JA - CENDUP - Revised 20211006 - Comp Adv Signed - signed_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

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I. Agency and Contracting Activity.

Air Force Test Center (AFTC), Directorate of Contracting, Specialized Contracts Branch, AFTC/PZIEC, 5 South Wolfe Avenue, Edwards AFB, CA 93524-1185. The Purchase Request (PR) number for this acquisition is to be determined (TBD).

II. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The proposed contracting action is in support of ongoing Improvement and Modernization efforts for the Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator (CEESIM) and Next-Generation Electronic Warfare Generator (NEWEG) threat environments for the 772nd Test Squadron's (TS) Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF). The proposed contract action will result in a new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)/Cost Reimbursement (CR) contract currently estimated at . The anticipated period of performance is five (5) years from date of award.

The proposed contractor is:

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC)

Amherst Systems, Inc.

Cage Code/DUNS: 1L4J7 / 074044769

ADDRESS

1740 Wehrle Drive

Buffalo, New York 14221-7032

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs (including the estimated value).

The CEESIM and NEWEG Development and Upgrades (CENDUP) program requires specialized technical and engineering work in support of the 772nd Test Squadron Improvement and Modernization (EWOM) program office activities. These activities include hardware and software development, integration, and program management support for improvement of existing or development of new threat simulator capabilities specifically in reference to CEESIM and NEWEG.

The 412th Electronic Warfare Group (EWG) runs the largest electromagnetics signal threat simulation facility in the world at the Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF) located at Edwards AFB, California. The Radio Frequency (RF) Threat Simulator currently installed in the BAF is the CEESIM, developed by NGC Amherst Systems, supports a wide range of Electronic Warfare (EW) testing for aircraft and various EW systems throughout the DoD. Parts of the current CEESIM system are at least 15 years old, and some components are even older. This system was originally developed in the mid to late 1990's with a small improvement project completed in the early 2010s. The government, through a joint services development program led by the NAVY, has invested to develop a new threat simulator, NEWEG. This program delivered approximately worth of hardware to the the BAF which requires approximately of work over 10 years to fully incorporate and transition the BAF to the NEWEG system.

A path forward to replace many of the aging CEESIM components began via subcontract work under the

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Virtual Integrated Electronic Warfare Simulations (VIEWS) II IDIQ contract. This included the development of upgrades for the CEESIM Digital Generation Subsystem (DGS) and integration with the latest RF Generation Subsystems developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) Amherst Systems for NEWEG. This development and integration work is nearing completion but requires critical security updates, data processing implementation, and integration into the BAF, and will need to be completed by or with the support of the CEESIM developer, NGC Amherst Systems. In addition, substantial effort will be required to create a Signal Distribution System (SDS) that will distribute timing and signal information from either CEESIM or NEWEG to the RF Generation equipment located in Free Space Transmit Carts.

This SDS will deliver signal information from one NGC Amherst Systems developed subsystem to another, making them the logical choice for development of the SDS.

Full transition to NEWEG requires procurement of more custom configured NGC Amherst Systems RF Generation VPX Chassis, the first of which were developed and delivered under NEWEG, and integration with new or existing high power free space radiation carts. These carts will need to either interface with or physically contain the NGC Amherst Systems VPX Chassis, interface with components such as high power amplifiers, antennas, and other critical components which will all need to be designed or specified to work with one another. In order to gain immediate use of this equipment and replace aging hardware in the BAF, these new VPX Chassis would be installed in the current iteration of Free Space Radiation carts currently operated by the BAF, originally developed by NGC Amherst Systems. This path forward is intended to be fully compatible with CEESIM to avoid any loss of existing capability and incrementally provide new capability during the transition to NEWEG.

The CEESIM and NEWEG Development and Upgrades effort is a program to upgrade the current RF Threat Simulator in the BAF to address technical and parts obsolescence issues while simultaneously developing the additional components needed to transition to a full NEWEG based threat system. It will provide additional signal threat density to support on-going and future test programs. The upgrades will be accomplished in a phased approach to make it easier to execute the program within fiscal constraints and provide incremental delivery of capabilities for each phase. The current program has a total of five phases which can be varied to align with funding availability, of which three would be completed through this contract vehicle, with the fourth initiated, and will address the first 5 years of the full 10 year upgrade path.

EXPECTED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: 5 YEARS

FUNDING TYPE: 3600 Funds "RDT&E" - (Research, Development, Test and Evaluation)

CURRENT ESTIMATE:

This is a Non-Commercial R&D effort.

