B14 Redacted BNJ.pdf

MEMORANDUM

Subj: BRAND NAME JUSTICATION TO ACQUIRE PERSONAL GEAR ISSUE (PGI) FOR NEDU NAVAL

RESERVE UNIT

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

This is a limited source justification. Contracting activity is the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), 110 Vernon Avenue, Panama City, FL 32407-7001.

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

This action will award a firm fixed price purchase order, on a brand name basis, to acquire Personal Gear Issue (PGI) that will provide Navy Reserve Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NR NEDU), formally NAVSEA Experimental Diving Support Unit (NAVSEA EXPDIVSUPU) with the necessary items to perform official tasking safely and in a timely manner. NR NEDU (NAVSEA EXPDIVSUPU) has been in operation for over 15 years, evolving from a combination of two disbanded Diving units in the late 2000's aboard Great Lakes, NAVSEA EXPDIVSUPU was de-established and moved from NA VSTA GRTLKS to NSA Panama City, FL, taking up co-location with the AC Parent Unit, the Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU). This move, both urged and approved by NAVSENSUPSALV, was executed due to the inability of NR NEDU diving and support personnel qualifying on NEDU systems and PQS/JQRs within a reasonable timeframe due to the two geographical locations. Following a successful stricken diver casualty Emergency Action Plan (EAP) aboard NAVSTA Great Lakes in spring 2017, the unit was relocated in July 2017 in order to facilitate qualified NR NEDU personnel aboard NEDU. This enabled all NR NEDU Navy Diving and Support personnel to conduct mission critical dive operations aboard NEDU, aligning and supporting with the NEDU Mission and CO Guidance.

Over the last 24 months aboard NEDU, the unit has experienced numerous opportunities to participate, initiate, and/or lead in many various Dive and waterborne evolutions. Unfortunately, a downfall with combining a Reserve Command aboard an Active Command is that of mission priority and availability of equipment. Like most commands, NEDU only possesses enough dive equipment and watercraft platforms suited for official diving operations to support the inherent members of NEDU. This issue is mitigated appropriately usually, however, due to COVID-19, NEDU and NR NEDU is looking at 24-48 months of backlogged projects and compounding RDT&E and biomedical research in order to support the Navy Total Force and all DoD Clients. Requisitioning an approved Boat, Dive Gear inherent to our UIC, and able for our members to both utilize and master will enable NR NEDU to not only support NEDU to its fullest capacity, but take on its own independent diving tasks and execute, ultimately becoming a true force multiplier. The items being acquired under this NGREA Purchase program is listed in attachment #1 of this justification and will greatly enable NR NEDU to become independently able to train, dive, qualify and promote safe diving and diving life support performance, greatly accelerating our overall mission, the support and side-by-side work with NEDU. These items fall within the following categories:

Dive Gear Rescue/Patient Conveyance Gear

Dive Boat and Support Equipment Training Aid / Training Gear

Individual Ancillary Gear Medical Gear

This contract action will award a firm fixed price purchase order to the most highly qualified authorized reseller of the following brands: LBT, Mystery Ranch, Pelican, Benchmade, and Patagonia brand equipment.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs.

The following equipment is being acquired:

LBT

Line Part Number Description Qty.

1 LBT-2467A-BK Large Wheeled Load-Out Bag w/ Padding 22

Mystery Ranch

1 888564194560 Forager Hip Mini, BK OS 35

2 888564181966 Two Day Assault Pack, BK, L/XL 35

Pelican

1 1630-000-110 1630 Protector Transport Case 24

2 1630-510-000 1639 Organizer Lid 22

Benchmade

1 9070SBK Claymore Folding Pocket Knife 35

Patagonia

1 81651-M Sun Shirt, Men’s RO-Hoodie, White, MD 10

2 81651-L Sun Shirt, Men’s RO-Hoodie, White, LG 15

3 81651-XL Sun Shirt, Men’s RO-Hoodie, White, XL 10

The Government’s minimum needs have been verified by the certifying technical and requirements personnel.

This acquisition will be conducted using simplified acquisition procedures with a total dollar value above micro-purchase levels, but not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold of $250,000.00. This memo does not authorize acquisition for other requirements.

4. Identification of the justification rationale and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service. 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), 10 U.S.C.

2304(d)(1)(B). Only one particular brand-name, product, or feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer Will Satisfy Agency Requirements FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(C).

Pursuant to FAR 6.301; LBT, Mystery Ranch, Pelican, Benchmade, and Patagonia are the only brands of equipment that will meet the Government’s needs for the following reasons:

a) All US Navy Diving personnel must have diving gear that has been tested and approved in accordance with the US Navy Diving Manual, Revision 7A, (SS52 l-AG-PRO-0 10 / 0910-LP- 115-1921) in order to safely and appropriately conduct US Navy Diving Operations. These items vary, however, due to the nature of diving profiles and location (i.e. weather, water temperature and diving duration). This is a bare minimum load-out for each diver within our command. Due to the nature of our diving and diving lengths, the issue of individual dive gear ensures safe and hygienic dive operations.

b) These are the only brands of equipment that will ensure all NR NEDU assigned personnel in performance of unit operations will have a safe and easy passage to and from operational locations. As our lifeline when conducting waterborne operations, a sufficient vessel to transport to and from, and in the potential situation of medically evacuating a diving or a non-diving casualty is paramount.

