JA00411 SPRDL121R0047_Redacted.pdf

SPRDL1-21-R-0047 (JA-00411)

Previous J&A: SPRDL1-20-R-0160 two sources exist, AMCs 1 or 2 are valid.

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is Title 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 2304 (c) (1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The proposed action is to award a new hardware contract on a sole source basis to GD, CAGE Code 05257, for the procurement of new Display Units. GD builds the Display Unit which is critical to the M109A7 SPH and the M992A3 CAT readiness. The Display Unit is a standalone computer Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) that serves the following: It provides vehicle operators of the M109A7 SPH and the M992A3 CAT critical information to perform their mission such as navigation, power management, fire mission data, and camera views as well as vehicle maintenance. The Display Unit allows Soldiers to maneuver the vehicle and maintain situational awareness while safely inside the vehicle. Failure of the Display Unit to operate would result in the Soldier having to leave the vehicle’s interior and therefore exposing themselves to environmental and enemy hazards. Failure of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to assemble the Display Unit per Government specifications could result in loss of life and damage to equipment.

The Display Unit must meet all criteria contained in 12578491, “Driver’s Display Hardware Component Specification.” Specification 12578491 defines the performance and verification requirements for the Display Unit. Testing requirements necessary to certify a new manufacturer include, but are not limited to, Required States & Modes, System Capability Requirements, Interface Requirements, System Safety Requirements, Security and Privacy Requirements, Environment Requirements, Computer Resource Requirements and System Quality Factors.

GD is the only Approved Source for this part. GD has successfully tested and supplied this item for the M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT. GD was successfully qualified to the requirements of the extensive 19207-12548491 specification which describes both the Display Unit design requirements as well as qualification requirements in order to become a qualified source. This included validation at both the component and vehicle system level and included such tests as high/low temperature, humidity, sand/dust, shock/vibration, and Electromagnetic Capability. This part must be acquired from GD, the manufacturing source specified on source control drawing 12581798. Suitable technical data, Government data rights, or manufacturing knowledge are not available to permit acquisition from other sources.

A significant amount of time and money would be necessary to reverse engineer, procure and test prototypes, and release the design. Even if a reverse-engineering effort is successful, the Government will incur excessive costs and lead-time delay. The cost to reverse-engineer the critical components is estimated at $2.19M and will take an estimated five years to complete.

Cost and schedule breakout

Reverse Engineering Activity Delay Cost

Reverse Engineering Plan and funding 6 months $40,000

Reverse Engineer the Driver’s Display Unit: 1 years $500,000

Purchase prototypes (3 per vehicle: 6 total) 1 year $300,000

Component Level Testing 6-12 months $500,000

Test prototypes in vehicle (3 x SPH / 3 x CAT) 6-12 months $800,000

Develop a TDP: 6 months $50,000

Total Estimated Time to Reverse Engineer 5 years $2.19M

The Government would not be able to recover, through subsequent competition, the cost involved in reverse engineering the item to create a new smart display unit TDP.

At the current unit cost of $ and assuming 25% savings achieved through competition, the potential savings of $ per unit would require 315 units to be procured to break even on the estimated $2.19M cost of reverse engineering the item which does not justify the expense of qualifying another source. With an Average Monthly Demand (AMD) of one, it would take years to recover the reverse engineering cost.

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: FAR clause 52.244-5, Competition in

Subcontracting, will be included in the contract to assure that the prime contractor obtains as much competition as possible in subcontracting.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: There are no plans to increase competition for future procurements due to the reason cited in Section 5 above. As stated in Section 5, the Government does not have the pertinent technical data to enable competitive re-procurement.

8. Market Research: Market Research: A Sources Sought Notice was posted to beta.SAM.gov on 09 February 2021 and was open for 15 days.

Notice ID: SPRDL1-20-R-0047 Item Name: Smart Display Unit

NSN: 7025-01-670-4971

Government Part Number: 12581798 Manufacturer Part Number: 1026680-901 End Item: M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT

SSN_beta.SAM.gov.

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One response was received from the following vendor:

Linmaar Associates, CAGE Code: 1GX03, (8 Hammond, Suite 108 Irvine, CA 92618) is a distributor for this part.

Market research was completed by Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) Sustainment Engineering on 20 April 2021, for the Display Unit technical characteristics of operational performance, system capabilities and interface. Key words searched were Military Land Vehicles, Smart Display Units and Manufactures of Display Units websites. This is a specialized piece of equipment with unique capabilities. A search of form, fit and functional characteristics was performed. Nonmilitary application items were identified but did not meet the technical requirements of drawing 12581798. No other commercial item had the unique capabilities of the requirements of drawing 12581798.

There are other sources capable of fabricating Display Units. One example is Scio Tech. They make similar ones for the military market, but they have no identifiable replacement for this specific hardware. Extensive analysis, prototyping, and vehicle testing would still need to be done to ensure they will properly meet 12578491 M109A7 SPH and M992A3 CAT Driver’s Display Hardware Component Specification dated 02 November 2017. The cost of such analysis, prototyping, and testing would far exceed any cost savings realized by adding another source. Procurement history lists Canadian Commercial Corp which represents the Canadian Government on behalf of Canadian contractors.

9. Interested Sources: To date, there has been no vendor which expressed an interest to become a qualified source to produce this item. A vendor would be required to submit a Source Approval Request (SAR) for review and possible approval. This process can take at least a year, of which this procurement action cannot wait.