P03 JA Palo Alto Drones_Redacted 1.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) 6.302-1

Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs

Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics Strategic Acquisition Center–Frederick 5202 Presidents Court – Suite 103 Frederick, MD 21703

2. Description of Action:

This Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open competition is executed by the Strategic Acquisition Center – Frederick (SAC-F), on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Innovation Ecosystem and VA Palo Alto.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services Required:

The VHA Innovation Ecosystem proposes to negotiate a non-competitive, firm-fixed price sole source award to Thundercat Technology LLC. The contract encompasses the implementation of essential hardware, software, and training programs to optimize drone operations and enhance situational awareness for campus public safety personnel. This will include the procurement of diverse drone hardware variants which includes free-flying, docking, and tethering systems. Skydio is the sole GSA approved manufacturer for drones with obstacle avoidance capabilities. Operational drone training will be provided to ensure personnel proficiency in executing operations according to established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Training in drone program management is also included to ensure proper development of advanced SOPs that will be compatible with the current existing processes for proper drones’ utilization. Real life scenario’s, training sessions and demonstrations will be conducted using the procured hardware. The vendor is capable of potentially supplementing the scenarios with loaned equipment and operators, to create a high-fidelity digital twin customization of the campus for disaster modeling, facilities planning, and ongoing maintenance operations.

The contract will also include video encoding hardware, collaboration software licenses, drone operations software licenses, along with associated training, to enable operators to connect various video sources and effectively manage resulting feeds for maximum situational awareness. MissionCaster is for video encoding and optimization and MissionKeeper is needed to monitor sessions and stream/record them to other locations. Both the MissionCaster and MissionKeeper work with the Skydio drones that are being purchased.

The Skydio drones and the authorized reseller ThunderCat Technology, LLC, is imperative for the drone program contract due to the highly customized drone configuration which is required for the various use cases being developed in coordination with the VA Public Safety Service in Palo Alto.

Statutory Authority:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

Cost to Government will be fair and reasonable:

Thundercat Technology, LLC is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)’s with a satisfactory performance history with the VA in providing quality services at a fair and reasonable price. In the estimation of the Contracting Officer, contract award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the Government.

Any other Facts Supporting the Justification:

N/A

Efforts to Obtain Competition and Overcome Barriers:

Market research was conducted, the data was accumulated by a search of the Contract Directory website at https://www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory/ on May 7, 2024, using keyword “drone” which yielded 2 results. Of those results, neither contract meets the need of our requirement for the purchase of drones, or the training requirements identified in the PWS. The first result for Birds Eye Aerial Drones, LLC was for site surveying and mapping services. The second result for Teal Drones, Inc was for the manufacturing of drones. A search of Dynamic Small Business Search on May 7, 2024, using keyword “drones” and NAICS “334220” and “541519” yielded 11 results and 2 results, respectively. Of those results, approximately 4 of the vendors offer similar services. None on the other NAICS code.

The Government representative also contacted Know Share Interpret (KSI) Data Sciences, the exclusive Government reseller of Skydio drones to seek out information regarding their SDVOSB resellers. It was determined that ThunderCat Technology, LLC is the only authorized SDVOSB reseller of the source code and unique IP protected software that is applied to the Skydio drones for obstacle avoidance, thereby assuring they are the only possible vendor to complete the VA requirement.

After the market research was completed, it was decided that the effort did not yield any additional vendors that can meet the Government’s requirements. No other vendors were found to have the required license to coordinate a pool of facilitators that can assist with setting up drone programs, provide equipment, software training, customizations, and support. Due to the level of customization and support that is required no other vendor can successfully satisfy the VA’s requirement. Thundercat Technology, LLC is the only SDVOSB that can provide these capabilities.

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