Redacted JandA.pdf

CUI

Control No: JA-21-Adel-541

Contractor: Vieletech Supply/Service: Data Acquisition and Control (DAC) System

Controlled by: US Army Controlled by: Army Research Laboratory

CUI Category: Operations Security (OPSEC) Distribution approved for public release

POC: Aaron Pope, JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR PART 6 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Programs/Equipment: One (1) customized, National Instruments-based data acquisition and control (DAC) system.

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) as implemented by FAR Part 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

Amount: $397,089.00

Prepared by: Ryan McGowan DSN:

Aerospace Engineer Date: 7/29/2021 Email:

Contracting Officer: Jessica Camunez DSN:

Contracting Officer Date: 9/8/2021

Technical: Aaron Pope DSN:

Aerospace Engineer Date: 7/29/2021

Requirements: Chol-Bum “Mike” Kweon DSN:

ERP Program Manager Date: 9/2/2021

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

Program Manager:

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

1. Contracting Activity:

Adelphi Contracting Division, Army Contracting Command- Aberdeen Proving Ground, 2800 Powder Mill Rd, Adelphi, MD 20783

2. Description of Action: The Combat Capabilities and Development Command (DEVCOM), Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Computational & Information Sciences Directorate(CISD) requests a new Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract with Vieletech, 333 W Lake Ave #4506, Woodland Park, CO 80863. The requested contract is for one (1) customized data acquisition and control (DAC) system. The Government projects award for September 2021, Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, Army Operation, Maintenance, Army Reserve (OMAR) fund will be used to support the Program Manager Unmanned Aircraft System (PM UAS).

_X_ An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement either does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i)(B), or is an R&D acquisition and does not meet the definition of services in 10 U.S.C. 2330(c)(2).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: CISD requires one (1) customized National Instruments LabVIEW based DAC system that can monitor, control, and acquire data from a turbomachinery experimental rig.

CISD requires that this new DAC be fully compatible with existing laboratories and install/integration ready with existing local network enclave by government personnel. All existing control algorithms in the laboratory are based on LabVIEW developed by a company which has now been integrated with Vieletech, Inc. LabVIEW is a system-design platform and development environment for the visual programming language from National Instruments. Researchers use this platform to build their own programs for their experimental rig control and data acquisition. Thus in order to ensure compatibility, only the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Vieletech, Inc., can provide the following items necessary to complete this contract:

This DAC system requires to contain at least sixteen (16) analog out (AO), forty-eight

(48) analog input (AI), sixteen (16) fast AI, sixty-four (64) thermocouples, sixty-four (64) digital input and digital output (DI/DO), six (6) frequency input (FI), sixteen (16) vibration, two (2) controller area network (CAN), and two (2) gigabit Ethernet interface for PXI express modules as well as proprietary LabVIEW application software.

CLIN 0001 One (1) DAC system design and hardware build CLIN 0002 One (1) DAC system with application code, installation and commissioning CLIN 0003 Acceptance, final documentation and warranty

The total estimated value for this contract is

4. Authority Cited: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The DAC system to be purchased must be compatible with extant DAC systems currently used by ARL. The ARL laboratories are communized, and use the DAC systems across all the different laboratories which allows for derived data to be shared among them. Therefore, it is critical to have a commonized system that is efficient and effective when being utilized in an experimental environment, to provide accurate data processing and analysis.

Market research found that other DAC systems do not provide the flexibility to the Government to add new capabilities on our own, rather it requires a new contract to significantly modify the program. New capability additions via software modification is a frequent task at ARL that is conducted in house, and LabVIEW-based hardware and software allows the end user to do their own modifications to add capabilities. The use of other companies’ hardware and software are not based on the National Instruments hardware developed from LabVIEW software that permit system modification flexibility to the users. Those vendors who can program using LabVIEW software do not have special proprietary application software that is embedded in the master LabVIEW program. See Section 8 for further market research information.

Therefore, the reasons for the FAR 6.302-1 authority are:

Proprietary: Proposed sole source Contractor is Vieletech, Inc. They have the unique capabilities of developing data acquisition systems and control algorithms for dynamometer testbeds based on LabVIEW. All of the control systems at CISD utilize LabVIEW which is proprietary to Vieletech, Inc. This ensures systems and control operations can easily interface with other components that ARL already owns.

Compatibility & Data Continuity: CISD is already using the same LabVIEW control architecture throughout the facility and will reduce risk of compatibility issues, as well as reduce cost and duplication of efforts. Using a different equipment that utilizes a different software, would require additional work and purchases that would result in no less than of duplicative cost, cause at least one (1) year of unacceptable delay, and would increase the risks associated to data consistency to unacceptable levels, risking mission failure.

In addition, Vieletech is currently developing additional control algorithms for the government under a different sole source contract (W911QX21P0199), wherein they are adding new algorithms into two (2) of the current data acquisition and control (DAC) systems that the Government purchased in the past.

Timeliness: Due to Vieletech, Inc.’s familiarity with the existing DAC systems within DEVCOM ARL and their proprietary expertise, no other contractor can be expected to meet the end of 2021 facility operational requirements. If this requirement is not met, it would result in unacceptable delays in the research efforts of the CISD.

Based on the above Vieletech, Inc. is the sole vendor who can meet the Government’s requirement.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The Synopsis W911QX21R0040 was posted to SAM.gov on 12 August 2021, with a closing date of 27 August 2021. This Synopsis closed with no potential vendors having expressed interest.

This is a sole source action based on compatibility issues and proprietary software, effective competition is currently not possible.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government has actively conducted extensive market research since 2011 until now to locate other sources with similar capabilities and specifications, as the Government required to procure five (5) similar DAC systems over the last ten (10) years. Based from past market research and quotes from other similar firms to be viable competitors to Vieletech, Inc., companies would have to be able to produce a tested software platform and would need to provide design drawings for the same DAC system, as well provide the control algorithm logic to prove their system integration would work. Currently there is no other sources capable for competition for consideration by DEVCOM ARL-CISD.

ARL will continually search the marketplace to increase competition by attending conferences/exhibition, trade journals, World Wide Web research and through open discussion with industry experts to determine if another company can meet the compatibility, proprietary data formats, and interoperability requirements with existing Government hardware.

8. Market Research: The Government performed extensive ongoing market research by performing internet and literature searches, and previously meeting the major vendors including AVL, Ricardo, and Horiba who produce data acquisition and control systems

(DAC).

In the past year, the government took a close look at the systems offered by Sytronics, Inc., VPI Technology Group, and B&A Engineering. Each of these companies offers DAC Systems of the sort used in the laboratories, but none of them use the required LabVIEW-based control algorithms for electrically assisted turbocharger (EAT);

motor/generators (M/Gs); or electrified turbocompound for power generation (eTC), as well as the turbocharger control and data acquisition.

Developing these LabView-based control algorithms for EAT, M/Gs and eTC itself costs approximately $100K and takes approximately 5 weeks by experienced programmers in this area. These new algorithms will be integrated into this new DAC system. This current DAC procurement does not include the cost and time associated with the development of the control algorithms for EAT, M/Gs, and eTC.

Thus, Vieletech is deemed as the sole source vendor for the DAC system.

9. Interested Sources: See Paragraph 6 for the synopsis information. To date, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History

[Note: Drivven, Inc. was bought by National Instruments in 2010 but maintained a separate CAGE Code through 2011. The core group that founded Drivven, Inc., and was incorporated into National Instruments then split off again in 2017 to start Vieletech, Inc.

Therefore, even though the names of the awardee change over the years, this is substantially the same company each time, maintaining the proprietary nature over their design and software through each change.]

1) Contract: W911QX-11-P-0364 Spray Combustion Research Laboratory DAC system Contractor: Drivven, Inc.

Award Date: 05 August 2011 Period of Performance: Delivery 2 April 2012 Dollar Value:

Competitive Status: Full & Open, seven (7) companies competed.

Authority: N/A

2) Contract: W911QX-13-C-0166 Small Engine Altitude Research Facility DAC system Contractor: National Instruments Corporation Award Date: 12 August 2013 Period of Performance: Delivery 28 February 2014 Dollar Value:

Competitive Status: Full and Open Competition. This was initially posed as Small Business Set Aside, but this was dissolved with the first Solicitation Amendment, and opened to full competition. Only one bid was received after opening to full competition, and extended the solicitation closing date twice.

Authority: N/A

3) Contract: W911QX-14-P-0426 Small Engine Combustion Research Laboratory DAC system Contractor: National Instruments Corporation Award Date: 11 September 2014 Period of Performance: Delivery 12 December 2014 Dollar Value:

Competitive Status: Non-Competitive Authority: 41 U.S.C 1901 as implemented by FAR Part 13.501(a), “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

4) Contract: W911QX-20-P0168 Vehicle Innovative Powertrain Experimental Research DAC system Contractor: VIELETECH INC Award Date: 23 September 2020 Period of Performance: 30 September 2020 – 30 April 2021 Dollar Value:

Competitive Status: Non-Competitive Authority 41 U.S.C. 1901(e) (2), implemented by FAR 13.501(a) -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

Contract: W911QX-20-P-0143 Small Engine Combustion Research Laboratory DAC system Contractor: VIELETECH INC Award Date: 28 August 2020 Period of Performance: 28 August 2020 – 11 March 2021 Dollar Value:

Competitive Status: Non-Competitive Authority: 41 U.S.C. 1901(e) (2), implemented by FAR 13.501(a) -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

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: Aerospace Engineer

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: ERP Program Manager

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:

__ Cost analysis _X_ Price analysis __ should cost

_X_ IGE

__ Audit:

__ Other:

As a part of this basis, certified cost or pricing data:

__ Will be required.

_X_ Will not be required and the following exception applies (FAR 15.403):

__ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on adequate price competition.

__ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on prices set by law or regulation.

__ A commercial item is being acquired.

__ A waiver has been granted by the head of the contracting activity (HCA) in accordance with DFARS PGI 215.403-1.

__ The contract action is a modification to a contract or subcontract for commercial item(s).

_X_ The estimated cost of the contract action is less than the threshold for certified cost or pricing data.

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

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of a One (1) customized, National Instruments-based data acquisition and control (DAC) system for an estimate of $397,089.00, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(1), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

(End of J&A)