SSJOTFOCFinal_IDIQfbo.doc

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

RESEARCH AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION (RITA)

VOLPE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS CENTER (VOLPE CENTER)

Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) Traffic Management Systems

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

PULSED LIGHT DETECTION AND RANGING (LIDAR) SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND ANALYSIS

PART I - TECHNICAL SUPPORTING DATA

It’s recommended that negotiations be conducted with Lockheed Martin Coherent Technologies (LMCT), located in Louisville, Colorado, part of Lockheed Martin Corp., on a non-competitive basis, for award of a five (5) year Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for $5 million dollars. This is a stand-alone contract following up on the work previously done under the Volpe Center’s IDIQ Contract No. DTRT57-05-D-30101 with LMCT to acquire brand name WindTracer( Doppler light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system engineering and analysis services to support the deployment and analyses of the specialized wake turbulence measurement system at Government selected airports and test sites.

A. Description of Supplies/Services This proposed IDIQ procurement is for engineering services and analysis support as well as essential spare parts and maintenance beyond the warranty period for the application of the LMCT mobile, pulsed, coherent, Doppler LIDAR systems; including the LMCT proprietary algorithm for processing backscattered laser energy signals for wake turbulence detection and characterization. The effort to be acquired by the Government includes the following:

· Support of LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR system that are Government owned and beyond the LMCT warranty, including repair, shipping, component upgrades, and maintenance, further optimization of system setup or operations;

· Modification of the LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR system software including the primary wake processing algorithm and its code implementation to take advantage of (1) historical lessons compiled within the program, (2) algorithm improvements identified either via historical operation and/or additional independent evaluation of the algorithm and wake measurements in general done by the Volpe Center or lessons learned shared by other users of the algorithm internationally, and (3) improvements to the design to adapt the system to the specific airport topography (i.e., hilly, flat, wooded) under consideration, the wake requirements (i.e., departure wakes, arrival wakes, wakes in-ground-effect, wakes out-of-ground-effect, etc), and wake measurement requirements (i.e., single plane scan, multiple plane scan, departure or arrival corridor monitoring, raw time-series data collection and its associated real time file access information technology topics or other specialized/unique data collection modes, etc.);

· Redeployment of Government-owned LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR systems to other locations for different testing objectives due to specific airport topography, surrounding conditions, better access to specialized movers or wake measurement requirements. This will include special attention to installation, data collection, operation, maintenance, and optimization activities tailored to the specific airport chosen;

· Support of LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR system related data acquisition, data processing and analysis efforts; and

· Integration of supplementary instrumentation to improve the overall performance of the LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR system to meet specific airport deployment requirements.

B.

Background

1. Objective. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has developed the objectives of implementing wake mitigation procedures and systems at those airports that have wake related capacity constraints and encountered significant delays. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), in support of the FAA, has been given the responsibility to assemble a wake and weather sensor suite that could be deployed at various airports over the next five years to provide wake data in supporting wake related procedural changes that would lead to improved airport operations. The primary wake sensor in the sensor suite is the pulsed LIDAR or WindTracer(, a unit manufactured by LMCT, which comprises a proprietary hardware and software system design and a proprietary integrated wake-processing algorithm. LMCT owns the U.S. Patent 7067812 for this laser-based remote sensor system.

The LMCT WindTracer( unit is a compact, mobile, electro-optical, scanning, pulsed, coherent Doppler LIDAR system for providing high temporal and spatial resolution wind field measurements. With an additional specialized software module for processing wake vortex information, the WindTracer( can then detect, track and characterize aircraft wake vortices. The system has a maximum detection range of 10 kilometers and can scan for wakes in multiple planes in order to establish their axial coherence. The system provides measurement of the range, height, and strength of the scanned aircraft wakes through backscatter of the laser energy from particulates and aerosols trapped within the wake. The high resolution Doppler shifting measurement capability, which allows detection of velocity variations within the wake structure, coupled with the wake vortex processing algorithm, forms the basis of the system’s ability to provide wake vortex measurements.

The Government owns four LMCT WindTracer( systems that are currently deployed at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Atlanta International Airport (ATL), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and St. Louis International Airport (STL) collecting wake related measurements.

This procurement is for engineering services and analysis support as well as some spare parts and maintenance beyond the warranty period for the pulsed LIDAR deployments. In the existing IDIQ contract (DTRT57-05-D-30101), LMCT has been integrally involved in the planning, installation, system customization, data processing and interpretation of the Government sponsored wake turbulence measurement programs since 2001.

