Pointwise Sole Source JOFOC redact_Redacted.pdf

JOFOC-2020-005

1 | P a g e

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER (NSSC)

Justification for Other than Full & Open Competition (JOFOC) Authority: 41 U.S.C. 1901, as implemented by FAR 13.501(a)

(1) Agency and Contracting Activity

National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) Bldg. 1111, Jerry Hlass Road Stennis Space Center, MS 39529

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

The NASA Shared Service Center (NSSC) anticipates awarding a sole source agreement with Pointwise for a NASA Agency-wide Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) to purchase new software licenses, and continued software maintenance of Pointwise products and services.

This company is the only known source that can meet Agency requirements. Authority is requested to negotiate a firm-fixed price BPA IAW FAR 13.303 with Pointwise, to procure Agency-Wide licenses and maintenance for all Pointwise software. The baseline requirements will include maintenance support for the existing licenses. Furthermore, the BPA will also enable the Agency to procure additional software licenses for additional Pointwise products and services.

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

Pointwise software is the software solution that assists NASA engineers with solving problems associated with mesh generation for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The Pointwise software supports engineers in producing efficient CFD meshes through Pointwise’s flat and intuitive graphical interface. In addition, it provides shortcuts through the meshing process.

For example, a new automated assembly procedure builds three-dimensional volume grids from a jumble of grid components with greater adeptness. Pointwise’s usability is further enhanced by a multiple-level undo and redo capability with a user configurable number of levels.

Pointwise's meshing software, Gridgen, generates structured, unstructured, and hybrid meshes;

interfaces with ANSYS FLUENT, STAR-CD, ANSYS CFX and OpenFOAM as well as many neutral formats such as CFD General Notation System (CGNS); runs on Windows (Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)), Linux (Intel and AMD), and Mac; and has a scripting language that can automate CFD meshing.

Various departments and organizations throughout NASA require inherent capabilities and features found only in the Pointwise software to perform critical analyses needed to support NASA projects/programs. The inherent functionality of Pointwise currently installed and in use on multiple systems throughout NASA provides the interface and functionality to support various missions. Pointwise software is proprietary; therefore the continued maintenance of the existing Pointwise software licenses and codes are only authorized and provided by Pointwise, Inc.

In this new agreement, Pointwise shall provide maintenance, new licenses and updates for all Pointwise software in use at all NASA Centers. Furthermore, the publisher shall provide

2 | P a g e maintenance for any purchases of Pointwise software and associated modules currently in use at NASA centers.

The continued maintenance and increased product offerings have a total estimated contract value of with a period of performance consisting of a one-year base period and four one-year option periods. An escalation rate of each year was used due to that was the escalation rate that was used on the previous BPA pricing. New licenses purchased each year are estimated at of that year’s renewal costs to account for a small amount of growth of new licenses based on historical spending. The Government intends to issue this BPA with a ceiling in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901 for a slightly greater margin of error, to provide for any capacity for any unexpected growth in usage and to more easily administer this BPA. See the Government’s estimated cost in the table below:

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

Authority for the Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition is provided by 41 U.S.C. 1901, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, as implemented by FAR 13.501(a). This justification is based on Pointwise being the only responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. 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.

Pointwise software is currently in use at the various NASA Centers and is highly utilized at Langley Research Center (LaRC) in a wide variety of scientific and engineering calculations in support of Center/Agency missions and projects. Pointwise is currently used by NASA for symbolic manipulation as part of a methods development work in support of multiple missions.

NASA Researchers and Engineers have been using the software for over twenty years.

NASA leverages Pointwise software to produce multi-block structured numerical grids for use in CFD analyses to support design studies of aerospace vehicles. Complex structured grids conforming to the boundaries defining the vehicle geometry under study are required as input to several of the CFD flow solvers used at various NASA Centers. Grids need to be tailored to allow the flow solver to model the physics of the flow.

In a highly automated manner, Pointwise generates structured hexahedral grids, unstructured tetrahedral meshes, and hybrid meshes including prisms and pyramids. Pointwise is a unique software that integrates well into NASA Center’s design environment with its open access to Computer Aided Design (CAD) geometry, fault tolerant geometry utilization, Windows, Linux, Mac, and UNIX, portability, scriptability, and native interfaces to CFD solvers.

Pointwise software is used by NASA in its engineering analysis workflow to generate

Current Purchase Vehicle for Pointwise Products Cost Categories

FY19 Spend for Calculating Base Year

Base Year 12/1/2019 11/30/2020

Option Year 1 12/1/2020 11/30/2021

Option Year 2 12/1/2021 11/30/2022

Option Year 3 12/1/2022 11/30/2023

Option Year 4 12/1/2023 11/30/2024 Total

Pointwise Licenses/Support Pointwise New Licenses Totals

IGCE for Pointwise Products

Blanket Purchase Agreement

NNX14ME73Z

3 | P a g e advanced computational fluid dynamic (CFD) meshes. These meshes serve as the input and framework for CFD analyses which support rocket propulsion testing at Stennis Space Center

(SSC).

NASA technical personnel, led by LaRC, have looked into other software that provide similar capabilities to Pointwise but have found that Pointwise is currently the only software that can generate usable grids for the complex geometries that they deal with routinely. The technical personnel have asked other vendors to show how they can generate grids for all of their complex requirements and none except Pointwise have been able to do so.

This is software for new and existing applications being used by engineers and researchers throughout the Agency. Market research was conducted to identify available software tool vendors that can provide new licenses and annual maintenance renewal that entail the capability to rapidly generate high quality 2D (Surface) and 3D (Flowfield) meshes, supporting both structured and unstructured varieties. The market research identified Pointwise as the only source for the required software and no other vendor could meet the Government’s requirements. Market research throughout the commercial industry has shown that other products do not provide the intuitive ease of use that Pointwise offers under the hybrid mesh capability and others do not provide the capability at all. Pointwise is derived from Gridgen which was cited by the users as the best for hybrid mesh. Gridgen was a software which was funded by a collaboration of NASA and the Air Force. Partially because of this, a number of important independent codes (many of which were developed by NASA) have a relatively simple pipeline for data flow from Pointwise. Additionally, the body of Technical Subject Matter Experts currently maintaining these codes have substantial expertise in Pointwise, and can help navigate whatever intricacies or pitfalls that may be encountered during the analysis pursuit with Pointwise and the codes maintained by Pointwise Inc. (See Section 8, Description of Market Research, below for further information regarding market research performed.)

Pointwise, Inc. is the developer and manufacturer of Pointwise software. As copyright holder for the software, Pointwise, Inc., is the only vendor with access to the code capable of modifying, updating, and maintaining the software. Another vendor could not modify the software without express permission from Pointwise, Inc. As such; Pointwise, Inc. is the only authorized provider of the software maintenance and any new license request that can meet NASA’s unique requirements.

Acquiring alternatives to Pointwise software would involve the purchase and installation of other similar products to achieve the same basic capabilities. According to a NASA technical Point of Contact (POC), even if new grid generation software were to become available that is capable of reproducing what Pointwise can do, learning the new software would likely take multiple week-long training sessions and at least six months of use for users to reach a reasonable level of proficiency. Extensive training costs of switching to new software must be considered as well as the cost of the new software. Pointwise is similar if not better in cost per seat compared to commercial industry vendors with similar technology, so the real difference in terms of cost between Pointwise and another software, is the training that would be needed.

Training would run in the thousands per person for classes, and much more in the time spent becoming proficient with the new software as well as the delays it would cause to projects relying on these personnel to be productive. Ultimately, the lifecycle costs associated with switching to an alternative solution would be quickly increased due to the disruption of the scientific and engineering activities, costing the Agency more money. Any replacement would entail additional testing, training cost, along with implementation that would require adverse impact on labor and communication of research and analysis results in which there would not be any guarantee that an alternative could fulfill the NASA need.

