Sole_Source_J_and_A_Egress_Lease_Final_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

NOTE: If a Justification and Approval was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved J&A for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant J&A. This applies to J&A staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor J&A will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Choose the funding level for this J&A Document:

< $700K > $700K and < $13.5M > $13.5M and < $93M > $93M

Contracting Activity: 92ND CONTRACTING SQUADRON, FAIRCHILD AFB, WA

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: F1XTTR6323AL01

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): SERE Egress Trainer

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): Other Contracting

Authority (include full title):

The procedures in FAR subpart 13.5 were used in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901 or the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1903

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): J&A Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

I. Contracting Activity.

Department of the Air Force (AF), 92ND Contracting Squadron, 110 West Ent Street, Fairchild AFB, WA 99011-8568.

This document serves as a "Justification for other than Full and Open Competition."

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

The proposed acquisition will result in a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract. This is a follow-on for two existing lease contracts, FA4620-12-C-A003 and FA4620-15-C-A003 that were awarded to Survival Systems USA, Inc. (SSUSA). A new contract combining the two expiring requirements for the lease of an over-water parachute landing simulator and Modular Egress Training Simulator (METS), a type of helicopter underwater egress trainer, will be awarded on a sole source basis to SSUSA. FAR subpart 13.5 procedures were used in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901 or the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1903.

Survival Systems USA Inc.

(SSUSA) 144 Tower Ave Groton, CT 06340-5326

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

The 336 TRG manages the U.S. Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school located at Fairchild AFB. As a part of SERE training, the 22 TRS provides water survival and parachute training for personnel from the Air Force, Army, Navy, NASA, Air Guard and Reserve, and allied countries with over 7,100 graduates each year. The training equips students with the skills and experience necessary to enable them to survive an ejection or aircraft bailout at sea. The period of performance for the proposed contract extends from 1 Jun 2017 through 31 Dec 2022

To accomplish the training course, the 22 TRS utilizes a training system made up of two major components. These systems are: one parachute drag trainer and a 12 passenger METS capable of simulating CV-22, H-60, H-1, and C-130 airframes. The METS also includes a lift system, rescue hoist system, environmental effects, and an air compressor for recharging dive tanks. Estimated lease prices for the parachute drag trainer is and the estimated cost of the METS with associated subsystems is , total estimated lease cost is . The METS works with the associated environmental simulator to provide students with a realistic simulation of an open-water landing in extreme conditions. These conditions included rain, darkness, sound and light effects, and 3 foot waves, all initiated and controlled through a proprietary SSUSA control center.

Training consists of the METS portion of the course which teaches student how to egress from an airframe that is submerged and/or inverted. In addition to the METS portion of the course, the 22 TRS uses an over-water parachute landing simulator to train students to respond to high winds dragging their parachute across the water. Both of these training scenarios can be accomplished in calm water or any combination of waves, wind, darkness, and rain that the instructor selects using the integrated environmental effects suite. Components of the both the parachute landing simulator and METS system are integrated the systems electronic controls and all of the equipment is currently leased from SSUSA. In addition to providing the equipment, the lease includes annual inspections, replacement parts, ongoing maintenance support, operator training, periodic software and firmware upgrades for the controllers, and materials for Government personnel who operate the systems.

The 336 TRG, the parent organization for the 22 TRS, completed a lease versus buy analysis using Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-94 procedures and concluded that purchasing the parachute simulator and METS presents the best value to the Government. However, the Financial Management Regulation (FMR) 7000.14-R, Volume 2A dictates that equipment purchases over will be considered investments and be made using Procurement appropriations. Despite programming for the purchase more than a year in advance there were insufficient AETC procurement appropriations available for the purchase. Therefore, the only available option remaining is that the Government must lease the equipment using Operation and Maintenance (O&M) appropriations to prevent mission interruption. Despite rigorous market research, SSUSA was the only firm found that could meet the government's requirement that would permit aircrew training to continue without a significant and unacceptable interruption.

IV. Statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition.

FAR subpart 13.5 procedures were used in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901 or the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1903.

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

A. All egress training equipment associated with the METS and parachute trainer is leased from SSUSA. The annual cost of the lease is estimated to be approximately with a five year cost estimated at This highly specialized equipment's sole purpose is to simulate egress from different military airframes in various environments ranging from calm daylight conditions to nighttime storms in the open ocean. Procuring and installing different equipment for lease would lead to both very substantial and unacceptable delays in training and unnecessary costs to the Government. These delays consist of the time needed to design a viable replacement for the current equipment, modify the existing infrastructure to accept the equipment, install the equipment, and then train SERE personnel on the use and routine maintenance the newly installed equipment requires. This delay could extend for up to two years. This is further explained in paragraph D below. As shown by both rigorous formal and informal market research, SSUSA is the only equipment provider that can meet the Government requirement.

B. The over water post egress training system is meant to provide aircrew members with a realistic training simulation of the difficulties inherent to egressing an aircraft while over open water. Training requirements mandate that the training include egress during simulated adverse weather to provide the most realistic training simulation possible.

This training must include exposure to the built-in wind, rain, and, wave effects that are created by the SSUSA environmental effects equipment suite that is already in place. The environmental effects controller uses pre-programed scenarios to simulate wind only, nighttime only, rain only, rough water only and every combination of these effects to present the most realistic training possible in a controlled environment. It is imperative that the training staff be able to modify or turn off these effects immediately in case of an emergency to minimize the risk to students. The only way to do this is to include the over water training scenarios as pre-programed scenarios in the SSUSA environmental effects controller.

