J and A for Low Background Infrared facility.pdf

This is a Justification and Approval (J&A) document for a sole-source, firm-fixed-price contract with Jung Research and Development Corp. (JRAD) for five months of performance. The contracting agency is the Department of the Air Force, AFLCMC/ROMK, located in Heath, Ohio. The estimated contract cost is under $750K, and the acquisition authority is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) for only one responsible source. The contract supports the Low Background Infrared (LBIR) facility at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which performs critical testing and evaluation of Kill Vehicle (KV) sensor-seekers used in Ground-based Mid-Course Defense (GMD) and Aegis Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor systems. The required services include personnel and expertise for continuous calibration, operation, and maintenance of the LBIR facility, involving highly specialized skills with cryogenic refrigerator systems, thermal infrared optical equipment, and radiometric instrumentation.

The J&A justifies the sole-source award based on JRAD's unique qualifications and intimate knowledge of the LBIR facility, having designed, developed, and built major components including the Ballistic Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer (BXR), Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer (MDXR), and User Transfer Radiometer (UXR). The need for this contract action arose from unacceptable delays in the follow-on competitive contract award, caused by an extended government shutdown; the follow-on contract award is projected to take more than 90 days. The document lists two sources that expressed interest: JRAD and BHPE, LLC (Begini Howard Private Equity). The Government committed to fostering future competition through a phased approach with option years, data rights acquisition, periodic market assessments, continuous market monitoring, comprehensive knowledge transfer, technology standardization, and small business development initiatives. The contracting officer is Thomas D. Carson II, AFLCMC/ROMK/DSN 713-5844.