D-ILS_Production_JA_Redacted.pdf

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

Updated: 20 Dec 16 Page 3 of 9

Note 1: See guidance at the end of this document for completing the following sections.

Note 2: Each field will expand automatically if additional space is needed.

I. Contracting Activity.

The Air Force Materiel Command's Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Battle Management Directorate, Aerospace Management Systems Division (HBA), Contracting Office (HBAK), 75 Vandenberg Drive, Hanscom Air Force Base (AFB), MA 01731-2103 is the contracting organization responsible for this proposed contracting action and is seeking approval for this Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition. The Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) for this contract action is Mr. Richard Williams; phone: 781-225-5125; E-Mail:

richard.williams.66@us.af.mil

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

AFLCMC/HBAK intends to award a full rate production contract to Thales Defense Security Inc.

(hereafter referred to as “Thales”) of 22605 Gateway Center Drive, Clarksburg, MD 20871. The production contract, awarded under the authority of this Justification and Approval (J&A), allows the United States Air Force (USAF) to purchase up to twenty-nine (29) Deployable-Instrument Landing System (D-ILS) production units to be deployed world-wide over a five year period. This is a fixed priced “C” contract with a base year and three option periods for production. Ancillary items including spares, support equipment, Interim Contractor Support (ICS) will also have a base year and four option periods. The base period of performance will consist of the systems being produced over a 48-month period with option CLINs of one-year ICS periods beginning with the first production unit and ending one year after the final production unit is accepted, pending stand up of an organic depot. Pricing will be determined by using negotiated variant pricing tables for the base year and each option period. Modifications and production engineering activities to correct deficiencies in the approved baseline during production will be processed on a case by case basis. This is a follow-on effort to Thales Contract FA8730-15-C-0015, awarded 15 July 2015, where a total of two (2) production representative units (PRUs) underwent a comprehensive test and evaluation program where manufacturing processes have been effectively demonstrated and are supporting a Milestone (MS) C decision and this follow-on production contract. This contract is expected to be awarded on a Firm Fixed Price basis for purchasing D-ILS units and support over an anticipated 60-month period. This Thales D- ILS Production Contract will be awarded in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Part 15, “Contracting by Negotiation.”

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

The USAF will purchase up to twenty-nine (29) D-ILS units, spares, support equipment, ICS, and production engineering activities. The D-ILS units will be comprised of deployable glideslopes, deployable localizers and the containers/shelters for the electrical gear. Upon successful completion of the factory acceptance testing, the D-ILS will provide the USAF an equivalent of a fixed based Instrument Landing System (ILS) capability at tactical airfields where permanent ILS capability has been disrupted (e.g., natural disaster or humanitarian relief efforts), or does not exist. In addition, the D-ILS will provide world-wide Category (CAT) I operations in all environmental conditions (e.g. desert, jungle, arctic); be deployable and transportable; and remotely monitored and maintained in accordance with the Capability Development Document (CDD) signed 29 August 2008 by the Director, Operational Capability Requirements DCS, Operations, Plans & Requirements. D-ILS will replace the aging and costly Precision Approach Radars (PAR), which have exceeded their expected service life and have become technologically and economically unsustainable. Based

Updated: 20 Dec 16 Page 4 of 9 on discussions with the AFLCMC/HBA Chief of Logistics/Product Support Manager, continuing support of the PAR systems will result in substantial sustainment costs for the next 10 years.

D-ILS will provide significantly improved reliability, maintainability, and supportability over the PAR systems.

The production contract will be a Firm Fixed Price contract with delivery of the first D-ILS system within the 10 months after contract award. Thereafter, there will be a maximum production and delivery rate of one D-ILS unit per month. The initial seven (7) D-ILS units being ordered in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 will be executed using . The remaining D-ILS units will be procured as funding is provided in future FYs. The estimated value of the contract for this acquisition is based on a Program Office Estimate and totals .

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)(ii)(A)-(B), where only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency requirements without “[s]ubstantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition”, and “[u]nacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's 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).

