JA SPRDL1-20-R-0150_Redacted.pdf

SPRDL1-20-R-0121

Previous J&A available upon request by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii)(A), “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The DVE provides vehicle operators of the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT an expanded field of view (FOV). The 107⁰ FOV provides enhanced situational awareness for combat vehicles. The wider FOV improves safety and survivability by eliminating blind spots and allows operators to safely navigate through sand, haze, smoke, light fog and the night. The DVE allows Soldiers to maneuver the vehicle and maintain situational awareness while safely inside the vehicle. Failure of the DVE to operate would result in the Soldier having to leave the vehicles interior and therefore exposing themselves to environmental and enemy hazards. The DVE is a safety critical item. Failure of the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) to manufacture per Government specifications could result in damage to equipment and inability of the Soldiers to perform their mission safely and effectively.

DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC has developed, tested, and obtained Government approval for this item for application in the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT at their own cost. Only DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC has the capability to manufacture this DVE, perform failure analysis, develop inspection and acceptance criteria for components, and test the item in accordance with the Government requirements. Installing hardware that has not undergone similar verification could lead to degraded situational awareness for the operators and could put them and the mission at risk.

Currently, DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC is the approved source to make the DVE for the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT vehicles. They are the sole owners of the technical data. The Government does not own the technical data of the DVE, nor does the Government have proprietary rights to the technical data, which is necessary to develop a competitive TDP. To Reverse Engineer the DVE will require four years to develop and test the new design and then qualify a new vendor. The prototypes would need to be tested within the vehicles to ensure full system integration and situational awareness capability.

Task Delay Costs Develop testing criteria and performance requirements: 6 months $40k

Reverse Engineer Plan and funding 6 months $10k

Reverse Engineer the DVE and conduct component level testing 1 year $500k

Purchase prototypes 6-12 months $300k

Test prototypes in vehicle 3-6 months $60k

Create and implement the Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) and Engineering Release Record (ERR) 6 months $25k

Total Estimated Time to Reverse Engineer 4 years $935k

The Government does not have the funds available nor would the Government be able to recover, through subsequent competition, the additional costs involved in either procuring the proprietary data or reverse engineering the items to create a competitive package. At the current unit cost of , and assuming the 25% saving achieved through competition, the potential savings is per unit. The units necessary to break even on the $935,000 reverse engineering effort do not justify the time or expense of qualifying another source.

The consequential time delay of four years to reverse engineer, develop and test the new design and then qualify a new vendor would prohibit delivery of the DVE in a time frame that would satisfy the Government's needs.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Based on the rationale provided in paragraph 5 above, the Government may plan to obtain competition for this proposed contractual action. As described below in section 9, potential vendors can submit requests to become a source through the Source Approval Process at any time. A significant effort would be necessary to evaluate the design, test prototypes and procure. This delay would severely impact the availability of this DVE for the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT. This effort is critical to operational readiness.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: As stated in section 5 above, there is currently no funding available to increase competition through the process of qualifying additional sources. Due to the associated cost as stated in section 5, the Government is not actively pursuing additional sources for future procurements. This item, “Driver’s Vision Enhancer Wide (DVE)”, NSN: 5855-01-625-8679, currently does not appear on the Competition Advocates Shopping List dated February 15, 2019. The Government does not own the technical data for this part. Contractors interested in becoming a source of supply need to meet the requirements of the source approval program including vehicle level qualification testing, at their own expense. The Competition Management Office (CMO) is the lead proponent for the source approval program. Engineering requires successful vehicle level qualification testing to support the approval of a new source of supply, at this time the Government has no plans, or funding, to complete qualification testing. To date, there has not been any expressed interest by any known vendor(s) to become qualified source(s) to produce this item. As stated in section 5 above, the TDP is Source Controlled. DRS Network and Imagining systems, LLC tested this item for application to the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT platforms at their own cost.

8. Market Research: A web search technical study was performed August 16, 2019 by Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) Engineering to review cost and competition consideration, along with determining commercial or non-developmental items which may be available to meet Government needs. The screening of commercially available manufacturers for a possible replacement item conforming to M109A7 SPH form, fit and functional requirements produced no results. GVSC reviewed i2Log and historical Army Contracting Center Warren procurement data, as well as the 1095 form for possible suppliers. A Sources Sought notice was posted on beta.SAM on March 26, 2020.

Sources Sought Notice link:

https://beta.sam.gov/opp/3b63cdaec2b04d0199ae8439b1e2c108/view?keywords=Reticle&sort=-relevance&index=&is active=true&page=1&date filter index=0&inactive filter values=false

SSN for Reticle Assembly_26Mar2020

9. Interested Sources: Although this procurement will be restricted to the above source, every effort will be made to obtain potential sources by synopsis through the beta.SAM system. To date, no Contractors have expressed an interest in this item. Any responses received will be evaluated by the appropriate office.

Component: Driver’s Vision Enhancer (DVE)

NSN: 5855-01-625-8679

National Item Identification Number (NIIN): 016258679 End Item: M109A7 SPH, M992A3 CAT

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History:

Contract: W56HZV18C0089 Award Date: September 14, 2018 Contractor: DRS Network & Imaging Systems Value: $10,755.203.00 ($12,030.75 each)

b. Unusual and compelling urgency: N/A

c. Subcontracting Competition: In accordance with FAR 19.708(b)(1) where the dollar threshold is greater than $700,000, a subcontracting plan is required.

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.

The point of contact for this action is , Name: Jeffrey J. Mahlmeister Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //JJM// Date: 04/01/2020

15. Legal Review: Concur

Name:

Title: Legal Advisor Signature:

Date: 4/2/2020

Approval Authority for Acquisitions Equal to or Greater Than $700,000.

APPROVAL OF JUSTIFICATION

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Based on the foregoing Justification, I hereby approve the procurement of the following:

a. Noun: Driver’s Vision Enhancer Wide

b. NSN: 5855-01-625-8679

c. Basic Quantity: 28 each

d. Basic Estimated Value:

e. Option Percent: 100%

f. Quantity with Option: 56 each

g. Estimated Value with Option:

This action will be awarded under other than full and open competition pursuant to the authority of 10 USC 2304(c)(1) and subject to the availability of funds. This approval is subject to the provision that the property herein described has otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

DLA Land and Maritime Competition Advocate

SHEARER.MARY.

E.1250702449

Digitally signed by

SHEARER.MARY.E.1250702449

Date: 2020.04.07 12:35:02 -04'00'