JA C4F Spire API Service Signed_Redacted.pdf

A. ONLY ONE RESPONSIBLE SOURCE (select all that apply):

1. RESTRICTIVE RIGHTS. The source has established proprietary rights, limited rights in data, patent rights, copyrights or secret processes in the item or service required.

2. EXCLUSIVE LICENSING AGREEMENTS. The item or service is only available from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), or there is only one authorized distributor or technical representative for the OEM.

3. OTHER REASONS.

B. BRAND NAME. Item required must be a brand name product, or feature of a product, particular to one manufacturer.

C. X UNUSUAL AND COMPELLING URGENCY. The supplies or services are of such unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals.

Urgent requirements are supplies or services that will result in a work stoppage, or are mission critical and the routine processing time would result in injury to the Government. The determination that the procurement for the above item/service is an urgent and compelling requirement is based on the following:

1. Date on which the requirement was first identified:

2. Required delivery date/period of performance: 05 June 2024 – 04 September 2024

3. Explanation of why delivery/commencement of services by the date mentioned above is required: A number of US Naval vessels are preparing for deployment and use of the API system is imperative for safety of the ships and crew because it provides proper collision avoidance protocols to alert C4F and ships in the designated Area of Responsibility (AOR).

The current mission is required by the second week of June 2024.

4. If appropriate, include any additional pertinent information.

Mission Impact Statement: The C4F API access/services are currently degraded as it has not able to utilize the system as required to support the fleet and the mission. NIWC LANT is working with C4F to have a contract in place with SPIRE for the API access, but this will not be completed until the first week of August at the earliest. Loss of API services at C4F would gravely affect the capability to complete the national defense mission for the US Navy.

For C4F to access API, there are several things the Contractor must engineer and test on the requesting machine’s side to ultimately repair the degraded system. It usually takes the teams 72 hours per week to figure these things out with a new API and then there is usually a bug or two that get to be worked over the next few weeks. As such having SPIRE as the company providing the access for the 3 months will be the best option to avoid more delays and mission degradation by having to complete the same process for two different companies twice in 2-3 months is less than ideal.

Additionally, this contract would allow NIWC LANT enough time to establish a long-term contract solution. Due to time constraints, this J&A is being utilized to prevent the potential lapse in API services for C4F. Therefore, the CS recommends soliciting the requirement as Unrestricted Sole Source to SPIRE.