impact NASA’s ability to meet mission milestones and support needs. This would contribute to the effect on cost for the following mission projects if the Agency were to transition to an C&R alternative tool: NASA Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, NASA Launch Abort System (LAS), International Space Station (ISS), NASA SAGE III Mars Exploration Rover System, NASA Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), NASA Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS), NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), and the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

(10) A Listing of the Sources, If Any That Expressed, In Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition

There are other companies that develop software to perform thermal analysis, but there are no other companies authorized to maintain and support the change to C&R’s Thermal Desktop software and its associated modules sold by Cullimore & Ring. If any companies express interest in the procurement as a result of the synopsis discussed in paragraph 6, the Contracting Officer will address its interest and determine whether it can comply with the government’s requirements in the official contract file. At the present time, however, no other sources have expressed an interest in this acquisition.

(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

The Agency will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions before executing any subsequent contract action for the requirement herein. Due the nature of the expressed requirement, there are no known actions which the Agency may take to give consideration to other manufacturers for the requirements described herein.