FOE_-_Redacted.pdf

FAIR OPPORTUNITY EXCEPTION (FOE) JUSTIFICATION

I. Contracting Activity

The contracting activity responsible for this action is WR-ALC/GRUKA, Robins Air Force Base, GA. The Contracting Officer is Ms. Beckie King, 478-926-2746

This is an Exception to Fair Opportunity Justification

Purchase Request Number is FD2060-12-33434

II. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed

Due to the circumstances described below, a new order for engineering services in support of the AN/APQ-170 Radar system, Special Operations Forces MC-130H Combat Talon II aircraft, will be issued using Other Than Full and Open Competition (OTF&OC) procedures to DRS C3&A (CAGE 66839) through F2AST prime DRS Technical Services (CAGE 1KU75) on contract FA85030-08-D-0005. This is an Air Force requirement.

III. Description of the Supplies/Services Required To Meet the Agency’s Needs

The purpose of this task is to provide sustaining engineering and technical support for the AN/APQ-170 Radar system and subsystems to resolve deficiencies and improve reliability, maintainability, and functionality. Engineering services shall include engineering studies in support of resolving reliability and maintainability issues, resolving obsolete parts issues and analyzing failure trends from the depots and the field level shops. Engineering services shall also include the correction of errors in engineering drawings, investigating anomalies on the aircraft and in the Radar and test equipment as well as any other technical support that is required. The tasks associated with this order are to be accomplished at the contractor’s facility and other locations specified by the Government. These tasks shall support the war fighter in performing missions that utilizes the AN/APQ-170 Radar. The contractor shall provide timely support (by the most economical means) to resolve issue(s) with the Radar to allow an aircraft(s) to return to its mission expeditiously. When a part is determined to be obsolete, the contractor shall prepare and submit engineering change proposals in order to qualify a replacement for use in the Radar. The contractor shall analyze failure data on a quarterly basis to identify current failure trends so they can be addressed; in order to keep the Radar in a functioning state for the war fighter. Total estimated cost of this acquisition is $650,000.00. Period of Performance will be 12 months from time of order award.

Fund Type FY12

EEIC 583 $650,000

IV. Authority Permitting a Fair Opportunity Exception

FAR 16.505(b)(1)(i) requires the Contracting Officer to give every awardee under a multiple award contract, a fair opportunity to be considered for each order exceeding $3,000 unless a statutory exception applies. The specific exception that precludes the fair opportunity process for this acquisition is FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B).

V. Demonstration of the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above to Provide the Required Supply/Service (Applicability of Authority)

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

DRS is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the APQ-170 Radar system and is currently providing depot repair of the Radio Frequency (RF) Line Replaceable Units (LRUs).

When the Organic depot has a digital LRU beyond their capability to repair, DRS has been able to assess the LRU and provide recommendations to the System Program Office (SPO) for repair.

DRS provides assistance to the backshops at the bases using DRS Representatives under a requirements contract FD8604-08-D-7950, awarded 01 Jan 2008. As parts are consumed or become obsolete and are no longer obtainable, DRS has the capability to develop and qualify new parts for use on the APQ-170 Radar system.

During the 20 year life of the APQ-170 Radar system, DRS has kept a database of repairs that has proven to be instrumental in identifying failure trends leading to many reliability improvements. This database is proprietary to DRS alone and does not exist anywhere else.

DRS has refused to sell the government this data. DRS has in-depth knowledge of the algorithms used by the APQ-170 Radar and how it relates to terrain following and terrain avoidance. DRS is the only company to ever develop the APQ-170 Operational Flight Program (OFP) and continues to write new software to keep up with ongoing operational requirements and APQ-170 Radar upgrades.

The test program set used to test the APQ-170 Radar LRUs is the Aircraft Radar Test Station (ARATS) test bench. It is a hot mock-up of the APQ-170 Radar System, used to verify that repairs are successful. The ARATS test bench is also used to verify any changes in the software as well as the OFP and reliability upgrades. Only 5 ARATS test benches were ever manufactured to support the APQ-170 Radar System based on an operational fleet of 20 aircraft.

All of the ARATS benches are Government owned. Two of the benches are located at Hurlburt AFB to support the Centralized Repair Facility (CRF), the second bench will be converted to repair SLEP assets. One bench is located at Kirtland AFB in support of Air Education and Training Command (AETC) assets. The other two remaining ARATS test benches are used at DRS facility in St. Louis, to support the RF depot repair line under contract FA8509-07-D-0005, awarded 11 May 2007, and supporting the SLEP modification under contract FA8509-09-C- 0012, awarded 29 Jan 10.

