N00178_DL13173_NECO.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER

DAHLGREN DIVISION

6149 WELSH ROAD SUITE 203

DAHLGREN VIRGINIA 22448-5130

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

IN REPLY REFER TO

J&A Number: 13173 Code: CS40-5

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

JUSTIFICATION

1. Contracting Activity

This effort is being performed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

a. This justification is for an award of an IDIQ type contract on a sole source basis for support services as requested for all Specific Product areas and Specific Technical Capabilities related to the research and development needs of NSWCDD. This will entail performing R&D with regard to technologies related to Navy Ships and Combat systems. The award will be made to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU), Blacksburg, Virginia.

b. Contract N00178-09-D-3017 was awarded on 4 June 2009 for $7.5 M for a period of 5 years. Due to the usage during the first year, it was amended to add . Twenty-three (23) task orders have been placed against the contract with a total value of

The remaining ceiling is not sufficient for continued performance through the 30 June 14 completion date; therefore, a follow-on contract will be issued on or before 1 August 2013 to provide for continued support.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

a. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI&SU) shall provide Engineering and Research and Development services as required for all Specific Technical Capabilities related to the R&D needs of NSWCDD. This will entail performing R&D with regard to technologies related to Navy Ships and Combat Systems. Specific tasks will range from activities related to Budget Activity 1 through Budget Activity 5 in support of surface combat systems development.

J&A # 13173

b. This support is anticipated to involve one or more of the following work activities:

(1) Systems: The contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks for the following system and system related areas: systems architecture, artificial intelligence systems, biological systems, complex systems, control systems, development systems, distributed systems, education and management systems, intelligent systems that include both human and material elements, software systems that includes the sub-areas of configuration management development, evolution, life cycle models, maintenance, and measurement, next generation ships, and unmanned systems.

(2) Systems Analysis: The contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks for the following system analysis technical areas: Modeling, to include artificial intelligence, and probabilistic search techni~ues and computational probability, data exploration and characterization, data mining, data warehousing, system simulation, to include simulation for analysis and for training, synthetic forces generation, emulation distributed simulation, and computer gaming.

(3) Systems Engineering: The contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks in the following systems engineering areas: system evaluation, system integration, system parameter identification, system testing, theater systems engineering, verification, validation, and accreditation, joint services and agencies operations.

(4) Visualization: The contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks in the following visualization areas:

artificial environments, computer graphics, computer vision, and virtual reality.

(5) Specialization Areas: In addition to the NSWCDD Technical Capabilities, the contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks in other specialty areas to include:

adhesive and sealant sciences, composite materials and structures, environmental and hazardous materials, transportation and vehicular movement, wireless and mobile telecommunications, robotics, interoperability, missile defense, time critical strike, electric weapons, chemical/ biological/ radiological protection, homeland security & national needs, infrastructure protection, quantum mechanics, and nanotechnology.

(6) Human Systems Integration (HSI) . The contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks in the following HSI areas: HSI engineering and analysis; Human Computer interaction research and development; Training analysis development; Manpower analysis and Personnel studies; Other HSI domain support (Quality of work, hazard analysis, safety)

(7) Unmanned Systems: NSWCDD has an integral role in the areas of autonomy and unmanned systems to support the naval enterprise as outlined in Technical Capabilities DD13 and DD14 (Weaponization of Surface and Air Unmanned Systems and and Other Weaponry Systems Research, Development, Test and Evaluation [RDT&E]). p s . To meet this need, the contractor may be tasked to perform engineering and/or R&D tasks in the following areas:

Autonomous Operations; Integration of autonomy into unmanned ground systems; Technologies that support dismounted infantry unmanned autonomous operations.

(8) Other: Theory, analysis, modeling and experimentation;

experimental hardware development and testing; prototype software development and testing; evaluation of Government Furnished Information (GFI) data; Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) data collection and evaluation; product and process assessment and revision.

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

10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (3) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3(a) (2) (ii).

