Redacted_J&A_Redacted.pdf

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

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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: AFSC/PZIM

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: Not available at this time.

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): Three (3) Zeiss Material Microscopes

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): Other contracting

Authority (include full title): FAR 6.302-1 (a)(2) Only one responsible source

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

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

: 2017.03.23 10:21:18 -05'00'

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I. Contracting Activity.

Air Force Materiel Command

AFSC/PZIMB

3001 Staff Drive 2S75 Tinker AFB, OK 73145

Purchase Request (PR): Unknown

MFT: S17-064

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

This individual Justification and Approval (J&A) authorizes use of Other than Full and Open Competition procedures to obtain a new commercial firm-fixed price contract for one (1) Carl Zeiss AxioObserver 7 Inverted microscope and two (2) Carl Zeiss AxioObserver 5 Inverted Microscopes, installation, and training. The contemplated contract with distributor for these Zeiss Microscope, The estimated total value for this award is

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

76 MXSG requires the purchase of three (3) microscopes with installation and training. Two (2) manual and encoded microscopes are needed to support the typical thermal spray production workload. One(1) motorized and encoded metallograph is needed to support R&D requirements for panoramic images (J-grooves (PWA MPP-0031B) or in other special circumstances where beneficial), in-focus stacking feature, image analysis capability for a turn-key optical microscope system. Zeiss Metallographs:

One (1) Each - Fully motorized digitally encoded inverted microscope with 2.5X, 5X, 10X, 50X, and 100X objective lens on a turret mount. With 10X eye pieces, Bright field, Dark Field, Polarized Light, and Fluorescence filters. A computer with Axio-Vision software, two 2 TB hard drives and 32GB of RAM shall be included. A digital camera system that is 3-10 mega pixel capable shall also be present.

Two (2) Each - Manually operated digitally encoded inverted microscope with 2.5X, 5X, 10X, 50X, and 100X objective lens on a turret mount. With 10X eye pieces, Bright field, Dark Field, Polarized Light, and Fluorescence filters. A computer with Axio-Vision software, two 2 TB hard drives and 32GB of RAM shall be included. A digital camera system that is 3-10 mega pixel capable shall also be present.

Installation and training will be required.

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

The authority for this action is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2) Only One Responsible Source.

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

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

Source Sought Synopsis: A sources sought synopsis (FA8126-17-R-0006) was issued on FedBizOpps on 2 March 2017 and ended 17 March 2017. The sources sought revealed there were no other vendors that could supply this requirement.

Pre-solicitation Notice: In accordance with FAR 5.207 & FAR 12.603, this requirement shall utilize a combined synopsis solicitation and shall be posted on FedBizOpps website.

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 and Contractor. Being a commercial item, Certified Cost and Pricing Data cannot be requested, however, Other than Certified Cost and Pricing Data and redacted invoices of similar Zeiss Microscopes provided at other installations or places of business will be used for comparison purposes. Price reasonableness will be determined using price analysis IAW FAR 15.404-1(b), and supported by a technical evaluation and analysis by the Subject Matter Expert (SME).

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

Market research was performed reviewing Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) and System for Award Management (SAM) databases using North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code (334516) looking for any company that could provide these Zeiss Materials Microscopes. A review of small businesses to include 8(a), HUB Zone, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business, and Women Owned Small Business was conducted in search of a company that could provide the Ziess Microscopes. The Dynamic Small Business Search revealed the following two small businesses under the NAICS 334516:

∙ was contacted and stated they do not sell microscopes.

∙ was contacted and stated they do not sell microscopes.

, conducted a Internet search for Zeiss Material Microscopes and found that Zeiss has a national distributor, who maintains more than one office in the USA.

∙ , were contacted and they submitted a ROM.

Contract Specialist, issued a sources sought synopsis on FedBizOpps on 2 March 2017 and ended 17 March 2017. One response from with was received. s Zeiss's direct competitor but due to this requirement being a name brand only in order to avoid substantial duplication of cost with training, comparisons of results, margins of error and collateral support items needed to operate multiple designs and brands, brand microscopes will not meet this requirement. The sources sought revealed there were no other vendors that could supply this requirement.

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

All of the existing microscopes in the inventory are Zeiss. 76 MXSG believes that a purchase of any other brand would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements. Introducing multiple brands of microscopes ushers in multiple issues and complications such at training, comparison results, margins of error and collateral support items needed to operate multiple designs and brands. This could cause circumstances reducing MXSG operational availability - and thus reducing (or precluding) the ability of the war fighter to accomplish specific missions.

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

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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 Government will continue to monitor the market to determine if Zeiss allows additional authorized distributors for the connection requested in this requirement. We will also search for other companies that have comparable connections that will meet the needs for future requirements.

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 (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.