JA 19-01210 (003)_Redacted.pdf

FD2030-19-01210

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

I. CONTRACTING ACTIVITY

United States Air Force

AFSC/PZA

3001 Staff Drive Tinker AFB, OK 73145

Purchase Request (PR) # FD2030-19-01210

II. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING PROCESSED

This individual Justification and Approval (J&A) authorizes the use of other than full and open competition procedures to obtain a new engineering services contract. The contemplated non-commercial engineering services will be performed by Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation CAGE 5FVX5. Currently, the B-2 Flight Control Computer (FCC) cannot be manufactured due to parts obsolescence, and therefore buy requirements for the FCC cannot be met. Obsolescence is also affecting repair and causing risk to the long term supportability of the FCC. Without this Critical Safety Item, the B-2 aircraft will be grounded. Non-Recurring Engineering services are required to design and qualify a form fit and function B-2 FCC replacement in order to resolve obsolescence issues. A 24 month engineering services contract is expected to address obsolescence and develop a sustainable solution for repair supportability and qualification of the FCC and subcomponents of the FCC. This will be a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) performance based services contract with a cost reimbursable travel CLIN that is intended to support this 422nd Supply Chain Management Squadron (SCMS) requirement. A performance period of a 1 year basic contract, and a one year option is considered appropriate for this effort. The estimated total value of this award is

Estimated Total Contract Value: $ Estimated Award Date: Sep 2019 Estimated Period of Performance: Oct 2019 to Sep 2021

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS

Under the contemplated contract, the Government is seeking engineering services from Northrop Grumman to develop solutions that will resolve parts obsolescence issues affecting the Operational Safety Suitability & Effectiveness (OSS&E) and supportability of the FCC. The Government does not own or have in its possession the required technical data necessary for competitive acquisition. The contractor will provide engineering services to develop FCC sustainment repair data, Bill of Materials (BOM), and engineering drawings, all to overcome parts obsolescence issues and allow for competitive repair or acquisition sourcing. The FCC is critical to the B-2 weapon system and its supportability ensures that the Air Force continues maximum support to meet worldwide strategic commitments. The FCC is a Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) in the B- 2 Flight Control System (FCS) which processes data from other parts of the FCS to ensure aircraft altitude, airspeed, attitude, etc. are within safe flying parameters.

The scope of this effort includes identification of all impediments impacting repair supportability and qualification of the B-2 FCC, including but not limited to, BOM, test equipment, drawing currency and completeness, etc., and development of a solution to mitigate the impediments. The scope specifically includes identification of the full/current BOM, support equipment, component and material obsolescence, obsolete common specs, manufacturing processes, military standards, and any other required documentation needed to repair the B-2 FCC or any of its subcomponents. Where LRU solutions are not possible, the contractor shall minimize Class I solutions by instead targeting Circuit Card Assembly(CCA)/ Shop Replaceable Unit (SRU) level solutions.

The scope also includes the delivery of a solution assessment, and subsequent presentation of these solutions at an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) meeting, Hardness Critical Item (HCI) testing of piece part substitutes, a Test and Evaluation Program Plan (TEPP) to define qualification requirements, a draft Technical Data Package (TDP), or an updated Procurement Specification with System Requirements Review (SRR), if needed.

A draft TDP will be delivered in the base year and final TDP in the option year, because the final configuration should be "locked down" in the option year.

The engineering services sought in this contract will make competition feasible in future repair or acquisition actions for the FCC. No actions to develop future competition will be feasible during the period of performance of this acquisition because these engineering services are a pre-requisite to develop future competition. The engineering services that will be provided during the Option Year are a direct follow-on to the services provided in the Base year. The nature of the work in terms of technical complexity, security requirements, and reach-back capability to legacy data makes future completion unfeasible from a fiscal and technical standpoint (i.e., no other company would be able to step in and take over without a huge capability spin-up, that if doable, would be cost prohibitive).

