Justification and Approval Redacted .pdf

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, Code 02, Newport, RI (NUWCDIVNPT).

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

Award of a five-year Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with firm-fixed-price (FFP) provisions to CK Composites Co., LLC, for procurement and repair of Multifunction Mast (MFM) Radomes. This requirement is in support of NUWCDIVNPT Code 34, as the OE-538/BRC and OE- 592/BRC MFMs Designated Overhaul Point (DOP) and In Service Engineering Agent (ISEA).

3. Description of Supplies/Services

NUWCDIVNPT Code 34 has a requirement to sustain MFMs for the U.S. Fleet including inspection, repair, and replacement of fiberglass radomes. The radomes are sub-components of the MFM which provide a boundary against water pressure to protect the internal electronics of the system, while allowing Radio Frequency (RF) energy to pass through unobstructed.

In support of system modernization to OE-538B and OE-592B configuration, radomes must be replaced at the DOP as part of the upgrade process. Additionally, radomes damaged in the fleet require repair. Repairs may include replacement of threaded inserts, patching of scratches or gouges, or repair of cracks. All repaired radomes must be repainted and tested to ensure they meet all the same requirements as newly manufactured radomes.

The total estimated value of this effort as approved in this Justification and Approval (J&A) is

The Government’s minimum needs have been verified by the certifying technical and requirements personnel.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

In accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901, as implemented in Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii): Only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Additionally, in accordance with 10 U.S.C. 2380a, as implemented in the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 212.102(a)(iii): “When appropriate, contracting officers may consider applying commercial item procedures to the procurement of supplies and services from business segments that meet the definition of “nontraditional defense contractor” even though they have been established under traditional defense contractors. The decision to apply commercial item procedures to the procurement of supplies and services from nontraditional defense contractors does not require a commercial item determination and does not mean the item is commercial”.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

This procurement is for the inspection, repair, and replacement of MFM radomes, which provide mission critical communications services to all classes of U.S. Submarines.

The radomes were originally purchased as part of a complete OE-538 system as part of contract number with utilized CK Composites as the supplier for the radomes. The OE-538B and OE-592B are the latest variants of the OE-538 family of systems, and were developed under contract with . During development, Lockheed Martin changed the main radome to a new material, again using CK Composites to manufacture the radomes.

Although the radomes are made to a Government specification and drawing, the Government does not own a full technical data package that would allow for a build to print procurement. The production processes used to manufacture the radomes are proprietary to CK Composites. In addition, repairs to existing radomes manufactured using CK Composite’s proprietary process would not be easily manufactured by any other vendor, as they may have to reverse engineer the materials and techniques used by CK Composites during manufacturing.

There are three rationales that support the use of a Sole Source Justification: 1) Mission/Compatibility Support, 2) Cost Impacts, and 3) Schedule Impacts.

1) Mission/Compatibility:

If a new radome vendor were selected, the new radome would have to be form/fit/function compatible with the existing OE-538B/OE-592B multifunction mast. Extensive testing would have to be performed to ensure that the new radome would meet the same requirements as the existing radome. This testing would include verification of material properties including RF transmission and dielectric constant, on air RF testing, and environmental qualification testing to ensure the radome will survive use in the submarine environment.

2) Cost Impacts:

In order to develop and certify a second source of supply for the radomes, the would have to certify a prospective radome to ensure all of the functional, performance, and environmental requirements of the OE-538B/OE-592B MFM are satisfied as discussed above. The table below identifies the tasks, schedule, and additional estimated costs that would be required:

As shown in the table above, the total cost to certify an alternate source for these units is approximately

In addition, the cost to have another company repair the existing radomes that are used within the fleet is unknown at this time. It is estimated that there would be extensive reverse engineering costs for a company to learn how to repair radomes created by CK Composites.

3) Schedule Impacts In addition to the cost of approximately to qualify a new radome vendor, it would take for all testing to be completed. Following testing, would have to review all testing and approve the radome for use before it could be installed on submarines, which would add additional time to the schedule. Due to the ongoing upgrades of OE-538/OE-592 systems to the OE-538B/OE-592B configuration, there is an urgent need for radomes to be delivered to meet submarine availabilities.

submarine installations to be delayed.

The Government also estimates an impact in schedule for repairs to existing radomes if a new radome vendor were to be selected. The schedule delays would be based on the new vendor having to reverse engineer the radome materials to ensure repairs would match the electrical and structural properties of the radomes currently deployed in the fleet.

Based on the above, it is in the Government’s best interest to award this requirement to CK Composites on a sole source basis to prevent unacceptable delays and substantial duplication of costs in providing the required radomes and radome repairs.

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

Offerors as Practicable

The proposed contract action was synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM) website on 4 April 2022 in accordance with FAR 5.2. The synopsis stated the intention of NUWCDIVNPT to award a contract on a sole source basis to CK Composites. The synopsis stated that all responsible sources could submit a capability statement for consideration by the Government.

To date, no responses have been received. However, if a responsible source submits a capability statement for consideration by the Government through the date of contract award, it will be brought to the attention of the J&A approval authority.

No additional market research was conducted because it is not practicable, for the reasons discussed in paragraph 5 above, for any company other than CK Composites to provide the required services.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs

The Contracting Officer will use a series of techniques to determine a fair and reasonable price for the supplies and services covered by this J&A. Examples include: review of substantiating information, regression analysis, as well as, historical price analysis. DCMA pricing assistance and/or DCAA audit of contractor's proposal will be requested, if needed, to support the fair and reasonable cost and price determination. Similar quantities of this requirement have been purchased from CK Composites in the past and cost and pricing information was received on those past procurements.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition

If future acquisition of the radomes are required, the information contained in Section 5 will be revisited and validated to confirm the sole source requirement still exists. The Government will consider soliciting this requirement on a full and open basis if a second source of supply is certified. Currently, no other vendor is certified to produce these products, and CK Composites uses a proprietary manufacturing process that is not owned by the Government. As such, it is anticipated that NUWCDIVNPT Code 34 will continue to contract with CK Composites on a sole source basis to support the Fleet until these units reach end of life.