Attachment_1_Redacted_ELTECK_BRANDNAME_SOLE_SOURE.pdf
PDF 120 KB Posted
- Attached to
- NDMO COMM BATTERY CHARGER REPLACEMENTS Federal contract opportunity
- Solicitation number
- 89503426QWA001230
About this file
This is a Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity or Brand Name document submitted by the Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), Upper Great Plains Region, North Dakota Maintenance Office, under RFO number 26WA159499.
WAPA is seeking to place a firm fixed-price delivery order through the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for an Eltek Valere 130/48 VDC DC/DC Converter/Battery Charger and various accessories. The justification supports the use of this specific brand name rather than requiring full and open competition. WAPA argues that standardizing on Eltek chargers across the Upper Great Plains region (South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana) provides significant operational and cost efficiencies. The agency cites several supporting factors: extensive institutional knowledge and training built around Eltek equipment since 2007; unified software provisioning and maintenance requirements; standardized spare parts inventory reducing logistics burden; simplified security management and IT integration; unified SCADA alarm wiring and configurations; and interchangeable parts across the DC battery charger and DC/DC converter platforms. WAPA contends that introducing a different manufacturer would require additional engineering and labor hours, create IT security complexities, necessitate a larger spare parts inventory, and compromise critical repair response times essential for power system operations. The justification emphasizes that the exclusive use of Eltek chargers provides simple, unified, and cost-effective maintenance while minimizing government burden and expense.
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| Sol_89503426QWA001230.pdf |
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Text version
Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity or Brand Name Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)
RFO FAR 16.507-6 Exceptions to Fair Opportunity
26WA159499
1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity. (Requestor) Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration – Upper Great Plains Region (UGPR) – North Dakota Maintenance Office (NDMO) 700 N Bismarck Expy, Bismarck, ND 58501
2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved. (Requestor) A firm fixed-price delivery order will be placed from the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) Schedules.
3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including estimated value). (Requestor) The required supplies to meet agency needs are Eltek Valere 130/48 VDC DC/DC Converter/Battery Charger and various accessories, brand name, and fixed-price delivery order.
4. Identification of the exception to fair opportunity or brand name and the supporting rationale.
Eltek chargers are used extensively by communications, and a large knowledge base has been built on the installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of these chargers. All new Communications DC power equipment installations in Upper Great Plains (South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana) have been Eltek/Valere units. This has given the maintenance and engineering personnel a unified platform which allows for one software provisioning/maintenance package, unified spare parts for field maintenance personnel and global knowledge since drawings and training are unified. Using a different manufacturer would require additional EEC and engineer labor hours and would cost the government additional time and money.
The use of another manufacturer’s converter would result in an additional piece of software for technicians to learn, use and maintain. The exclusive use of Eltek chargers allows the use of only one piece of software which will reduce the cost for installation and burden of maintaining another piece of software and ensuring it meets IT’s requirements. Also, since these devices are managed under secure networking paths, all security patches, port management and interfaces with our system are unified, lightening the burden on security/IT personnel and limits vulnerabilities.
In addition, using another converter manufacturer would require UGP to maintain a larger inventory of spare parts and that would be an undue burden on the government. Currently, all technicians are outfitted with spare parts packages that cover any communications DC power outage situation in the state. The repair response times are critical for our power system operations. Having multiple platforms to maintain can cause difficulties in spare parts management.
Finally, the exclusive use of Eltek chargers/converters has allowed communications to design standard https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul/far-part-deviation-guide/far-overhaul-part-16#FAR_16_507_6 alarm wiring and configurations for SCADA. Using another manufacturer would require additional engineering design and this would cost the government time and money.
This Eltek DC/DC converter is the same platform as our DC battery chargers. Therefore, the majority of the parts are interchangeable. The SNMP alarming and management software are identical. Every new Communications DC charger installed since 2007 in UPG have been Eltek/Valere providing simple, unified and cost-effective maintenance.
File details come from the government source that posted it. Updated .