JA_87_Windows_(Final)_06-03-2016.pdf

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JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Under 41 U.S.C. 1901

Per FAR § 13.501(a) Sole source (including brand name) Agency Requirements RFQ Number: HSCG40-16-Q-11002

Pursuant to the requirement of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), the circumstances of the contract action needed for sole source is reasonable based on the use of the statutory authority is supported by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii) as follows:

1. AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY:

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Surface Forces Logistics Center (USCG SFLC), Contracting and Procurement Division, located at 2401 Hawkins Point Road, Baltimore, Maryland proposes to enter into a requirements contract on a basis other than through full and open competition.

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION:

The USCG SFLC has a requirement on a sole source basis to procure sixty-four (64) newly manufactured marine windows in various sizes and quantities using the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Beclawat Manufacturing Inc. to support the USCG 87’ Working Patrol Boats (WPBs) and the 154’ Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) USCG Coastal Patrol Boat fleet. The USCG SFLC intends to award a Requirements type contract with firm fixed price delivery orders, for a base year and four one year options for an estimated cost of $1,235,584.71 utilizing the procedures established under FAR Subpart 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and FAR Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. Delivery Orders will be issued against the resultant contract, utilizing annual Operating Expense (OE) funds for the particular fiscal year of the order.

The OEM for this Procurement is:

Company: Beclawat Manufacturing Inc.

Address: 90 Hanna Court South Belleville Ontario K8P 5H2 Point of Contact: Shayne Switzer Phone: (613) 966-5611 Email: sswitzer@beclawat.com

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES:

The USCG SFLC requires marine windows to be used on the 87’ WPBs and 154’ FRCs in various sizes, for both port and starboard sides. Some windows require a heating component feature to keep windows clear of fog, spray and frost. The heating components are to conform to the existing control system and vessel electrical systems. Windows are manufactured by part number with OEM proprietary specifications, standards and tolerances.

The below chart lists the items (National Stock Number (NSN) represents marine window size measurements), a description and characteristics of each required marine windows. All windows are manufactured with tempered glass. Twenty (20) windows are fixed and use an internal mailto:sswitzer@beclawat.com

HSCG40-16-Q-11002 Page 2 of 6 heating element. Two (2) windows* are sliders and are not heated. (STBD=Starboard, HTD=Heated):

Below is a summary of the estimated cost for the base year and all four (4) option years.

Using a standard escalation rate per year the PBPL uses for formal parts buys.

NSN DESCRIPTION

87’ WPB

2090-21-914-9462 Window, Marine, Port, HTD 2090-21-920-3186 Window, Marine, STBD, HTD 2090-21-914-9461 Window, Marine, Port, HTD 2090-21-920-3191 Window, Marine, STBD, HTD 2090-21-914-8549 Window, Marine, HTD 2090-21-914-9450 Window, Marine, HTD 2090-21-914-9463 Window, Marine, HTD 2090-21-914-9464 Window, Marine, HTD 2040-21-914-8548 Window, Marine, Port* 2040-21-921-0245 Window, Marine, STBD*

ITEM DESCRIPTION

154’ FRC

2040-20-005-7077 Window, Fixed, HTD 2040-20-008-6667 Window, Marine, HTD 2040-20-005-7186 Window, Fixed, STBD, HTD 2040-20-005-7185 Window, Marine, STBD, HTD 2040-20-007-1762 Window, Marine, STBD, HTD 2040-20-005-7061 Window, Fixed, HTD 2040-20-007-1763 Window, Fixed, HTD 2040-20-005-7150 Window, Marine, HTD 2040-20-005-7153 Window, Marine, HTD 2040-20-005-7149 Window, Fixed, HTD 2040-20-005-7154 Window, Fixed, HTD 2040-20-005-7181 Window, Marine, HTD

Period TOTAL Base Year $ 165,211.00 Option Year One $ 173,471.55 Option Year Two $ 231,068.91 Option Year Three $ 291,546.13 Option Year Four $ 374,287.12 Total 5 Year Contract Estimated Cost $ 1,235,584.71

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4. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL

AND OPEN COMPETITION:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented in FAR Part 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items.

5. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF

THE AUTHORITY CITED:

This on-going requirement stems from the original ship design contracts issued to Bollinger Shipyards LLC (Bollinger), of Lockport, LA by the USCG Headquarters Acquisition Directorate for both the 87’WPBs and 154’ FRCs. Beclawat Manufacturing Inc. is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that manufactured and supplied the marine windows when the 87’ WPBs were originally built from 1998-2010 and now for the 154’ FRCs which are currently being built by Bollinger and/or presently in service. These marine windows which continue to be provisioned for by the USCG enable the USCG to keep the cutters at their original operating capability, current mission requirements and maintain configuration/logistics control.

Due to the 87’ WPBs and 154’ FRC’s sizes, they are prone to the affects of operating in heavy sea states in a wide variety of weather environments ranging from severe cold to very warm climates. The hardware is susceptible to corrosion due to the severe salt water environment. The marine windows are also unique as they have tempered glass and a heating element built into the glass which, when charged, prevents frost and ice formation and loss of visibility during freezing weather or high humidity conditions. The Beclawat marine windows are part of an engineered system and direct component replacement avoids the potential necessary changes of other engineered elements within this system.

The reliability of the Beclawat marine windows, which may be the most important, is critical to mission and personnel safety. It is not uncommon for these vessels to experience heavy sea spray or actual waves hitting the marine windows. In these conditions, the vessels are very unstable.

The Beclawat marine windows were designed and tested to meet the vessel manufacturer requirements and specifications at the time of vessel construction. The failure of any of these marine windows during one of these events could cause personal injury as well as uncontrollable flooding and the loss of all vessel electronics and communication. The heating components for these marine windows were also designed and built to the vessel manufacturer requirements and must be compatible with the existing control system and vessel electrical systems. The failure of the heating component could cause electrical overload, fire or the windows to fog or freeze, restricting visibility and potentially causing collision or other navigational incidents. The reliability of the Beclawat marine windows is known and has been acceptable; they have met USCG mission requirements and safety standards for over a decade of unrestricted use and hundreds of thousands of operational hours. Determining the equivalency of any non-Beclawat marine window will require operational testing, design reviews and system/sub-system re-engineering to determine their suitability. This effort will require costs that would be diverted from other logistics elements which then would impact other support areas for the 87’ WPBS and 154’ FRCs. Failing to perform these additional efforts and accepting without evaluation so called equivalent windows is unacceptable and may result in personal injuries, catastrophic losses, reduced reliability, weakened safety measures, expanded maintainability and increased logistical costs which all will impact USCG mission requirements.

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All reproduction manufacturing drawings, specifications, and other technical information pertaining to the Beclawat marine windows and associated parts were not purchased by the USCG in the mid 1990’s nor the 2000’s when the 87’ WPBs and 154’ FRCs were being procured, respectively. The USCG does not possess manufacturing data required to obtain full and open competition. Furthermore, the scope of manufacturing, special tools and equipment required to produce the various marine windows are unknown. The technical data needed is proprietary. Without adequate data, the USCG is not capable of evaluating equal or alternative marine windows manufactured by other than the OEM. The use of OEM marine windows will ensure components and processes are sufficient to enable physical and functional interchangeability, as well as identifying source, size, configuration and performance requirements.

In accordance with Commandant Instruction M4130.6B, U.S. Coast Guard Configuration Management Manual, it is very important to maintain cutter configuration. The fundamental purpose of configuration management is to ensure that these assets meet their requirements.

These cutters are assets that are used to satisfy a need for the Coast Guard’s mission. The configuration of these high value assets specifically impact safety, security, performance, schedule, cost and the environment. This configuration information is paramount to making timely and effective decisions regarding mission execution, mission support, and financial stewardship, and it is therefore imperative that consistency be maintained between these critical assets, their documented configuration and the driving requirements.

6. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM

AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS PRACTICABLE:

Pursuant to FAR Subpart 5.2, in an effort to solicit as many potential sources as practicable, a Source Sought synopsis HSCG40-16-Q-11002 was posted on 23 November 2015 in Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) and a Request for Information (RFI) via GSA eBuy on 30 November 2015 for the required marine windows.

The Sources Sought yielded no responses. The RFI received ten (10) negative responses all citing, “Does not sell these products.” However, when the OEM was directly contacted they stated they were interested in submitting a quote. The Sources Sought Notice, confirmation of FBO posting and evidence of no responses to the RFI are attached.

This procurement was posted as DHS-Acquisition Planning Forecast System F2015027618 at http://apsfs.dhs.gov.

7. DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST

TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated prices will be fair and reasonable based on comparisons with the independent government estimate, historical pricing of previous awards, and if necessary, will request data other than certified cost or pricing data in accordance with

FAR 15.403-3.

8. DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH:

In accordance with FAR 10.001 (a)(2), market research was performed by the USCG SFLC from August 2015 through December 2015 to identify companies capable of providing the marine http://apsfs.dhs.gov/

HSCG40-16-Q-11002 Page 5 of 6 windows. Knowledgeable industry individuals were consulted; commercial databases and professional journals were reviewed to access current market conditions. Additionally, the Naval Equipment Supply System (NESSS), Fleet Logistics System (FLS), and Federal Procurement Data New Generation (FPDSNG) data bases were queried. No other commercial sources were identified.

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION:

The Government does not possess the technical data and/or drawings pertaining to the manufacturing of the marine windows, which are proprietary. Therefore, the Government does not have any data to compare other manufacturer’s windows to ensure the same fit, form and function or the independent expertise to evaluate other manufacturer’s parts.

The 87’ WPB and 154’ FRC vessels routinely operate in hazardous weather and sea state conditions during its multi-faceted operations. These operations include search and rescue, counter drug operations, counter-migrant operations and homeland security missions. The use of unauthorized windows and parts that are not manufactured in accordance with OEM specifications, materials, tolerances etc. could cause equipment failure rendering the vessel unable to complete mission requirements or delay response time possibly causing loss of life, property or damage to the environment. The use of unauthorized marine windows or parts may place the crew under very dangerous and hazardous conditions possibly causing injury or death.

This requirement is Sole Source due to the need for conformity and operational requirements for the Coast Guard. Beclawat was engaged and a request to provide their proprietary data has been declined. Furthermore, a letter has been obtained from Beclawat stating that they have no authorized dealers/re-sellers, and that all manufacturing and sales come will come from their factories.

10. LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN INTEREST IN

THE ACQUISITION:

No additional sources expressed any interest in writing or otherwise in the marine windows procurement through the Sources Sought Synopsis, the RFI or direct industry inquires other than Beclawat.

11. Statement of Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services:

The USCG SFLC does not own the required technical data rights to evaluate other vendors’ ability to manufacture a comparable marine window; it is not anticipated that any future requirements can be competed on a full and open competition basis. However, every attempt will be made to obtain the applicable schematics and or data rights from the OEM before any subsequent acquisitions occur.

The COR will remain actively engage the USCG SFLC PBPL to request funding to reverse engineer the windows in order to possess ownership of any drawings, and technical information, that can be used for future marine window manufacturing.

At this time there are no other known sources that can provide the marine windows for the 87’

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WPBs or the FRCs of the USCG. The USCG SFLC will continue its attempts to obtain proprietary rights and remain vigilant in conducting market research in accordance with FAR Part 10, with a focus on locating vendors that can supply marine windows that meet required government specifications.

Continuous efforts have been made since 2010, with numerous electronic mail and verbal requests from the USCG to Beclawat to purchase proprietary data. These requests have gone unanswered. The latest requests have been from the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) (August 2015) and the Contract Specialist (KS) (December 2015 and January 2016).