Attachment_1_A15_Brand_Name_Justification.pdf

United States Department of the Interior Office of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

Washington, DC 20240

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a)

PR/SOL/CONTRACT # 40657237

Control #24-0130

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Brand Name Justification.”

Contracting Activity: This document is a brand name justification for other than full and open competition for the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Northwest Region, Branch of Wildland Fire.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

Requirement:

New Follow-on Requirement Modification to existing order

Pricing:

Firm-Fixed Price Time & Materials Other _____________

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

6 BKR5000 handheld radios and accessories for wildland fire management. There is nothing else comparable that would be acceptable. The Branch of Wildland Fire must have these specific brand of radios (Bendix King BKR 5000) because all other federal agencies are using them and without them they would be putting our firefighters at risk due to differences in programming, software, compatibility, etc.

The estimated value of the proposed action is

4. An Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

FAR 13.501(a) Sole source (including brand name) acquisitions.

5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

The U.S. Congress, through the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA), has mandated that all federal government radio operations in the Very High

Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) government radio bands be "narrowbanded." At the recommendation of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Radio Liaisons, DOI decided to adopt the P25 digital radio standard as the standard for all radio purchases within DOI. DOI has also mandated that all radios/radio systems that carry law enforcement traffic comply with the EIA/TIA-102 standard which include encryption capabilities/technologies. These mandates are outlined in DOI IRM Bulletins: 1998-001, 1998-002, and 1998-003. As of October 1, 2005, the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) has also mandated the purchase of P25 compliant radio equipment.

Bendix King P25 digital radios are approved radios for interagency use in wildland fire suppression operations. The existing radios utilized with BIA NWR are BK radios and to ensure continued effective and safe communications during fire operations it is necessary to have compatible radios.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

Market research concluded that there are enough ISBEE vendors to allow for competition as these services are commercially available. There is a reasonable expectation that two or more ISBEE vendors will provide a quote.

The IA Native American Businesses in SAM.gov was used to complete an ISBEE business search using NAICS 334220 and filtered for ISBEE’s on 4/1/24. The results displayed below show that there are 63 ISBEE vendors nationwide.

A competitive posting along with the Brand Name justification will be posted to SAM.gov as an ISBEE set-aside.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on a price analysis among competitive quotes and/or the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE).

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

See paragraph #6.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of justification of other than full and open competition, such as:

Interoperable emergency communication is essential to emergency response during a wildland fire incident. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires a single technical standard for public safety radio communications called Project 25 (P25). P25 is a digital voice format that can be used in convention or trunked radio systems operating on

12.5 kHz channel bandwidth. This ensures that two-way radios are more efficient and ensure that the communication devices can talk to each other. P25 digital radios are required on wildland fire incidents. BIA RMR’s current radios are all BK radio and it is essential that new radios communicate effectively with existing radios, which is why the purchase of BK radios are necessary for continued safe communication during a wildland fire incident.

10. A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

Market research concluded that there are enough ISBEE vendors to allow for competition as these services are commercially available. There is a reasonable expectation that two or more ISBEE vendors will provide a quote.

11. A statement of any 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.

A competitive posting along with the Brand Name justification will be posted to SAM.gov as an ISBEE set-aside.

12. Requirements personnel certification.

I certify that the technical data which forms a basis for this justification is complete and accurate and meets the Government’s minimum needs.

X Program Office/COR

13. Contracting officer certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief.

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

X Contracting Officer