The summary of the estimated Basic CLINS are as follows:

CLIN 0001 - Labor

CLIN 0002 - Travel

CLIN 0003 - Materials

CLIN 0004 - Other Direct Costs (ODC) to include subcontract work

CLIN 0005 - Technical data is not separately priced (NSP)

IV. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

IAW 10 USC 2304(c)(1), “Only one (or a limited number of) responsible source(s)” as implemented by

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FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii) Supplies may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, including major components thereof, when it is likely that award to any other source would result in-

(A) Substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition; or

(B) Unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency's requirements. (See 10 U.S.C. 2304(d)(1)(B) or 41 U.S.C.3304(b)(2).)

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

NGC Amherst Systems closed architecture ensures effective configuration management, systems engineering, design engineering, manufacturing, and quality assurance. It is the means by which NGC Amherst Systems verifies its outputs and design solutions. The functional aspect of configuration verification encompasses all of the test and demonstrations performed to meet the quality assurance sections of the applicable system performance specifications; performance specifications are proprietary to NGC Amherst Systems (hardware and source code).

The requiring activity's minimum needs for an RF Threat Simulator Upgrade can only be satisfied by the unique capabilities of NGC Amherst Systems, a business sector of NGC. Through past efforts awarded to NGC Amherst Systems as the prime contractor on past GSA Advantage efforts and on efforts where NGC Amherst Systems was awarded as a subcontractor, they have asserted a variety of limiting rights to the government in regards to items such as software, firmware, interface control documents, and a variety of other files and documents associated with the efforts as these items were initially developed and paid for through internal NGC Amherst Systems research and development. These rights have varied to included Limited rights for CEESIM Firmware, Interface Control Documents, and various control files within the system; Restricted rights for CEESIM Firmware and internal subsystem software; Government Purpose Rights for CEESIM Executable Software and Interface Control and Design Documentation for external timing. Access to these rights is critical to the success of this requirement as there is a heavy focus on modifying and integrating equipment and software that was previously designed and devolved by NCG Amherst Systems.

Replacement of the existing CEESIM or incorporating a simulator from an alternate supplier would introduce substantial duplication of cost and significant schedule delays in areas such as duplication of existing hardware and associated costs, and duplication of training requirements against a new simulator environment, and require the reinitialization of the mission requirement when a current requirement already exists. The government has already invested , over the last 7 years, in the future replacement of the CEESIM system, NEWEG. Much of the existing material and equipment assets that currently exist under CEESIM can be modified to utilize or interface with currently owned NEWEG hardware that would replace the aging hardware of the CEESIM during the transition period, saving the government additional monies on future expenditures. The currently owned NEWEG hardware that would be utilized with CEESIM during this transition period was designed and developed by NGC Amherst Systems.

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IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

Previous work completed for CEESIM upgrades has been completed through a combination of GSA Advantage awards directly to NGC Amherst Systems. This is a time consuming process as redundant effort was required for each required tasking consuming manpower to review and approve the same documentation each time a new order is required. Due to the nature of funding, this results in approximately one to two orders each year for multiple year efforts. This hinders the ability to quickly and efficiently contract out phased development efforts over a multiple year period.

More recently requirements have been completed through the VIEWS II IDIQ contract with work provided to NGC Amherst Systems as a subcontractor. Work completed through the VIEWS II contract has shown that while a prime contractor may be capable of managing the work, completing the requirement comes at roughly a cost increase and has not proven an additional value of the full added cost. Executing work through a separate prime contractor has shown additional delays in executing contract modifications and removed a level of direct oversight to NGC Amherst Systems that is starting to appear as needed. Contracting directly to NGC Amherst Systems will provide the government with direct oversight and the ability to more efficiently execute changes and correct issues should they arise.

X. List of any sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

The 412 EWG will continue to monitor the industry through trade journals, technical symposium, and contact with industry representatives to evaluate changing contractor capabilities and new offerings to determine if there are capabilities available to meet Government requirements. Prior efforts to overcome barriers to competition include participation at the Joint Electromagnetic Preparedness for Advanced Combat (JEPAC), Air Vehicle Survivability Workshop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as monitoring the Association of Old Crows (AOC) for developments in Electronic Warfare modeling and simulation. Future efforts will be synopsized as applicable and market surveys will be conducted as practical to determine feasibility of competition. The 412 EWG will continue to research and monitor industry for possible alternatives to providing the development and services in support of developing BAF Capabilities, this includes soliciting other portions of the BAF improvement and modernization work and future portions of the transition to NEWEG through competitive acquisitions.

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XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

As evidenced by his signature above, the Contracting Officer has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his knowledge and belief.

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by his signature above, the technical personnel certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is his responsibility, is both accurate and complete.