A contractor must possess a complete APQ-170 Technical Data Package (TDP) including test procedures and requirements developed in-house at DRS in support of the contractor depot to accurately test and verify the APQ-170 Radar. The contractor must also possess the proprietary historical repair records, unique tools, and equipment used to test and maintain the APQ-170 Radar System including the ARATS Test Bench. The Market research recommends DRS be accessed via sole source contract.

VI. Description of Efforts Made To Ensure Competition Between All Awardees

IAW FAR 16.505(a)(1), orders under indefinite-delivery contracts do not have pre-award synopsis. IAW FAR 5.301(d)(3) post award posting of the justification is required for task or delivery orders greater than the simplified acquisition threshold and awarded without providing for fair opportunity in accordance with 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B) and (D).

Paragraph V, above, justifies why competition among all awardees is not possible for this acquisition. The OEM has the expertise, propriety data, and the necessary test equipment to fully execute this order.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer That The Anticipated Cost to the Government Will Be Fair and Reasonable

There have been multiple contracts spanning several years with this contractor performing this requirement and a solid history of cost estimates and comparisons exist to reasonably determine the price fair and reasonable. Furthermore, F2AST rate tables will be utilized to verify that proposed rates are in accordance with the basic contract. A Government technical evaluation will be completed for labor hours and labor categories.

VIII. Description of Market Research Conducted Among All Awardees and the Results Or A Statement of the Reason Market Research Was Not Conducted

Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 10.002 with additional exceptions, market research for Sustaining Engineering and Technical Support for the AN/APQ-170 Multi-Mode Radar (MMR) has been accomplished by the radar engineer Mr. Dat Le, WR-ALC/GRUEB.

Research using Internet sites as such as Thomas Register and the Information Handling System (IHS) showed no other manufacturers capable of supporting the APQ-170 Radar at the same level of expertise as the OEM. Engineering services in support of other systems were eliminated for lack of commonality and dissimilarity of purpose.

Internet search for HUB Zone and service disabled veteran owned businesses was conducted using the Dynamic Small Business Search Engine CCR.gov on DRS NAICS codes. NAICS of 334419, Quality of ISO 9000 Series, Keyword “APQ-170 Radar”, “Aircraft Radar” and General Nature of Research and Development found no companies capable of supporting the APQ-170 Radar with any experience. The Dynamic Small Business Search produced no companies that could support aircraft radar systems.

Selecting a contractor besides the OEM would require building an additional ARATS Test Bench to the current configuration. To build the exact ARATS Test Bench today would be cost prohibitive and impossible. A majority of the ARATS components are obsolete and unobtainable from vendor sources. Current technology will make a new ARATS Test Bench unique with a different operating system and computer hardware. A rehost of all the Test Program Sets (TPS) would be required since a modern operating system and hi-speed Input/Output (I/O) data buses will not be able to run the existing Government Approved Acceptance Test Procedures (ATPs).

IX. Other Facts Supporting the Justification

The Combat Talon II aircraft is assigned to four field locations:

Hurlburt Field, Ft. Walton Beach, Florida Kirtland AFB, Albuquerque, New Mexico Mildenhall AB, England Kadena AB, Japan

The ARATS test benches are about 20 years old, fragile, and continue to provide a multiple source of problems. Moving the ARATS test bench from DRS to another contractor’s facility would impact the contractor depot repair line and/or SLEP modification along with existing engineering change proposals (FA8509-07-C-0029 awarded 18 Jul 2007 and FA8509-07-C-0031 awarded 22 Aug 2007) on contract with DRS. Relocating the test bench would also carry a high risk of damaging the equipment due to its age as well as untrained personnel available to safely operate the ARATS test bench. Mission capability of the Combat Talon II aircraft would be severely degraded if the contractor depot repair line is shut down for an extended period of time.

X. List of Any Awardee That Expressed Interest in the Acquisition

N/A

XI. Actions the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers To Increasing Fair Opportunity Before Any Subsequent Acquisition For the Supplies or Services

No actions can be taken to remove or overcome any barriers that preclude the agency from meeting the requirements of FAR 16. 505(b)(1) and DFARS 216.505-70 to provide competition between all awardees. The OEM is the only source that can perform the work.

XII. Contracting Officer’s Certification

The contracting officer’s signature on the signature page evidences that he/she 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 signatures on the signature page, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein which is their responsibility is both accurate and complete.