sole source justification.docx

MEMORANDUM FOR FILE

SUBJECT: Non-Competitive Procurement Justification Memo for Actions Under SAT

I. BACKGROUND

1. FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) states for purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, Contracting Officers may solicit from one source if the Contracting Officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available.

2. FAR 8.405-6 allows for limiting sources for orders or BPAs under Federal Supply Schedules under certain circumstances or for items peculiar to one manufacturer

3. As required by FAR 13.106-3(b)(3)(i), FAR 8.405-6(a)(1), or FAR 8.405-6(b)(2), this memorandum explains the absence of competition for this acquisition, as only one source will be solicited for this requirement (or for a portion of the requirement) and the requirement is not expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.

II. DESCRIPTION OF ITEM OR SERVICE (Include manufacture/sole source name and address.)

Purchase is a follow-on contract (base year with four one-year options) to N0016720P0286 which NSWCCD Code 611 used to purchase base JMatPro, a CALPHAD-based simulation software suite which calculates a wide range of materials properties for multi-component alloys of industrial relevance. The program includes numerous material modules for starting simulation data, including Aluminum (Al), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni), and Titanium (Ti). N0016720P0286 expires in Sep 2025. The scope of the base year of the new contract includes both the initial software purchase of the JMatPro API and material property optimizer (MPO) and one year of maintenance for the base software plus access to support and upgrades. The contract also includes options of four (4) follow-on license extensions, continuing the maintenance for the JMATPro, API & MPO licenses into 2030. The Required Delivery Date for base year material items is 1 October 2025.

MANUFACTURER: Sente Software Ltd.

ADDRESS: 40 Occam Rd, Guildford Surrey, GU2 7YG, United Kingdom

III. BASIS FOR DETERMINATION FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL & OPEN COMPETITION

· A. BRAND NAME. The item required must be a brand name product, or feature of a product, particular to one manufacturer.

· 1. Restrictive Rights. The source has established proprietary rights, limited rights in data, patent rights, copyrights, or secret processes in the item or service required.

· 2. Exclusive Licensing Agreements. The item or service is only available from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).

NSWCCD SAP Non-Competitive Procurement Justification Memo Effective April 2025

· 3. Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) IAW FAR 8.405-6(b).

· 4. Other Reasons.

☒ B. SOLE SOURCE. (select all that apply)

☒ 1. Restrictive Rights. The source has established proprietary rights, limited rights in data, patent rights, copyrights, or secret processes in the item or service required.

Sente Software, Ltd. developed and owns the code for the JMatPro software program based on its own internal models and is therefore the only company able to provide the licensing to support it. In addition, the software maintenance and support are only able to be provided by Sente. Any newly discovered re-sellers (JMatPro has no known re-sellers) of their products are not able to provide those license maintenance services directly which could cause delays on active research projects.

☒ 2. Exclusive Licensing Agreements. The item or service is only available from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), or there is only one authorized distributor or technical representative for the OEM.

As stated above JMatPro has no known resellers that can supply the direct support that the code and property model developers in Sente can supply. Thermo-Calc and Pandat, other software packages in the market, lack the proprietary models that JMaPro have developed. Internal comparisons of results from these software packages have been compared against published literature and JMatPro consistently outperforms both in material property predictions.

☒ 3. Other Reasons.

The impact to Code 611, PMS 351, and the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) from inability to procure additional JMatPro software products and continuing maintenance from the manufacturer is a lack of access to the most up to date models and material databases, limiting the accuracy of models especially for novel materials. Software tools that interface with JMatPro to add material specific data to their calculation (like ProCast) would suffer similar loss of model accuracy.

Failure to procure the API module specifically will reduce the turnaround time for material property predictions as the API enables Code 611 to write dynamic programs that can quickly execute multiple complex calculations, in cooperation with other software, automatically as opposed to individual calculations through the graphical interface and manual transference as inputs to other models and software.

Failure to procure the JMatPro MPO module decreases the ability of Code 611 to answer some questions that have been raised during work on MIB material maturity teams, for example, what processing routes are capable of meeting existing or potentially restrictive properties specification requirements for a given alloy composition.” This expanded capability will result in quicker development of experimental regimes and improved accuracy of allowable processing windows.

· 4. Federal Supply Schedules (FSS): IAW FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)

· a. An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays;

· b. Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized; or

· c. In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.