Redacted JandA doc UA.pdf

CUI

Control No: [Redacted]

Contractor: University of Arizona

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

for Other than Full and Open Competition – FAR Part 6

Programs/Equipment: Research and development services for the application of strap-down pilotage system on behalf of [Redacted]

Authority:

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

Amount: [Redacted]

Prepared by: [Redacted] DSN: [Redacted] Research Engineer Date: May 8, 2023 Email:[Redacted]

Contracting Officer: [Redacted] DSN: [Redacted] Contracting Officer Date: May 8, 2023 Email: [Redacted]

Technical: Kelly Bennett DSN: [Redacted] Research Engineer Date: May 8, 2023 [Redacted]

Requirements: [Redacted] DSN: [Redacted] Branch Chief Date: May 8, 2023

Controlled by: US Army Controlled by: ACC-APG

CUI Category: General Procurement & Acquisition Distribution/Dissemination Control: FEDCON

POC: Kelly Bennett, 301-394-2449

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Program Manager: [Redacted] Research Engineer, Database Operations and Signature Research

X

Program Manager

Legal Counsel:

Legal Counsel

Justification and Approval for Other than Full and Open Competition – FAR Part 6

1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC)-Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Adelphi Contracting Division, (CCAP-SCA), 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, Maryland 20783-1138

2. Description of Action: [Redacted] requests an approval for a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contract with the University of Arizona, 1630 E University Blvd., Tucson, Arizona 85747.

The Government projects award for 29 September 2023 and Fiscal Year 2023, Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be used. This is a new R&D effort developing new technologies that don't yet exist. As a future concept, the effort will demonstrate future potential technologies. At best, this is a tech demo. This effort is separate from existing or previous development or acquisition. Also, the funding for this acquisition is congressional and is earmarked for the University of Arizona to support Program Executive Office (PEO) Army Aviation.

3. Description of Supplies/Services:

The ARL requires research and development services to develop state-of-the-art upgrades to a nighttime pilotage system for military applications. The system will leverage the current [Redacted] capabilities which include a gimbaled head-tracked sensor where the sensor is pointed in the direction of the pilot's helmet. This effort will investigate the performance of a comparatively low-cost "strap-down" pilotage system that is comprised of a super camera with a minimum of 21 super uncooled focal planes providing a roughly 21 Megapixel coverage in the forward direction of the aircraft. The objectives of this effort are to assess the technical challenges and opportunities to enable a low-cost advanced "strap-down" pilotage system that will offer pilots high performance night-time situational awareness and mobility, greater threat detection and collision avoidance, improved performance in degraded environments, and no moving parts for higher reliability and less maintenance costs. Additionally, this project will develop a pilotage testbed system for the investigation of pilotage sensor performance and will address research and development objectives across sensor development, architecture, display, system integration, proof of concept demonstration and student training in this critical sensor area. Specific research and technical areas to be addressed in the effort include the following:

- Development of a 21-camera UnCooled InfraRed/Super Uncooled InfraRed

(UCIR/SUCIR) system integrated into a single camera head with alignment mechanisms creating a single sensor for greater than 21 focal plan arrays with a pixel resolution of greater than 21 Megapixels.

- Development of a data read-out and management system to (1) stream one or more channels of pilotage video to the helmet display with less than single frame capture latency, (2) stream full frame data to the attention subsystem and (3) archive full frame data.

- Development of parallel applications of the full frame data stream supporting a 21 focal plan array super camera. The requirement includes a system that will deliver pilotage visuals with less-than single frame latency. In addition to the real-time stream, however, the system must implement automated analysis, databasing and exploitation.

- Development of a system to handle massive amounts of data (110 to 1000 times more than a conventional camera) with a large 30 to 40 degrees Field of View (FOV) generated by the 21 focal plan array super camera and convey through an appropriate display the correct amount of contextual data. A critical requirement is to understand the data and how to appropriately display the information to a human user.

