FY22-29387 BYTE Blaster Brand Name JA Redacted_022222.pdf

Brand Name Justification under $250K

PMD Number: FY22-29387

Department: Air Dominance

Company Name/Brand: Altera

Description of Product, Supplies or Services required to meet the agency’s needs:

NSWC PHD Air Dominance Department is seeking Altera USB Byte-Blaster (P/N: PL-USB- BLASTER-RCN) to support the Aegis Weapon System on Cruisers and destroyers. The Altera Byte Blaster is the component that allows the Computer Maintenance Tool (CMT) laptop to communicate with various Circuit Card Assembly’s (CCAs) to perform maintenance and troubleshooting procedures. Further, the Byte Blaster allows the CMT laptops USB port to communicate with the low level Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) interface on the CCAs.

Identification of Justification Rational:

☒ The Material or service must be compatible will aspects (Form, Fit, and Function) with existing systems presently installed.

☐ A patent, copyright, proprietary data, or licensing agreement limits competition.

☐ These are “direct replacement(s)” parts/components for existing equipment.

☐ Urgency.

Identification of the Justification Rationale Explained: **If using form, fit, and function, describe the current equipment and how the new item/service must coordinate or interface.

**If using patent, copyright, proprietary data, describe the proprietary data. **If using direct replacement, describe this below.

In accordance with the ORDALT 27944 Instruction, anything used aboard Aegis Weapon System Fleet Cruisers and Destroyers for the CMT program maintenance and sustainment efforts cannot deviate from what has been listed as a required component. In other words, all newly procured materials must be approved items listed on the configuration. This is required to maintain continuity of hardware equipment capabilities during shipboard ORDALT Installations.

The Altera Byte-Blaster is an approved item listed on the ORDALT 27944 Instruction since it meets the unique requirements to interface with ship equipment consoles and servers in order to maintain proper communicative capability and data management. No other Byte-Blaster or similar item meets our requirements or has been approved by ORDALT 27944 Instruction.

Specific Characteristics of the Item or Service required that Limit the Availability to a Sole Source or Brand Name: **This is the most important section. Explain in detail why this company or brand are the only ones that can meet the requirement.

As previously stated, because of the specific requirements to maintain ship systems interoperability, engineers can only utilize approved equipment configurations identified in the ORDALT 27944 Instruction. Substitutions or use of another brand of items are not acceptable since the shipboard configuration is frozen. In other words, all support equipment must match exactly to provide and maintain approved operation ship system.

The Altera branded Byte Blasters, were chosen and tested during the shipboard configuration development and approved to be used by ORDALT 27944 Instruction since this brand of Byte Blasters met the unique requirements to interface with ship equipment consoles and servers to maintain proper communicative capability and data management. Based on this testing and approval, documentation and maintenance procedures were created to use these specific components to configure lowest replaceable unit (LRU’s) during remove and replace maintenance procedures. The maintenance procedures are located in technical manuals that ships rely on when performing remove and replace maintenance. The maintenance procedures instructs the ship’s crew to retrieve the blaster from the maintenance kit and perform the procedure.

Therefore, a change in brand of Byte Blasters would require a change to the entire line of support documentation. Specifically, utilizing a new brand of Byte Blasters would require ordering a first article unit, testing the new unit with the LRU at East Coast Land Based Test sites, rewriting/reworking the Engineering Change Proposal (ECP)/ ORDARLT, and then ordering the new parts. This entire process would result in a substantial duplication of cost of $50,000 that is not expected to be recovered through competition and it would cause a delay of approximately 2 years. This 2 year delay is unreasonable as it would impact fleet installation and modernization schedules since without this Byte Blaster, the fleet cannot perform necessary LRU configurations in support of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS), more specifically the Multi Mission Signal Processor (MMSP) equipment.

Market Research Conducted:

All mandatory sources were checked for including GSA, One Touch, FedMall and items were not available. By searching google we were able to find two vendors for this brand (1) Mouser Electronics which is a large business and Resion which is a small business.

Statement of Actions, if any to Remove Barriers to Competition in the Future:

NSWC PHD Contracts Office will continue to conduct market research as warranted to provide a broader vendor base as applicable for the types of supplies/services covered by this document. If another potential source emerges, NSWC PHD will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.

Contracting Officer:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

WYNN.ARTHUR.P.JR.10804808

Contracting Officer Signature:

Digitally signed by

WYNN.ARTHUR.P.JR.1080480870

Date: 2022.02.22 13:47:37 -08'00'

Arthur Wynn, Contracting Officer, Code 0271, 805-228-6111 Date

Legal Counsel:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

SURANE.JULIANNE.MARI

E.1522887796

Legal Office:

Digitally signed by

SURANE.JULIANNE.MARIE.1522887796

Date: 2022.02.22 13:58:15 -08'00'

Julianne Surane, Assistant Counsel Phone No. 805-228-8520 Date