After conducting market research efforts, the Approach and Landing Systems Branch (AFLCMC/ HBAB) has determined that Thales remains the only company that currently has the capability to produce the highly specialized system which is capable of meeting the Government's schedule for the D-ILS' to be delivered, installed, tested, and accepted by the Government. Market research consisted of publishing on FedBizOpps.gov (FBO) a Request for Information (RFI) and a Notice of Contracting Action (NOCA) in 2016, along with the program office routinely reviewing technical publications and journals. Therefore, this acquisition will be for the follow-on contract for continued production of a system. This would happen within 10 months from date of award. Competition would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements and lead to substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

Thales has developed, tested, integrated and fielded over 700 Thales Model 420 ILS systems world-wide. Currently, Thales has two (2) configurations of the Model 420 ILS: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) fixed base version currently manufactured in Clarksburg, MD, and the Deployable International version, currently manufactured in the Thales Gorgonzola facility near Milan, Italy. The manufacturing for this configuration is in the process of being transferred to the Clarksburg, MD area. There was a risk reduction effort done to shift work from Italy to the United States such that the end item can be integrated and assembled in Clarksburg MD prior to full rate production. This approach ensures that there are no significant manufacturing risks. The USAF will be procuring the Deployable International version which has already been certified for operations according to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) CAT I, II, and III requirements and is highly resistant to extreme weather conditions. The Deployable International version has been produced and delivered to the Qatari Air Force and the Italian Ministry of Defense (MoD); the Qatari system has been proven in a deployed environment. As part of market research, Thales provided a demonstration of the Italian MoD Deployable International ILS version to AFLCMC/ HBAB personnel and the system has been assessed at the Government requirement of a Technical

Updated: 20 Dec 16 Page 6 of 9

AFLCMC/HBAB has also awarded a contract for the development of the Deployable Radar Approach Control (D-RAPCON) capability. The D-RAPCON system provides aircraft separation and air traffic control capabilities. The D-RAPCON and D-ILS provide a complete airfield package by providing precision aircraft landing guidance essential in Instrument Flight Rules conditions at airfields without existing capabilities and those airfields which have incurred a cataclysmic failure due to weather (e.g. hurricanes, tornados, flooding) and other natural phenomena (e.g. earthquake, volcanic eruptions). If D-ILS capable systems are not deployed in tandem with D-RAPCON, the USAF's requirements for Air Traffic Control and Landing capabilities are significantly degraded.

The D-RAPCON system has currently closed out the Critical Design Review process and is expected to reach a MS C decision in August 2017; Required Assets Available (RAA) in October 2017; and Initial Operational Capability in October 2018. Since it is the only known deployable system already being manufactured, only the Thales D-ILS system can be fielded to complement the fielding of the D-RAPCON system (Thales D-ILS System is scheduled for a MS C decision in November 2017 and RAA by April 2018). The timely production and fielding of the D-ILS is paramount for the USAF and other agencies required to respond to natural disasters and wartime missions.

Accordingly, Thales is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and services described in Section III above without the USAF experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirement.

As stated previously in this section and also in Section IX, the USAF has attempted to procure the required systems through competition with the resultant effort proving unsuccessful. Once that contract was terminated, a Request for Information (RFI) went out to see other contractors and one other contractor besides the one mentioned in Section X replied; however, it deals in fixed ILS systems only, thus the first J&A. In addition and as stated in Section III, the PMO has conducted other RFIs from the termination to now with the result that no other known companies have the capabilities to fulfill the requirements of the Government for a D-ILS system. The program is already behind schedule required by the CDD due to the termination of the competed contractor and no further delays can be considered acceptable. As previously identified in Section III, the D-ILS will replace the aging and unsustainable PARs, which are currently being cannibalized to keep the remaining few operational, allowing pilots in a low visibility environment a safe and calibrated heading in which to land their aircraft. The D-ILS system will also mitigate the risks identified in the Precision Approach Landing Capability Initial Capabilities Document, Joint Requirements Oversight Council Memorandum dated 19 September 2005.

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

A Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS) was posted to FBO on 30 March 2016, allowing potential sources to respond in order to reassess industry's capabilities regarding a deployable landing system based on a traditional ILS at a TRL 9. To be TRL 9, the actual application of the technology in its final form must be proven under mission conditions, such as those encountered in operational test and evaluation or an operational environment. The necessity for TRL 9 is based on D-ILS replacing the aging Precision Approach Radars (PAR) systems that exceeded their expected service life,