JA_SPRDL1-25-R-0030_Redacted.pdf

SPRDL1-25-R-0030 (JA-00900)

Previous J&A: SPRDL1-19-R-0286

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Allison Transmission owns the intellectual property for the transmission part number E013122 and retains full rights for its technical data.

Allison Transmission is the only vendor who possesses the technical data and expertise to manufacture the transmission component that have met all system level requirements

The Champion Company owns the technical data rights for its container part number 19230. The Government does not have rights to the Technical Data Package (TDP) or data rights for the container.

The DEVCOM Medium Tactical Truck and Trailer Sustainment Team has estimated that reverse engineering the Transmission Assembly would cost an estimated minimum of $3,750,000 with a lead time of for reverse engineering work to include design, development, obtaining statistically correct tolerance levels, TDP generation, and production. In addition, the Transmission Assembly would have to undergo qualification and Product Verification Testing on both a M916A3 and M917A2 vehicle, which would have an additional lead time of and cost an additional estimated minimum of $3,000,000, as a transmission is one of the most complex and critical items within a vehicle. In total, reverse engineering and qualification testing to include material test, form, fit, and function test, performance test, and durability testing would require at least and an estimated total of $6,750,000 for both reverse engineering and testing verification. This expense could not be recouped through subsequent competition. The efforts involved on the contract of these sole source components does not justify the development and production tooling costs for a company to qualify as a second source.

Funds are not available at this time for either procuring the proprietary data, reverse engineering the item to create a competitive TDP or qualification testing for a new source. For the historically low demand quantity, savings would never materialize for a Transmission Assembly that would require significant capital to reverse engineer, test and prove.

The Government would not be able to recover, through subsequent competition, the duplication of costs involved in reverse engineering the item to [create a competitive TDP or qualify additional source(s)] within a reasonable time frame. At the current average usage rate of units each year, a current unit cost of , and assuming 25% savings achieved through competition, the in annual savings would take over years to offset the estimated $6,750,000.00 cost of reverse engineering the item and validating a competitive TDP or qualifying another source.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective competition: Due to the reasons cited in Section 5 above, the

Government is not pursuing competition for this item.

b. Subcontracting competition: Unless the contract is awarded to a small business, the solicitation and resulting contract will include FAR clauses 52.219-8, "Utilization of Small Business Concerns"; 52.244-5, "Competition in Subcontracting"; 52.219-16, "Liquidated Damages--Subcontracting Plan";" and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 252.219-7003, "Small Business Subcontracting Plan (DoD Contracts)," to maximize small business opportunities and utilization.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: There are no known funding efforts in progress at this time to develop the competitive technical data required to make the Transmission Assembly fully competitive. No contractors are in the process of being qualified at this time, nor will be prior to the contract award due to time and funding constraints.

8. Market Research: A Sources Sought Notice was posted to SAM.gov on 18 November 2024, was open for 15 days, and closed on 03 December 2024. No responses were received to the posted notice.

Computer-based market research was conducted by the GVSC Project Engineer during August and September of 2024. Heavy-duty truck transmissions offered by Dana, Tremec and Eaton were evaluated. In summary, no transmissions available on the commercial market can match both the performance specifications and configuration of the Allison transmission part number. The lack of a complete TDP and performance specifications for the sole-source part makes it difficult to ensure the validity of alternatives, but enough information is available to conclude that a drop-in replacement is non-existent, and significant modifications would have to be made to the vehicle if a different transmission was selected for this procurement. TACOM and GVSC believe the best solution is to procure the original transmission that was initially tested and integrated on the M916A3 & M917A2 vehicles.

Multiple companies offer heavy-duty transmissions for a wide variety of use cases, but none of the examples found has the same Gross Input Power or Gross Input Torque as the original Allision 4700 Series. The power and torque specifications of the “Heavy Duty” transmission options from Dana, Tremec and Eaton were all lower compared to the original option. Ultimately, the modifications that would be required to install any transmission other than the Allision 4700 Series would be significant, potentially impacting surrounding systems. Engineering has determined that there are no commercial off the street solutions that could be used in this application with any confidence.

When [and if] the technical information for the M916A3 and M917A2 transmission is made available, additional, specific market research could be conducted and a competitive procurement could be considered. It has been verified that the sole-source vendor can supply the transmission for this procurement.

Key words used in a September 2024 internet search; transmission manufacturers, Allison transmission 4000 series, dana heavy duty truck transmission, ZF heavy duty Transmissions, Tremec heavy duty Transmissions, Eaton heavy duty transmissions.

Links to information can be found below:

https://allisontransmission.com/en-gb/transmissions/models/4000-series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sISdpKtEEgo https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/market-research-reports/automobile-transmission-manufacturing-industry/ https://www.dana.com/product/off-highway/powershift-transmission/ https://www.tremec.com/menu/medium-and-heavy-duty-truck-transmission/ https://www.eaton.com/us/en-us/products/transmissions/commercial-vehicle-transmissions.html

9. Interested Sources: No responses were received from vendors in response to the posted sources sought notice.

10. Other Facts:

(1) Procurement History

Contract Number: SPRDL1-20-C-0007 Award Date: 21 November 2019 Contractor: Penn Power Group, LLC.

Contract Value: $417,251.94 (base and option value) Competitive Status: FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source

Contract Number: SPRDL1-13-P-0013 Award Date: 26 October 2012 Contractor: W.W. Williams Company Contract Value: $146,298.84 (base only, no J&A required) Competitive Status: FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source

(2) The above buys were solicited and awarded under Other Than Full and Open Competition.

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

Name:

Title: Division Chief, Sustainment Engineering