Sole Source Justification_Redacted.pdf

140802-26-0179

Version 4.0

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR THE ACQUISITION OF COMMERCIAL

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

(AUTHORITY: 41 U.S.C. 1901)

Ronald H. Brown Five Year Drydock Repair FY26 140802-26-0179

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Eastern Acquisition Division (EAD), and the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

NOAA/EAD proposes to award a firm fixed price (FFP) supply contract to Bollinger Mississippi Repair for a new requirement on a sole source basis.

3. Description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the total estimated value).

This is a Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition for a new supply contract for 5-year drydock repairs for the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown. Work items associated with the 5-year drydock repairs include, but are not limited to miscellaneous steel repairs, Z drive maintenance, miscellaneous valves and piping, miscellaneous electrical repairs, voyage data recorder renewal, Safer Seas CCTV system installation, gauge/meter calibrations, fuel oil purifier repairs, ventilation system repairs, reefer systems repairs, pressure vessel inspections, firefighting systems certifications, weight handling gear inspections, cargo lift maintenance/inspection, heavy lift cranes overhaul, hydro boom overhaul, portable crane overhaul, fast rescue boat maintenance, ballast water treatment plant maintenance, lifesaving equipment inspections, misc.

habitability repairs, hospital maintenance, dry docking, sea valve maintenance, underwater transducer maintenance, underwater hull preservation, freeboard hull preservation, ECDIS renewal, and domestic reefer plant renewals.

Every five years NOAA’s ships undergo 5-year drydock repairs. These repairs are necessary as they fulfill essential maintenance requirements and inspections needed to ensure the ship is in operational status.

The estimated Period of Performance is May 5, 2026 to December 18, 2026. The Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) is .

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source (including brand name) acquisition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 1901 as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.102 entitled, Restricting Competition.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited. The contracting officer has determined the following circumstances justify the use of a sole source as supported below:

Only one source Bollinger Mississippi Repair (BMR) was awarded the contract for the NOAA Ship Ronald H.

Brown Mid Life Repairs. The Mid Life Repair contract was awarded to BMR in May of 2022 to replace and upgrade major systems to extend the service life of the Ronald H. Brown. While performing sea trials, the Ronald H. Brown experienced an engine room fire and was towed back to BMR in order to undergo remediation of the damages attributed to the fire. The estimated completion time for the repairs associated with the fire is 15 months. The period of performance is October 15, 2025 through January 31, 2027. The period of performance for drydock repairs is May 5, 2026 through December 18, 2026. To avoid continued delays, these repairs will occur concurrently with the fire remediation repairs. The Government acknowledges that other ship repair companies are capable of completing the planned 5 year drydock repairs under normal circumstances, but because the ship is unable to maneuver under its own power, and BMR is completing the fire remediation repairs, it is not feasible to sail the ship to an alternate shipyard for this requirement. Since the ship must remain at BMR, they are the sole source for this requirement. Towing the ship elsewhere would significantly delay its return to full operational status severely impacting the ship’s ability to complete its core missions. The Ronald H. Brown is NOAA’s most utilized and vastly capable mission vessel, and any downtime to this particular NOAA vessel is extremely critical to the NOAA mission and its collaborative partners.

BMR is qualified and capable of performing this work. As a reputable shipyard, they have completed similar work on numerous NOAA vessels, including the mid-life repair for the Ronald H. Brown.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Part 5 and, if not, which exception under FAR Part 5 applies.

A Notice of Intent to Sole Source was posted on the Governmentwide Entry Point, SAM.gov, on February 5, 2026 and closed on February 20, 2026. No responses were received. This solicitation will be publicized via a solicitation notice on SAM.gov per FAR 5.201 Solicitation notice. Additionally, a redacted version of this justification will be posted on SAM.gov with the solicitation.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable based on FAR 15.404-1(b)(2), Comparison of proposed prices to historical prices paid and FAR 15.404- 1(b)(5), Comparison of proposed prices with independent Government cost estimates.

8. Description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Due to the specific conditions aboard the NOAA Ronald H. Brown, traditional market research was bypassed in favor of a direct collaboration between OMAO and AGO. To address the required drydock repairs, the following alternatives were evaluated:

Sequential Repair Strategy: Postpone drydock repairs until the completion of ongoing fire restoration work.

o Operational Impact: This approach would extend the vessel’s "offline" status by a minimum of six months, resulting in a minimum of a cumulative three-year service outage. The primary impact of this is that the ship's core missions are currently not being executed. While a small portion of these missions are being covered by other NOAA vessels, the vast majority of planned missions are not being addressed at all due to lack of available NOAA vessels to support and/or increased cost to secure commercial vessel mission support. This lack of activity is resulting in a significant loss of critical data collection that cannot be recovered. The ship must return to operational status as quickly as possible to mitigate this ongoing detriment to NOAA’s scientific output.

o Conclusion: This schedule option was deemed unacceptable. It is critical that NOAA does not remain in a position where primary mission requirements are unmet due to avoidable scheduling constraints. NOAA has a standing obligation to manage assets efficiently to ensure maximum readiness and operational success. The Ronald H. Brown has a required amount of sea days per the Fleet Plan that are crucial, as this vessel provides the most mission capability to the organization. Further delaying the ship coming back online for support will compound the already high costs associated with the mission time lost. It’s imperative that NOAA mitigate the increasing costs of mission downtime due to the fire incident.

Vessel Relocation: Tow the vessel to an alternative shipyard for concurrent repair efforts.

o Risk Assessment: Due to the vessel being unable to maneuver under its own power, it must be towed. Relocating the ship introduces substantial logistical complexity that will interfere with current fire restoration efforts as well as an increase in cost and time.

o Conclusion: This option carries an elevated risk of unacceptable schedule slippage and budgetary overruns, threatening the overall viability of the project.

Drydock Repairs at BMR being completed by another contractor:

o Risk Assessment: This arrangement would require the secondary prime contractor to lease BMR’s drydock and equipment, which would introduce significant additional costs and unacceptable project risks. For instance, having two separate contractors working on the same vessel simultaneously creates substantial risk for schedule conflicts, which will lead to unavoidable delays and unacceptable disruptions to the project timeline. Additionally, this could lead to responsibility issues between the two contractors if something were to go wrong during the simultaneous repairs.

o Conclusion: Utilizing an outside prime contractor to complete dry docking repairs at BMR’s facility is an exceptionally rare scenario in the maritime industry. Even if BMR would agree, it introduces significant additional costs, a high potential for scheduling conflicts, and unacceptable delay and project risk.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of a sole source (including brand name), such as:

All supporting facts have been documented herein.

10. List of the sources that expressed a written interest in the acquisition.

No sources expressed an interest in writing after the required notification on SAM.gov.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

The Government is unable to overcome barriers to competition for this specific requirement due to the unique situation of the Ronald H. Brown. While this specific requirement must remain sole-sourced for continuity and safety, all other routine drydock requirements remain eligible for competitive solicitation.