JA.pdf

CUI

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

CONTRACTING SERVICES OFFICE -COLUMBUS DIVISION 3

3900 EAST BROAD STREET

COLUMBUS OHIO 43218-3990

Controlled by: Unclassified Information:

Controlled by: DCSO-C3 CUI Category: SSEL Applicable Distribution: DLA/J6 Strategic Materials/DCSO POC: Contracting Officer.

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION, SEE FAR 2.101 AND 3.104

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

SP8000-26-X-XXXX

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI): License 1 – Full Suite

Includes: Upstream – Lithium, Copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Graphite, Rare Earths, Fluorspar, Phosphoric Acid & Manganese

Midstream – Cathode, Anode, Battery & Gigafactory Downstream – New Technology, Recycling, EV, ESS & EV Charging

1) Identification of the agency and contracting activity:

Requiring Activity: Defense Logistics Agency, (DLA) Strategic Materials, 8725 John J Kingman Road, Ft Belvoir, VA 22060, Point of Contact: XXXXX

Contracting Activity: DLA Contracting Services Office – Columbus Division # 3, 3990 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43218, Point of Contact: XXXX, Contracting Officer.

2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This is a sole source approval for an acquisition resulting in a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) award for the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence License 1 – Full Suite product, which includes the following data for the following: upstream products: Lithium, Copper, Nickel, Cobalt, Graphite, Rare Earths, Fluorspar, Phosphoric Acid & Manganese; midstream products: Cathode, Anode, Battery & Gigafactory;

downstream products: New Technology, Recycling, EV, ESS & EV Charging. DLA Strategic Materials proposes to procure the products mentioned above by other than full and open competition.

The nature of this contractual action will be a new sole source, one-year firm-fixed price contract.

3) Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

DLA Strategic Materials (SM) intends to issue a sole source, fixed price one-time purchase contract to obtain Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Product License 1 – Full Suite over a one-year period from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (CAGE: U1XB4). Benchmark Mineral Intelligence products and datasets listed in this package have varying applications to the Department of Defense (DoD), and essential civilian sector of the U.S economy. The subscription package will provide granular datasets to model material shortfall estimates in support of the National Defense Stockpile (NDS) program and its congressionally mandated biennial stockpiling requirements report. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence License 1 – Full Suite has an estimated value of XXXX.

4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority for this non-competitive action is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), “Only one responsible source and no other Supplies or Services will satisfy agency requirements”, as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b)(2), Brand-Name.

5) Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Limited is the only source who can provide these services for the required subscription. The data supplied by Benchmark is uniquely developed by Benchmark through direct industry contacts via certified price discovery methods, analyst research, and proprietary modeling techniques. Benchmark is able to provide data regarding the profitability of new mines and mines under development, and operational information on mines for rare earth minerals. Benchmark also provides unique market analyses based on their compiled data sets, analyst research, and discussions with industry experts. Following the acquisition of Rho Motion (June 2024), Benchmark integrated downstream energy transition analytics — including EV, powertrain, energy storage systems (ESS), semiconductors, and renewables. This capability expansion allows demand forecasting to be directly linked to verified material availability and clean energy deployment patterns. The data supplied by Benchmark is uniquely developed by Benchmark through direct industry contacts via certified price discovery methods, analyst research, and proprietary modeling techniques. This information is required to determine future research and development requirements in the rare earth minerals market as well as other critical and strategic material supply chains. No other provider is able to provide combined datasets at the required technical level necessary for DLA Strategic Materials to fulfill its mission.

6) Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

As this proposed action will be executed as a Request for Proposals (RFP) under FAR Part 12 and Part 15 procedures utilizing the combined synopsis and solicitation procedure under FAR 12.603, it will be synopsized/solicited on SAM.gov for approximately one week which will afford potential offerors a reasonable opportunity to respond.

7) A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer anticipates that the final price for the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence License 1 – Full Suite product in this justification for other than full and open competition will be determined fair and reasonable based on either a comparison of proposed prices with the independent government cost estimate (IGCE) or other means outlined in FAR 15.404-1(b)(2). An IGCE was provided that sufficiently demonstrates the market research that was conducted, the basis of estimates, cost calculations, and the appropriate validations. In addition, the material being purchased provided by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is considered “commercial” and the terms and conditions found at FAR 52.212-4 contain the same and/or similar language found in most commercial agreements used within the industry and defined as “commercial” in accordance with FAR 2.101. The Contracting Officer will only proceed with the planned action after evaluating and confirming that the resulting price is fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 15.404. The government may require other than certified cost / price data if deemed appropriate.

8) Description of market research conducted and results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

Market research was conducted via a combination of efforts including discussions within the U.S.

Government, including Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the DLA Small Business Innovation Research Office (SBIR) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as well as discussions at defense conferences, and with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Benchmark is the only intelligence provider with complete visibility from mine to end-use, which would provide DLA Strategic Materials with critical supply, demand, and processing data.

Project Blue, another data provider, was also contacted regarding the above materials and reports.

However, they were not able to provide similar technical data or market analyses for the required materials of interest for this acquisition.

Based on previous contracts, the only way for other potential vendors to provide the Benchmark Mineral Intelligence License 1 – Full Suite would be through subcontracting Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is the only supplier capable of providing its brand name data. This is consistent with our market research.

9) Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

None.

10) Listing of sources that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisitions:

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence

11) Actions, if any, the agency will take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

DLA Strategic Materials has a Broad Agency Announcement to provide interested companies an opportunity to seek funding to perform supply chain analyses of Strategic and Critical Materials as authorized under the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. § 98 et seq.). No companies were able to submit proposals for developing supply chain studies at the technical level that is required by DLA Strategic Material and its mission requirements.

12) Certifications and approval

Requirements / Technical Certification

I hereby certify that the supporting data for which I am responsible, and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

XXXXX

Material Engineer Strategic Materials Contracting Certification

I hereby certify that the information contained in this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. The estimated total contract value of this acquisition is XXXX.

XXXXX

Contracting Officer DLA Contracting Services Office – Columbus 3

Competition Advocate Certification

I hereby certify and approve this justification.