FY22-30656_3M Ordalt Sole Source JA Redacted.pdf

Brand Name/Sole Source Justification under $250K

PMD Number: FY22-30656

Department: A-Dept

Company Name/Brand: 3M Technical Ceramics

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

Ceramic targets are designed to fit Spherically Mounted Retroreflectors (SMRs), which are used with laser tracker instruments to measure equipment angular orientation onboard US Navy Vessels. Targets will be mounted to radar arrays, to measure angular orientation against the ships Weapons Control Reference Plane (WCRP).

Identification of Justification Rational:

X 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.

The ceramic target material is used onboard all surface (BMD and non-BMD) US Navy ships.

Due to the material specifications in support of ORDALT 77292, 3M Technical Ceramics (Previously 3M Ceradyne, Inc.) is the only vendor that can manufacture the new ceramic target material. In order to maintain configuration management and allow for required integration, interfaces, and interchangeability, the ceramic target material must meet or exceed the material properties of the original ceramic target material. In this case, all original silicon nitride ceramic targets were purchased through 3M. NSWC Carderock Materials for Advanced Systems and Sensors Branch, Code 615 conducted material testing and analysis on these legacy ceramic targets as well as the new 3M ceramic targets to ensure that the new 3M ceramic targets met or exceeded that of the legacy material. NSWC PHD Chief Scientist determined that the new 3M ceramic targets did in fact meet or exceed that of the legacy material and therefore approved and authorized their use onboard US Navy Vessels.

Since no other vendor can manufacture the ceramic targets with the proper material specifications/properties to ensure configuration management and compatibility with the original ceramic target material, only 3M ceramic targets can meet our requirements. Furthermore, these ceramic targets must be purchased from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), 3M since no other company and/or third party vendor is authorized to provide and/or distribute 3M licensed products.

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.

An engineering study was conducted by NSWC A65 to address the material requirements for this specific application. From that study, it was determined that the sintered silicon nitride (SSN) would be best case material, based on material properties. 3M Technical Ceramics is the only company with the production, manufacturing, and tooling equipment to produce (SSN).

Materials testing and analysis was conducted to ensure the SSN material will meet all engineering requirements and design specifications (e.g., yield stress, hardness, fracture toughness, chemical analysis and phase composition, surface roughness characterization). 4 weeks were spent conducting market research to determine if another vendor would be able to produce SSN material with the same material properties. No companies other than 3M currently produced SSN material nor are they able to produce the SSN material to the specific quality and specifications of 3M Technical Ceramics SSN material. Furthermore, 3M Technical Ceramics SSN material is proprietary and is not sold or distributed by any other company or third party vendor.

It cost approximately $33k for material testing and analysis from August 2021 through February 2022, and took approximately 26 weeks in order to ensure the 3M Technical Ceramics SSN material met our requirements. Therefore, if 3M Technical Ceramics were unable to fulfill this order, the use of another vendor would result in a substantial duplication of cost of approximately $33k in material testing and engineering analysis that is not expected to be recovered through competition. Furthermore, the use of another vendor would result in a delay of approximately 26 weeks. This delay is unreasonable as it would cause degradation to ships mission and the ability to accurately defend itself. As Ordalt targets are used in the measurement and calculation of Combat System angular position offsets, the delay in installing targets would further delay measurement collection data (input into media computer compensation media files) and further delay mission readiness.

Market Research Conducted:

Market Research was conducted with Greenleaf, Coorstek, and Morgan Technical Ceramics.

Greenleaf does not produce SSN material. Morgan Technical Ceramics produces a SSN Nilcra E material; however, not all material properties of the SSN Nilcra E material are equal to that of 3M SSN material. Therefore, Morgan Technical Ceramics cannot meet our requirements.

Finally, Coorstek does not currently produce any variation of SSN material.

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.

Any Other Facts Supporting Justification:

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: 2022.04.25 09:31:04 -07'00'

Arthur P. Wynn Code Phone No. 805 228-61111 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: 2022.04.25 19:42:09 -07'00'

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