2. Acquisition History. This procurement will provide similar services to the IDIQ Contract No. DTRT57-05-D-30101 that covers the engineering, test and data analysis support for Government owned LMCT WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR systems. Services obtained under Contract No. DTRT57-05-D-30101 will end in March 2010. This procurement will constitute a stand-alone contract to follow-up and extend the depth and breadth of the engineering, test and data analysis started in the previously mentioned contract.

3. Procurement Specifications. Technical data packages, specifications, engineering descriptions, statements of work, or purchase descriptions suitable for full and open competition have not been developed because the WindTracer( Doppler LIDAR systems is patented by LMCT, thus, support, parts and maintenance can only be obtained through LMCT.

C. Circumstances Requiring the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition

This proposed IDIQ procurement is for engineering services and analysis support, as well as incidental spare parts, and maintenance beyond the warranty period for the application of the LMCT mobile, pulsed, coherent, Doppler LIDAR systems including the LMCT proprietary algorithm for processing backscattered laser energy signals for wake turbulence detection and characterization. LMCT specializes in the manufacture and application of laser based wind and air turbulence detection and measurement systems. They own the U.S. Patent 7067812 on laser-based remote sensor system. Only LMCT, the company that manufactures the pulsed LIDAR system, possesses the unique hardware and proprietary wake vortex processing software combination capable of meeting the wake turbulence measurement needs of the Government. This combination of system uniqueness and proven knowledgeable staff with years of working with the Volpe Center in support of the FAA wake turbulence program has established LMCT as the only source available to meaningfully support the FAA Wake Turbulence Program within the roadmap of the NextGen planning. The Government has had positive experiences with LMCT’s service in the past under the above-mentioned contract.

There Is Only One Responsible Source And No Other Supplies Or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements:

1. System Uniqueness.

The Government’s past experience and technical literature has indicated that LMCT's WindTracer( system is superior to other remote sensors available on the market. The Volpe Center compared the WindTracer wake measurements collected from San Francisco International Airport, St. Louis International Airport, and Frankfurt Germany Airport with other sensors like WindLine, Sodar, and CW. Our analysis results showed the WindTracer can detect turbulence at longer ranges, and higher altitudes under various weather conditions than other sensors. This unique system feature leads to the success of the Wake Turbulence program being able to modify the aircraft separation rules at airports with closely separated parallel runways.

LMCT has also developed major spare parts and a software suite, and when coupled with knowledge of their own system enables them make repairs and maintenance work more directly and with significant time-savings. Their engineering support in the area of test planning, site selection, site specific software adaptation, analysis of the data, sensor monitoring, etc, has also been an important part of the recent success in the FAA’s wake turbulence program.

The only drawback of WindTracer( lies in its sensitivity to a weak turbulence when the wake becomes weaker and hard to detect. This has been a common weakness in the remote sensor industry. Currently, however, there are research and development activities at LMCT to further enhance the capability of the WindTracer( hardware and software combination to detect, track and characterize wake vortices to resolve this sensitivity issue when wake becomes weaker.

2. Uniqueness of the Wake Algorithm. Since this is a service and analysis support contract, the capability to develop wake algorithms is essential to the success of the FAA wake turbulence program. The wake algorithm employed in the LMCT WindTracer( is a proprietary design and implementation for both the hardware and software. The WindTracerunits contain complicated hardware, e.g., transceiver and scanner, and software, e.g., system control, data collection real-time processing, and offline processing that are unique to the system and not used for any other purpose. LMCT’s enhanced wake vortex monitoring algorithm could detect and track vortices in the vicinity of hills, trees, and other ground obstructions that regular radars usually miss. LMCT’s wake detection could also reach the glide slope up to 2000 feet altitude and monitor the gradually dissipated vortex along the approaching path of an airport to study the signatures of a wake under various environmental conditions. These unique features are sophisticated enough that they are not available from current market due to the short range a sensor could detect a wake from an airport layout and the resolution the wake algorithm could distinguish a wake from the background environment.

3. Contractor Knowledge and Experience. U.S. Patent 7067812 by LMCT relates to the solid-state coherent LIDAR system which forms the basis for its WindTracer( system:

In the past decade, LMCT has been involved in the application and implementation of the pulsed coherent Doppler LIDAR system to the investigation of wake turbulence and wind velocity, and has participated in terms of planning, installation, system customization, data processing and interpretation. Their performance and knowledge of the wake detection and characteristics have earned the Government’s satisfaction and appreciation of a superior remote sensor meeting the Government requirements.

As per LMCT, the company is also committed to supporting the current generation of WindTracer( products (the ones currently operated by the Volpe Center) through at least 2025 with its comprehensive supply chain infrastructure, specialized tools in the clean room, and software engineers, which are critical to our ability to support the various measurement programs. LMCT also has continuous research and development to improve both the hardware and software, and many of the results are backward compatible, which can benefit the systems Volpe Center currently operates.

