EA-133W-18-SU-0771_-_Redacted_Sole_Source_Justification.pdf

NWWG2100-18-00203

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.S0l(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901

Marine Lithium-ion Rechargeable Batterjes, NWWG2100-18-00203

1. Agency and contracting activity. Agency and contracting activity.

Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Eastern Region Acquisition Division and National Weather Service (NWS) National Data Buoy Center (NDBC).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

NOAA, AGO, ERAD, Norfolk, Virginia, intends to negotiate on a sole source basis, a three (3) year Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) contract to Lithiumstart, Inc. 865 Hinckley Rd. Burlingame, CA 94010 for the purchase of forty (40) marine lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and optional line items for the NDBC technology refresh systems to be built and deployed in 2018. Lithiumstart Inc.

won an open competition procurement NWWG9502-14-00518 in fiscal year 2014 to design the NDBC batteries that meet NDBC requirements.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs (including the total estimated value).

In December of 2013, NDBC began a design effort to produce a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery pack that used the NDBC's own Smart Module Bus to communicate its status back to the new Self Contained Ocean Observing Payload (SCOOP) data acquisition system. The SCOOP system is a technology refresh for the NDBC's current coastal monitoring stations. The NDBC contracted out this design effort under procurement NWWG9502-14-00518 which resulted in full and open competition, received five (5) respondents and was awarded to Lithiumstart Inc. under contract EA-133W-14-SU-0268. Under a subsequent procurement to Lithiumstart Inc. the battery was destructively (explosion and fire) tested to ensure the safety of the battery during shipping, handling, and installation on marine platforms.

A follow-on procurement in 2016 added a heater to the design to ensure the full functioning of the battery in stations located above the 45° latitude.

During fiscal year 2015 and 2016 small quantities of the designed batteries were purchase for laboratory and field testing and the design was tweaked with improved anodized coatings to reduce corrosion in the marine environment. The SCOOP system including the Lithiumstart Lithium-ion rechargeable battery is now in the process of undergoing commissioning for operational use. This procurement is to purchase lithium-ion rechargeable battery for deployment in fiscal year 2018, as well as adding optional Contract Line Items (CLINS) for FY 2019 and 2020. The total estimated value of this contract is _________ and below is the breakout of the quantities for each year:

a. Base Year Ordering Period FY 2018-2019: Forty (40) BATA-3-40-PN8-15H Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery Packs, which includes three (3) separate shipments to the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC);

Source Selection Information - see FAR 2.101 and 3.104

REDACTED

b. 1st Option Ordering Period FY 2019-2020: Twenty (20) BATA-3-40-PN8-15H Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery Packs, which includes two (2) separate shipments to the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC);

c. 2 nd

Option Ordering Period FY 2020-2021: Ten (10) BATA-3-40-PN8-15H Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery Packs, which includes one (1) shipment to the National Data Buoy Center

(NDBC);

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

The contracting officer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

This procurement is a follow-on procurement of equipment developed under open (non-restricted) design procurement NWWG9502-14-00518. There were five (5) respondents to the original design procurement under EA-133W-14-RQ-0077. Lithiumstart Inc. won the procurement based on cost and their previous history designing power systems for the US Navy. Lithiumstart Inc. has designed batteries for Le Mans winning Porsche race cars, the US Navy's energy storage system, the US Navy's Jetboots Diver Propulsions systems, the US Army TARDEC program, and other ARMY projects including the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. Lithiumstart Inc. is extremely qualified to build ruggedized rechargeable battery systems. The battery designed by Lithiumstart Inc. for the NDBC has been vibration, explosion, and fire tested for safety. The NDBC has spent well over $1 million on the development and testing of the next generation of the coastal weather monitoring systems (the SCOOP system) based on the power system developed by Lithiumstart Inc.

under the original contract. The SCOOP system is currently going through the commissioning process. To start over with a new design of a battery system would require substantial duplication and cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

The original design procurement was posted to FedBizOpps (FBO) under EA-133W-14-RQ-0077.

The combined synopsis/solicitation included the Government's complete requirements for the Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The solicitation was originally offered as a small business set aside and had no respondents. The solicitation was amended to change the small business set-aside to a full and open competition. The RFQ resulted in receiving one (1) quote from Lithiumstart, Inc.

This procurement forecast was also posted on DOC - Forecasting and Advance Acquisition Planning System (FAAPS) No: 54952 on https://faaps.commerce.gov.

In addition to the market research delineated above, in an attempt to identify other possible companies to determine if there are other vendors who could provide the required instruments, a synopsis was posted to FedBizOps on December 12, 2017, stating the Government's intent to negotiate a sole-source contract with Lithiumstart, Inc. The synopsis informed vendors who believed they could meet the requirement to submit in writing an affirmative response demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the requirement. The required specifications and minimum requirements were posted with the synopsis. No responses were received. The Government will continue to conduct market research to gauge the marketplace capabilities for future requirements.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

Prior to award of the proposed contract, pricing information shall be obtained from the contractor and a price analysis will be performed to sufficiently determine that the price to the Government of the proposed acquisition will be fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(2)(i).

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

The NDBC lead engineer on the project attended several battery manufacture conventions and workshops to gain an understanding of the capabilities and safety issues with Lithium-ion batteries prior to developing the specifications for the new battery.

As a result of attending these conventions and workshops, the government determined that a limited number of commercial vendors are available, but none currently possessed commercial off the shelf batteries to meet all of the minimum technical specifications of the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries supporting the SCOOP system. This was supported in the initial RFQ when all respondents presented new design proposals.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

All facts have been documented within other sections of this document. There are no additional facts to be reported in this section.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

NOAA, AGO, EAD issued a Notice of Intent for this procurement via FedBizOpps http://www.fedbizops.gov on December 12, 2017 with a response date of January 3, 2018. There were no sources who expressed written interest in the acquisition.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

There are no known actions the agency can take to overcome any barriers to competition. It is likely that the Government's quantity needs for these batteries in the future are not large enough for other battery manufacturers to invest in modifying their commercial batteries to our specifications.