r_RFP564-016 DDI Leidos FOE Final.pdf

- 1 - Version April 2018

JUSTIFICATION for an EXCEPTION to FAIR OPPORTUNITY for the placement of an order >SAT under a Multiple Award Contract (MAC)

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, Sharon M. Pritchard, as Competition Advocate of

SPAWARSYSCEN, Pacific, hereby approve the Justification for an Exception to Fair

Opportunity Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2).

JUSTIFICATION

l. Agency and Contracting Activity. Department of the Navy, SPAWARSYSCEN, Pacific (SSC

Pacific).

2. Nature/Description of Action. This is a fair opportunity exception to place an order with

Leidos under contract number N66001-18-D-0305. This contract is part of SSC Pacific’s multiple award contract for Development, Technical, Management, and Engineering Services for

Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Systems within Code 564. The task order number is TBD.

3. Description of Supplies/Services. This is a non-performance based service contract to provide software engineering maintenance, systems engineering and operational test services for the

DD&I system specifically focused on optical homing and docking of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). This effort includes modifications and maintenance to the custom built

Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Launch and Recovery Software (ULRS) and to the Dock Launch and Recovery Software (DLRS). This effort will also include the preparation of software and

UUV platforms for in-water and bench level demonstrations of an integrated opto-acoustic homing and docking system on the vehicles. This contract service shall maintain, modify and enhance the necessary software and hardware to enable autonomous control of referenced vehicles into a custom docking structure capable of wireless charging and data transfer. In addition, the software architecture shall demonstrate the capability to adapt to the higher level

DD&I supervisory architecture. The approximate value of this procurement is $1.6 million. The incumbent task order is N66001-17-F-0162, performed by Leidos Advanced Solutions Group-

Maritime, Integration and Mission Systems Operation.

4. Identification of the Exception to Fair Opportunity.

a. The agency need for services is of such urgency that providing fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

b. Only one such awardee is capable of providing such services required at the level of quality required because the services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

As part of the autonomous Docking Development and Integration effort (DD&I), SSC

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Pacific will demonstrate using a UUV to autonomously dock to a power and data transfer station.

Much of the effort under this task order will be focused on transitioning the Autonomous

Docking Technique to multiple UUV vendor manufacturers.

There are 4 core and unique capabilities that the contractor must possess to effectively participate on this task effort:

1. Knowledge and experience with the Hydroid RECON interface protocol that is embedded in the vehicle with specific experience in implementing software homing positioning commands through the Hydroid RECON interface.

2. Knowledge and experience with the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) protocol that is embedded in the vehicle with specific experience in implementing software homing positioning commands through the SPI interface.

3. Knowledge and experience with subsea Opto-Acoustic Homing Technique that leverages optical error signal processing provided via a Quad detector in conjunction with acoustic positioning error signal process provided through a Benthos Directional Acoustic

Transducer (DAT)

4. Working knowledge of the supervisory architecture, communication protocols and use case scenarios.

Due to the fact that the program is still in the development phase, there is limited technical maturity of interacting systems, and the risk associated with the transfer of a complex UUV control scheme to a new contractor while still under development, could result in damage to high value systems.

The FOE is requested to allow execution by the incumbent contractor, Leidos, through the development milestones required to move the system to demonstration and an increased

Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

The critical support required by this task order is to perform test, validation and management for a system that correlates acoustic commands from a multidimensional supervisory control scheme.

This task requires that a software package, originally developed by Leidos, is deployed on a standalone controller embedded in to a UUV capable of receiving acoustic commands from the supervisory controller and translate those commands to a custom homing and docking sequence through the native vehicle controller interface. Translation of the homing and docking UUV commands is accomplished via interchange with the vehicle controller.

This task requires that the contractor have familiarity with 3 levels of system based software architecture, use cases and protocols.

The first level is the supervisory architecture interface. This is the scheme that communicates from the outpost to the UUV and is responsible for scheduling docking/undocking actions as well as a variety of vehicle specific system commands. These commands are translated via acoustic messages transmitted through a Benthos modem platform. The software managed under this task must respond to commands of the supervisor and issue status to the supervisor via acoustical data

(b)(3); (b)(7)(e)(f)

(b)(3); (b)(7)(e)(f)

(b)(3); (b)(7)(e)(f)

- 3 -transfer. The supervisory architecture is under development and revision change by a separate software group working under the DD&I project umbrella. This group is run out of SSC-PAC utilizing several contractors. There are over 60 use cases that have been released by this group that define the behavior of the software at the supervisory level.

The second level is the UUV/Dock Launch and Recovery Software Items (ULRS and DLRS).

These software items are enabled upon command of the supervisor to perform a docking and undocking functions. This is a custom docking algorithm developed by SSC-PAC in conjunction with Leidos; which enables vehicle control via optical and acoustic positioning sensors. This software contains all of the PID gain parameters and gates required to put the vehicle in line of the dock.

The third level is control of the vehicle in response to position errors provided by the optical and acoustic sensors (Opto-Acoustic Homing Sequence). This is the physical change of the vehicles altitude and turn rate and is accomplished through detailed commands to the native vehicle controller (SPI or RECON). The ULRS is not given direct control of the fin surfaces and therefore performs as a "backseat driver" during the homing and docking sequence. To accomplish this function there must be a clear familiarity of the available commands from SPI and RECON.

Additionally, command sets need to be vetted prior to deployment via a simulation tool that is developed specifically for DD&I versions of SPI and RECON. A detailed knowledge of the SPI and RECON performance parameters enables the software developer to gauge the lag time and physical response of the vehicle to command sets issued by the ULRS. In simple terms, RECON and SPI are the language translators from the ULRS software to the vehicle control mechanisms

(propeller and fins).

This effort requires that the contractor fluently understand the communication languages referred to above and make adjustments as a result of technical findings during at sea tests and bench tests alike. DD&I is moving quickly from prototype demonstration to a POR via the Future Naval

Capabilities (FNC) program.

The DD&I product is a novel system and considerable time has been invested by multiple software groups to demonstrate that this capability is even possible. The intent of the DD&I program is to expand and standardize its software and hardware architecture such that it can be applied to multiple vehicles and other autonomous platforms. It is still however an Innovative NAVY

Prototype (INP) and thus very early in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

It is expected that a successful demonstration in 2020 will mark a milestone in the maturity of the system software.

In summary, Leidos is the only contractor that can provide the highly technical expertise and provide continuation of schedule demands that is critical for mission success. This warrants an exception to fair opportunity.

c. The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency as a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the MAC, provided that all the awardees were given fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

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d. It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

e. For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source.

5. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost.

Based on the historic cost information currently available, the contracting officer has adequate information to ensure that the cost to the Government for this acquisition will be fair and reasonable.

6. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification. None.

7. Actions Taken to Remove or Overcome Barriers that Led to the Exception to Fair

Opportunity.

One of the base activities to be executed on the applicable task order is to transition the autonomous homing and docking technology to interested UUV vendors such that they could become the integrators of the technology.

(b)(6)