- Development of algorithms for drone detection over the super camera sensor Field of Regard (FOR). Within this requirement, the performance of the algorithms will be assessed and reported.

- Integration of the visible (VIS) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) super cameras onto a rotorcraft (helicopter).

- Collection of experimental data using the integrated VIS/LWIR super cameras onto a rotorcraft for post flight analysis.

- Collection of experimental data using the integrated VIS/LWIR super cameras onto a rotorcraft, after the Super Uncooled focal plane arrays are integrated into the two positions of the super camera for post flight analysis.

- Final demonstration (day or night) of the super camera using the [Redacted] helmet to demonstrate the performance of the super camera.

Period of Performance: Two (2) Year Period of Performance, estimated September 2023 to September 2025.

Total Value: [Redacted]

The Independent Government Estimate (IGE) was derived using standard rates from several online sources, as well as historical data collected from other similar type of contracts, such as [Redacted], involving extended Short-Wave Infrared (eSWIR) technologies. The IGE worksheet determined a fair estimate of the work to the Government is approximately [Redacted]. The breakdown of the IGE is illustrated in the table below:

4. Authority Cited:

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

As described at FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), when the supplies or services required by the agency are available only from one responsible source, or for DoD, NASA and the Coast Guard, from only one or a limited number of responsible sources, and no other types of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for.

The University of Arizona, in coordination with Leonardo DRS Technologies and the University of Memphis as subcontractors, offers a uniquely capable team which provides for a high probability of success in the design, fabrication, and testing of a strap-down pilotage sensor. There are three (3) fundamental expertise areas that are required for successful development of the sensor and all three (3) combined do not exist outside of the proposed team from other sources. These three (3) areas are infrared systems pilotage expertise, mosaic super camera architecture, and extremely high performance uncooled microbolometer arrays.

Summarizing each of the three (3) areas:

a. Infrared systems pilotage expertise: Only the proposed source has this fundamental expertise area because there are no academic institutions that have the expertise of Infrared Systems, to include pilotage studies, of that equivalent to [Redacted].

[Redacted] was Director Head of the Modeling and Simulation Division at US Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, Chief of the Electro-Optics and Photonics Division of Army Research Lab, and Superintendent of the Optical Sciences Division at Naval Research Lab before he re-joined academia. He is the author of “Introduction to Infrared and Electro-Optical Systems, 3rd Edition” which is the only book that has a chapter on pilotage system performance. In addition, University of Arizona has a long history of infrared systems expertise to include [Redacted] who wrote the “Infrared Handbook” for the US Navy. [Redacted] is the current infrared systems expert at the University of Arizona with [Redacted]. No other school has this long legacy of infrared system, and in particular pilotage systems, expertise. In fact, additional internet searches conducted as part of market research, revealed that the University of Arizona is the only organization or company currently working in the area of strap-down pilotage systems using super uncooled infrared and uncooled infrared focal plane technologies.

b. Mosaic super camera architecture: Only the proposed source has this fundamental expertise area due to the fact the camera called MOSAIC and [Redacted], professor, and an expert at University of Arizona, designed and built the optics, sensors, and more importantly, the electronics that were required to handle such massive data streams.

[Redacted] has built two versions of MOSAIC as well founded a company that designs and builds 100MPix cameras that are now available commercially. The key to this technology is to minimize processing on data that is not needed for decision making purposes. Therefore, the camera technology is “attention based” and resources are applied to the data needed by such tasks as pilotage, drone detection, and ground combat vehicle detection.

c. Extremely high performance uncooled microbolometer arrays: Only the proposed source has this fundamental expertise area due to their capability of a metric [Redacted] University of Arizona holds the technology with the lowest tau-NETD, defined as the thermal time constant (tau) and the Noise-Equivalent Temperature Difference (NETD) expressed as tau-NETD, product and this high-performance detector is required due to the increased sensitivity and short time constant associated with pilotage performance.

