J_A_N00014-21-C-1029.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH

875 NORTH RANDOLPH STREET

SUITE 1425

ARLINGTON, VA 22203-1995 IN REPLY REFER TO:

March 8, 2021

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Upon the basis of the following justification, I hereby approve the issuance of the contractual action described below:

1. Identification of Agency and Contracting Activity.

Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) intends to issue a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee type contract on a noncompetitive basis to Oceaneering International Inc. (OII) to construct and demonstrate at sea a developmental prototype At-Sea Material Transfer system developed under the Compensated Lift and Advanced Mooring System (CLAMS) special project.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The CLAMS prototype system developed under a previous initiative is a system of systems. The technical feasibility of CLAMS was planned for demonstration through the testing of the individual subsystems using hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations prior to a follow-on effort to integrate these sub-systems for shipboard demonstration under a government-led integration and testing effort. The performer will integrate the prototype macro crane, micro crane, advanced motion controller (AMC) and the advance mooring system (AMS) into a fully integrated CLAMS. This integration will be performed on a government provided barge suitable for testing at sea. The performer will conduct pier side testing and tuning to demonstrate to the government that CLAMS is ready for at-sea testing and will then support government led at-sea tests. The performer will also support disposition of CLAMS at the conclusion of testing.

This effort seeks to integrate the individual CLAMS subsystems into the larger At-Sea Precision Lift (ASPL) system of systems prototype for testing and demonstration. As part of the overarching ASPL system, the CLAMS subsystems will be operated in a series of demonstrations in 2022 to validate its technical feasibility in a relevant operating environment.

This work is expected to be completed by 30 Sept 2022. Further development, testing, and refinement of CLAMS into FY23 will be undertaken if additional funds become available.

The total estimated value of this effort is approximately $15.5 million. The following outlines the total estimated dollar value by fiscal year based on currently available funding. All appropriations for the funding are planned to be Research Development Test and Evaluation

(RDT&E).

FY21 FY22 FY23

6.3RDTE $2,600,000 $1,500,000 TBD

6.4RDTE $0 $0 TBD

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is Title 10 U.S.C.

2304(c) (1), only one responsible source, as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 -Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority.

OII developed the crane and advanced mooring system technologies under previous Future Naval Capability (FNC) Science and Technology (S&T) programs under competitively awarded contracts, N00014-05-D-0521 and N00014-11-D-0327 respectively. The crane and mooring technologies developed as FNCs have been repurposed toward new material transfer requirements and redeveloped under the Department of Defense Ordnance Technology Consortium (DOTC) agreement DOTC-18-01-INIT0002 under Base Agreement Number 2018-

323. At the conclusion of the DOTC agreement they will have been tested only as individual subsystem prototypes. As individual subsystem prototypes, they do not achieve the capability the Navy ultimately seeks under the CLAMS project, namely a system for the precise transfer of materials underway. That capability can be fully developed only through physical integration of all of the subsystems to test their interoperability.

As the subsystem developer for CLAMS, OII is the only responsible source in a position to effectively and efficiently perform that integration. ONR has invested an estimated $33.3M into the CLAMS subsystems to date. Issuing a competitive solicitation for the integration of these subsystems is estimated to more than double the estimated cost associated with awarding the work to OII. This is due to the significant amount of re-work, knowledge transfer, technology development, and respective time needed for another performer to become current with this effort. Therefore, award to another source for these highly specialized services is likely to result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

Further, there would be an estimated twelve (12) month delay caused by issuing a competitive solicitation for this effort, which would result in the termination of the project. The majority of the remaining funding available for this project is FY21 funding and no funding is available after FY22. An increase in time would result in an increase in cost that the project cannot cover.

Finally, a 12-month delay would result in a prolonged work stoppage and the loss of OII and government personnel critical to the project.

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

Pursuant to FAR 6.302-1(d)(2), a Notice of Intent was posted to FedConnect and the ONR website from August 18, 2020 through October 2, 2020. A Notice of Intent to Award a Sole Source (N00014-21-R-SS06) was posted to Beta.SAM on 02/05/2021 through 02/20/2021 to ensure other potential sources were sought for this contract. No responses to the posting were received.

OII is uniquely qualified to perform this work. ONR is not aware of any other organization in the world that is working with six degree of freedom (6 DOF) motion compensating cranes or systems that combine motion compensation cranes and advance robotic vacuum mooring systems.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. The Contracting Officer will determine the anticipated cost to the Government of the services covered by this J&A to be fair and reasonable prior to any contract award. The Contracting Officer will utilize cost/price analysis, cost realism, and other methods of analysis to determine fair and reasonable pricing.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

The Government expects to obtain a technical data package or develop a performance specification that will support competition for future acquisitions of the same or similar items.

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:

Paul E. Hess III, Code 331

703-696-9776 Phone No.

3/9/21 Date

Requirements Cognizance:

Paul E. Hess III, Code 331

703-696-9776 Phone No.

3/9/21 Date

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW

I have determined this Justification is legally sufficient.

Robert Elwell Phone No. Date

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION

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

Lynn Christian Phone No. Date

HEAD OF THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY APPROVAL

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve, as the Chief of the Contracting Office, 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).

Debbie Rafi Phone No. Date By direction