A.02.05 LSD DS Unwatering Pump 23-0006 Redacted.pdf

Control Number: 23-0006

BRAND NAME DETERMINATION

Far Subpart 13.106-1(b)

1. CONTRACTING AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Walla Walla District, McNary Lock and Dam project, 82790 Devore Road, Umatilla, OR 97882.

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: A brand name justification is being sought to provide commercial items, off the shelf, from distributors who can supply one (1) 50 HP HCP Pumps America P-10 Self Priming Pump.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICE: Approval is being requested for a new firm-fixed-price, brand name purchase order for the delivery of one (1) HCP Pumps America P-10 Self Priming Pump:

Quantity: One (1) Brand Name: HCP Pumps America Model Description: 10" suction lift pump, 1175GPM @ 82ft THD, Stainless Steel Impeller.

Model No. P-10

The estimated costs of this purchase .

4. AUTHORITY CITED:

a. FAR 13.106-1 (b) Soliciting from a single source. (1) For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand name, or industrial mobilization).

b. b. FAR 11.105-(a)(l): the particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Governments' requirements, and market research indicates other companies' similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency's need

5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED:

A. JUSTIFICATION: McNary Lock and Dam (McNary) has two unwatering pump locations in the navigation lock (navlock), one each at the downstream and upstream ends of the navlock. Each location is designed to unwater the associated lock fill/empty culverts. The culvert inverts are significantly below the centerline of the existing pump, causing an inability to maintain a prime in the existing centrifugal pumps as the water surface level approaches zero. A construction contract (W912EF20C0029) was completed in 2021 to upgrade the Upstream Unwatering Pump Room and address the issues discussed above. The unwatering pump was replaced with a self-priming pump with low net positive suction head requirements improving the projects’ ability to completely unwater the culverts.

The Government’s original intent was to have the above construction contract address both unwatering pump locations but they were separated during design due to funding constraints. The downstream location still requires the same upgrades. McNary requires a 50 horsepower, closed coupled, self-priming, pump with a capacity of 1175 gallons per minute at 82 feet total dynamic head and a net positive suction head required below 10 feet to upgrade the navlock’s downstream unwatering system. Furthermore, McNary requires the navigation unwatering pumps to be interchangeable in order to reduce the risk of extended navigation outages. The navigation unwatering pumps are a key piece to navlock unwatering and maintenance. Navlock outages are time critical events and any delay because of the unwatering systems limits the work that can be done and potentially changes outage’s schedule. Outages most be negotiated significantly in advance and be minimized in duration to prevent damage to the navigation industry.

Interchangeable equipment ensures McNary can maximize benefit of each outage thus maintaining safe and reliable operation of the navlock.

B. IMPACT: Failure to upgrade the downstream unwatering system will result in an inability to unwater the lock fill/empty culverts and perform necessary maintenance. Upgrading with non-brand name pumps will increase the complexity of the project, require more training, decrease efficiency of maintenance crews because of unfamiliarity, and require the procurement and warehousing of additional spare parts. The upstream pumps and downstream pumps are located at elevation 241 and elevation 232 respectively. The only access to either location is by stairs from the navlock deck, elevation 348, so the increased labor and subsequent down time from bringing the wrong set of spare parts from the warehouse are not inconsequential. McNary estimates the cost of a complete pump repair cartridge for these pumps will be more than .

Installation of a name brand pump will allow McNary to use the same repair cartridge for both pumps instead of having to stock one for each. Furthermore, there is generally 8-16 hours of training for each operator or maintenance worker who works with pump of this size and complexity. Training which McNary has already received for HCP Pumps America P-10 but would need to be done for any non-brand name alternative.

C. ALTERNATIVES: During construction contract W912EF20C0029 a variance was granted to reduce flow rate from 1200 GPM to 1175GPM because no pumps could be found that were closed coupled, physically fit in the space, and met all of the performance requirements without requiring additional control upgrades. The HCP Pumps America P-10 Self Priming Pump (P-10) was the closest either the Government or the Contractor could find, only missing the flow rate requirement by 25 GPM. This results in an increase in unwatering time, further increases are not acceptable. During market research only one other pump meeting the same requirements as the P-10 was found, . While the