V3241112_Brand_Name_Justification_Redacted.pdf

V220T.12 (01/15)

Procurement Request No. V3241112

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

VOLPE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS CENTER (VOLPE CENTER)

Environmental Science and Engineering Division, V324

BRAND NAME SAP JUSTIFICATION

A. Description of Supplies/Services. Excessive airport and aircraft noise produces stress and annoyance in local communities. National legislation, including the Aviation and Noise Abatement Act of 1978, addresses this problem by mandating the protection of the public's health and welfare through regulation of aircraft noise. The FAA has been charged with the responsibility of developing noise control regulations. In this effort, the FAA is compiling data on aircraft noise and assesses community sentiment concerning the noise control issue. The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center Acoustics Facility (VCAF) has supported the FAA's efforts by regularly measuring and analyzing aircraft noise. The objective of this purchase request is to obtain sound level measurement equipment manufactured by National Instruments to improve the capabilities of the VCAF. The Volpe Center has determined that the modular data acquisition systems (DAQ) produced by National Instruments provide the only commercially available combination of sound level measurement analytical equipment and internal firmware that meets the requirements set forth by the FAA and the VCAF’s standards. These requirements include 96 kHz or greater, sample rate, wireless connectivity, real-time feedback for system health and data processing, expandable channel count, and wide frequency response to capture sounds to 1 Hz or below.

The total estimated cost of this new modular data acquisition system is .

B. Market Research. Based on the technical requirements needed to support FAA’s noise control regulations efforts, the technical initiator conducted online and phone market research in July and August 2016 to identify companies that offered equipment capable of meeting the requirements put forth by FAA. Due to the rugged nature of field work, need for precise, real-time data collection and processing in a variety of settings and applications, this market research identified National Instruments as the only manufacturer able to meet the needs of the project objective. National Instruments is the industry leader in DAQ and have developed the LabVIEW development environment that is optimized for real-time data processing and provides important user feedback in field settings not offered by other manufacturers.

National Instruments’ systems are highly scalable and can be custom configured to meet Volpe’s various applications.

The hardware can be scaled down to accommodate a small noise measurement or built up into multiple, wirelessly connected, modules to meet the needs of a large scale measurement application. Volpe could find no other manufacturer that blends a wide array of ruggidized hardware, LabVIEW integration and optimization with the ability to purpose build system hardware and software configurations to meet various project specific needs. Therefore, the Volpe Center technical initiator recommends the purchase of National Instruments equipment to complete the required acquisition of equipment to update and improve VCAF’s field sound level measurement equipment systems.

C. Supporting Rationale.

(1) Sole Source: N/A.

(2) Brand Name: A specific brand that is available from multiple vendors.

(i) This National Instruments brand name product is essential to satisfy the Government’s need and thereby precludes consideration of a product manufactured by another company. Research by the Volpe Center and the FAA sponsor have determined that the National Instruments brand name provides the best-available modular data acquisition systems that integrate ruggidized hardware, LabVIEW firmware and optimization with the ability to configure hardware and software to meet various project specific needs. National Instruments’ equipment fulfills all the FAA’s aircraft sound level measurement requirements, and is considered to be of industry-leading quality in this type of aircraft acoustics measurements. In order to update and improve VCAF’s field sound level measurement equipment systems, the National Instruments parts listed in the Specification Sheet need to be purchased as they are the only parts that meet the requirements. With no updates or improvements, the existing sound level measurement systems will fall into disrepair and obsolescence, prohibiting VCAF from performing its aircraft certification work for FAA.

V220T.12 (01/15)

No other brand name provides the necessary equipment with the built-in usability and customization without charging a prohibitively large premium and requiring a prohibitively long lead time for manufacturing. Non- National Instruments’ equipment would need to be vetted through thorough testing and approved by VCAF, requiring significant delay and extra expense in the planned sound level measurement system update and improvement. The required field sound level measurement equipment systems are highly specialized, requiring exacting specifications and functionality. It is not cost-effective or in the Government’s best interest to buy this necessary equipment from another manufacturer.

(3) Unusual and Compelling Urgency. N/A.

D. Required Signatures. The following signatures represent concurrence/approval of this justification:

PR Technical Initiator Date PR Technical Initiator’s Supervisor Date

Contracting Officer Date Chief, Contracts Branch (or designee) Date (Signature required for procurements over $25,000)