IMES JA - FINAL Signed REDACTED.pdf

J&A NOsp:20,013

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity

Strategic Systems Programs (SSP)

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

Approval to award a contract on a sole-source basis for the advanced technical support of critical production and processing cranes at SWFLANT and SWFPAC to IMES, Inc., Montclair, California using other than full and open competition.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

This contract will provide for engineering and analytical support of the Trident Processing Facilities Crane Condition Monitoring (CCM) system. Performance of the contract will include the effort described below.

The contractor will employ existing developed capabilities and expertise to: (1) provide support to SSP and the Field Activities in the form of analyses, reports, and investigations related to the facility cranes; (2) provide continued CCM system operation and maintenance for each facility with a CCM system; (3) provide continuous risk assessment (design and operational condition) of facility cranes fitted or to be fitted with CCM Systems;

(4) evaluate issues identified in risk assessments and propose mitigation actions; (5) integrate data from CCM systems with risk assessment activity to prepare optimal inspection and maintenance regime for each facility crane with a CCM system.

This contract will be for a base period of one year with four one year options.

The “Increase on Level of Effort (LOE)” clause contained in the contract is intended to provide a vehicle for the Government to acquire additional hours to address emergent issues that are within scope of the contract and acquisition plan.

The total estimated dollar value for this acquisition is shown in the following table.

FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 Total

O&MN

LOE $1,128,000 $1,161,000 $1,196,000 $1,232,000 $1,269,000 $5,986,000

30% LOE

Increase $338,400 $348,300 $358,800 $369,600 $380,700 $1,795,800

TOTAL $1,466,400 $1,509,300 $1,554,800 $1,601,600 $1,649,700 $7,781,800

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), One source or limited sources.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

The principal elements of this procurement are operation, maintenance, grooming of installed CCM systems;

interpretation and analysis of data acquired by site-specific customized CCM; performing risk analysis of evaluated cranes; and recommending, designing, and performing specific, detailed crane investigations based on crane condition and customer approval. These elements require intimate knowledge of the installed CCM system to include complete understanding of the system architecture, characterization of the components of the system, and necessary offsets and balance of components to achieve accurate system performance. These principal elements require: (1) demonstrated capability of acoustic emission (AE) structural analysis of the crane structural components which is required for detailed analyses resulting from CCM indications; and (2) detailed, practiced expertise in risk analysis as required in the SSP Strategic Weapon System environment. AE extant characterization of cranes is the baseline for these analyses.

Imes, Inc. is the only contractor with existing experts readily available to support this effort. The contractor developed Navy-unique software. It has experienced developers, testers, and maintainers who can provide immediate support to minimize schedule delays. Utilizing the Navy’s capability with IMES’s support is considered vital and the most cost-effective option to support SSP’s needs to understand the aging and condition of critical cranes that support missile processing at SWFLANT and SWFPAC and provide a complete risk assessment, evaluate issues arising from those risk assessments, propose mitigation activity, and prepare optimal inspection and maintenance regime for each facility crane with a CCM system.

In the 2010s, the Navy invested five years to develop and deploy the currently-deployed CCM system and stand-up the hardware and operational expertise with the current source. Over the previous five-year period, IMES Inc. has developed unique skills related to the support of the Trident Processing Facilities Crane Condition Monitoring (CCM) system – including maintenance of existing IMES software, IT architecture, cybersecurity compliance, data analysis, and risk assessment. As these skills are unique to the systems as SWFLANT and SWFPAC, a new contractor would require time to learn how to maintain existing CCM software, IT architecture, cybersecurity compliance, perform analysis, and provide risk assessments. The transition period to establish new subject matter expertise would result in unacceptable delays to meeting the government requirement of continuous crane conditioning monitoring. Based on recent experience with Requalification activities (i.e. Memorandum of Requalification Agreements during the transition of FBM work from Sunnyvale, CA to Denver, CO), SSP estimates a nominal three-year transition period for a new provider to be fully qualified on existing SWF systems. During this period, the program would experience less reliable and/or delayed crane conditioning monitoring analysis. Continuous CCM is meant to provide an early warning analysis of crane failure, and this reduction in capability could result in delayed or inaccurate analysis of crane performance – impacting SSP’s ability to conduct safe and reliable crane operations at the SWFs.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable

The proposed contract was synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website on 30 Jun 2020. Only one response was received. The entity expressing interest did not provide evidence that it has the capability required to perform the work subject to this procurement.

The corporate entity that replied to the Sources Sought Notice provides assessments of structural condition, but this not did not perform these on overhead electric traveling (OET) cranes. Similarly, the entity’s capability to support evaluation of cranes was limited to accumulation of performance data, which is already provided by the Base Operating Services Contract at each of the SWFs. Therefore, the entity failed to show that it could legitimately satisfy SSP’s requirement for is evaluation assessments required for the type of crane utilized at the SWFs’ CCM systems.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost

The contracting officer has determined the anticipated cost to the Government of the supplies/service covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition

For reasons set forth in Paragraph 5, SSP has no plans, at this time, to compete future contracts for the types of supplies/services covered by this document. If another potential source emerges, SSP will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.

CERTIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance which are included in this Justification and its supporting acquisition planning documents, except as noted herein, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Technical Cognizance:

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

Requirements Cognizance:

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW

I have determined this Justification is legally sufficient.

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

I certify that this Justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

COMPETITION ADVOCATE APPROVAL

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve, as Competition Advocate of Strategic Systems Programs, the solicitation of the proposed procurement described herein using other than full and open competition, pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304 (c)(1), One source or limited sources.

APPROVED:

Signature Name (Printed) Phone No. Date

RUFFIN.HOPE.V.1229475203 Digitally signed by RUFFIN.HOPE.V.1229475203 Date: 2020.09.16 08:08:08 -04'00'