Estimated Period of Performance: 01 Oct 19 – 30 Sep 21

Contract Summary Estimated

Dollars Estimated Period of Performance PR Line Item Quantity

0001 Labor 1 Lot (Basic) Oct 2019 – Sep 2020

1 Lot (Option 1) Oct 2020 – Sep 2021

0002 Data 1 Lot (Basic) Oct 2019 – Sep 2020 1 Lot (Option 1) Oct 2020 – Sep 2021 0003 Travel 1 Lot (Basic) Oct 2019 – Sep 2020 1 Lot (Option 1) Oct 2020 – Sep 2021

Estimated Total Contract Value Oct 2019 – Sep 2021

PR Line Item 0001

Engineering Services to Resolve Obsolescence in the B-2 Flight Control Computer

(FCC) NSN: 6610-01-372-5196FW

Description: Engineering services to identify all impediments impacting repair supportability and qualification of the B-2 FCC, including but not limited to, BOM, test equipment, drawing currency and completeness, etc., and development of a solution to mitigate the impediments.

P/N: 103E4050G2 Noun: Flight Control Computer (FCC) Application: B-2 Type of appropriation: 97X4930 Total Estimated Dollars for PR Line Item 0001: (Includes Fixed Fee) Contract Type: CPFF

PR Line Item 0002

Data Description: Data deliverables for the FCC Project include: Technical Data associated with identification of impediments impacting repair supportability and qualification.

This data includes, data to correct inaccuracies in the BOM, problems with test equipment, drawing currency and completeness issues, etc., and the development of solution recommendations to mitigate the subject impediments. “Data” also includes the development and delivery of a solution assessment with recommendations, Hardness Critical Item (HCI) testing of piece part substitutes, a TEPP to define qualification requirements, a draft TDP, or depending on the solution path, an updated Procurement Specification (P-Spec) with an associated System Requirements Review.

Type of appropriation: 97X4930 Total Estimated Dollars for PR Line Item 0002: (Includes Fixed Fee) Contract Type: CPFF

PR Line Item 0003

Travel Description: Travel on the project includes the Prime Contractor (Northrop Grumman Corporation), traveling to/from the Subcontractor (BAE System Controls) location and BAE traveling to/from their location to OKC/Tinker AFB. Associated travel is related to Programmatic and Technical meetings.

Type of appropriation: 97X4930 Total Estimated Dollars for PR Line Item 0003: $ Contract Type: Cost Reimbursable

Estimated Total Contract Value: $

IV. STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)

V. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES THE

USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED ABOVE (APPLICABILITY OF

AUTHORITY)

Northrop Grumman is the only known source that has access to the data, equipment, and expertise necessary to perform the engineering services required to develop a solution to obsolescence issues for the B-2 FCC. BAE Systems Controls CAGE 89954, is the Original Equipment Manufacturer of the FCC, and holds proprietary data rights for the FCC. Northrup Grumman is the System Integrator for the B-2 Flight Control System (FCS) and holds proprietary data rights for the FCS and how the FCC must interact with other parts of the FCS. The technical data necessary to foster competition for this effort is not available to the Government presently, and it is not possible to draft adequate specifications for this work without such data. On 19 Jan 2018, Northrop Grumman responded to the Government's request for a rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate to obtain proprietary data and information related to the engineering services for 422 SCMS managed items. Northrop Grumman indicated that, due to intellectual property agreements and unique relationships with its partner, BAE, it could not provide the requested information. Its partner for the FCC, BAE, declined to offer additional access, sell or transfer ownership of proprietary data.

The 422nd believes that award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force’s requirement. The Air Force’s FCC requirement translates to real world operational requirement in regard to aircraft availability. The FCC World- Wide asset availability requirement for the FCC is 20 and current FCC availability is one serviceable unit and four unserviceable units, and each aircraft requires four FCCs.