c) These items are vital t o our command, allowing NR NEDU to conduct open water diving and diving training evolutions, as well as support NEDU, NDSTC, NSWC-PCD, NSW SDV-2, and many other local commands that require open water diving support, casualty MEDEVAC, Medical standby, and Coxswain driven watercraft within the local waters.

d) The acquisition of ancillary gear involves both individual and unit protective posture and sustainment items as a one-time purchase under the NGREA program. Routinely, NR NEDU is tasked with expeditionary type missions while aboard NEDU, NSA Panama City and/or SELRES wide. As a unit with a unique mission set, NR NEDU is a "go-to" force multiplier at a moment's notice. Due to these small missions and routine training events that involve semi-austere to semi-non-permissible environments due to inclement weather and/or environmental conditions, the items listed above are requested. N e i t h e r NR NEDU nor NEDU possesses a joint/combined Central Issuing Facility (CIF) like resource, all ancillary gear and materials purchased outright. Due to mission requirements, gear maintenance and operational needs, NEDU cannot support these needs for 30 NR NEDU members. NR NEDU members are required to travel from HOR to NEDU quarterly for pre-determined periods as well as travel for (an) AT duty period(s), requiring to bring all Dive gear and Operational/Protective Posture gear necessary to accomplish the mission.

Due to these requirements, unique to NR NEDU, the aforementioned brands of equipment is required to both efficiently and safely facilitate NR NEDU member's travel to and from HOR/NEDU. The overall goal of this entire NGREA request is to better equip the personnel of NR NEDU in order to facilitate safe and efficient diving operations, training and overall, mission accomplishment.

e) All rescue gear must be tested and approved in accordance with the US Navy Diving Manual, Revision 7A, all US Navy Diving Operations i n order to operate, conduct and mitigate any dive operations (Dive Side) and associated injuries/complications/illnesses associated with routine and experimental diving. Due to the nature of onsite, offsite/pier and remote diving operations conducted within the confines of NSA Panama City and the four associated diving commands that NR NEDU will jointly work with throughout a year, an emergent and appropriate safe transport of any potential diving/non-diving casualty, as well as medical equipment to and from the dive side is required. Being a varied environment and multiple terrain associated with all training and operational sites aboard NSA Panama City, these are the only brands of equipment that are approved in order to fill this vital need. Due to the emergent need to get any such diving casualty to a hyperbaric chamber in the fastest time (less than 10 minutes in the most severe cases) these brands of equipment are requested in order to facilitate the best possible transportation of stricken divers/personnel.

f) Due to the high probability of medical emergencies being present during NR NEDU operations, related to the type and experimental diving protocols and operations that are conducted, the need for appropriate and state of the art training aids and technologies is paramount. Compounding this need with the current restrictions set forth by both the Navy Medicine Education and Training Commands (NMETC/NR NMETC) and BU MED in regards to the limited to complete ceasing of use of live training aids (i.e. human training adjuncts) a multi-versa\ manikin is required to properly train and maintain medical and diving supervisor emergency response skills. Furthermore, the addition of this training capability will enable NR NEDU to expand it already vital support

g) In accordance with the US Navy Diving Manual, Revision 7A, all US Navy Diving Operations require appropriate medical gear in order to operate, conduct and mitigate any dive operations (Dive Side) and associated injuries/complications/illnesses associated with routine and experimental diving. As NEDU has a full complement of Dive Medicine and Hyperbaric response immediately on station, our addition of 30 divers conducting ancillary diving profiles in conjunction with NEDU's normal operating profiles can become unsafe if such a medical emergency should arise. The brands of equipment l isted above have been test and approved in accordance with both the US Navy Diving Manual Revision 7A and multiple Manuals from the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED), Supervisor of Diving and Salvage (SUPSALV) and various Navy Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) directives. In addition, our diving profiles are conducted across numerous platforms from controlled to uncontrolled environments, within a pool to open ocean and everything in between. Safety being our number one concern, appropriate Risk Management factors are greatly mitigated with the below items readily available for any emergency that may arise. Therefore it is imperative that only the brands of equipment listed above are used.

In summary, the brands listed above, are the only brands of equipment that will meet the needs of NR NEDU.

These items are not Category I items and did not to undergo a formal technical review process consisting a tabletop design review by the AMU Board and any required testing and evaluation. At the discretion of the AMU Board/ these Category II items did not require a formal technical design review, because by nature, they are considered nonhazardous to the diver. However, all of the brands of equipment listed above have been testing and approved using the professional knowledge and specialized skills of a diverse group of personnel to evaluate the environmental/ safety/ and health risks associated with a piece of equipment. In addition they have evaluated the mission and cost effectiveness of the equipment and determined it to be appropriate. Therefore, it is in the Governments’ best interest to acquire the LBT, Mystery Ranch, Pelican, Benchmade, and Patagonia brand equipment.

5. A determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 13.106-1(b).

The Contracting Officer has determined that the order represents the best value and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government’s needs.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

As stated in paragraph 4 above, LBT, Mystery Ranch, Pelican, Benchmade, and Patagonia are the only brands of equipment that is on the Approved for Navy Use list that can satisfy this requirement. This procurement will be synopsized in the Government point of entry website SAM.gov.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

None.

8. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

As stated in paragraph 4 above, LBT, Mystery Ranch, Pelican, Benchmade, and Patagonia are the only brands of equipment that can satisfy this requirement.