F03_JA_WingtraOne_Brand_Name_UAS_BPAs_Redacted_1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

INTERIOR BUSINESS CENTER

Washington, DC 20240

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

AUTHORITY: RFO 12.102(b), 41 U.S.C. 1901

BPA #’s 140D0423A0048 & 140D0423A0049

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

This document is a brand name justification for the Department of the Interior (DOI), Interior Business Center (IBC), Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) Division II, Branch V, in support of Office of Aviation Services (OAS), Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Fleet.

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

This action is for the modification to extend the ordering periods of two existing Firm- Fixed-Price (FFP) Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs), awarded as brand name procurements to Caron East Inc. (140D0423A0048) and Vector’s Inc. (140D0423A0049) for the issuance of competed call orders to provide Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) (i.e. drones) and associated product accessories.

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

a. The supplies being purchased under the existing BPAs include the WingtraOne Gen II, any future versions of the Gen II, other Wingra UASs, other integrated equipment (payloads) and associated product accessories (batteries, chargers, ground control stations, tablets, controllers, etc.).

b. The BPAs have a shared ceiling of with a 3-year ordering period from 05/19/2023 to 05/18/2026. This justification is valued at $0.00 and provides a two-year ordering period extension from 05/19/2026 to 05/18/2028. As of today, the total obligated amount is with in shared ceiling remaining.

Based on the number and value of call orders placed in the past 3 years, there is sufficient ceiling to cover the placement of future call orders for the next 2 years.

Therefore, extending the ordering period by 2 years will be in the best interest of the Government instead of re-procuring this requirement as there are no new capabilities in the market that meet the Government’s requirement at this time. Extending the ordering period from 3 to 5 years does not exceed the total 5 period duration in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 17.204(e).

4. An identification of the statutory authority permitting sole source acquisition.

This is an acquisition conducted under the authority of the Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services. The statutory authority permitting brand name acquisitions is 41 U.S.C 1901 as implemented by RFO 12.102(b).

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

a. The WingtraOne Gen II UAS has been identified to meet the required needs of the DOI and its Bureaus due to the high-resolution camera and its capability to act as a resource in response missions when needed. This UAS is being utilized for resource and emergency missions.

b. No other systems are currently established to meet the same or similar requirements of the WingtraOne Gen II UAS. DOI has approximately 24 BirdsEyeView Firefly6s UASs, that are no longer maintainable or repairable due to the manufacture going out of business. The FireFly6 was a fixed wing UAS utilized for larger scale mapping. Due to the closing of BirdsEyeView there is a void within the DOI fleet and operations. The WingtraOne Gen II will replace the existing Firelfy6 UASs meeting current demand for mapping operations unique to a fixed wing UAS. Mapping is critical to fulfilling the Department’s commitment to base its decisions on the best available science. Fixed wing UAS offer incredible enhancement opportunities relative to the amount, resolution, persistence, and analytics applied to collected data. The biggest advantage to utilizing fixed wing vs multirotor UAS for mapping is their ability to fly faster covering larger areas in a single flight proving superiority in efficiency. Fixed wing UAS can be less disruptive to sensitive animal species than both manned aircraft and multirotor UAS. These unique sensing characteristics enable drones to gather repeatable, scientifically valid observations leading to better policy decisions, benefiting all Americans. Safety is a priority in all DOI operations. DOI missions often expose personnel to significant safety hazards including severe terrain, adverse weather conditions, and hazard score to many of these missions (fire, flood, earthquake, landslide, etc.). From 1937 to 2000, 66% of all field biologist fatalities in DOI were aviation related.

c. The continued procurement of the WingtraOne Gen II will ensure compliance remains with the following Government Requirements:

FAR Clause 52.240-1, Prohibition on Unmanned Aircraft Systems Manufactured or Assembled by American Security Drone Act-Covered Foreign Entities.

DOI’s “Covered UAS” assessment guide as required by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Executive Order 13981 (Protecting the United States From Certain Unmanned Aircraft Systems).

Secretary of Interior Order 3379 of acquiring UAS products designated and authorized by the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Blue small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS). The DoD DIU provides a Blue UAS list of secure and trusted UAS for federal government operations. OAS Information Bulletin (IB)-No.22-1 approves the continued procurement of “cleared” Blue UAS list by the DIU for sUAS.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Part 5 and, if not, which exception under FAR Part 5 applies.

a. A combined synopsis/solicitation for a Request for Quote (RFQ), 140D0423Q0427 was posted through System for Award Management (SAM) (ie. SAM.gov) from 04/21/2023 to 05/05/2023. Although there are several resellers of the WingtraOne Gen II UAS, quotes were only received by two resellers (Caron East, Inc and Vectors, Inc).

b. Due to the drone industry being one of the fastest-paced technology sectors, OAS is consistently searching the market for NDAA compliant UAS products that can meet the needs of this requirement however, as of today there are no other UAS products that match the capabilities of the WingtraOne Gen II that can successfully perform the operations needed by DOI.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the

Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contractors confirmed that prices will remain the same as the current BPAs price lists for the 2-year extension ordering period. The current BPAs price lists was determined as fair and reasonable based on comparison of the proposed prices with prices found reasonable on previous purchases.

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.

Currently there is no other UAS system in the commercial market with the same or similar capabilities of the WingtraOne Gen II UAS to successfully execute the operations needed by DOI.

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

Since the BPAs are set to expire on 5/18/2026, it is the most prudent business decision to modify the existing BPAs ordering periods from 3 to 5 years instead of re-procuring the requirement as there are no new capabilities in the market that meet the

Government’s requirement at this time. The Procurement Acquisition Lead Time (PALT) of the BPAs is estimated between 90-180 days therefore pending and upcoming call orders will need to be procured as purchase orders and competed amongst the authorized resellers/suppliers of the WingtraOne brand name UAS. Since the BPA provides for a more streamlined and expeditious process than procuring stand-alone contracts, it will minimize the risk of product delivery delays that will negatively impact DOI’s mission in its responsibility of managing and protecting America’s natural resources (land, water, wildlife and energy). The missions to fulfil DOI’s responsibility can be hazardous to government personnel, must be performed on a continuous basis, and conducted with minimal impact on vegetation, wildlife, and visitors using national lands. Extending the existing BPAs ordering periods will also result in cost savings to the Government by reducing the program’s office and acquisition team’s level of effort in the preparation, review and approval of pre-award documents.

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

As of today, no other sources have expressed interest in this acquisition to the

CO.

11. A statement of the 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.

The Government will continue to review and evaluate DoD DIU Blue UAS list and other non-listed UASs that are NDAA compliant to see whether there are other UASs with similar/same integrations as the WingtraOne Gen II that may be able to meet DOI’s needs.

12. 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.

, Contracting Officer

13. 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.

, OAS UAS Fleet Manager

14. Reviews and Approvals

Approve

, Contracting Officer