C. The Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE) School leases the existing SSUSA environmental effects controller and other training equipment. SSUSA is the sole designer, developer, and manufacturer of the existing equipment, and owns the proprietary rights, hardware drawing, electronic schematics and/or data rights to the existing equipment. The Government does not own or have any claim to these proprietary rights, hardware drawing, electronic schematics, or data rights.

D. The 22 TRS has determined an award to any other source would result in a substantial duplication of the initial design cost of an estimated to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

Interfacing any other vendor's equipment with the installed SSUSA equipment controller would invalidate any warranty of serviceability. In addition, the 22 TRS also has determined that use of any other source would increase the risk of injury to trainees due to unfamiliarity with new training equipment. Utilizing a different source would require the 22 TRS to 1) replace all existing egress training equipment; 2) close aircrew egress training for approximately 2 years so new equipment could be designed, built and installed; 3) re-write all current documentation for the procured equipment and 4) retrain all the SERE instructors in the safe use of the newly procured equipment. Unnecessary costs would arise from the removal of the current equipment, installation of new equipment, retraining of personnel in the use of the new equipment, and the temporary re-location of SERE training while the new equipment was designed and installed. Relocating training to other facilities could cost several million dollars per year based on the savings generated from moving the parachute portion of the training from Pensacola NAS to Fairchild in 2015. Use of SSUSA equipment under the company's lease program is critically essential to the Government requirement.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

The Government completed formal market research to determine if a suitable replacement of the current equipment exists. Market Research indicates that there is only one U.S. company that could provide an egress training system capable of meeting the Government's requirement. All of the egress systems in use for the US. Army, Navy, and Marine Corp are provided by SSUSA. Three overseas companies provide equipment of this nature. EDM World Class Solutions is located in Great Britain and builds equipment to order. The lead time for new equipment is currently more than a year which would cause an unacceptable training delay. Worldwide Ship Management in Mumbai, India offers courses but does not lease their equipment. Offshore Training Ireland, is based in the Republic of Ireland and therefore is not listed as a Qualifying Country under DFARS 252.225-7001. However, it must be noted that none of the overseas companies provides equipment compatible with the infrastructure of the existing pool. Informal market research is conducted on a recurring basis to ensure market conditions have not substantially changed.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting officer will request other than certified cost or pricing data in sufficient detail as part of the proposal package so that the government can determine price reasonableness. In addition, the government intends to negotiate any sections of the proposal that may offer the potential for cost savings to help ensure price reasonableness.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

Formal market research was completed in November 2016. A nationwide search on the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) using the NAICS code 532490 (Other Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Rental and Leasing) revealed a total of 1443 small businesses. Three refined searches using NAICS code 532490 and keywords "trainer", "simulator", and "egress" independently revealed four small businesses. Using the keyword "simulator" returned Medwheels, Inc. and Hedrick Test Equipment Rentals and Sales, Inc, keyword "trainer" returned Paradigm Medical Systems, and keyword "egress" returned the incumbent, SSUSA. Of the four companies, only SSUSA provided the type of training equipment required. Several U.S. companies or educational institutions such as Pro Aviation or Embry-Riddle University were found via the internet that provided the training using small one or two person trainers but all conducted the training at their own facility. Also one or two person capacity trainers would not be able to support the trainee throughput required to support USAF aircrew training. Additionally, further market research using the internet revealed at least 2 overseas companies that provide egress training equipment of the type required: EDM World Class Solutions in Great Britain and Offshore Training Ireland in the Republic of Ireland; however, leasing from a different vendor would lead to substantial delays in training and unnecessary costs to the Government as detailed in section V above. A third business, Worldwide Ship Management in Mumbai, India offers courses but does not lease their equipment. More importantly, the design and construction effort required to transition to equipment from another vendor would cause up to a two year delay in critical aircrew egress training. SSUSA also provides like equipment for the Navy, Marines, and the Army to train their aircrews. SERE instructors, as the subject matter experts, attend conferences where companies demonstrate various survival training equipment. Their experience at these conferences confirms the market research result that SSUSA is not only the sole U.S. based provider of comparable survival systems for lease, but that SSUSA is also the only company currently capable of meeting the current SERE requirement. The fact that SSUSA is the only source for this equipment is further supported by noting the original requirement for the METS portion of this requirement was originally competed in 2011-2012 and only one responsive offer (SSUSA) was received.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

None.

X. List of sources, if any, that expressed interest in the acquisition.

See section VI above.

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

There are no current plans locally or at AETC to re-engineer or replace the existing egress training equipment.

However we will continue to monitor the market on a recurring basis for potential sources of this type of training equipment. Because of the integration of the current METS and parachute drag simulator systems with the pool structure, the 22 TRS will continue to need SSUSA equipment until such time as a dedicated stand-alone SERE aquatic training facility can be built. When a dedicated SERE aquatics facility is approved, other sources of egress training equipment identified through market research can be sought as part of the design effort for the new facility. Every avenue to increase the chances of competition such as issuing a sources sought in a time frame early enough so that companies can provide a legitimate response will be utilized. However, until AETC is able to provide adequate procurement appropriations, the 22 TRS will be unable to purchase a survival system and will have to continue leasing the equipment. SERE's long term plan is to construct a standalone SERE aquatics facility in the future. At that time, the requirement to provide the 22 TRS with egress training equipment will be competed.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by my signature above, I have determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my signature above, I certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my responsibility, is both accurate and complete.