ID04130128_Limited_Source_Justification_REDACTED.pdf

Schedules Limited Source Justification

General Services Administration Federal Acquisition Service Southeast Sunbelt Region

1. Requiring and Contracting Activity.

a. Requiring Activity: Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) ISSC, Code 45130 CCC Bldg 6201 Room 327 Jacksonville, FL

b. Contracting Activity General Services Administration Federal Acquisition Service Assisted Acquisition Services Division 401 West Peachtree St., NW, Suite 2700 Atlanta, GA 30308

c. Contracting Officer: Karen Ziemba

d. Task ID: ID04130128

e. Estimated Value of This Action: $272,377

2. Nature of Description of Action.

This acquisition is necessary to comply with the Department of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, and OPNAV requirements of Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) as defined by Office of the Secretary of Defense Memorandum dated 11 October 2005, Secretary of the Navy Memorandum dated 2 Feb 2006, OPNAV Instruction 5100.24B dated 6 February 2007, and OPNAV Inst 13210.1A dated 3 September 2009.

The task order will obtain software maintenance and customization support from SimAuthor, Inc. for FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software applications used to analyze data for the Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) program.

3. Description of Supplies or Services.

Commander, Naval Air Force, is responsible for providing combatant commanders with the most combat ready and operationally efficient Naval Air Forces possible and, along with other Department of Navy leadership, has recognized the Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) program as a priority initiative for minimizing risks and improving operational efficiencies in Naval aviation. The Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) T-45 Fleet Support Team supports the Chief of Naval Air Training located at Naval Air Station Corpus

Christi, TX in their training of student naval aviator flight officers. The T-45 aircraft are based at four sites: NAS Kingsville, TX (NASK), NAS Meridian, MS (NASM), NAS Patuxent River, MD (NASPAX), and NAS Pensacola FL (NASP). The goal of the MFOQA program is to monitor T-45 aircraft performance for maintenance, operation, safety and training by processing aircraft stored data. The data is downloaded from each aircraft’s data recorder and imported into the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software applications for analysis.

4. Authority.

FAR 8.405-6, Limited Sources, states that orders placed or BPAs established under Federal Supply Schedules are exempt from the requirements in Part 6. However, an ordering activity must justify its action when restricting consideration in accordance with paragraphs (a) or (b) of this section –

(a) Orders or BPAs exceeding the micro-purchase threshold based on a limited sources justification.

(1) Circumstances justifying limiting the source.

(i) For a proposed order or BPA with an estimated value exceeding the micro-purchase threshold not placed or established in accordance with the procedures in 8.405-1, 8.405-2, or 8.405-3, the only circumstances that may justify the action are -

(A) An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays;

(B) Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized; or

(C) In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

(b) Items peculiar to one manufacturer. An item peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer). A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer.

Paragraph (a)(1)(i)(B) applies to this justification and approval.

5. Justification Rationale:

The Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) has utilized the SimAuthor FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software to aid in aircraft data analysis, enhanced maintenance troubleshooting, safety briefing and aircraft accident investigations since 2003. FRCSE has invested around $1 million to customize the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software. This has enabled FRCSE to successfully support over 300 flights per day using these tools to flags aircraft with maintenance and/or performance problems. The FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software is considered to be flight critical software.

Changing the vendor/software at this time would impose an unnecessary burden and cripple the established capabilities and experience that has been developed over the last 10 years. Other software could replace the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software, but the cost would be significant (approximately $1 million) and the time required to re-configure the T-45 data systems and train the current users would be high. The FRCSE conservatively estimates that completing the T-45 qualification requirements and re-training personnel for different software application would take approximately two years. During this two year period, FRCSE would still need to retain support from SimAuthor for the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software to avoid impact to the Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) program. Any impact would eliminate the data collection of aircraft and engine performance. Loss of this data would directly affect student debriefings, maintenance support, and flight safety.

The use of a different software product would require the FRCSE to re-develop nearly 100 custom T-45 user-defined analysis packages that are used daily. Re-development would also require additional flight testing, hardware compatibility testing, and user training. The estimated cost of this would be approximately $1 million dollars. In addition, the Navy is currently fielding a new hardware that collects flight data and is designed to operate with the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software. The Navy has invested $8 million dollars in this new hardware, and the use of another software product would require additional testing at an estimated cost of another $1 million.

6. Contracting Officer Determination.

A Government estimate for this task order was developed by the client and GSA using labor categories, hours, rates, travel, and support item costs from historical data. It is the Contracting Officer’s determination that the above referenced Limited Source under Schedules is required and in the Government’s best interest to fulfilled the required acquisition.

7. Market Research.

Although multiple vendors offer flight data analysis software at this time, the SimAuthor FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software were the only viable commercial products available when the Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) program began in 2003. The Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) has made a considerable investment in software licenses, software customization, hardware, and personnel training with respect to the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software. The software performs aircraft data analysis based on user-defined analysis packages specifically tailored based on service experience with the T-45 aircraft. User-defined analysis packages have been developed from the T-45 NATOPS, T-45 Maintenance Manuals, and fleet user requests.

In addition, the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software is capable of performing engine life management. This capability is not available on the market and is used exclusively with the T-45 Rolls Royce engine. The FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software also allows the incorporation of audio/video to enhance troubleshooting and animation used for safety and incident analysis.

8. Other Supporting Facts.

Failure to maintain support from this vendor will significantly impact the T-45 program cost.

Accurate flight hour documentation has reduced the contractor logistics support services (their cost is charged by flight hour), which has yielded an estimated $20 million per year cost savings using the FlightAnalyst™ and FlightViz™ software. Knowing accurate flight hours also increased the maintenance interval for component removals and preventative maintenance checks, which eliminates unnecessary parts and labor costs for both the engines and airframe.

9. Statement of Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition.

The Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRCSE) will review all future requirements on a case-by-case basis, and plans to compete their software requirement after the data system has stabilized and the fleet is stood up. FRCSE anticipates advancements in the commercial software market for aircraft data collection and analysis, and should be in a position to seek other software products to fulfill the MFOQA requirement.

10. Requiring Agency Certification.

Located on next page.

11. Contracting Officer Certification.

Located on next page.