JA-20-RTP-272.pdf

Control No: JA-20-RTP-272 Carbon Consultants, LLC

Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) - Unmanned Air System (UAS) Noise Reduction & Endurance Research

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Supply/Service: Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) - Unmanned Air System (UAS)

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-5 -- Authorized or Required by Statute.

Amount: $3,998,027.75

Prepared by:

Mitchell Wathen ARL, SEDD Number: (301) 481-3189 Mitchell.S.Wathen2.civ@mail.mil Date:

Contracting Officer:

Joel Koppinger ACC-AP-RTP Division Number: (919) 541-0580 Joel.m.koppinger.civ@mail.mil Date:

Technical:

Mitchell Wathen ARL, SEDD Number: (301) 481-3189 Mitchell.S.Wathen2.civ@mail.mil Date:

Requirements:

Mitchell Wathen ARL, SEDD Number: (301) 481-3189 Mitchell.S.Wathen2.civ@mail.mil Date:

CLARK.REBEC Digitally signed by

CA.FRANTZ.12 Z.1228895039

CLARK.REBECCA.FRANT

28895039 Date: 2020.05.06 13:12:40 -04'00'

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Program Manager:

Ron Wardell Sensors & Electron Devices Directorate Chief, Sensors & Electronics Integration & Experimentation Branch Email: ronald.g.wardell.civ@mail.mil

Digitally signed by

WARDELL.RONAL WARDELL.RONALD.G.1229434 655

Signature:

D.G.1229434655 Date: 2020.05.06 12:36:03 -04'00'

Date:

Legal Counsel:

Typed Name: Rebecca Clark

DSN 290-2013

Signature: Date:

Department of Army FAR Part 6 Justification and Approval for Other than

Full and Open Competition

1. Contracting Activity and Requiring Agency:

a. U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) – Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG)

Research Triangle Park (RTP) Division 800 Park Office Drive Durham, NC 27709

b. U.S. Army Research Lab

Sensors & Electronics Integration & Experimentation Branch 2800 Powder Mill Rd Adelphi MD, 20783

2. Description of Action: The Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD) requests a sole source HubZone contract be awarded to Carbon Consultants, LLC (d.b.a. Zepher) 310 S. Larch St. Bingen, WA 98605 in support of a United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) requirement.

Specifically, this effort will be researching technology to improve the endurance and acoustic signature of Group II UAS for operation in an austere environment. ARL will leverage this research in support of the Army Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (FTUAS) which is exploring Group 2 and 3 TUAS.

This contract action will be funded by USSOCOM RDT&E Budget Activity 7 appropriation. The funding is non-Army.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This effort will focus VTOL UAS research that has the following attributes: reduce UAS noise signature; develop a hybrid power plant and variable pitch propeller system to increase range and endurance; enhance UAS control during VTOL operations; and improve UAS propulsion system durability to achieve time-between-overhaul (TBO) of at least 1900 hours. The initial research will focus on a Group 2 UAS (i.e. less than or equal to a 55-pound Gross Take Off Weight).

If the results of the Group 2 UAS research are deemed successful by the government, the technologies will be scaled up to a Group 3 UAS (less than or equal to 110-pound GTOW) by exercising the option. To minimize investment cost, the government will break this effort into a Base Year for the Group 2 UAS Tasking and Option Year for the Group 3 UAS Tasking .

Period of Performance: One 12-Month Base and one 12-Month Option.

Base Estimated Costs: $2,846,565

Option 1 Estimated Costs: $1,151,462

Total Estimated Value: $3,998,027

4. Authority Cited:

10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(5) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-5 -- Authorized or Required by Statute.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

As described in FAR 6.302-5, full and open competition need not be provided for when a statute expressly authorizes that the acquisition be made from a specified source.

For a sole source procurement under the HUBZone Act of 1977, each of the requirements at FAR 19.1306(a)(1) through (6) must be addressed in the justification.

Those six elements form the basis for awarding the proposed contract under the HUBZone Act authority.

The following are the alternatives considered to utilizing a sole source contract.

a) TReX OTA - USSOCOM requested ARL consider the TReX OTA as an option because a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between USSOCOM and Army PEO- STRI had been signed. ARL drafted a VTOL-UAS Prototype Acquisition Approach (PAA) and submitted to PEO-STRI for review. PEO-STRI considered the VTOL-UAS PAA out of scope of the TReX OTA; thus, this contract path was not a viable option.

b) AEWD - A review of the AEWD’s Small Business Primes indicated that none of the nine Primes has experience designing and manufacturing VTOL UAS platforms.

Also, ARL Leadership has directed future actions through AEWD support Army Futures Command requirements. For these two reasons, the AEWD IDIQ Contract was not a viable solution.

c) ARL BAA - The ARL BAA was quickly ruled out because USSOCOM provided RDT&E Budget Activity 7 which was not allowable on a BAA pursuant to DFARS 235.016(a).

Although the ARL BAA could not be used to make an award, it did provide a potential solution to meets USSOCOM’s requirement. Carbon Consultants (dba Zepher) submitted a proposal in response to ARL BAA W911NF17S0003, which presented research and technical approach that matched with the USSOCOM Group 2 UAS requirement. Carbon Consultants is a certified HubZone, so ACC-APG-RTP recommended a HubZone set-aside as the contract strategy to meet the USSOCOM requirement. ARL and USSOCOM supports the ACC-APG-RTP recommendation.