This may be the only technology capable of displacing cryogenically cooled mercury cadmium telluride that is both high performance and affordable. No other microbolometer company has this required performance. In fact, based on recent market research, FLIR (California), Lynred (France), and all other uncooled detector sources have a tau-NETD product that is at least a factor of 2 higher than the DRS technology.

A key component of the pilotage super camera is the super uncooled infrared (SUCIR) microbolometer focal plane. University of Arizona’s teammate, DRS Technologies, has been the leader in uncooled infrared microbolometer (UCIR) technology in partnership with [Redacted] in terms of a figure of merit, defined as tau-NETD, UCIR performance product. DRS Technologies and University of Arizona [Redacted] This [Redacted] Commercial UCIR sensors have time constants on the order of 20 milliseconds (msecs) and NETDs on the order of 30 mK for a tau-NETD product of 600 msecs-mK. Time constants are proportional to the response time of the focal plane array. The smaller the time constant, the faster the image will appear on the display. Without a small time, constant, there would be risk of not capturing everything needed and miss important information. DRS Technologies have proven to be able to achieve much lower tau-NETD products which are required for successful UCIR high performance pilotage. For UCIR sensors to compete with cryogenically cooled LWIR sensors, both the time constant and NETD must be smaller than typical UCIR sensors. DRS Technologies is leveraging the IVAS UCIR sensor development to meet pilotage needs.

Another key component are the algorithms necessary to detect drones. The University of Memphis will work with [Redacted] at the University of Arizona to develop national drone detection algorithms. [Redacted] of University of Arizona and [Redacted] of University of Memphis are experts in the fields of imaging systems and detection algorithms of airborne targets.

If the Government were to attempt to procure these services from a Contractor other than the University of Arizona, then success of the research and development effort of a strap-down pilotage using uncooled super camera system technology is highly unlikely.

The University of Arizona combined with DRS Leonardo and University of Memphis is the only group of researchers who can successfully perform the research effort, starting with applied research and continuing through operational system development. Not only does this team possess distinct skills, experience, knowledge, and capabilities to be successful, but are the only researchers [Redacted] and have proven themselves capable of this R&D effort to develop a prototype for experimental use for future development [Redacted] The University of Arizona, under the guidance of its principal investigator, is considered the leading researcher by [Redacted] for Pilotage electro-optic system development for over 10 years. The government will be unable to recover the loss in terms of cost and time if the government does not pursue this acquisition through the University of Arizona, such as via full and open competition, or even via a limited competition. Given the acquired knowledge, subject matter expertise, acquired knowledge [Redacted], no other source can provide the requirement.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

In accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 205.205-71, DFARS 206.302-1(d), and DFARS Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) 206.302-1(d), the Government posted a combined intent to sole source synopsis – Request for Information (RFI) to SAM.gov on 06 June 2023 and closed on 20 June 2023.

The Contracting Officer posted an RFI/Synopsis document giving a high-level description of the action and a Performance Work Statement (PWS) to define the exact need the Army requires. Contracting received no responses from industry for the synopsis.

a. Effective Competition: Effective competition is not anticipated for this acquisition based on the market research (see section 8) of this document.

Market research failed to identify any sources or alternative products that can satisfy the Government requirements. The market research revealed that University of Arizona is the only entity capable of fulfilling the requirement.

b. Subcontracting competition: Pursuant to FAR 19.702 (a)(1), a subcontracting plan is required for this acquisition.

7. Actions to Increase Competition:

The Government does not intend any future acquisitions of these research services as they do not foresee additional effort in this area beyond the present acquisition effort.

However, the Government will continuously monitor the market to increase competition by attending conferences/exhibitions, examining trade journals, conducting internet research, and holding open discussions with industry experts should the need for additional effort in this area arise.

If the R&D acquired under this action is successful, the Government may decide to move forward with this effort as full and open competition as the Government will have the purpose rights.

