Attachment_V_-_Sole_Source_Justification_(SSJ)_Redacted.pdf

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

18 Jun 2019 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 2 of 5

I. Contracting Activity.

48th Contracting Squadron (CONS) Bldg 977, Boston Drive RAF Lakenheath, Brandon, Suffolk, IP27 9PN

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

The action being processed is an individual Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification (SSJ) for the procurement of Schneider EcoStruxure controllers for the Energy Management Control System (EMCS), as identified in Section III. Brand name approval is being sought for a new acquisition for the one-time conversion and upgrade of the existing (2014) Schneider Andover Continuum hardware and software, to the Schneider EcoStruxure Building Operation (EBO) platform, to include the recommissioning of existing equipment and controls. This requirement is for the conversion and upgrade of the main and sub-controllers that act as the central processing units for the EMCS. This is not a procurement of a brand new EMCS.

The EMCS enables the 100th Civil Engineering Squadron (100 CES) to remotely manage, control, and monitor the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system for 105 facilities (base-wide) at RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom. The EMCS also facilitates fault reporting of the base-wide HVAC systems and reports to a central control work station. The system utilizes existing Local Area Network (LAN) Ethernet infrastructure and Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in order to manage, control and administer the functions of the HVAC.

A new Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contract shall be used for this requirement.

This SSJ shall be posted to the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) Government Point of Entry (GPE) in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.102(a)(6).

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

The 100 CES has a requirement for the conversion and upgrade of the current Schneider Andover Continuum main and sub-controllers, to the Schneider EcoStruxure Building Operation (EBO) platform. The requirement is for the upgrade of site controllers and software components, which comprise 30% of the existing EMCS infrastructure, as well as the re-commissioning of the remaining EMCS framework once the new EBO platform is in place. The Schneider EBO platform will provide customized facility heating, cooling, and environmental monitoring of the facilities on RAF Mildenhall and will meet the current compatibility and network restrictions. All new head end equipment shall comply with USAF Information Technology (IT) architecture standards (Windows 10 operating system (OS)). Schneider equipment is approved and certified for use on the LAN (Local Area Network) and WAN (Wide Area Network) networks at RAF Mildenhall.

Schneider has announced that support for the Schneider Andover Continuum controllers (currently in place on RAF Mildenhall) will phase out in April 2020, making spare parts and software support difficult to obtain on a critical system. This system also uses a Windows 7 OS which is incompatible with the current Air Force Windows 10 standard desktop. Additionally, the head end console equipment no longer complies with Air Force IT architecture standards. This means that all system patching and security updates must be completed manually. Therefore, the upgrade to the Schneider EBO at all facilities has become a priority.

The The physical components provided as part of the EBO platform are:

- 150 new EBO controllers

- 6 head end terminals

- 4 basic service tools (tablets/consoles)

- 2 engineer level service tools (administrator tablets/consoles)

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

18 Jun 2019 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Page 4 of 5

EBO (both the hardware and the software) would be incompatible with the existing framework. Schneider, and their accredited distributors are the only vendors authorized to use these diagnostics tools and programs.

From an operational perspective; utilizing a single platform provides consistency and reliability for critical EMCS systems on RAF Mildenhall. By standardizing the hardware and software of the EMCS, this eliminates compatibility concerns, ensures minimal variance to maintenance costs and procedure, streamlines training, utilizes government owned equipment (the aforementioned 70%), and reduces long term system costs and energy consumption at RAF Mildenhall.

Furthermore, if the current controllers for the EMCS on RAF Mildenhall are not replaced the entire system is projected to fail by 2021 by 100 CES, making the energy management and control of HVAC systems in each facility only programmable at each individual site. Without a functioning EMCS, facilities will be unable to meet the requirement to support the Air Force efforts to comply with Federal Mandates such as the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) . Per Executive Order (EO) 13834, RAF Mildenhall must reduce energy consumption in its facilities by 2.5% each year from the FY15 baseline until at least FY25. 100 CES has identified upkeep and retro-commission of the EMCS as a significant Energy Conservation Opportunity that will reduce energy consumption and help achieve energy conservation goals. If the platform is not updated buildings are at risk of being taken off the EMCS, reverting back to 24 hour heating and ventilation at a significant cost to the United States Air Force. Currently RAF Mildenhall expends roughly during cold weather months. By reverting back to continual 24 hour use of the HVAC systems that number is estimated to increase to . Finally, failure of the EMCS would render RAF Mildenhall non-compliant with the above mentioned mandates.

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

A Request for Information (RFI) was posted to the Government Point of Entry, FedBizOps on 21 August 2019, with a closing date of 26 August 2019. The RFI included a draft Statement of Work (SOW) and questions regarding the feasibility of the project, and the ability of the vendors to provide controllers/components that would be compatible with the existing Schneider framework.

Market research as of the date of this SSJ has not revealed any vendors capable of providing non-Schneider controllers/ components that are compatible with the Schneider framework.

Furthermore the RFI revealed two vendors (Schneider Electric (UK Limited), and ECS Power and Control Limited) who have demonstrated both the capability of fulfilling the requirement and confirmed their interest in competing in any forthcoming solicitation. Both vendors intend to provide Schneider specific controllers/components.

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

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government will result in a fair and reasonable price as a result of competition between interested vendors. Due to the brand name nature of this requirement, only licensed or authorized Schneider contractors shall provide and install these systems, therefore competition will be among those who are authorized to supply it.

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

Market research has shown there is competition within the local area for providing, installing, and commissioning new Schneider EBO controllers. There are distributors, contractors and electricians licensed and authorized to distribute system components, and install these systems on Schneider's behalf. The 48th Contracting Squadron (48 CONS)