(1) The contracting officer does not have a reasonable expectation that offers would be received from two or more HUBZone small business concerns based on the market research conducted (see Paragraph 8 below).

(2) The anticipated price of the contract, including options, will not exceed $4 million.

(3) This is a new requirement, and is not currently being performed by an 8(a) participant under the provisions of FAR subpart 19.8 or has been accepted as a requirement by SBA under FAR subpart 19.8.

(4) The acquisition is greater than the simplified acquisition threshold.

(5) Carbon Consultants is a HUBZone small business concern has been determined to be a responsible contractor with respect to performance.

(6) Award can be made at a fair and reasonable price (see Paragraph 13 below).

6. Actions to Obtain Competition:

The US Army’s Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX) Other Transactions Agreement (OTA), US Army Research Lab’s Advanced Expeditionary Warfare Development (AEWD) IDIQ Contract, and US Army Research Lab’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) were all considered to address this government requirement. None were deemed suitable. Paragraph 8 below describes the market research conducted.

The proposed contract action will be synopsized pursuant to FAR 5.201.

A subcontracting plan is not required; however, the contractor will be required to address its subcontracting competition strategy in its proposal.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

The ARL BAA W911NF17S0003 contains a topic area under the Science and Maneuver section for the Discovery and Advancement of Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) Innovations, Novel Concepts, and Ideas. Upon making award of this HubZone contract, the interested parties deemed not capable as a result of the sources sought will be notified of the Government’s determination that they were lacking in a several areas, but that the Government encourages them to submit a proposal against this topic area. This will allow them to hone their VTOL craft and increase future competition for any follow-on work.

The Government will seek Government Purpose Rights where feasible to increase future competition. This strategy will allow for the government to use, modify, reproduce, release or disclose the technical data or computer software within the Government without restriction and outside the Government for a Government purpose.

8. Market Research:

The ACC-APG-RTP Division Contracting Officer issued a sources sought on beta.SAM on 11 February 2020. Pursuant to FAR 19.203(c) the contracting officer shall first consider an acquisition for the small business socioeconomic contracting programs (i.e., 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or WOSB programs) before considering a small business set-aside. The sources sought instructed any interested party to submit a capabilities statement based on the following areas:

HUBZone Status – Government’s intent to award to a HUBZone

ISO Standard - must be AS9100D certified quality management system (must submit copy of current certification with proposal).

Acoustic Research - An understanding and experience with tactical acoustic signature of Group II and Group III electric and non-electric UAS. This includes experience in propeller blade design, simulation, and element analysis for predicting performance and acoustic parameters.

UAS Flight Operations – Must demonstrate the offeror has the ability, experience, and facilities necessary to conduct UAS Flight Test Operations.

Carbon Fiber Manufacturing - Understanding and experience with carbon fiber part manufacturing, specifically with a focus on cost reduction and scalability.

UAS Propulsion - A working understanding and previous experience of various propulsion power plants (electric, combustion engine, fuel cell, solar, etc.) and ancillary systems including variable pitch propeller design.

Systems Engineering – An understanding and experience of capabilities within UAS systems engineering with a focus on scalable avionics architectures to reduce operator and maintenance burden, lower crash rates, and improve data collection by the UAS platform.

A total of six (6) small business responses were received and evaluated. Out of the six

(6) responses, only two (2) were received from actively certified HubZone small business. Of the only two (2) HubZone qualified companies, Carbon Consultants was the only HubZone certified small business deemed capable of completing all the requirements outlined in the sources sought. The four (4) non-HubZone responses were still reviewed to determine if widening the competition to include their participation was merited. This analysis indicated the other four (4) non-HubZone responses were not technically capable. The market analysis indicated that one HubZone small business responded with the above past experience and technical capabilities to execute the research required to address the USSOCOM VTOL-UAS requirement. Thus, a sole source award to Carbon Consultants was deemed the best approach to meet the requirement.

9. Interested Sources:

The following sources have written to express interest in the acquisition:

Scaled Composites LLC GLSV, Inc.

UAV Factory USAeroteam Carbon Consultants University of Cincinnati

To date, no other sources have written to express an interest.

Paragraph10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History – This is a new contract requirement not addressed by a previous contract award.

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

WATHEN.MITCHELL.S.1229299553

DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=DoD, LL.S.1229299553 ou=PKI, ou=USA, cn=WATHEN.MITCHELL.S.1229299553 Date: 2020.05.04 11:24:32 -04'00'

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

WATHEN.MITCHELL.S.1229299553

DN: c=US, o=U.S. Government, ou=DoD, LL.S.1229299553 ou=PKI, ou=USA, cn=WATHEN.MITCHELL.S.1229299553 Date: 2020.05.04 11:24:52 -04'00'

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine the anticipated Cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Price/Cost analysis techniques will be used to determine the contractor’s proposed costs to be fair and reasonable pursuant to FAR 15.404-1(a)(3). Certified cost or pricing data will be obtained in accordance with FAR 15.403-4(a)(1).

KOPPINGER.JOEL.MICHAEL.12639

CHAEL.1263996786

Contracting Officer

96786 Date: 2020.05.04 10:59:10 -04'00'

WATHEN.MITCHE

WATHEN.MITCHE

KOPPINGER.JOEL.MI

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

KOPPINGER.JOEL.MICHAEL.126399

CHAEL.1263996786

Contracting Officer

Date: 2020.05.04 11:00:05 -04'00'

KOPPINGER.JOEL.MI

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(5) subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Advocate for Competition