DAS OAT JA_Redacted.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER AIRCRAFT DIVISION

21983 BUNDY ROAD BUILDING 441

PATUXENT RIVER, MD 20670

J&A Number: 26-0050

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Patuxent River, MD

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

This Justification & Approval (J&A) authorizes and approves award of an anticipated Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract on a sole source basis to Tiger Century Aircraft (TCA) of Tehachapi, CA for Departure Alerting System (DAS) and Outside Air Temperature (OAT) display kits in support of the Adversary and Specialized Aircraft Program Office (PMA- 226), F-5 Integrated Product Team (IPT) for the Department of the Navy’s (DoN) Adversary F-5F/N aircraft.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

This contract action will provide for the development, qualification, manufacture, and delivery of DAS with a built-in OAT display unit which will prevent loss of aircraft due to out-of-control flight (OCF) and mitigate a known issue with F-5 Functional Check Flights (FCF), respectively. The DAS and OAT integrated system will be for use on up to forty-one (41) Adversary aircraft, comprised of forty-one (41) production kits plus three (3) spares.

United States Navy (USN) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) F-5N/F aircraft are susceptible to aerodynamic departure and entry into OCF. The F-5N is a unique configuration based on the legacy F-5E variant with an Improved Handling Qualities (IHQ) package which incorporates leading edge extensions, an automatic flap control system, and a shark nose radome. Despite the IHQ package, the aircraft has experienced multiple mishaps due to OCF over its operational history. The DAS will mitigate this safety-of-flight issue with F-5 aircraft.

The DAS will monitor aircraft parameters in flight and alert the pilot visually and auditorily when OCF is imminent. These alerts will notify the pilot when they are about to unknowingly enter a dangerous situation and will allow them the opportunity to immediately exit the current maneuver and resume safe flight.

During market research for the DAS, it was determined that integrating an OAT display capability with the DAS would simultaneously mitigate a known issue related to F-5 FCFs.

Specifically, the FCF procedures related to the high-altitude afterburner check assume a

J&A Number: 26-0050 standard temperature and pressure altitude, and when that assumption is incorrect, it can cause afterburner failure which results in FCF failure. When this failure occurs, it drives ground maintenance to troubleshoot a problem that may not exist due to the assumptions listed above.

An OAT display in the cockpit will allow tailoring the FCF procedures to account for day-to-day temperature and pressure variations during the FCF and eliminate unnecessary ground maintenance; thus, increasing mission capability and aircraft readiness/availability.

The OAT display shall be a function of the DAS and, henceforth, any mention of “departure alerting system” or “DAS” in this document shall be understood as the entire integrated system.

The total duration of this contract is anticipated to be for twenty-four (24) months upon award.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.103-1(c)(2)(i) the Government determined the requirement listed above to be available only through TCA and award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of costs to the Government that are not expected to be recovered through competition in fulfilling the USG requirements.

Developing and integrating an efficient and effective DAS is a technically complex project which requires subject matter experts in aerodynamics, technical data related to F-5 specific flight dynamics, development of an algorithm that both alerts the aircrew early enough to be actionable but not so often to be a nuisance, and the validation of the system functionality in a flight test environment. The United States Air Force (USAF) pursued a conceptually identical Departure Warning System (DWS) for their F-5 aircraft in the 1980s, but later abandoned the project due to funding priorities and as USAF started divesting of F-5 inventory. As a result, the DWS was never integrated into operational F-5 aircraft. However, much of the technical data generated during the non-recurring engineering phase of DWS development will form the foundation of this DoN effort.

Tiger Century Aircraft is the only known source in industry who possesses the relevant technical data and rights to use related to F-5 specific flight dynamics required for this effort.

Specifically, this includes the original comprehensive F-5E flight test data, the technical data from the development of the IHQ package mentioned previously, and the technical data from the development of the DWS for the USAF F-5E/F aircraft in the 1980s. While the DWS is the technical foundation for the desired DAS, it will need to be updated to account for the IHQ package installed on current DoN F-5F/N aircraft. Tiger Century Aircraft has the requisite knowledge, technical capability, and rights to the historical F-5 technical data necessary for the development, qualification, manufacture, and delivery of a DAS.

A source other than TCA would require extensive technical research into F-5 near stall and post stall flight characteristics and susceptibility and flight test reports. Assuming this 1970’s data could be amassed and analyzed, additional non-recurring engineering would be necessary to account for the IHQ configuration, which was never subjected to similar flight tests of the original F-5E. This would entail developing a model to account for the flight characteristic resulting from the IHQ design and performing predictive analysis to determine the departure boundaries. Based on market research, it is estimated a source other than TCA would require, at a minimum, an additional 24-months to reengineer the technical data necessary to construct the departure identification algorithm based on the inertial parameter thresholds and perform flight test to validate and verify a technically acceptable DAS to the Government resulting in unacceptable schedule delays in fielding a critical safety of flight capability

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

Four sources sought notices associated with DAS and OAT were posted on the SAM.gov website on 14 June 2023, 13 July 2023, 04 March 2024, and 19 February 2025, respectively, in accordance with FAR 5.101 and DFARS PGI 206.302-1(d). The first notice, on 14 June 2023, was the original requirements solicitation for DAS and received . Of the The second notice, on 13 July 2023, was the original requirements solicitation for OAT and resulted in . The third notice, on 04 March 2024, was the first requirements solicitation for the combined DAS and OAT which received .

. The fourth notice on 19 February 2025, was the final requirements solicitation for the combined DAS and OAT. There were

. No additional market research was conducted because it is not practicable, for the reasons discussed in paragraph 5 above, for any company other than TCA to meet the documented requirements.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost.

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

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

For the reasons set forth in Paragraph 5, NAWCAD has no plans at this time to compete future contracts for the supplies covered by this J&A. NAWCAD will continually monitor future source availability to assess whether a competition for future requirements is feasible.

CERTIFCATIONS AND APPROVAL

TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION

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

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW

I have determined this justification is legally sufficient.

APPROVAL

Upon the basis of the above justification, I hereby approve 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).