D. Market Research - The four units of Government-owned WindTracer( LIDAR systems are proprietary from LMCT. Due to its proprietary nature only LCMT technicians can provide services and support to the systems, otherwise the Government would be in violation of the warranty. In addition, the spare parts are only available from LMCT. As described above, the options for acquiring services and support to these LIDARs would be:

A. Require a new wake algorithm that would need to be developed and integrated with the WindTracer( hardware and then coded, tested, validated, and characterized; or

B. LMCT would need to be employed to provide its wake algorithm to the other support Contractor.

If Option A were elected, software development would be a costly and time-consuming effort. For example, it would require considerable specialized knowledge in laser/optics, wake vortex physics, real-time signal processing and computer science on the part of the other contractor to develop such an algorithm. Moreover, it’s important to consider that in a complex system like WindTracer, developments of the hardware and software are necessarily intertwined in order to achieve the required processing speed and performance. LMCT’s wake algorithm software has been developed to fully integrate with the system architecture of the hardware in order to achieve the real-time processing.

If Option B were elected, it would involve a subsequent negotiated subcontract between the prime contractor and LMCT for its software licensing, training, and oversight. This arrangement would most likely prove much more costly and would put the Government’s wake program at risk since there would be little recourse for the Government should the system fail.

Both options would result in extensive additional cost to the Government. It could potentially cost the Government more than one million dollars extra to develop and integrate with the LMCT’s software and hardware for these critical services and support. Additionally, the Government would miss the window years to integrate the wake turbulence program into the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) as a result of misalignment of different technologies provided by a different vendor.

The WindTracer( system has been sold and installed as a complete commercial product at the following international airports for wake turbulence related detection:

· Two units at Hong Kong International Airport

· Four units in Japan at Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport near Tokyo

· One unit in France at Charles de Gaulle International Airport near Paris

· One unit in Germany at Frankfurt International Airport

LMCT is the only service and support provider at these international airports due to their proprietary software and hardware. The FAA has also installed the WindTracer( system at Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport for airport safety evaluation.

E. Steps to Foster Competition – Although there will likely be additional LIDARs required for the wake turbulence program, there is little basis for establishing a competitive technical support contractor when proprietary subsystems and software are involved since LMCT would need to be involved based upon their proprietary products. There is a chance, however, that the Government would require another type of remote sensor with less stringent requirements for the wake turbulence program, a more competitive contract would be announced to foster competition.

F. TECHNICAL OFFICE CERTIFICATION:

The requirement set forth is initiated to satisfy a recognized Government need. As applicable, the plans, drawings, specifications, and statement of work are limited to state the minimum needs of the Government. I certify that the above information, which serves as the basis for the justification for other than full and open competition, is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

PART II-CONTRACTS SUPPORTING DATA

A. Description of the Procurement Action - This procurement action will result in a new stand-alone IDIQ contract with a period of performance of five-years. The IDIQ contract type is most suited for technically complex programs where program requirements are not specifically known during the solicitation phase. Task Orders will be issued against this IDIQ contract on a Time and Materials, or a Firm-Fixed-Price basis. The Task Order type will be subsequently determined at the task order level as work requirements are established. Firm-Fixed-Price, performance-based task orders are the preferred method and will be issued whenever appropriate and possible.

B. Authority – 41 U.S.C. 253 (d)(1)(B), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1 titled “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

C. Efforts to Obtain Competition - This action will be synopsized in the FedBizOpps as required by FAR Subpart 5.2.

D. Fair and Reasonable Cost – The signature of the Contracting Officer provided below represents a determination that the anticipated costs to the Government will be considered fair and reasonable. In accordance with FAR Part 15 – Contracting by Negotiation, the Contracting Officer will secure through discussions with the contractor that the costs offered in its cost proposal are fair, reasonable and consistent by utilizing cost analysis techniques such as comparison of costs proposed by the offeror for individual cost elements with actual costs previously incurred by the same offeror, verification of cost or pricing data by its Defense Contract Audit Agency, and the comparison of proposed costs to the Independent Government Cost Estimate. In addition, the Contracting Officer shall obtain certified cost or pricing data in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.403-4 titled “Requiring cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. 2306a and 41 U.S.C. 254b).”

E. CONTRACTNG OFFICER CERTIFICATION: Original Signed By:

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

Stephen A. Garanin

Date

Contracting Officer

PART III - REVIEW AND APPROVAL SIGNATURES

REVIEWED FOR LEGAL

SUFFICIENCY: ____________________ ___________

CONCURRED BY: ___________________ ____________

APPROVED BY:

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