Because of obsolescence, circuit cards within the FCC cannot be repaired or purchased currently. This means that the asset availability will diminish each time one of these circuit cards fail. Development of obsolescence solutions by any entity which does not have data rights for Northrop Grumman’s technical specifications for the B-2 FCS or BAE’s technical specifications of the B-2 FCC would require an estimated seven or more years of reverse engineering and redesign. Without this critical safety item, the B-2 aircraft will be grounded, and therefore, the Air Force needs a solution immediately to ensure the B-2 is supportable. Due to these time constraints, technical requirements, and urgency associated with the health of the B-2 Bomber fleet, Northrop Grumman is the only source capable of providing the services described in Section III above.

Accordingly, Northrop Grumman is the only source capable of providing the services described in Section III above without the US. Air Force experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements.

VI. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE

SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS DEEMED

PRACTICABLE

In accordance with FAR 5.201, this requirement shall be synopsized and the Request for Proposal will be posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website. A Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS) FA8117-18-SS-0026 for the FCC was posted on 14 Aug 2018 with response date 13 Sep 2018. No responses were received. An amendment to the SSS was posted 16 May 2019, clarifying that Engineerig Services are sought, and not new manufactured FCC. The amended SSS closed on 23 May 2019, and did not receive any response.

VII. DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND

REASONABLE

The Contracting Officer will ensure that the items described herein are negotiated at a fair and reasonable price to the Government. IAW FAR as supplemented, the contractor will be required to submit Certified Cost or Pricing Data and/or Other Than Certified Cost or Pricing Data. A detailed cost analysis and price analysis will be performed. The Contracting Officer will request a technical evaluation from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to aid in the evaluation of the contractor’s proposal. The Contracting Officer will seek audit assistance from the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) if necessary.

VIII. DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE

RESULTS, OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASONS MARKET RESEARCH

WAS NOT CONDUCTED

Pursuant to FAR Part 10, market research was accomplished for this effort. The market research was conducted by a multi-functional team consisting of the Item Manager, Equipment Specialist, Logistics Officer, and Engineer beginning on 10 Jun 2018 and closing on 23 May 2019. This research included the SSS FA8117-18-SS-0026 in Section VI above, along with inquiries into Internet sites including Google, the Thomas Register, Haystack, and similar item manufacturer's websites. These sites were searched for capability to develop solutions for obsolescence in the FCC P/N 103E4050G2 as well as support abilities. This research revealed that there is not another company available to meet this requirement because the technical data held by BAE and Northrop Grumman would be required. No data rights or intellectual property agreements exist beyond the arrangement between BAE and Northrop Grumman that the Government could ascertain. The requirements described in Section III apply to the B-2 weapon system and these requirements cannot be modified nor be satisfied with a commercial or modified commercial item.

Based on the above market research, Northrop Grumman was found to be the only source able to fulfill the requirements described in Section III.

IX. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION

The government realizes that it has unlimited rights to form, fit, and function data, including source qualification data, as well as data related to operation, maintenance, installation, and training. However, such rights are insufficient to satisfy the current need. Access to production level drawings is necessary to accomplish the tasks for this acquisition. Efforts by the government to acquire a license from the OEM have been unsuccessful. The most recent attempt by the government to acquire the data or rights to the data occurred on 19 Jan 2018 when the B-2 Program Office sent the OEM a letter requesting unlimited or restricted rights that would allow for the obsolescence study needed, the OEM declined. As a result there are currently no additional actions that can be taken to remove barriers to competition.

X. LIST OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE

ACQUISITION

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation CAGE: 5FVX5 2340 Dulles Corner Blvd Herndon, VA 20171-3400 Phone: 703-713-4096

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

The 422 SCMS/GUEA will continue discussions with the OEM regarding additional access to, or sharing of data. Data deliverables on this project include a draft Technical Data Package (TDP) in the Base year, followed by a Final TDP in the Option year.

Barring any data rights issues, it is anticipated that the Final TDP could be utilized for future Spares buy as well as providing maintenance with a roadmap for enabling future organic repair capability.

XII. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S CERTIFICATION

As evidenced by his/her signature, the contracting officer has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief.

XIII. TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL’S CERTIFICATION

As evidenced by their signatures, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein, which is their responsibility, is both accurate and complete.

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN