ADR Ampex JA_9Mar20 Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 1 of 6

NOTE: If a Justification and Approval was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved J&A for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant J&A. This applies to all J&A staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor J&A will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Is this a new or amended J&A Document? New Amended ( Prior to Award Only! )

Is this a Bridge Action as defined in the AF Bridge Action Reduction Plan? Yes No

Funding level for this acquisition: < $700K > $700K and < $13.5M > $13.5M and < $93M > $93M

Contracting Activity: AFTC/PZIE

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: FA2487-20-D-0004

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): Airborne Data Recorders

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): Other Contracting

Authority: 6.302-1 – 10 USC 2304(c)(1), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): $4,976,170.00 J&A Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

APPROVAL (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date

11 Mar 2020

Competition Advocate

KATHERINE B. HODGES

AFLCMC/PK OL EGLIN, (850) 882-0150

Signature

HODGES.KATHERINE.B.

1230368038

Digitally signed by

HODGES.KATHERINE.B.1230368038

Date: 2020.03.11 13:27:00 -05'00'

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I. Contracting Activity.

Air Force Material Command (AFMC), Air Force Test Center (AFTC), Specialized Contracting Branch (PZIE), Eglin AFB, FL is responsible for this proposed justification for other than full and open competition action.

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) Eglin AFB, FL is the lead agency for Airborne Data Recorders (ADR) and associated sub-components (hereafter referred to collectively as “equipment”) for AFTC and other Department of Defense (DoD) installations Continental United States/Outside Continental United States (CONUS/OCONUS). In order to meet this responsibility, AFTC has a requirement to maintain the existing inventory of equipment, procure spare equipment, and when specific test mission needs dictate, to modify or upgrade the hardware and/or firmware/software of equipment to ensure proper capture of test mission data. Additionally, AFTC requires engineering technical support to accomplish the modifications, upgrades, repair or refurbishment of equipment and to troubleshoot issues with the equipment. Due to schedule delays in acquisition programs for test aircraft intended to replace the current aging fleet (over 25 years old), the current fleet's life has been extended by at least an additional 10 years and has been targeted for multiple modernization programs to upgrade its capabilities. Extension of test aircraft service life requires recorder equipment life to be extended and upgraded as well. To meet this requirement, a new follow-on contract is necessary. The type of contract planned will be firm fixed price. AMPEX will provide ADR equipment and associated support for all respective test aircraft in the AFTC and other DoD CONUS agencies.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

The ADR units and components are critical elements of Flight Test Instrumentation systems that are installed in test aircraft and are used to support test missions within AFTC and other DoD installations across the CONUS. These units can interface a variety of aircraft systems and can be configured and integrated to meet specific project requirements. The ADRs primarily provide data acquisition and imaging (recording) for flight and ground test. These systems record data that is used to validate test systems to ensure that they meet design criteria, support weapons development and integration, as well as flight and test safety. The contract will have a five year basic ordering period. The total estimated value is $4,976,170.00. The contract line items will include the following: spares/support equipment, upgrades, repairs, on-site technical support, and travel. Funding appropriations will be comprised of, but not limited to, 3600 Air Force Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E), 3400 Air Force Operations & Maintenance, or 3080 Air Force Procurement funding in support of Air Combat Command Test and Evaluation (T&E). Below is the cost estimate by year.

Cost Estimate Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Total

It is reasonable to seek approval for more than one fiscal years requirement because this contract will allow for maximum economy and efficiency. Market prices are not expected to change significantly over the life of the contract. This structure allows stability with the eventual awardee and allows for the establishment of a long-term pricing arrangement to ensure continuity in the support provided to the Government. The contemplated contract is considered a supply contract.

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IV. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

In accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(B), supplies may be deemed to be available only 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 unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements.

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

When the various aircraft were originally developed, each aircraft prime contractor determined what its applicable ADR design would be, the specific functions of the ADR and who would supply it.

Each ADR is unique and specific to its aircraft platform. Then, the Government established its test infrastructure and facilities to be compatible with these various ADRs in order to ensure the integrity of the test mission data received from them. As the service life of the ADRs and associated items has extended out, the Government has determined that the most affordable and time efficient method for meeting mission needs is to maintain and upgrade the existing recorders vice replacing them with new and different recorders. Utilizing any other contractors' equipment would require the Air Force to re-accomplish all mission data requirements, change design interfaces between the new equipment and the test aircraft, test and qualify the new equipment and instrumentation systems, replace the recorder equipment throughout the entire test fleet and modify the supporting facilities.

Subsection 1

This acquisition is for highly specialized ADRs and associated sub-components and technical services.

These ADRs must fit and operate within military aircraft, ensure the security of the data captured and endure high stress environments. Because of this, their size, weight, physical interface compatibility, software and programming compatibility, unique data measurement requirements, analog parameters and modularity are unique characteristics that make them highly specialized. Additionally, AMPEX ADRs have been subjected to significant environmental testing as well as flight readiness reviews prior to installation. The services associated with this requirement are also highly specialized. The interfaces between the ADR, the aircraft, and the supporting facilities are unique, and the code and logic of the ADR software are sophisticated.

