Appliances - Brand Name Justification_Redacted.pdf

for

Contracting Activity.

The contracting activity is 764th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (ESS), Unit 3187, APO AE 09094-3187, Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany.

Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

The United States Air Force in Europe (USAFE) Air Force Installation & Mission Support Center (AFIMSC) Det 4 has a brand name requirement to procure European commercial household appliances from a limited selection of manufacturers (see attachment 1 titled: Atch 1 to JA Brand List 14 May 20) to support U.S. locations in Germany, United Kingdom (U.K.), and in Italy for an ordering period of 10 years after award. This Class J&A will support multiple Firm- Fixed Price Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA) for each country.

Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) at 10 USC 2304(c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2) and required by FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) states when supplies or services needed by the agency are available from a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for. Per FAR 6.302-1(c)(1)(i) and (ii) an acquisition or portion of an acquisition that uses a brand-name description to specify a particular brand-name, product, or feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer does not provide for full and open competition, regardless of the number of sources solicited and shall be justified and approved in accordance with FAR 6.303 and 6.304.

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

This brand name exception to the CICA will provide a strategic vehicle for Category Management (CM). It will allow a pre-planned approach to acquire European commercial household appliances for Germany, U.K. and Italy and is therefore essential to generate the estimated cost savings.

The results of a previous solicitation followed by expanded market research led the Government to the brand name approach. The previous solicitation was based on specifications without describing specific brands for each location.

The Government received nine proposals in response to solicitation FA564119QA002 issued on 24 July 2019. However, none of the nine proposals were determined technically acceptable. The offered brands and models did not meet the minimum needs described in the specifications. Furthermore, the number of proposed brands would not allow the individual FMS locations to maintain brands in stock nor allow for maintenance support in the local area. As a result, the Government canceled the solicitation and continued market research to explore different acquisition strategies.

During market research, multiple vendors recommended a brand name approach. Presently each FMS location individually obtains appliances from local suppliers. As a result each FMS location has specific brands in stock. The on-site technicians have brand specific training and experience. Furthermore, each location has an existing inventory in place. Based on the facts stated above, a brand name strategy was selected by the multi-functional team.

Having the same brands for every service location in one country is not a viable solution as local support structures are different for each service location. For example, Spangdahlem has local appliance repair shop/spare parts dealer Kaiserslautern Military Community (KMC). The same applies to U.K. locations. A small local dealer providing repairs and spare parts to Alconbury would not be a sufficient supplier for the bigger base at Lakenheath due to limited support capabilities and increased distance between locations.

The Mission Partner's representative requested each FMS location identify two (2) brands. By specifying two (2) brands it can be ensured that every service location can consistently meet its needs in case of shortages. In case one of the selected brands becomes temporarily or permanently unavailable each service location has a second brand they are able to order.

The selected brands had to meet the following three criteria:

alient characteristics specified in the previous solicitation;

atch the majority of the existing inventory to provide for easier in-house maintenance and repair;

ocal repair shops/spare part dealers close by the service location for the selected brand to provide for easy access to spare parts and repair facilities as well as maintenance/warranty support (as spare part delivery otherwise takes up to six (6) weeks).

Based on the above selection criteria, each FMS identified the two brands for each appliance best meeting their requirement. Atch 1 provides the brands identified for each FMS location.

By specifying two (2) brands per service location meeting the above listed criteria, the Government anticipates to:

Improve the management and repair of future appliance inventory;

Cannibalize parts at the end of the life cycle;

Save delivery time and shipping cost for spare parts at each location;

Provide improved warranty support a each FMS location (Local Suppliers);

Receive quotes meeting minimum needs;

Standardization at each FMS ;

Reduced training, maintenance and repair cost.

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

To date, the Government has conducted three (3) rounds of market research to identify interested sources

Three (3) Requests for Information (RFI) were posted on FedBizOpps on 20 November 2018, 22 February 2019 and 18 December 2019. A pool of 25 interested vendors was identified. All offerors from the previous solicitation are still interested in participating in a new solicitation for European commercial appliances. The Government anticipates adequate competition. For details please see paragraph VIII below.

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

The market research efforts taken revealed a pool of 25 interested sources. The Government expects th f those interested sources will provide quotes for the new solicitation. By awarding multiple BPAs by FMS location and appliance, the CO anticipates receiving sufficient competitive proposals. t is that the Government can award multiple BPAs for Prior to award, each Contracting

Activity will determine price fair and reasonableness at the call order level IAW FAR 13.106-3(a) (simplified acquisitions) or FAR 15.403-3(c)(1) (commercial acquisitions).

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

The Government has conducted three (3) rounds of market research in order to identify interested sources, determine how appliances are bought in the commercial market and define the requirement and acquisition approach.

The ey take-aways included the following:

Although appliance specifications and brand preferences vary by FMS location, the Government's specifications should not be overly detailed. Specifying brands was recommended by both industry and mission partners as the preferred acquisition approach. The third round of market research validated that a sufficient number of vendors are capable of providing the requested brands in the respective countries. all-or-none approach is not feasible, as no vendor can deliver all appliances to all FMS locations. The Government should enter into BPAs per country, but award of a BPA to one vendor that can cover multiple countries is still possible. It is also better to have local BPAs in the U.K due to current and future trade uncertainties brought on by the Brexit. ositive feedback was received in regards to having BPAs as the contract vehicle with a 10 year ordering period.

Taking into consideration all market research, the Government anticipates solid competition for the required appliances.

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

In order to increase mission performance, cost savings and innovation in business methods, the commercial European household appliances project supports the National Defense Strategy objective to innovate business decisions for saving taxpayer dollars. In order to implement this acquisition strategy, the Air Force must pre-establish the brand name for commercial European household appliances per location.

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

Unimet Zentrallager West, CG462 Ing. Leo Becker GmbH, D4480/326923547 Whirlpool Corporation, 81306/001288075 BSHG GmbH Export 220volt Inc., 3MKH2/14002958 FPI (Full Project Interior), 537084446 Franz Kerstin Grosshandel, DQ0D8, 329043223 KLM Middle East General Trading LLC, SENZ8/851055970 Pireaus International Inc., 5H7D5/022500094 Strijbosch BV, H1P43/489669481 Pacific International, SGT95/534750513

CSP MGT LLC, 6WMB6/078828532

Global Solutions, 1H4FL/682835863

ITBM, A08WS/499477695

TWI, 7Y1F0/080780053

Vizocom, 76RW2/079495111 Office 2 Allcross, 1H4DL/534066762 CAC-International, 5UPW0/833095495 ANA Group Phoenix WECsyst LLC, 018G6/836284091 Bio Electronics Company, SLF13/534601555 Dubai Enterprises Akeel M, SGHK4/559645496

Amazon GP, U1JR1/224554583 Erbil Enterprises Company, SGEY4/559645422

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.

Based on market research, the 764 ESS anticipates awarding multiple BPAs per country. Mission partner appliance requirements will be competed at the call order level. Further the multiple BPAs will include on-ramping and off-ramping language allowing the Government to adjust the pool of BPA holders as necessary. The Air Force will continue to perform data driven analysis over time to look for market changes that may increase competition amongst appliance manufacturers/distributors.

Certification by the Contracting Officer.

The Contracting Officer's signature on the Justification and Approval Document provides evidence that he has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his knowledge and belief (FAR 6.303-2(b) (12)).

Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by their signatures on the Justification and Approval Document, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein, which is their responsibility, is both accurate and complete (FAR 6.303-2(c)).