J&A_Signed_T_Battery_Redacted.pdf

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

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[ Enter security markings here -- or delete this text. ]Updated: 15 Mar 16

I. Contracting Activity.

United States Air force

AFSC OL:H/PZAC

650 Gum Lane, Bldg. 1215 Hill AFB UT, 84056-5825

Purchase Request Number FD2020-16-00898

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

A. Upon approval to use other than full and open competition procedures, the Air Force (AF) will enter into a new contract to procure Telemetry Silver Zinc Batteries to directly support the Minuteman III (MM III) Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Weapon System with Eagle Picher Technologies, LLC (EPT), C & Porter Streets, Joplin, MO 64801, cage code 81855.

B. Contract Type and Structure: This effort will be a supply contract and the anticipated pricing arrangement will be a cost plus fixed fee contract type for the engineering qualifying units and qualification NRE (non-recurring engineering) and a firm fixed price contract type for the production units. A cost plus fixed fee contract type will be used as this battery has not been built in 10+ years and has not previously executed a full qualification effort. A high uncertainty also exists in labor hours, labor mix, and material requirements. This action will use 4930 FC04 working capital funds.

C. Type J&A: Individual.

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

A. Under the contemplated contract, and based on the AF mission requirements, this effort is for the manufacture of Telemetry Silver Zinc Batteries, NSN: 6135-01-532-7655AH, in support of the MMIII Weapon System. The ICBM Systems Directorate (ICBMSD) has a requirement of 8 units for qualification testing. Once qualification testing is completed then production of 18 production batteries will commence.

This will be the last procurement of this battery before FT3/IWRP replaces it. Since this battery has not been built for over 10 years, Non-Reoccurring Engineering (NRE) hours will be required to update the drawings/data package, hold milestone meetings, hold reviews, update test plans and other documentation, and to test qualification batteries. NRE hours are estimated to be hours with an estimated cost of

. The qualification units estimated unit cost is each with anticipated delivery October 30, 2017. The production units estimated unit cost is . To meet mission requirements the delivery need date for the 18 production units is no later than September 1, 2018. Total program cost is estimated to be .

B. The estimated award date will be no later than January 16, 2017, and the contract period of performance will be January 17, 2017 through September 1, 2018. The Telemetry Silver Zinc battery is considered a consumable sustainment item.

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

The statutory authority that permits other than full and open competition for this acquisition is 10 U.S.C.2304 (c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1: Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

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. The Telemetry Battery is a highly specialized, customized component for the MMIII ICBM and has exacting size, weight and power restrictions that, if not met, would adversely affect the mass and center of gravity of the MMIII weapon system, limiting mission effectiveness. The battery cells are comprised of silver positive plates and zinc negative plates, with the plates made of silver and zinc powder that is processed on to a screen mesh. The plates are assembled dry, leaving the battery unenergized until power is required. The battery is activated by an electrical signal which initiates a pyrotechnic gas generator (commonly called a squib) that forces potassium hydroxide electrolyte into the cells to start the chemical reaction of the plates. The manufacturing of silver-zinc batteries is extremely labor intensive; deviations and problems can occur during any of the numerous, hand-built steps of fabrication. Therefore, this acquisition is for continued production of highly specialized equipment.

B. GAP4184 battery will be procured from the 10-20942-4 Source Control Drawing (SCD), using the approved supplier mentioned within the SCD: Eagle Picher Technologies LLC. The AF owns the overall specification requirement, while the detailed drawings are owned by the contractor. These detailed drawings are needed to manufacture the batteries and the Air Force does not own the rights to them. The drawings are proprietary to Eagle Picher, and no other source has access or the rights to use these drawings.

In an effort to remove this impediment to competition, on August 22, 2016 the Air force has asked Eagle Picher to provide an estimated cost for the Air Force to buy all of Eagle Picher's proprietary drawings/data for this Battery necessary to procure this item competitively in the future. A cost for this data has not yet been provided. Once the cost is received, the Air Force will review it to see if it is worth purchasing as this is most likely the last acquisition of these Batteries before being replaced by new FT3/IWRP Batteries.

C. The 414 SCMS/GUEA Engineer determined through the Bases of Estimate (BOE) calculations that costs would be approximately for the development, initial build and verification testing of 8 qualification batteries from a new source. A new source would also require at least two years to design, fabricate, test, and qualify a new design with an additional estimate of two years lead time for production.

The needed time-line to develop this new design would not meet the Minuteman Force Development Evaluation (FDE) test launch schedule.

D. The batteries are needed for the GT-228 launch scheduled for November 2018. Eagle Picher is the only source capable of meeting the November 2018 deadline. There is nearly a two year production lead time for the current approved design. Each FDE flight has an estimated cost of . If the Telemetry batteries are not available, the FDE mission will be severely disrupted, delayed and or terminated. FDE missions provides fleet-wide assessment and certification for mission capability. The ICBM FDE mission is paramount to maintaining its mission of nuclear deterrence.

