JHU SSJ Redacted for SAM.pdf

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Procurement Request No. DTRT57

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

VOLPE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS CENTER (VOLPE CENTER)

Air, Navigation and Surveillance, V-341

SOLE SOURCE OR BRAND NAME SAP JUSTIFICATION

A. Description of Supplies/Services. The Government’s minimum need is twofold - 1) to continue with in-service management, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and cockpit applications, and programmatic (common) support in the implementation of Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) and broadcast services as the replacement for current secondary radar in the National Airspace System that supports the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA)

Surveillance Broadcast Services Program Office; and 2) advance the Traffic Collision and Avoidance System (TCAS) as the primary, flight deck based anti-collision system

B. Market Research

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) has contracted with the Volpe Center and the

FAA shows the past use and need for these engineering services (DTRT57-15-D-30011). This new sole source purchase order will continue the ongoing need to maintain the capabilities and provide these critical engineering services under

FAR 13(vi)13.106-1(b)(1) as only one source exists. Both ADS-B and TCAS are crucial to supporting the FAA’s

NextGen initiative. The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is the FAA-led modernization of

America's air transportation system to make flying even safer, more efficient, and more predictable. NextGen relies on smarter, satellite-based and digital technologies and new procedures that combine to make air travel more convenient, predictable and environmentally friendly. As demand for our nation's increasingly congested airspace continues to grow, NextGen improvements are enabling the FAA to guide and track aircraft more precisely on more direct routes. NextGen efficiency enhances safety, reduces delays, saves fuel and reduces aircraft exhaust emissions. NextGen is also vital to preserving aviation's significant contributions to our national economy. ADS-B is the backbone of NextGen and is replacing ground-based secondary radar systems to provide a more complete and accurate air picture to air traffic controllers than is currently possible with legacy systems. JHU/APL’s efforts in support of ADS-B have been and continue to be crucial to the complete deployment of the system and development of the myriad applications, both ground and cockpit-based, which take advantage of ADS-B. Examples include vulnerability assessments, service monitoring, automation system integration, surface upgrades, communications systems, and roll-out support (including flight checks, test tools and consolidated service volume design support). JHU/APL proprietary tools, such as System Limitations

Approach to Pain (SLAP), CubeSat Assessment and Test (CATS), Multi-Aircraft UAT Simulation (MAUS), and

Comprehensive Real-Time Assessment Broadcast System (CRABS), have been essential and continue to be so. Without

JHU/APL thus far, ADS-B would be significantly delayed

Through over five years of habitual interaction with both the FAA and JHU/APL, the Volpe Center has determined that JHU/APL has the capability to perform the required tasks to support both SBS and TCAS. The work performed by JHU/APL is unique and JHU/APL has the experience, tools, and expertise to meet the

Government’s continuing requirements in the program areas of ADS-B and TCAS/ACAS X currently and in-house. JHU/APL’s long-term experience and expertise developed over years of supporting the Government in these endeavors makes them solely qualified to continue this work. There would be significant impacts to the work JHU/APL is supporting if there is a break in service

. A change to another contractor could result in Volpe extending or failing to achieve milestones and goals, as well as potential cost increases due to duplication of efforts for transition and transition time for a new contractor to obtain the institutional knowledge and integration with the ongoing work as possessed by the

JHU/APL team. The amount of time and resources, and risk, to award to another vendor would not be in the

Government’s best interest.

The JHU/APL tools described above do not exist elsewhere in the market.

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The Lack of their support in the future would greatly hamper ongoing and future programs and work for the

FAA and Volpe.

C. Supporting Rationale.

It is requested that this contract be awarded non-competitively to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

(JHU/APL) for the following reasons:

Pursuant to FAR subpart 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) and (ii), for purchases not exceeding the Simplified Acquisition

Threshold (SAT), Contracting Officers may solicit from only one source if the circumstances deem only one source is reasonably available .

Full and open competition need not be provided for when it is necessary to award the contract to a particular source or sources in order to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center. The authority cited above applies because this procurement’s purpose is to:

1. Maintain an essential capability for theoretical analyses, exploratory studies, or experiments in any field of science or technology.

2. Maintain an essential capability for engineering or developmental work calling for the practical application of investigative findings and theories of a scientific or technical nature

3. Obtain services as are necessary incident to maintaining as essential capability for theoretical analyses, exploratory studies, or experiments in any field of science or technology or engineering or developmental work calling for the practical application of investigative findings and theories of a scientific or technical nature.

Without maintaining such capabilities, the Government cannot meet its need to complete all the activities associated with the implementation of ADS-B. Nor can it continue improve TCAS and develop a follow-on system to TCAS, which is an impending need in an ever more crowded NAS.

(2) Brand Name: A specific brand that is available from multiple vendors. N/A

(3) Unusual and Compelling Urgency. N/A

D. Required Signatures. The following signatures represent concurrence/approval of this justification: