JA-01101 SPRDL125R0209 REDACTED_Redacted.pdf

SPRDL125R0209 (JA-01101)

No Prior J&As are available

Acquisition Method Code (AMC):

3 - Acquire, for the second or subsequent time, directly from the actual manufacturer.

Acquisition Method Suffix Code (AMSC):

R - The data or the rights to use the data needed to purchase this part from additional sources are not owned by the Government and it has been determined that it is uneconomical to purchase them.

5. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this effort is 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 3204(a)(1) 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.

6. Reason for Authority Cited: The differential connects to the transfer case or transmission via a driveshaft. This system lets the engine power transfer to the HMMWV's wheels, distributing equal amounts of torque to both wheels. This permits the wheels to react to resistance or provide traction for vehicle turns.

NSN 2520-01-498-9104 is for the rear differential, used on the Up-Armored HMMWV with vehicle serial numbers 299,999 and below.

The HMMWV differential was originally designed and developed by Dana and AM General (AMG). The original HMMWV program acquisition strategy incorporated a combination of off-the shelf commercial parts, existing ordinance parts, and contractor developed parts to speed up the acquisition process and allow the Government to own some portions of the HMMWV, but not the full Technical Data Package (TDP) of the vehicle system. This strategy reduced research and development time as well as overall program cost. While the HMMWV has a TDP, it is not all inclusive of every component of the vehicle system. Further, the TDP does not include vendor-developed components that were considered the intellectual property of the developer. Since this differential was developed by Dana/AMG at their expense, the technical information for this item is proprietary to both firms. As such, the use of such descriptions in the acquisition is essential to the Government’s requirement thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company.

There are no known funding efforts in progress currently to acquire the commercially owned and controlled data necessary to make NSN 2520-01-498-9104 fully competitive.

If the Government attempted a fully competitive procurement for the differential, the Government would have three choices to obtain the necessary information to enable full competition: Research and Development (R&D) of our own differential design, Reverse Engineering of the existing system, or simply ask the vendors, Dana/AMG, for a price to purchase the full TDP and rights to use the item competitively. The Government has tried to obtain the TDP for the differential, but Dana/AMG’s response was it was not for sale. The Government has two remaining methods to acquire the data required and execute a competitive differential purchase:

(i) Developing a competitive data package through R&D, which would involve procuring proprietary data for research, generating a requirements document and any associated technical drawings. Secondly, qualification of additional sources, which will entail a significant amount of time, facility resources, labor-hours, and funding. Based on experience with similar efforts, the estimated cost to research and develop a compatible product and qualify additional sources is $6.1M with a setback of 42 months. The required funding would include $3.9M for personnel to conduct research, and re-development of a differential that would perform the same task as this NSN. The $3.9M would also include funding for staff to develop the Computer-Aided Design (CAD ) models and drawings that are required for potential vendors for manufacturing purposes, with an additional $1,675,000 - $2,230,000 required to develop prototypes to test and validate the Government design that functions identically to the original. The 42-month process would consist of the following: 12 months to develop requirements, 6 to 12 months in design and prototyping, 12 months to test compatibility and function, and an additional 12 months to write the TDP and provision the parts. A timeline of the estimated R&D process is shown for clarity. Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV) Engineering estimates the following timeline for R&D:

Requirements Development 12 Months Design and prototype development 6 Months Component, safety and system level testing 12 Months Write TDP, technical bulletins and provision parts 12 Months Estimated Time to research and develop 42 Months

(ii) Reverse Engineering (RE): To reverse engineer, validate the design, procure prototypes for testing and ultimately release a competitive data package would entail a significant amount of time, facility resources, man-hours, and funding. Based on past development experience, the estimated cost to develop a reverse engineered competitive product is $5,580,000, with an estimated delay of no less than 36 months.

Required funding would include $3,350,000 for personnel to support reverse engineering and validation of the design as well as fund staff to develop the CAD models and drawings, with an additional $1,675,000 - $2,230,000 to develop prototypes, test and finalize the product to verify that the newly created differential provides equivalent performance when compared against the original. The 36-month process would consist of the following: three months to obtain existing parts, three months to tear down and understand the design, six months to iteratively develop drawings, prototypes and bench test, 12 months to perform system and vehicle level testing, and 12 months to write the TDP and provision the parts. To complete the reverse engineering process successfully, the Government would have to obtain sufficient sample size of existing parts to provide a 95% probability and 90% confidence level in the actual size of the existing item to be studied. Once a large enough sample has been collected, the Government would then tear down and understand the design,

7. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective competition: Due to the reasons cited in Section 5, the Government is limiting the competition to the sources cited in Section 2 above. Notices required by FAR 5.201 will be posted.

b. Subcontracting competition: Unless the contract is awarded to a small business, the solicitation and resulting contract will include FAR clauses 52.219-8, "Utilization of Small Business Concerns", 52.244-5, "Competition in Subcontracting", 52.219-16, "Liquidated Damages--Subcontracting Plan"," and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 252.219-7003, "Small Business Subcontracting Plan (DoD Contracts)", to maximize small business opportunities and utilization.

8. Actions to Increase Competition: There are no plans to increase competition for future procurements due to the reasons cited above.

There are no vendors in the process of being qualified for this NSN at this time and none prior to contract award. At this time, there are no current or planned efforts to qualify additional sources because the Government does not possess a fully defined and validated TDP for NSN 2520-01-498-9104. Dana/AMG hold the technical data rights regarding this differential. Any vendor that believes they can provide this NSN for a lower cost while meeting the same requirements as the existing item should seek qualification as a secondary source through the Competition Management Office Source Approval Program at their own expense.

9. Market Research: A Sources Sought Notice was posted to SAM.gov on 12 June 2025and was open for 15 days. One response was received from BHPE (CAGE 9SWS7) expressing an interest in the Contract Opportunity Solicitation SPRDL1-25-R- 0209 for the Differential.

Product Director Light Tactical Vehicle Engineering conducted a computer-based online search on 30 June 2025, searching for companies with published material on a new built differential specifically for HMMWVs.

Keyword(s): Differential, HMMWV, differential assembly.

Links used to conduct market research are listed below:

https://www.eaton.com/Eaton/ProductsbyMarket/Government/Vehicles/MilitaryVehicles/ HMMWV/index.htm https://predatorinc.com/shop/hmmwv-differential-centering-kit/ https://www.jasperengines.com/differentials http://www.g2axle.com/pages/view/core_locker https://www.axletech.com/en/products/components Findings: The results of this search did not produce any new companies that would