4 | P a g e

(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 and posted on beta.SAM.gov in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(iii). Synopsis results will be included in the official contract file. Based on the authority cited in section 4, it is concluded that our minimum needs are only reasonably available from the selected source.

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

Before making award, the Contracting Officer will determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable based on one of the techniques identified in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 13.106-3 – Award Documentation. This procurement is for a commercial item. Thus, the price can be determined fair and reasonable based on a comparison of the established market price and historical pricing. NASA has historical contract information from previous awards with Pointwise 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.

(8) Description of Market Research

In accordance with FAR 8.002, market research was conducted to review mandatory sources such as the Mandatory Government Sources List with no availability. Due to being unable to satisfy the requirement from the mandatory sources listed in FAR 8.002 and 8.003, the NSSC Procurement Operations Branch additionally reviewed other non-mandatory sources. A review of GSA Advantage was performed and the requisite software maintenance and support is not available on GSA Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) contracts. A review of the NASA SEWP contract was conducted as well and it was determined that no other NASA SEWP vendor has the ability to provide NASA with a consolidated contract to provision new licenses and associated maintenance support for all of NASA. No other entity entails Pointwise’s extensive computational dynamics and software with this meshing capability. In addition to market research findings, Pointwise was contacted directly and they confirmed that Pointwise does not resell Pointwise software and maintenance products through third-party vendors.

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

Pointwise software is used by NASA to produce multi-block structured numerical grids for use in CFD analyses to support design studies of aerospace vehicles by scientific and engineering organizations within NASA. In the event the Agency has to select an alternative source to replace Pointwise software functionality in use throughout the Agency, the change in the solution would adversely impact NASA’s ability to meet various mission requirements. Some of the NASA Centers that support various Programs, and/or Projects that leverage the capabilities of Pointwise software that would be adversely impacted include: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC), Glenn Research Center (GRC), Johnson Space Center (JSC), Kennedy Space Center (KSC), LaRC, Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), and Stennis Space Center (SSC). The risk to those programs currently leveraging Pointwise software that is deployed within the field is too great. Moreover, the cost to redesign and test those systems using an alternative to Pointwise software would be unreasonable.

5 | P a g e

Acquiring alternatives to Pointwise software products would involve the purchase and installation of new product(s) and possibly a combination of several products from different vendors to achieve similar basic capability. The NASA technical users are always looking for better software to meet their requirements but so far Pointwise is the only software that fully fulfills the NASA requirement. To replace Pointwise, training cost and investment would be substantial, implementation and testing would require adverse impact on labor and communication of research and analysis results both within and outside of NASA would be negatively impacted.

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

There are other companies who develop mesh generation software, but there are no other companies who have authority to distribute, maintain, and support the source code which is proprietary to products that are sold by Pointwise. If any companies express interest in the procurement as a result of the synopsis discussed in paragraph 6, the Contracting Officer will address their interest and whether they can comply with the government’s requirements in the official contract file.

(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 to 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. It is anticipated that most acquisitions will be for future year maintenance for the currently procured Pointwise software but also some purchases of additional software to augment current instances of Pointwise software. However; the Agency will continue to assess the viability of alternative solutions prior to exercising options and when a new follow-on contract is contemplated.

Should a better solution be found, then it would be pursued for purchasing and bringing it into the work flow but would have to be a gradual process so as to avoid being too disruptive with the agency’s ongoing work.

6 | P a g e

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL CERTIFICATION

Robert Quinn Date Technical Representative

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

Justin Fraser Date

Date

ELMT Contracts Lead NASA Shared Services Center

CONCURRENCE

Mike Vicory Procurement Chief NASA Shared Services Center

COMPETITION ADVOCATE APPROVAL

Michael Sweigart Date Competition Advocate NASA Shared Services Center

ROBERT QUINN Digitally signed by ROBERT QUINN Date: 2019.11.20 07:13:07 -05'00' stttttttttttininiiininininiiininiii Fraser

11/25/19

Mike Vicory

20191204

MICHAEL SWEIGART

Digitally signed by MICHAEL

SWEIGART

Date: 2019.12.04 10:42:10 -06'00'