8. Market Research:

Market research was conducted by a Research Engineer at DEVCOM ARL with 38 years of experience from April 2023 to May 2023 via querying Government-wide databases of contracts and other procurement instruments intended for use by multiple agencies available at https://www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory/ and other Government and commercial databases that provide information relevant to agency acquisitions, searching on the General Supply Schedule (GSA) website at https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/main/start_page.do, contacting knowledgeable people and subject matter experts within Government and industry, reviewing other market research efforts conducted for similar items (DRS Network & Imaging Systems LLC - [Redacted] and Piasecki Aircraft Co. -[Redacted]), and obtaining source lists of similar items from other contracting activities or agencies, trade associations or other sources.

Furthermore, as noted in Section 6 above, the Contracting Officer posted an intent to sole source synopsis – Request for Information (RFI) to SAM.gov on 06 June 2023 and closed on 20 June 2023. The RFI/Synopsis document provided a high-level description of the action and a PWS to define the exact need the Army requires.

Contracting received no responses from industry. Based on the above market research, it was determined that University of Arizona with Leonardo DRS Technologies and the University of Memphis as subcontractors is the only contractor who could meet the required efforts.

9. Interested Sources

1. Name: University of Arizona Address: 845 N Park Ave RM 538

Tucson, Arizona.

UEI: ED44Y3W6P7B9

CAGE Code: 0LJH3 SAM Expiration: March 5, 2024

2. Name: Leonardo DRS, Inc. (Interested as subcontractor)

Address: 2345 Crystal Dr Ste 1000 Arlington, VA 22202

UEI: UP54BEGGMGV5

CAGE Code: 5MQW9 SAM Expiration: September 23, 2023

3. Name: University of Memphis. (Interested as subcontractor)

Address: 115 Wilder Tower Memphis, TN 38152

UEI: XZJWXH61DK3

CAGE Code: 3TFF9 SAM Expiration: March 15, 2024 https://www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory/ https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/main/start_page.do

10. Other Facts:

The intent of this procurement is a research and development advanced prototype to demonstrate a future capability. The [Redacted] in 2005.

a) Procurement History: No R&D sole source Procurement History

b) Other Facts:

1. Lockheed Martin, Orlando, Florida, was awarded a [Redacted] firm-fixed-price contract for the [Redacted] Contract effort is sustainment, support elements, system components, test equipment and the supply retrograde infrastructure. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of November 30, 2027. [Redacted], is the contracting activity [Redacted]. Note: this is not a contract [Redacted]

[Redacted]. Awarded a [Redacted] sole-source firm-fixed price contract issued on February 17, 2005, to develop a new pilotage upgrade called [Redacted]. [Redacted] increased obscurant penetration of the existing long-wave (LW) sensor with a longer-range, smaller-field-of-view MW sensor along with enhanced electro-optical targeting performance in all conditions. The upgrade increased range and reliability by a factor of two (2), while also significantly reducing maintenance costs. A large requirement on this upgrade other than performance was maintenance and reliability which was achieved.

Results show nearly a [Redacted] per year savings in operation and support with this upgrade. Contract issued by Missile Command in Redstone Arsenal, AL via contract [Redacted]. This is the [Redacted] to the Pilotage system.

Lockheed Martin signed the original [Redacted] production contract in 1982.

2. The University of Arizona has been designing infrared systems for 35 years and currently has the primary textbook “Introduction to Infrared and Electro-Optical Systems, 3rd Edition” which is used by several Universities to teach system design and analysis.

The third edition of this book has a chapter on infrared pilotage system design (the only book that covers this subject) which has documented support pilotage studies for ten

(10) years. The past five (5) years has provided numerous trades on pilotage sensor performance [Redacted] industry. Studies have included sensor architectures in various terrain, background, and atmospheric conditions to include degraded visual environments. University of Arizona has published journal papers on the visibility of high voltage wires in night pilotage studies.

The Endowed Chair in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona and Wyant College have focused on computational imaging and the building of super cameras.

