Attachment_1_Sole_Source_Justification.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

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

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 25 May 2018 Page 1 of 5

Is this a new or amended J&A Document? New Amended ( Prior to Award Only! )

Is this a Bridge Action as defined in the AF Bridge Action Reduction Plan? Yes No

Funding level for this acquisition:

Contracting Activity: AFLCMC/PZIBC

Purchase Request / Local ID Number:

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): Diverse wavelength ring laser

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting):

Authority: AFFARS 5313.501 - 10 U.S.C. 2302b, Implementation of Simplified Acquisition Procedures (41 U.S.C. 1901)

AFFARS 5313.501 - 10 U.S.C. 2304a, Special Emergency Procurement Authority (41 U.S.C. 1903)

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): Justification Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306 . 304 ( a) ) ** The text in the signature blocks below is editable, including the title.

** To remove a row, click the "X" next to the signature block. CAUTION: Once removed, it can only be restored by downloading the BLANK FORM again.

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APPROVAL (AFFARS 5306 . 304 ( a) )

Date Contracting Officer Signature

NOTE: If a Justification was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved Justification for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant Justification. This applies to Justification staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor Justification will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Sign and Save Procedure

Date Project Lead / Program Mgr / Requiring Activity Signature

Date Contracting Officer Signature

Date Section Chief Signature

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

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I. Contracting Activity.

Contracting Activity - Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Installation Contracting Division, Base Support Contracting AFLCMC/PZIBC Organization Activity - The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)

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

This action will be awarded as a new firm-fixed-price contract.

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

The Air Force Institute Technology (AFIT/ENP) requires a new diverse wavelength ring laser system in order to perform spectroscopy experiments. AFIT currently does not have a ring laser that will perform laser spectroscopy experiments. The new ring laser system will need to conduct spectroscopy experiments over an extremely wide range of effective wavelengths with unprecedented precision and would effectively replace, and dramatically add to the current capabilities in the laboratory.

This specification lists the minimum requirements for the diverse wavelength tunable ring laser system:

(1) Power: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must achieve at least 4 Watts of peak output power between wavelengths of 700-1,000 nm, and at least 100 mWatts of peak power between 515-660 nm range, at least 50 mWatts of peak power between 302-347 nm range, at least 1 W of peak power in the 350-500 nm range, and at least 10 mWatts in the 210-250 nm range.

(2) Size: The system must be compact to allow for additional equipment in the operational environment - the core titanium sapphire ring laser should be smaller than 30 x 18 x 10 cm.

(3) Environment Immunity: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must be hermetically sealed to prevent dust from entering the cavity while simultaneously allowing for purge times of less than 10 minutes.

(4) Robustness: The core titanium sapphire ring laser surviving environment trauma (for example, drops from heights of at least 1 m, extreme vibration, or similar) must be demonstrated.

(5) Demonstrated Performance: A list of existing customers using the ring laser system must be provided with contact information to demonstrate prior performance.

(6) Remote Operation: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must have no manually adjustable parts that require human intervention while still being fully tunable from 700 to 1,000 nm with software development kits available in LabView and Python.

(7) Scanning Parameters: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must have scan rates of up to 200 GHz/sec with mode-hop free wavelength scanning over 5 nm with up to 10 kHz resolution in less than 10 minutes. High resolution single scan widths must be at least 25 GHz wide.

(8) Amplitude Noise: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must have an amplitude noise of 0.1% RMS or better.

(9) Linewidth: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must have an absolute linewidth of 50 KHz or better.

(10) Wavelength Access: Additional modules must allow for tunability over the spectral ranges of 210-250 nm, 302-347 nm, 350-500 nm, 515-660 nm, and 700-1,000 nm.

(11) Visible Frequency Doubling Mechanism: The core titanium sapphire ring laser must be coupled to a visible frequency doubled for the range of 350-500 nm and must achieve at least 35% conversion efficiency. The frequency doubling cavity must not need temperature control.

(12) Pump Source: The laser system must include a single mode Verdi V18 as the pump source to support mixing modules.

(13) Chillers: The laser system must include any chillers needed to support all normal operations.

(14) Mixing sources: The laser system must include all pump sources required for mixing to achieve all tunable ranges.

(15) Wavemeter: The laser system must give a wavelength reference using a wavemeter for fast feedback of the laser output with resolution and sample speed equal to or better than a High Finesse WS-6. The wavemeter must also include all optics for coupling and integrate with the ring laser control software to support wavelength estimates

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

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(16) Laser Dye: The laser system must not contain or require any laser dye or laser dye medium for operation at any wavelength.

(17) Control System: The laser system must include all hardware, firmware, software, and computer systems needed for operation.

(18) Documentation: Full documentation for maintaining, operating, and repairing the laser system, including all control software, must be included.

(19) Updates: Future software updates will be made available to AFIT as they become available free of additional charges.

Installation & Training: The complete laser system must be installed in AFIT's laboratory and the manufacturer must provide hands on training for all operation and maintenance of the laser system (for example, the training traditionally given to new field technicians). A complete user guide for all operations must be included. A complete maintenance manual for all repairs must be included.

The total estimated dollar value of this acquisition is . The type of appropriation to be used for this acquisition is 2018, 3080 Funds (Other Procurement Mission Support (PMA) for System Acquisition Programs) for the United States Air Force.This Funding is valid for three years. The delivery is estimated to be 6 months after contract award.