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority

The exception to full and open competition identified in paragraph 4 is being as the Naval Surface Warfare Center is looking to 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.

This procurement will retain the research base of VPI&SU that has been developed to provide NSWCDD and the Navy with unbiased assessment and support in many mission areas with particular emphasis on surface combatants. VPI&SU possesses a broad Navy engineering perspective, specifically, systems engineering, systems analysis, human systems integration and visualization.

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

a. Market research was not conducted on this proposed acquisition. This requirement is inherently noncompetitive due to the unique technical and management skills developed by VPI&SU over the last twenty five (25) years of working closely with NSWCDD and the Navy on ships and combat systems under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) established in 1983. A new MOU was put in place in 2008 that covers efforts in each of NSWCDD's 29 technical capabilities. NSWCDD wishes to maintain and expand this knowledge base by utilizing the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at VPI&SU, along with several other laboratories.

ICTAS, represents a $50M internal investment containing state of the art equipment that is essential for numerous NSWCDD engineering and/or R&D efforts. ICTAS houses the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Lab, referred to as "an instrumentation facility for research," with the following equipment available for NSWCDD research efforts: XRay Ion Mass Spectrometer,

b. Dual-Beam Focused Ion Beam, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope, Field Emission Stem, AFM Multimode Nanomanipulator, Nanomechanical Test Instrument, Bio Atomic Force Microscope, Digital Video Microscope, and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope.

VPI&SU's Center for Autonomous Systems is nationally recognized and required for NSWCDD efforts in this critically important area.

Other VPI&SU Labs available and necessary for NSWCDD research efforts include Joint Unmanned Systems Test, Experimentation & Research Facility, Autonomous Systems & Control Lab, Vibration and Acoustics Lab, Non-linear Systems Lab, and Robotics and Mechanisms Lab. Each of these labs supports a specific NSWCDD technical capability.

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VPI&SU is also part of a consortium of Universities under contract to Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) under the Naval Engineering Education Center (NEEC) program. The purpose of the program is to increase the number of students who graduate with an accredited degree; provide world-class faculty specialized in naval engineering; coordinate employee development opportunities to retain naval engineering talent for the Navy; and increase the availability of naval engineering education programs and courses across universities and colleges. This program will provide funding to VPI&SU for various Navy projects, some of which will be applicable to NSWCDD requirements.

No other organization can provide the needed support in such diverse fields while having an understanding of the Navy's perspective and yet, providing an unbiased analysis.

c. The effort was synopsized in Federal Business Opportunities on 5 April 2013. There have beeh no inquires with regard to this posting.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government for the supplies/services covered by the J&A will be fair and reasonable.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition

For the reasons set forth in Paragraph 5, Naval Surface Warfare Center has no plans at this time to compete future contracts for the types of supplies/services covered by this document. This requirement is inherently noncompetitive due to the unique technical and management skills developed by VPI&SU over the last twenty five (25) years of working closely with NSWCDD and the Navy on ships and combat systems. This procurement seeks to maintain the research and development capability of VPI&SU that has been developed to provide NSWCDD and the Navy with unbiased assessment and support in many mission areas with particular emphasis on surface combatants and to maintain the research and development capability of VPI&SU that has been developed to provide NSWCDD and the Navy with unbiased assessment and support in many mission areas with particular emphasis on surface combatants. VPI&SU possesses a broad navy systems engineering perspective, specifically, system engineering, systems analysis, human computer interaction, and visualization, that is not availab~e in any other organization.

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION (FAR 6.303-2(b))

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification and its supporting data, except as noted herein, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

TECHNICAL AND REQUIREMENTS COGNIZANCE:

Technical Director, Acting

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW (NMCAG 5206.303(90))

I have determined is legally sufficient.

(Code) Phone No. Date

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION (FAR 6.303-2(a) (12))

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

APPROVAL BLOCK (FAR 6.304 for Approving Official)

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve, as Competition Advocate for the Contracting Activity the solicitation of the proposed procurement using of other than full and open competition, pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (3).

COMPETITIVE ADVOCATE

P.

Date