Redacted JA.pdf

J&A Number: 20-0529

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity.

Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) China Lake, CA

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

This justification and approval authorizes and approves on a sole source basis the award of a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contract to Keysight Technologies in order to procure a 4 port Keysight Radio Frequency (RF) generation system with Calibration Solution based on the X-Series Agile Signal Generator (UXG) product line.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The proposed contract is for the development of a Keysight RF generation system using the is procurement is required to stand up a required Electronic

Warfare (EW) lab testing capability for the Kuwait Superhornet program in the September 2021 timeframe.

Background: F/A-18 Electronic Warfare (EW) testing requires the ability to simulate an enemy threat system shooting at the aircraft. To simulate threat systems signal generators needed in the RF spectrum to mimic the radar waveforms the enemy systems put out.

Without RF generators, there is no way to test EW in a lab environment, and all testing would have to be completed in flight. Lab costs are approximately per hour while flight costs are approximately per hour.

F/A-18 Advanced Weapons Integration and Interoperability lab (AWIIL) currently is using Keysight UXGs for the above testing on US Navy programs. The Kuwait lab being stood up requires a similar but separate testing system.

This contract will include the following hardware and software components in a rack mount:

- Z2098B-608 20GHz 1 Channel x 4 Port Vector EW stim system 1 x N5193A (KPU) -520, -1EM, -CC1, -SS4, -EP1 4 x N5194A (KPU) w-520 and Multi-Channel Source Calibration (MSC) sw.

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Cal solution w- USB VNA (KPU), eCal, USB Power Sensor Test Automation Platform (TAP) and System Level Calibration (SLC) sw

Estimated Dollar Value in Thousands

The total estimated value of this contract is $800,000 as described in the table below.

FY 21

Total $800

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

10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority.

Simulation Compatibility In order to remain compatible with one of a kind threat simulations produced by the Navy for evaluation of aircraft systems, we are seeking this hardware/software suite specifically. Currently the simulations that the Government utilizes are built for playback on this Keysight UXG system ecosystem and used in other Navy and Department of Defense (DOD) contractor labs/programs.

Hardware Compatibility The AWIIL has 8 Keysight UXGs. The UXG ecosystem is extendable, and procuring additional Keysight UXG systems from Keysight will allow to the organization to create more complex and realistic threat scenarios in the lab. Only the Keysight UXG systems are compatible with the current ecosystem that includes multiple Government and Contractor sites.

purchases. The new system would not be compatible with the existing UXGs. No two RF systems are compatible out of the box from different companies. To create a larger mission level scenario the systems are required to talk to and coordinate with each other. There is no such coordination across different vendor products. The degradation of capability would impact the

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

Market Research for the RF generation system indicated there are other companies with similar products, but only the Keysight UXG systems are compatible with the simulations without significant modifications. A sources sought was posted on Beta.SAM from 8/24/2020

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capability package and it was determined that the offeror did not demonstrate the ability to fulfill the overall requirement because the offeror does not have access to the Keysight UXG format.

Without the UXG format, the offeror is shown to be deficient in the following areas: Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division generated simulations in a Keysight X-Series Agile Signal Generator (UXG) format; fully extensible with current Keysight UXG systems; plug and play functionality to sync up Direction of Arrival (DOA) across various threat scenarios; and plug and play functionality to use same signal input formats. A formal notification letter signed by the Contracting Officer was sent to the offeror on 9/8/2020. The offeror responded on 9/9/2020 and

. A pre-solicitation synopsis was released on 10/21/2020 and ended on 11/06/2020. No offerors responded.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost.

Pursuant to 41 U.S.C 1901(a)(2), Simplified Acquisition Procedures will be utilized for this procurement as the offer is anticipated to contain only commercial items. As such, in accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a), the Contracting Officer shall ensure that all supplies and services provided under this contract are procured at a fair and reasonable price. It is intended that the contracting officer will determine price reasonableness in accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a)(2).

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition.

For the reasons set forth in Paragraph 5, (contracting activity) has no plans at this time to compete future contracts for the types of supplies/services covered by this document. If another potential source emerges based on the simulation groups using a different infrastructure, (contracting activity) will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible.