16p0077_SoleSource-Cadence-2016_Redacted.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY (AFMC)

DATE 24 August 2016

MEMORANDUM FOR AFRL/RIKO

FROM: RITA

SUBJECT: SOLE SOURCE

1. Contracting Activity.

a. Requiring Activity: AFRL/RITA, 26 Electronic Pkwy, Rome NY 13441,

b. Contracting Activity: AFRL/RIKO, 26 Electronic Pkwy, Rome NY 13441

c. Purchase Request #:

2. Nature and/or Description of Action.

a. Description of Requirement: Cadence Design Systems Various Electronic Design Automation Software licenses

b. Sole source company: Cadence Design Systems

2655 Seely Ave Bldg. 5

San Jose CA 95134

3. Description of Supplies or Service.

Quantity 1 each eDA Gold Card 24/7 access to Cadence software library and tools for approximately 36 months.

The software to be accessed allows the user to lay out integrated circuit designs. The primary tool assists in IC floor plan entry, places and routes the standard cells, and times the resulting IC design. The eDA Gold Card enables flexible term licenses, access to new software products, internet based access, 24 hour self-service, license generation, and high speed download. The value of this requirement is estimated at

4. Statutory Authority. 10 USC 2304(c)(1) Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy the agency requirement.

5. Justification or Authority for Action.

a. The only company that can provide this software is Cadence Design Services the writer and owner of this software. There are no authorized resellers.

b. Impact statement. AFRL/RITA has developed a complex series of commands, applications, and customized tools to control the Cadence IC layout software based on the unique command structure of the product.

At this time the engineers only have developed a command set to control the Cadence set of IC place and route tools and their flow supports only Cadence software for layout of IC design, making it the only suitable product for the current IC layout effort. The design flow and tools are interdependent; using another software product would require significant engineering man-hours and cost to redevelop the series of commands, applications, and customized tools, which has been determined to be a duplication of cost not expected to be recovered through competition. Cadence IC layout software will be needed daily by Government personnel during this effort, procuring the eDA Gold Card is necessary to successfully complete multiple contracts and in-house tasks valued at several millions of dollars

6. Efforts Made to Ensure Offers are Solicited from as many Sources as Practicable.

A Pre-solicitation Notice outlining the Government’s intent to make a sole-source award was posted to FedBizOps from 25 August 2016 to 08 September 2016. No responses to this notice were received to give an indication that a company other than Cadence Design Systems could fulfill the requirement.

7. The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

Cost will be determined fair and reasonable by comparison of proposed price with those prices found fair and reasonable on previous purchases of the same or similar items in the same industry.

8. Market Research/Other facts. There are two major commercial vendors for Integrated Circuit design tools

(particularly layout tools), Cadence. The Government is a very minor player in the field of IC design, commercial entities (IBM, Intel, Apple, etc.) are much larger purchasers of software from and

Cadence. Commercial industry drives the competition between these two companies. and Cadence understand this Government R&D application has limited funding and will produce a limited number of chips. The

Government minimizes cost by using a combination of software from the two companies. Each software type is evaluated during each of the many steps in designing an IC. AFRL/RITA considers tool cost, prorating factor (cost for a week, month, etc. compared to a standard year license), and labor cost. The result is a decision of which tool to use for each step, this decision (which tool for each step) is complete for the ongoing designs, but will be re-evaluated as AFRL/RITA uses the licenses that are being purchased now.

9. Any other facts supporting Other than Full and Open Competition. This is a commercial product that we do not control; it is not made specifically for us. Other market forces are at work by the IC foundry and the competing

EDA tool vendors. So while the Government doesn’t have a choice this market is very competitive. As part of our

IC design we use tools from all three of the major EDA tool providers. Different steps are performed with different companies’ tools.

10. List of Sources that have Expressed in Writing an Interest in the Procurement. At time of this justification, Cadence Design Systems is the only source that has expressed an interest in this procurement.

11. Statement of Actions to Remove/Overcome Barriers to Competition. We seek to continually minimize the total cost of the program (labor and software tool cost). AFRL/RITA purchases and uses each competing software type in their IC design process to see which tool works best and/or is more cost efficient during each of the IC design steps. AFRL/RITA can switch between each companies tools with some time and effort, so we evaluate which tool to use for each step as we continually upgrade our design flow.

12. Contracting Officer’s Certification. The contracting officer’s signature on the Coordination and Approval

Document evidences that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief.

13. Technical / Requirements Personnel Certification. 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.

PROGRAM MANAGER

APPROVED / DISAPPROVED

CONTRACTING OFFICER