JandA Redacted.pdf

V3.0_JANUARY2020

PID #:

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION UNDER FAR 13.5, SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN

COMMERCIAL ITEMS

JUSTIFICATION

1. Contracting Activity

The Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Undersea Warfare

Center Division, , Newport, RI.

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

Award a Purchase Order with a firm fixed price (FFP) line item for the purchase of an Intel Xeon central processing unit (CPU) and Nvidia graphic cards, for the Naval

Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport (NUWCDIVNPT), to support the .

3. Description of Supplies/Services

NUWCDIVNPT has a requirement for twelve

(12) Intel Xeon Gold 6234 3.3GHz rack mountable compute nodes and twelve (12) Nvidia Tesla V100S graphic cards.

The brand name component of the compute node that is required is the

Intel Xeon Central Processing Unit (CPU).

It is anticipated that the total value of this contract will be approximately , of which an estimated dollar value of for Intel Chips must be solicited on a brand name basis to maintain consistency of results and Navy accreditation and another for Nvidia graphic cards because of code specific system calls will only function with the hardware-in-the-loop systems.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open

41 U.S.C. 1901 in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii).

Competition

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

Processor:

The TS ACCM Naval Engagement Compute Cluster requires

Intel processors (a minimum of dual Intel Xeon Gold

Processor 6234 chipsets) to maintain the necessary Navy accreditation requirements for the Sim II naval engagement simulation software and meet Navy test and evaluation deadlines.

NUWCDIVNPT conducts operational assessments for major Navy acquisition programs such as

Sim II is the only end-to-end engagement simulation the

Navy has to conduct this institutionally mandated work.

In order to support major Navy acquisition programs, the

Sim II software requires accreditation from

Navy program offices and test agencies. In turn, this accreditation requires extensive verification and validation (V&V) of the Sim II software, which requires detailed scrutiny and comparisons to at-sea data and prior

M&S assessments.

The most recent accreditation occurred in 2018 in support of the . Sim II is currently undergoing updates in order to obtain accreditation in

This accreditation process is contingent on the ability of Sim II to accurately reproduce test results.

The only way to ensure this is to purchase the exact processors and operating system that the V&V tests were conducted with. Procuring components of another manufacturer will require extensive re-testing and re-accreditation. Re-test and re-accreditation could cost upwards of and delay both the by more than a year; a delay the programs cannot afford.

Graphic Processor:

The DWAF environmental model software was specifically written in the CUDA language. CUDA is a parallel computing and programming model that was developed by Nvidia for computing on its own graphic processing units (GPUs). The

DWAF model was written in CUDA so that it could take advantage of these extremely fast GPUs which can provide a

50X performance increase over a CPU. At the time DWAF was written, CUDA was the only available option. Using a different GPU would require the DWAF model to be rewritten and tested which would be cost prohibited.

Based on the above, the duplicative costs and schedule delays incurred for re-test and re-accreditation cannot be offset by potential savings from competition, therefore it is in the best interest of the Government to award these components on a brand name basis.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many

Offerors as Practicable

The proposed contract action will be synopsized and solicited on betaSAM, since past efforts made to solicit similar purchases on NASA SEWP have lead to inflated proposal and the necessary use of waivers. The combined synopsis and solicitation will state the intention of

NUWCDIVNPT to award a purchase order on a brand name specified basis. The combined synopsis and solicitation will state that all interested sources will have the opportunity to submit a capability statement for consideration by the Government.

If a responsible source submits a capability statement for consideration by the Government through the date of purchase order award, it will be brought to the attention of the J&A approval authority.

Market Research was conducted through various methods including the historical research of past purchases, NASA

SEWP Market Research Tool, internet searches, and vendor quotes. Several small businesses, who can fulfill the

Government’s requirement, were identified through market research including Paragon Micro, Ace Computers, Zivaro, Inc., and Sterling Computers.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs

In Accordance With FAR 6.303-2(b)(7), the Contracting

Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the

Government for the supplies covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable. Based on the number of potential offerors identified via market research it is anticipated that prices will be determined fair and reasonable based on adequate price competition in accordance with FAR

13.106-3(a)(1).

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition

The Navy’s accreditation requirements for the Sim II naval engagement simulation software are unlikely to change, therefor NUWCDIVNPT will continue to use Intel Processors for the M&S Compute Cluster. As such, there are no actions to remove barriers to competition at this time.

CERTIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL

CONTRACTING NEGOTIATOR IDENTIFICATION:

TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION (FAR 6.303-2(c))

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

TECHNICAL COGNIZANCE:

APPROVAL BLOCK (FAR 13.501(a)(2) for Approving Official)

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve, as

Contracting Officer, the solicitation of the proposed procurement described herein using other than full and open competition, pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1).