Duke University and University of Arizona have a joint team that has built the world’s first gigapixel camera in 2012 for the Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation

(AWARE) program at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Their subsequent work has focused on reducing the size, weight, power, and cost of gigapixel cameras while also improving depth of field, color fidelity, frame rate and other measures of image quality with current work focusing on aperture synthesis and interferometric super-resolution techniques to continue to push the physical limits of optical sensing.

The laboratory relies heavily on artificial neural networks for camera system control, data management and image estimation.

3. Significant cost and time would be required to replace University of Arizona as the performer of this effort. Central to the University of Arizona research efforts are its unique capabilities and experience in the areas of optics, camera design, IR materials, infrared pilotage systems, [Redacted] with respect to the pilotage system. The cost to train or replace a principal investigator, with this critical skillset would cost a minimum of $3,000,000 and 10 years of time based on the collaboration of 10 Full-Time Employees (FTE) using a fully loaded government salary for senior level Science and Technology positions.

4. [Redacted] amount of time and resources in the University of Arizona researchers. Specifically, the government has invested five (5) parttime years (1.25 FTE) of research and engineering studies with [Redacted] of the University of Arizona in [Redacted], studying the existing systems, and studying feasibility of developing an infrared pilotage system [Redacted]. Choosing another source other than the University of Arizona will cost the government 1.25 FTE or $375,000 based on a fully loaded salary for senior level Science and Technology positions, in the development of a future infrared pilotage system.

5. Subcontractor Leonardo DRS is the current leader of US made super uncooled infrared (SUCIR) materials and cameras for research and development. University of Arizona DRS Technologies and University of [Redacted] The government [Redacted]

6. Leonardo DRS provides [Redacted], which is used for target acquisition/designation and safe flight in day, night, and adverse weather conditions. The pilotage system links to the target acquisition system and heads-up helmet mounted display. As such, Leonardo DRS understands the FLIR system performance requirements for the development of the proper SUCIR materials and cameras for infrared pilotage systems [Redacted]. The cost of the subcontracting effort was $30,000,000 over five (5) years and was executed under the [Redacted] with Lockheed Martin. Given Leonardo DRS’s prior experience in developing infrared materials [Redacted], the Leonardo DRS [Redacted]

7. The factors mentioned above suggest at least a ten (10) year delay and a minimum of $3,000,000 in total additional cost by utilizing contractors other than University of Arizona combined with DRS Leonardo and University of Memphis. A total of $3M of duplicative costs to the Government is considered such an amount that would not be expected to be recovered through a competitive acquisition. Furthermore, a delay of this nature would impact [Redacted] and ARL’s ability to conduct the research effort in a timely manner. This R&D effort, if successful, has the potential to address reduction in maintenance cost since the system will not having parts, better flying capability in degraded visual environments (dust, smoke, fog, etc.), and the ability to detect enemy threat drones in the front sector of the aircraft.

A delay in the research effort will delay the successful movement of potential technology of this R&D effort to any type of production environment [Redacted] Given the state of the R&D effort, a fair estimate of any of these technologies stemming from this effort transitioning into a production environment is 10-15 years. Given the importance of the potential improvements in the detection of threats in degraded environments and specifically, the detection of threat drones, a delay in this R&D effort is inadvisable and considered unacceptable. Given the advancement of drones and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning [Redacted] require greater technological capability to detect such drone threats. If this J&A is not approved, the potential exists [Redacted] and will not be able to compete in the future battlespace. Technologies supporting [Redacted]

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signer’s Title: Research Engineer

Technical Certifier (Tech)

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signer’s Title: Branch Chief:

Requirements Certifier

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

This determination will be made using the following: The Contracting Officer shall utilize, price and cost analysis to verify that all work performed under this contract are fair and reasonable. In addition, an IGE has been prepared by the requiring activity and will be used to compare the contractor’s proposal.

Contracting Officer (KO)

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer (KO)

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Research and Development services for the application of strap-sown pilotage system for an estimate of [Redacted] and for a period of performance of 24 months, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements” subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

Command Advocate for Competition:

Command Advocate for Competition