Redacted CAPA Sole Source JA 08 10 2021_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION: CAPA

July 8, 2021

This document constitutes justification and approval for other than full and open competition for the acquisition described herein.

1. Contracting Organization: The contracting organization responsible for this action is the Office of Acquisition Services of the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the US, 811 Vermont Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20571.

2. Description of Action: The EXIM Bank Research Center proposes to procure by means of other than full and open competition, an electronic subscription to CAPA Centre for Aviation.

Description of Services: CAPA provides news and analysis about every aspect of the aviation industry globally, including airline fleet analyses, traffic data, key people, aircraft valuations, airports, and financial information at the airline, airport, regional, country and international levels. Continuing access is required for EXIM Research Center and the Transportation Divisions.

Estimated cost: (for five years)

3. Authority:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is FAR 6.302-1, 41 U.S.C. 6101, “The Statutory Authority for this action is 11.105(a)(1). The particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government’s requirements, and market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, does not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs without significant disruption to EXIM’s work flow.”

Applicability of Authority: CAPA provides coverage of all aspects of the aviation industry across all geographic areas. It is a specialized information tool with content uniquely pertinent to EXIM’s needs.

Selected exclusive titles from CAPA which are popular among EXIM staff:

• CAPA Aviation Analyst

• Aviation Investor

• Daily newsletters on various regions: Americas, Middle East / Africa; Asia Pacific, Europe

• Peanuts Daily (covers budget / low cost airlines)

• Airport Business Daily

4. Efforts to Obtain Competition. It is not practical to obtain competition. An attempt to obtain competition could result in EXIM lacking access to this essential service. EXIM has a history with this contractor and they have provided excellent service in the past. In reviewing the offerings of other companies in the space, none were found to include the exact mix of information and analysis needed by EXIM Bank.

Many vendors provide news and analysis of the aviation industry, but most are limited in their coverage to one or two specific aspects of the sector, such as aircraft financing. CAPA provides news and analysis about every aspect of the aviation industry globally, including airline fleet analyses, traffic data, key people, aircraft valuations, airports, and financial information at the airline, airport, regional, country and international levels.

What is most significant about the coverage is its reach. For example, in the Airline Profiles section of the service, smaller airlines such as TAAG (Linhas Aéreas de Angola) and Avianca are analyzed equally alongside larger airlines such as Qantas and Air France. This extended, in-depth coverage is imperative to the U.S. Export-Import Bank as we do much of our business in emerging markets. The Country Profile area provides not only insight about a certain low-cost carrier’s market penetration in an emerging market country, but the penetration of an aviation alliance in that same country.

Secondly, the peer analysis tools, added in July and August 2011, allow users to compare and benchmark airline and airport performance across a number of indicators over the past three years. This would allow Ex-Im researchers to determine, for example, which airports in the same geographic region are performing strongly or what an airline’s passenger numbers are within a certain country or region.

Above and beyond this, and what is unique about the service, is their excellent use of 1) interactive tools, graphics, maps and charts; and their 2) data, which is culled from their own studies as well as partnerships with other top aviation experts. No other aviation vendor provides comparable tools on top of news and analysis.

For example, the Route and Country Analyser allows the user to view airline capacity plans for the next six months and to compare airline industry historic and projected capacities on a country-to-country basis. In the Rankings area, airlines and airports can be ranked (top 100 provided) by a number of measures, including assets or seats, for a specific time period.

Graphics are a key part of the service. In 2011, CAPA added interactive route maps to their premium service. Also, a study of an airline’s fleet will generally be enhanced with a pie graph showing the percentage of wide-body vs. commuter vs. narrow-body aircraft or the percentage of Boeing-built planes vs. Embraer vs. Airbus vs. Bombardier.

The CAPA product is fully integrated into fundamental work flows at the Bank.

5. Fair and Reasonable: Price is in line with previous quotes from this contractor and is judged to be fair and reasonable for this sophisticated and robust electronic database product.

6. Market Survey: Librarians and EXIM staff stay apprised of the market in various ways, including conference attendance, discussion with vendors’ representatives, and reading of web pages and articles.