JA_19-39_Redacted.pdf

Defense Microelectronics Activity 4234 54th Street, McClellan, CA 95652

Sole Source Justification

1. Agency and Contracting Activity: Office of Secretary of Defense, Defense Microelectronics Activity (DMEA).

2. Nature/Description of Action: Acquisition of Surface Mount Technology (SMT) Pick and Place Equipment. The value of this procurement is estimated to be , which includes equipment, installation, training, calibration, and maintenance.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The SMT Pick and Place collects a wide variety of components of varying sizes, from miniscule to very large, from banks of feeders containing reels of components and trays containing other form factors of components and then precisely places them on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). It is one of three primary steps in the PCB Assembly process: 1) Solder Application, 2) Component Placement, and 3) Solder Reflow.

4. Authority Cited:

FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items; 41 U.S.C. 1901.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

Assembly System (ASM) is a U.S. based company that owns large portions of the European PCB Assembly equipment manufacturers Dek, SiPlace, and Rehm. Dek specializes in Solder Application via screen printing using stencils. SiPlace specializes in precision component handling and placement on versatile platforms that allow any scope of assembly to be tailored accordingly. Rehm specializes in Solder Reflow via multi-zone, finely controlled, convection heating. As time has passed, ASM has transitioned from a vendor style company that sells these aforementioned brands, to the owner of the brands.

In contrast to the typical PCB Assembly equipment manufacturers, ASM caters to American and Western European manufacturing needs. Typical manufacturers are building equipment to bolsters high volume production lines that have inflexible multi-million unit product launch deadlines. The manufacturers represented within ASM have equipment that can provide these mass production requirements, but since the demand in the U.S. and Europe has shifted to a low volume high mix model, ASM manufacturers put an extra emphasis on equipment that is extremely versatile yet still as precise as mass production equipment. This capabilities and line change-over techniques provides cost effective solutions for western companies focused on production representative prototypes and small quantities of customized, high quality, extreme environment, production articles (i.e. medical, military, and space electronics).

Due to the complexity, common support processes, and interdependencies of PCB Assembly Line capabilities, it is common industry practice to expand process lines using vendor specific toolsets to ensure quality and support requirements are met as efficiently as possible. DMEA has previously worked with ASM to procure their Dek Horizon Stencil Printer. At that time, Dek dominated the electronics screen printing market, and is still a primary equipment manufacturer will allow support and maintenance requirements to be addressed via a single point of contact for the entire line. Periodic preventative maintenance (PM) and calibration requirements for all the tools would be performed simultaneously thereby significantly reducing the cost of ownership to the government for the entire assembly line. Furthermore, DMEA engineering and technician resource allocations for PMs would be reduced greatly as only a single PM site visit for all the ASM equipment would be required.

Moreover, the procedures for integrating the tools together to create a coordinated, interoperable, assembly line are well established for all the tools manufactured by ASM. Establishing communication across the tools in the PCB Assembly Line, and the resulting streamlining of design/process updates between the equipment, is a routine exercise for ASM engineers. The typical programming and troubleshooting efforts required by the development and installation of these communication protocols are thereby unnecessary, freeing up government engineering resources.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The solicitation, accompanied by this approved justification, will be posted on www.fbo.gov. The Contracting Officer will consider quotations submitted by responsible sources in accordance with FAR 5.207(c)(16)(ii).

7. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. The contracting officer will

-3(a)(2).

8. Market Research: Primary competitors were identified to be Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) and o

(P&P) solutions that are comparable to the SiPlace SX2 in that they have a hybrid or flex tool that matches the P&P requirement, except that their gantry setup does not allow for both heads to place components on the same board simultaneously, they are limited to placing only two components at a time, - 20 or more components to be handled simultaneously.

9. Other Facts: None

10. Listing of Sources:

ASM Assembly Systems, LLC 3975 Lakefield Ct Ste 106

Suwanee, GA, 30024-1204

11. Actions to Increase Competition: None

12. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to

13. OTHER APPROVALS

Operations Contracting Branch Chief

Acquisition Policy & Analysis Branch Chief

Office of Counsel

Chief of Contracting/Competition Advocate