The previous contract award for ADRs was a sole source contract, #FA2487-15-D-0090, awarded on 1 April 2015 and will expire on 31 March 2020.

Therefore, this acquisition will be a follow-on contract for the continued production, maintenance and upgrade of highly specialized equipment, and the continued performance of associated highly specialized service.

Subsection 2

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Award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements. AMPEX is the only company that has the technical data and the personnel with the technical knowledge and expertise to produce, upgrade, modify and maintain these ADRs and associated sub-components. Another contractor would have to have access to the hardware and software technical data, which is proprietary to AMPEX. The Government does not have rights to this data and AMPEX is not willing to sell their rights.

Award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements. The total delay is estimated to be 5.5 years and is based on the following:

1. Development of system requirements/specifications (6 - 9 months);

2. Acquisition planning to solicitation release (9 months);

3. Source selection (9 months);

4. Production of test articles (6 - 9 months);

5. First article acceptance testing of equipment across all aircraft platforms (6 months);

6. Production of equipment and modification of supporting facilities/equipment (12 months);

and

7. Installation of ADRs into aircraft (12 months)

Subsection 3

Accordingly, AMPEX is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and services described in Section III above without the U.S. Air Force experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

A sources sought synopsis/notice of proposed contract action (NOCA) was posted on 3 December 2019 to Contract Opportunities on beta.sam.gov (formerly Federal Business Opportunities), notice ID FA2487-20-R-0004. The sources sought included a brief description of the ADR supplies and support services. The only response was from Ampex Data Systems Corporation.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer anticipates the cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The Government will use a traditional pricing approach to determine fair and reasonable pricing using price analysis in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b). As this is a commercial acquisition, it will not require certified cost or pricing data. However, the use of other than certified cost and pricing data will be utilized.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

As described in Paragraph VI, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 5 of 6 conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

AMPEX is the only company that can provide the necessary effort for the ADR, and subcomponents.

Market research has been completed to determine if there were other available sources capable of meeting our requirements, but none were identified. AMPEX owns all intellectual property rights to the model numbers on the current IDIQ pricelist and component/subassemblies. All of the listed components/subcomponents and associated firmware/software, logic code, designs and technical documentation were developed by AMPEX at their own expense, and they are not willing to sell proprietary data rights.

X. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

See paragraph VI.

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

Since the previous lDIQs were awarded the market has been continuously analyzed for opportunities for competition. Additionally, as stated in the previous J&As for the same requirement, the Air Force committed to monitoring the market for changes that might support future competitive acquisition and participated in the Central Test and Evaluation Investment Program (CTEIP). However, due to the nature of the contractor's owned proprietary information/data rights and lack of movement in such programs, no additional vendors have been found capable of competing for this acquisition based on the continued market research of the program office.

For example, market surveys were conducted at the International Telemetry Conference (ITEA) once a year in October over the last ten years and the Defense & Aerospace Test and Training (DA TT) every June over the last three years. Additionally. the program office teaches a course for industry at the Range Commander's Council (RCC) recorder and reproducer committee in efforts to solicit inputs and provide recommendations as to propagation of the IRID-106 Chapter 10 and 11. These efforts have yielded no new capabilities believed to be capable of meeting the requirements as outlined under these anticipated actions.

Secondly, although the program office continued to interact and research CTEIP efforts, research revealed that no additional opportunities for competition were created from the CTEIP network standards initiative that would be capable of replacing current systems. While the program office initially thought the program may yield ADR research for competition, the program to date has not provided any advancement of technology required for recording of existing or future avionics systems.

The only program of record generated from the program is the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) which has primarily focused on creating a telemetry network to replace traditional point-to-point telemetry links. Although the iNET program provides for a recorder, the recorder is constrained to network interfaces and ADR requirements have yet to be considered. The program is now testing a subset of requirements. However, the program, after 16 years is threatened to be

March 2018 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 6 of 6 canceled. Therefore, no new capabilities have been produced and it is unlikely that future efforts will yield desired results to promote competition.

This continued need for limited sources is driven by the extension of the life cycle of the current aircraft fleet (F-15 especially). Due to schedule delays in acquisition programs for test aircraft intended to replace the current aging fleet (over 25 years). The current fleet's life has been extended by at least an additional 10 years and has been targeted for multiple modernization programs to upgrade its capabilities. Requirements for new aircraft (F-35, B-21) have yet to be released. Once new requirements are established, future efforts will include the AFTC Instrumentation Recording and Replay System (AIRRS) IDIQ in hopes of expanding competition in the ADR environment.

Currently, the customer's program office has found that "doing more without more" has worked as efforts aim to upgrade existing technologies. The market will continue to be monitored for any possibility of changes. This in turn has driven the need to sustain current instrumentation systems for the test aircraft employed by AFTC for longer than originally intended. To deviate from current systems would incur significant delay to current modernization and life extension test programs impacting validation and employment of future warfighter capabilities for the fleet.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.