115J A.doc

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SOLICITATION NO. HSCG38-09-Q-200115

Pursuant to the requirements of the test program for commercial items as implemented by Section 4202 of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 as implemented by FAR 13.501(a)(ii), this justification for other than full and open competition is supported by the following facts and rationale in the format described at FAR 6.303-2:

(1) Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition.” – The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Aviation Logistics Center (ALC), Short Range Recovery (SRR) Contract Section, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, hereby presents this Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOTFOC) for review and approval.

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved. – Approval is requested to procure, on a limited source basis, a variety of spare parts (attachment 1) for use on the HH65 aircraft. These are commercial items and will be procured utilizing the procedure in FAR Part 12 and 13. The proposed contract type is requirements contract with firm-fixed prices established in the contract. It is anticipated that more than one award may result from the solicitation.

(3) Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value). – As the Aviation Inventory Control Point (AICP), ALC must provide effective supply support for all Coast Guard aviation units and for the Programmed Depot Maintenance Program. This requirement is to be awarded to American Eurocopter, LLC (3GSZ1), the American authorized distributor of Eurocopter of France, the OEM (F0210), or to a responsible source that has access to new original OEM parts and can provide traceability. Failure to purchase these parts may cause aircraft to be grounded. The material and estimated quantities to be procured are based on current and past usage data from the Coast Guard Aviation Maintenance Management Information System (AMMIS). Projected stocking levels are based on: experienced mean time between failure rates; failure and corrosion trends; experienced and projected scrap rates; and procurement leads times. The estimated total value of this acquisition is $0.00, as follows: $0.00 for the base year; $0.00 for option period one; $0.00 for option period two. There are approximately 113 line items in the base period. Eurocopter’s cage code and Eurocopter’s authorized part manufacturer’s cage codes with part numbers, National Stock Numbers, quantities and nomenclatures for the base period are identified in attachment 1.

(4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition. –The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) or 41USC 253(c) (1), as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled “Only one responsible source or a limited number of responsible source or a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements”.

(5) Demonstration that the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited. – The components/parts to be procured are manufactured by Eurocopter of France (F0210) that owns all rights to proprietary data, specifications and drawings. Eurocopter contracts with various foreign manufacturing companies to manufacturer components/parts to Eurocopter’s specifications and proprietary data. There are no domestic manufactures for these parts. There are, however, U.S. affiliates and distributors, other than American Eurocopter, LLC, that may be able to propose on one or more parts as they have access to original OEM parts and can provide traceability. We have procured one or more of the items on this solicitation from eight different distributors. For aircraft operational safety, only the part numbers listed in the requirement are approved for use on the HH65 rescue aircraft. This would prohibit consideration of a part number manufactured by other companies, therefore limiting the number of firms who can submit an offer for the parts listed in the requirement.

(6) Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable. – The following sources were used to procure items within the solicitation based on the items procurement history: American Eurocopter, LLC, Boone Air Parts, Sey Tec, Inc., B&B Marketing Enterprises, JML Aerospace, Capital Logistics Services, Defense Technology Equipment, HK Aerospace, and MDF Technology. The file has been documented accordingly and proposals from these sources will be considered provided OEM traceability can be guaranteed.

(7) Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. – It is the Contracting Officer’s opinion that prices ultimately negotiated for this procurement will be determined fair and reasonable based on comparison with historical pricing, comparison to market prices for similar items, published price lists and the Government estimate.

(8) Description of the market research. – Market research is continually conducted to identify new sources of supply for the HH65 components and spare parts. The first and most comprehensive method of market research is the Coast Guard’s Aviation Maintenance Management Information System (AMMIS) which is a data base that provides historical data for all parts purchased by ALC. This data base includes, but is not limited to, part number, nomenclature, purchase/delivery order number and historical pricing data. As part of the requirement package, a copy of all AMMIS data is included to support the Independent Government Estimate. Federal Logistics (FEDLOG), which is updated monthly, is a federally supported program is used by requirements personnel to identify National Stock Number, Nomenclature, item name, supplier name, and cage code to determine if alternate sources of supply exist. Another market research source is the Inventory Locator Mart (ILS) web site is used to locate hard to find parts. Another source is the American Eurocopter, LLC commercial catalog. Other Market Research that was conducted was through the FBO, GSA Advantage, GSA E-Buy, DOD Emall, ThomasNet.com, Arnet.gov, CCR, Yellow Pages, and Internet Search Engines.

