Attachment 01 - Post Award Synopsis JA.docx

J&A Number: 21-0375

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity.

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Lakehurst, NJ

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

This Justification and Approval authorizes and approves on a sole source basis the issuance of a Firm-Fixed-Price contract to Motorola Solutions, Inc. (Motorola) for the procurement of Motorola brand name Enterprise Land Mobile Radio (ELMR) repeater equipment, program management, and installation services to include a project schedule, an installation design plan, and engineering services for installation, optimization, information assurance, hardening, and acceptance testing for one repeater site system. The anticipated delivery schedule for the base period is 270 days. The options for Navy global sustainment contract documentation and the enhanced warranty are anticipated to be exercised within one year of the contract award date.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The NAWCAD Webster Outlying Field Special Communications Mission Solutions (SCMS) Division has been tasked by the Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) to procure Motorola repeater site equipment and incidental services required to perform an expansion of the ELMR system at NAS Cheatham. The new NAS Cheatham repeater site system will connect to the existing Navy Continental United States (CONUS) ELMR system. The Navy CONUS ELMR system is a nationwide Project 25 (P-25) Navy Enterprise system spanning more than 140 sites. The ELMR system is a digital trunked Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system, fielded throughout the Navy’s installations to coordinate the deployment and actions of first responders. The CNIC ELMR system is comprised of LMRs, Zone Core network infrastructure, microwave systems, radio frequency sites, repeater sites, and enclosure sites. The Navy ELMR Zone Cores are currently located in San Diego, CA and Norfolk, VA. This expansion will allow access to all features provided by the Navy ELMR architecture end-to-end advanced encryption, standard encryption, Over-The-Air Rekeying (OTAR), Over-The-Air-Programming (OTAP), and network monitoring. To maintain required interoperability with the Navy ELMR system, the NAS Cheatham system must provide OTAR and OTAP. The requested repeater site equipment will meet this requirement.

Modernization efforts have been ongoing to update the ELMR system’s radios and infrastructure while improving communication in underserved areas. The new NAS Cheatham repeater site will be integrated into the existing Motorola ASTRO25 Zone Core.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, Simplified acquisition procedures, as implemented by FAR subpart 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority.

Operating using Motorola proprietary technology, the Navy ELMR network is brand specific to Motorola and consists of all Motorola brand name equipment that is inoperable with another brand’s infrastructure. Without a Motorola brand repeater site, personnel are unable to repeat signals or communicate with the zone core. To maintain interoperability and interchangeability between Navy installations and to provide uniform training and standard operating procedures to their component commands, CNIC has standardized its ELMR network on the Motorola ASTRO 25 Integrated Voice and Data (IV&D) trunked radio system. Proprietary to Motorola, this radio system includes the Dynamic System Resilience (DSR) technology, which enables remote sites to continue system-wide communication in the event that a site loses visibility to a zone core.

Another required capability for the Navy's ELMR System is that it has an OTAP solution allowing subscriber radios to be accessed and updated over-the-air via the ELMR system. This enables authorized managers to reconfigure the functionality of the subscriber radios without physically touching the radios. The Motorola ASTRO 25 IV&D system provides for OTAP in the existing ELMR network via the Motorola programming over P-25 feature that provides the ELMR network subscribers the capability of transmitting both voice and data over-the-air. While other manufacturers can provide an OTAP feature like P-25, OTAP has not been standardized industry-wide and the various proprietary OTAP capabilities are not interchangeable or interoperable.

Over the years, Motorola has made improvements to their equipment, directly increasing the reliability and capabilities of the ELMR system. This effort is an expansion that incorporates those new technologies into the ELMR network. By instituting those enhancements, the network will be able to maintain reliability and connectivity between this and other zone core sites. These enhancements have improved the interoperability, spectral efficiency, security, reliability, and functionality of voice and low-speed data communications for public safety personnel and military applications.

Motorola is the sole manufacturer of the equipment required for this task. While Motorola does have authorized distributors of its hardware, the NAS Cheatham Annex also requires installation support, which includes system configuration, system settings, and optimization. Motorola does not authorize any other source to provide installation support.

If another manufacturer’s repeater site equipment was utilized to expand the CNIC ELMR system, the Government would incur substantial duplicative costs estimated at approximately $2.1M. Personnel would need to be trained to support the different equipment configuration and maintenance, which equates to an average cost of $40K. In addition, spare material would need to be procured for established repair banks, costing an estimated $1.9M. New information assurance accreditation level documentation would be required, costing an estimated $164K.

Furthermore, selection of alternate repeater site equipment would result in a 12-month delay. This production and installation delay of the ELMR repeater site equipment would negatively impact program life cycle sustainment and communication range expansion efforts. The requested equipment will expand the ELMR radio coverage to correct coverage deficiencies and improve the quality of audio communications. A schedule delay will extend coverage deficiencies, which puts the safety of personnel and first responders at risk and could lead to mission failure and loss of life.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable.

Market research was conducted to identify commercially-available ELMR repeater site equipment and installation. Multiple solutions were identified and reviewed to determine each solution's ability to meet CNIC’s requirements. Of the manufacturers identified in the market research, only Motorola provided solutions that meet the requirements.

Further market research was conducted via General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage and the Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) Public Logistics (PUB LOG) Federal Logistics Information System (FLIS) for the requested repeater site equipment. The search of the DLA PUB LOG FLIS yielded no results. GSA Advantage did not yield results for all requested items. Motorola has no authorized distributors/contractors for the integration services.

A Request for Information (RFI) for a “Radio Frequency Repeater Site System” was posted on 19 April 2021 with a response date of 26 April 2021. Only one response received, from Motorola Solutions, Inc., provided a solution for a radio frequency site and antenna system. As such, it was determined that only Motorola Solutions, Inc. can provide all the parts and integration services required.

A pre-solicitation synopsis was posted on 12 July 2021 and closed on 27 July 2021. One response was received from Lorimar Group, Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, which requested the equipment list of the required items and the date the full solicitation would be released. The synopsis was updated to include the listing and a response was provided indicating that a date was not established for the solicitation release. No further communication has taken place between the Government and Lorimar Group, Inc. Any future responses will be evaluated by the Procuring Contracting Officer prior to award.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost.

This procurement will be negotiated on a Fixed-Price basis. In Accordance With (IAW) FAR 15.402(a)(2)(ii)(A), the Contracting Officer shall ensure that the price negotiated for this acquisition is fair and reasonable. The Contractor will submit a formal price proposal with other than certified cost or pricing data and sufficient information to support the accuracy and reliability of the cost estimate. The proposal will be reviewed by experienced technical personnel within the SCMS Division and the cognizant Contract Specialist. The Contracting Officer will utilize price analysis IAW FAR 15.404-1 as the basis for negotiating a fair and reasonable price.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

For the reasons stated in paragraph 5, only Motorola can meet the requirements for interoperability utilizing the Motorola proprietary technology. The Government will continue to evaluate other technologies that would allow for future competition by conducting market research to determine if there are any future vendors that have the capability to meet this requirement.