JA_SPRDL123R0039_Redacted.pdf

SPRDL1-23-R-0039 (JA-00573)

Previous J&A is not available

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this effort is 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 3204(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The DVE-W provides vehicle operators with enhanced situational awareness for combat, tactical-wheeled vehicles, armored security vehicles, and standard security vehicles. It improves survivability and mission capability by providing drivers with wider fields of view as well as the elimination of blind spots to safely navigate through dust, sand, haze, smoke, light, fog, and the blackest night. The ‘front-facing’ DVE-W integrates three state-of-the-art 640 x 480, 17-micron uncooled infrared sensors, which output a stitched video at 30 hertz of a 107 x 30 field of view (FOV). The DVE-W can receive, manage, and display video from multiple external cameras on the vehicle. The driver can electronically pan through the 107-degree total horizontal field of view allowing the driver the ability to see both sides of the road. The vehicle wheel track indicators aid the driver in clearly identifying any potential impediments to safe operation. The DVE-W is fully “backwards compatible” with all fielded Driver's Vision Enhancement (DVE) units, which means that any vehicle currently equipped with a DVE system can be readily upgraded. It is also forward compatible with new, high-resolution, touch screen displays.

DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC has developed, tested, and obtained Government approval for this item for application on the AMPV weapon system at their own cost. Only DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC has the capability to manufacture this DVE-W, 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.

DVE-W is integrated into the AMPV architecture through the Power Management Diagnostic Controller (PMDC). The PMDC routes the DVE-W video to the Driver’s Display and sends commands from the vehicle software to DVE-W. It would require a substantial amount of Engineering to replace the existing DVE-W and update the vehicle architecture and software to integrate a new DVE-W. Vehicle software, PMDC LRU software, Driver’s Display software, and vehicle cables would be affected. Driver’s DVE display has CAN, RS-170, RS-422 and Red, Green and Blue (RGB) interfaces to the PMDC which would need to be accounted for in a new design, as well as power, RS-170 and RS232 interfaces to the PMDC.

Currently, DRS Network & Imaging Systems, LLC is the only approved source to make the DVE-W for the AMPV weapon system. They are the sole owners of the technical data. The Government does not own the technical data of the DVE-W, nor does the Government have proprietary rights to the technical data, which is necessary to develop a competitive TDP. There are other competitors, but they do not have enough visual adaptiveness or viewing angles. For competitors to have similar capabilities they would have to expand/improve their DVE systems to match. Additionally, the DVE would have to go through entire testing process to approve before implementing, which introduce even greater delays to procurement.

Due to the lack of a drop-in replacement and limited technical data available for the DVE-W, Reverse Engineering (RE) is the only recourse for the Government to increase competition through development of a competitive build-to-print TDP. A significant amount of time and money would be necessary to reverse engineer, develop a competitive TDP, fabricate prototypes, develop special tooling, and perform testing.

To reverse engineer, validate the design, procure prototypes for testing, perform testing, and release a competitive data package would entail a significant amount of time, facility resources, labor-hours, and funding. To complete the RE process successfully, the Government would have to obtain a sufficient sample size of existing parts to provide a 95% probability and 90% confidence level in the actual size of the existing item to be studied. Once a large enough sample has been collected, the Government would then tear down and understand the design, develop new design, conduct prototype development, perform component level testing, perform system level testing, perform Reliability Availability Maintainability (RAM) testing, and then produce the final TDP. After consultation with Subject Matter Expert (SME) within Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) Survivability & Protection Special Systems and Components team, it was determined that required funding would include the following: $100k to reverse engineer and fabricate prototypes, $500k to develop special tooling, $500k to fabricate prototypes and $2M to complete testing. The total cost of the RE effort would be $3.1M and would take a minimum of months.

The Government would not be expected to recover in a reasonable amount of time, through subsequent competition, the duplication of costs involved in RE the DVE-W to create a new and competitive TDP. At an estimated usage rate of units per year, average unit price of $ , and assuming 25% savings achieved through competition, the $ in potential annual savings would take over years to offset the estimated $3.1M cost of RE the item and validating the TDP. There is no guarantee that the Government will even recover, through subsequent competition, the costs involved.

Calculation:

Payback = Cost to Reverse Engineer / Annual Savings

= Cost to Reverse Engineer / (AMD * 12 months * unit price * 25% savings) = $3,100,000 / (4 * 12 * $ * 0.25) = $3,100,000 / $ = years

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

a. Effective competition: Due to the reasons cited in section five 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.

SOLE SOURCE: Notices required by FAR 5.201 will be posted.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: There are no plans to increase competition for future procurements due to the reasons cited above. The Government does not own the technical data for this part. Due to the duplication of costs as detailed in section five, the Government is not actively pursuing the development of a competitive TDP and additional sources for future procurements.

8. Market Research: A Sources Sought Notice was posted to SAM.gov on 22 November 2022, and was open for 30 days. No response has been received.

A web search technical study was performed in September 2022 by 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 yielded several results, but the competitors did not conform to AMPV form, fit and functional requirements.

Keywords: Driver's Vision Enhancer, Driver's Vision Enhancer Wide Website: https://www.opgal.com/driver-vision-enhancement/ Findings: Less field of view than the current DVE, mostly capable for 360-degree viewing of vehicle. For the AMPV vehicles a 360-degree view is not necessary. This product is listed as applicable to other military vehicles. The DVE-W is not a standalone component. It is unlikely that this new sensor would be compatible with the existing DVE display, cables, software, and vehicle architecture. Ultimately any changes to DVE-W, DVE screen, cables, software, vehicle architecture would need to be validated through extensive AMPV testing.

Keywords: Driver's Vision Enhancer, Driver's Vision Enhancer Wide Website: https://nvtsglobal.com/product/alert-dve-3-wide/ Findings: Provides a similar field of view (125-degrees) and thermal resolution (640 x 512). The DVE-W is not a standalone component. It is unlikely that this new sensor would be compatible with the existing DVE display, cables, software, and vehicle architecture. Ultimately any changes to DVE-W, DVE screen, cables, software, vehicle architecture would need to be validated through extensive AMPV testing.

Keywords: Keywords: Driver's Vision Enhancer, Driver's Vision Enhancer Wide Website: https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/vehicle-mobility-optronics-rodve-vem-rocve-sddb-tds-minerva-cdcm Findings: Provides a similar field of view (120-degrees) and same thermal resolution (640 x 480). This product is listed as applicable for other armored vehicles. The DVE-W