(9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, i.e., proprietary data packages, etc. – The United States Coast Guard did not purchase the technical data rights as part of the original acquisition for the HH65 aircraft. The necessary manufacturing drawings, data, and special tooling are proprietary and available only from the OEM, Eurocopter of France. The parts in this solicitation are considered type 2 materials. Type 2 materials are material that ALC procures to supply the maintenance shops and Coast Guard Air Station units and are not items that can be procured through Defense Logistics Agency or any required sources. The parts are specific because they are French metric and not a standard metric. The French metric is not the same as other metric nuts, bolts, and screws on the market. The French metric hardware is different from other European countries (or US metric tooling) as it is based on a 24 degree seat with fine threads at a different flange angle than nuts and bolts from other metric countries.

The Coast Guard annually inquires with Eurocopter about the availability of drawing design rights to be used to manufacture these parts from other sources. The most recent inquiry, dated 3 December 2008 stated, “American Eurocopter, LLC is the only approved source of supply for Eurocopter products for the HH65 aircraft. We are the only source authorized to sell these parts in North America. We can not be held liable, provide part certification, or provide warranty for Eurocopter parts purchased from brokers or other vendors. Eurocopter will not release their drawings or data rights to anyone for the purpose of reverse engineering and will not copy the drawings for someone to duplicate the Eurocopter design and remanufacture under a different part number.” (See letter attachment 2).

(10) Listing of the sources, if any that expressed in writing, an interest in the acquisition. In accordance with FAR 5.201, the intent to contract for these items is expected to be posted in FedBizOpps on 1 July 2009. After posting, a courtesy copy of the combined synopsis/solicitation will be sent to American Eurocopter, Capital Logistics Services, Defense Technology Equipment, Sey Tec, Boone Air Parts, JML Aerospace, B&B Marketing, HK Aerospace, Burbank Aerospace, and MDF Technology.

(11) A Statement of the actions, if any the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.- Complete specifications and drawings for the HH65 are not available to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard does not possess technical expertise nor were the data rights to spares purchased as part of the initial system acquisition for the HH65 aircraft. As the Aircraft Inventory Control Point (AICP), ALC is tasked with supporting systems that have been deployed for use in the aviation community. As a result, it would be difficult to foster a competitive procurement effort. However, in an effort to increase competition among affiliates and distributors, SRR Product Line members annually attend aviation trade shows, extensive internet database research is conducted, and procurements are advertised in FedBizOps. On 20 Feb 2008, USCG representatives met and talked with hundreds of various helicopter parts manufactures at the Helicopter Association International (HAI) Expo. The HAI is the dominant international helicopter industry trades Expo where buyers and suppliers attend annually. During the last HAI expo, several companies were identified as possible sources for new product development; however, no sources were found for the specific parts of this procurement.

In support of the Competition in Contracting Act, ALC established the New Product Development Branch (NPD) and a representative of the NPD Branch are assigned to the SRR Product Line. This representative has the responsibility to locate alternate sources of supply/services and alternate acceptable products. In FY-07, 524 items were located from alternate sources and in FY-08 alternate sources for 51 items were located from alternate sources. NPD was responsible for reverse engineering some parts because they were hard to find obsolete items, but this process is a lengthy, costly and a labor intensive effort. Reverse engineering any of the parts of this procurement is not considered a feasible technical and economic alternative because Eurocopter will not release their drawings or data rights.

Finding vendors that could have the capacity or be qualified to manufacture any of these parts is extremely difficult and cost prohibitive because each part must be engineered to identify manufacturing specifications and built according to FAA Flight Standards and Certifications. Even if vendors are found, the rigorous testing that would have to be conducted would be unduly burdensome and costly.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SOLICITATION NO. HSCG38-09-Q-200115

(12) Certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the contracting officer’s knowledge and belief. I hereby certify that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Gail Payne DATE

Contracting Officer

David Burgess DATE

Chief of Contracting

(13) Technical/ Requirements Personnel Certification. I hereby certify that the supporting data that are the responsibility of requirements personnel and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

Patricia Rozanski

DATE

SRR Supply Cell Leader

APPROVAL:

Keith O’Neill

DATE

CG-9131, USCG Headquarters

Assistant Competition Advocate