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E. The 414 SCMS/GUMC believes that award to any source other than Eagle Picher would result in substantial duplication of cost of to the Government in the that is not expected to be recovered through competition, and unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirement. Eagle Picher is the only source available which has the technology to provide these specialized batteries. Award to another source would result in the FDE launch schedule being delayed an additional two years while they conducted Research and Development for a new battery design. This would not meet the required timeline, would cancel FDE launches, and be very costly to the government.

F. Accordingly, Eagle Picher Technologies LLC is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and services described in Section III above without experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements and the U.S. Air Force or experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be expected to be recovered through competition.

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

A. SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS (SSS) -- SSS FA8206-16-TBATTERY was posted to the FedBizOpps website on 19 November 2015, notifying interested contractors of the government's need to procure Telemetry Batteries. The closing date of the SSS was 21 Dec 2015.

B. The only response to the SSS came from Eagle Picher, on 16 December 2015. A solicitation was posted dated 30 June 2016 which resulted in only one response, also from Eagel Picher.

C. SYNOPSIS -- This will be synopsized in FedBizOpps as notice of proposed action IAW FAR 5.201. If other sources express interest as a result of this synopsis or other actions, they will be listed in the official contract file.

D. OTHER ACTIONS -- ICBMSD Engineering reviewed the market and identified two companies which might be interested in producing the Telemetry Battery: Eagle Picher Technologies (Large Business), of Joplin, Missouri, and BST Systems (Small Business) of Plainfield, Connecticut. A third potential source, Yardney Technical Products (Small Business), of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, has merged with Eagle Picher. The suppliers' capabilities, business practices and product characteristics were used to determine possible sources to fulfill this requirement.

While BST Systems has produced specialized batteries for the military, they do not incorporate gas generator activation in any of their current batteries, and do not have the capability at present to do so. In their 2015 bid to produce the squib-activated Mk21 Arming and Fusing Assembly (AFA) Battery, BST Systems estimated they would require two years for research and development before they could produce a squib-activated battery. This would not meet the schedule needed for producing the Telemetry Battery, which leaves EPT as the only viable source.

E. QUALIFYING COUNTRY SOURCES -- None.

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

The following steps will be taken to ensure that the anticipated cost of this acquisition will be fair and reasonable. These steps will be in accordance with the procedures and criteria contained in the FAR under Part 30 - Cost Accounting Standards, Part 31 - Contract Cost Principles and Procedures, Subparts 15.4 - Contract Pricing; to include technical evaluations and audits, as necessary. Additional steps to ensure price reasonableness will be performed using the guidance of the Contract Pricing Reference Guides, jointly developed by the Federal Acquisition Institute and the Air Force Institute of Technology. The AF will obtain certified cost or pricing data IAW FAR Subpart 15.403. The final step is to prepare the Price Negotiation Memorandum (PNM) upon completion of negotiations.

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

A. As described in Section VI above, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties.

B. Other Market research conducted included:

• Government and commercial data bases were queried.

• Previous similar battery acquisitions were reviewed.

• Contacted subject matter experts in government and industry.

• Thomas-net, Haystack, and general google searches were conducted for similar like items and results evaluated for any/all potential sources.

• 761 Screening was conducted identifying Eagle Pitcher as the only qualified source.

C. No commercial items or services or non-developmental items (NDI) (see FAR Part 2) are available. The requirement(s) cannot be modified to permit the use of existing commercial items and/or services or NDIs.

D. No organic capabilities exists for this item. The detailed drawings are owned by Eagle Picher and no other source including the government has the rights to these drawings. Market research has identified Eagle Picher as the only source of manufacture for the Telemetry Batteries at this time.

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

The Telemetry batteries were last contracted in 2005 and delivered in 2007 on Contract FA8204-06- C-0010. Current spares are estimated to be depleted by 3 October FY18 and additional batteries are needed to continue support of the MMIII weapon system.

[ Enter security markings here -- or delete this text. ]

[ Enter security markings here -- or delete this text. ]Updated: 15 Mar 16

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

Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS) FA8206-16-TBATTERY was posted to the FedBizOpps website on 19 November 2015, Telemetry Batteries. The only response was received from EPT, on 16 December 2015.

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.

These batteries are being procured to facilitate four annual Force Development Evaluation (FDE) launches for the ICBM MMIII Missile Program at Vandenberg AFB, California. This will be the last procurement of this battery before FT3/IWRP replaces it in approximately November 2019. Therefore it is not in the best interest of the government to pursue a new qualified source given the possible limited need for future procurements.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

The contracting officer's signature on the Coordination Approval Document (CAD) is evidence that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief (FAR 6.303-2(b)(12))

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by their signature on the Coordination and Approval Document, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein, which is their responsibility, is both accurate and complete (FAR 6.303-2(c))