IV. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

AFFARS 5313.501 - 10 U.S.C. 2302b, Implementation of Simplified Acquisition Procedures (41 U.S.C. 1901)

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

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is required to develop and fabricate high-resolution components and requires the highest quality parts for aerospace research. This research requires a diverse wavelength ring laser with critical capabilities that have not been demonstrated to be abundantly available in the current marketplace.

After conducting extensive market research, it was discovered that current ring laser manufacturers are very limited and prior manufacturers have since stopped production of ring lasers. A Sources Sought was posted to FBO along with the minimum requirements and a survey for each vendor to fill out declaring if they could or could not deliver on each of the minimum requirements for the diverse wavelength ring laser. After analyzing the responses from the two vendors who responded to the Sources Sought, it was determined that only one vendor could deliver a ring laser that was capable of meeting all of the minimum requirements. The ring laser produced by MSuqared is determined to be the only ring laser currently available that is able to meet all of the Government's requirements. This determination was made in a technical evaluation conducted by AFIT's technical point of contact, on 3 October 2018. This evaluation is documented in tab 2 of this file.

The specifications that AFIT has set forth in their statement of work are required for the type of experimentation they need to accomplish. AFIT is unable to compromise on any of the requirements where the other ring laser capabilities fell short.

Specifically, MSquared's ring laser is the only ring laser that could meet the core ring laser size requirement of being 30 x 18 x 10cm or smaller. A ring laser with a core laser size larger than the specified requirement will prohibit AFIT from accomplishing planned experimentation involving the collaboration with existing laser equipment. It is also critical that the ring laser be compatible with both LabView and Python development kits. If the laser is not compatible with both softwares, AFIT would risk loss of routines previously created and incur additional expense to have someone re-write the Python and LabView routines if the laser lacks the compatibility. The laser offered by , the second vendor who responded to the sources sought, is also unable to meet critical performance requirements 3, 4, 7, 9, and 11 listed in section III above. These requirements are crucial for the quality, efficiency, and completeness of data collection. Anything less than the specified requirements severely limits the types of experiments that AFIT will be able to accomplish, negativity impacting the AFIT mission and research programs.

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

Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS):

AFIT has conducted extensive analysis of the current technologies available in the market for Diverse Wavelength Lasers, with market research dating back to November 2017. The Contract Specialist posted a sources sought synopsis on the Federal Business Opportunities website for 7 days and received capability statements from the following Diverse Wavelength manufactures:

and M Squared Laser, INC. The end user evaluated the capabilities of each manufacture and determined that the only organization capable of meeting AFIT's requirements for the Diverse Wavelength Laser is M-Squared Laser.

Other Market Research Findings:

The other companies have made great strides in their platforms, but will not be able to fulfill the ten (10) of the twenty

(20) requirements. This determination was made after numerous site visits to vendor facilities, conference calls with senior management representatives at corporate headquarters, and attendance at relevant vendor tradeshows.

Vendors Able to Meet Requirements:

M Squared Lasers, Inc. 1 Broadway Cambridge Innovation Center, 14th Floor, Cambridge, MA

This vendor is the only vendor able to meet all the minimum requirements. They are able to meet each of these requirements with a production version of their diverse wavelength laser. The M Squared represents a commercial off the self (COST) solution that meets the minimum requirements specified in this document. M Squared manufactures the diverse wavelength laser they offer.

Vendors Unable to Meet Requirements:

This vendor is not able to meet the minimum basic requirement for over the wavelength ranges required.

This vendor is not able to meet the following requirements:

Req (1) The response to sources sought does not clearly describe how using tow crystals in a would change operational requirements for the end user while tuning in the 515-660 nm range.

Req. (2) The response to the sources sought does not meet size specifications for the ring laser core.

Req. (3) The response to sources sought does not sate the purge time of less than 10 minutes.

Req. (4) The response to sources sought does not demonstrate ring laser core robustness. Req.

(6) The response to sources sought does not show a Python development kit available.

Req. (7) The response to sources sought does not meet the scan rate (by nearly an order of magnitude), the 5 nm scan interval time (3x longer).

Req. (8) The response to sources sought does not state a quantitative value for RMS noise.

Req. (9) The response to sources sought does not state quantitative value for line-width in Hz.

Req. (11) The response to sources sought does not demonstrate 35% conversion efficiency.

Req. (12) The response to sources sought does not meet requirements # 12- single mode 532 nm pump laser not included ( is not single mode 532 pump source).

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

The anticipated cost for this acquisition will be fair and reasonable for the Government. The basis of this determination

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

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY 25 May 2018 Page 5 of 5 will be determined by price analysis of other than certified cost or pricing data. Specifically, by comparing redacted invoices provided by MSquared to the Independent Government Estimate provided by AFIT and quoted prices of similar equipment provided by third-party vendors.

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

An extensive market survey was performed on the market for diverse wavelength ring lasers. Please see section VI above.

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

AFIT requires a highly specialized ring laser to complete required spectroscopy experiments. To procure a ring laser that falls short of their specified minimum requirements dramatically limits AFIT's capabilities and ability to capture high quality data.

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

Please see Section VI above.

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.

AFIT will continue to study the market for potential future sources that can provide diverse wavelength laser rings that meet the Government's minimum 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 their signatures 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)).

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