ZL0092.1_SPRBL119Q0013_FINAL_Redacted.pdf

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION & SENSITIVE- SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SPRBL1-19-Q-0013

1. Contracting Activity: Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) DLA Land at Aberdeen (DSCC-ZLAA) 6565 Surveillance Loop Room C1-301

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-1846

2. Description of Action

This Justification and Approval supports a Special Emergency Procurement Authority (SEPA) acquisition, on an other than full and open competition basis, for a spot buy, Firm Fixed Price (FFP), stock replenishment contract for an Improved Signal Data Converter (ISDC). The ISDC is a component of the Aviators Night Vision System/Heads Up Display System (AN/AVS-7 ANVIS HUD).

The ISDC is manufactured by Elbit Systems of America, operating through subsidiary EFW Inc. with CAGE 0WEC9. EFW, Inc. is located at 4700 Marine Creek Parkway, Fort Worth, Texas, 76179. The estimated contract value is and the estimated maximum value is

NSN Nomenclature Elbit/EFW Part No. AMC AMSC Quantity Estimated

Value

Estimated Maximum

Value

5895-01-577-5425 Improved Signal Data Converter (ISDC) MB503A-00 3 R 281

Army Working Capital Funds (AWCF) will be used to support this acquisition.

The Contracting Officer determined on November 9, 2018 that the ISDC is commercial. Accordingly, this procurement action will be conducted in accordance with FAR Part 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items and under SEPA.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

The ISDC processor takes an electronic signal from the helicopter instruments and converts it into flight and engine trend information for display either on the legacy ANVIS/HUD night optics or on the new lightweight flat panel Night or Day HUD optics.

The AN/AVS-7 ANVIS HUD is used on Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters to display flight and engine trend information directly in front of the pilot’s eye during flight. This provides the pilot with reduced in-flight workloads and enhanced situational awareness.

4. Authority Cited

The applicable statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 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 only known manufacturing source of supply for the hardware item described above is Elbit Systems of America, subsidiary EFW, Inc., (Elbit/EFW), CAGE 0WEC9, 4700 Marine Creek Parkway, Fort Worth, Texas, 76179. Elbit/EFW owns the technical data package (TDP) for the ISDC, and possesses the expertise to produce

it. Elbit/EFW is the only contractor with past history manufacturing the ISDC for the Government.

Elbit/EFW has demonstrated that it has the proprietary design, data, production facilities, and technical skills to produce the required hardware items. This company has successfully passed all U.S. Army Air Worthiness Release testing and certification, which is a required and mandatory certification within the Army. Additionally, Elbit/EFW is the only source with the facilities, including a test bed, and the technical expertise required to assemble, fabricate, and test the required system.

The Government has made various attempts to buy the TDP but the Elbit/EFW was not willing to sell it.

Without the TDP, any source other than Elbit/EFW would need to perform engineering design effort, followed by test validation. Design and test validation by any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Government requirements. The Army Technical Expert estimated that these design and test validation efforts would exceed 20-24 months. Also additional time is required for air worthiness release testing and certification. Furthermore, as part of an alternate source qualification, costs estimated in excess of $9.5 million would be required to verify that any alternate could be used with legacy displays, and to rebuild and qualify platform software products that would be compatible with the existing AN/AVS ANVIS HUD. The Army Technical Expert concluded that design, test, air worthiness certification, software rework, and compatibility verification costs would not be recovered through anticipated reduction of prices due to competition.

As a final point, the Army Technical Expert advised that a reverse engineering effort would be high risk, because the existing system would require re-engineering, which would include changes in function operations that are integral to the existing system. Any re-engineering could result in decreased system reliability, increased operational costs, downgraded system performance, accessibility, and software functionality.

The Acquisition Method Reason Code (AMRC) for the spare part is 3R. The assigned value “3” means that the part is to be acquired, for the second or subsequent time, directly from the actual manufacturer. The assigned value “R” means that the data or rights to use the data needed to purchase this part from additional sources are not owned by the Government and it is uneconomical to purchase them.

If the ISDC is procured from any other source than Elbit/EFW, failure of it and the AN/AVS ANVIS HUD will affect the Army’s ability to perform night missions. Operational failure of the ISDC removes the ability of the aviation Warfighter to see in night conditions, and can result in serious injury and/or loss of life.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition

Market research was conducted, the details of which are in the market research section of this document. In accordance with FAR 5.201, this action will be synopsized in a combined synopsis/solicitation on FedBizOpps.

7. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination

As the Contracting Officer, I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. In accordance with FAR 15.403-1(b) and (c), certified cost and pricing data will be not be required for this commercial part. If required to determine fair and reasonable pricing, data other than certified cost and price data will be obtained.

8. Market Research

On September 25, 2018, Technical Experts within the Integrated Logistics Supply Center (ILSC) published a sources sought announcement (SSA) on FedBizOpps (FBO) with response due date of September 30, 2018.

One company responded to the notice: Elbit/EFW.

Elbit/EFW responded that they are the incumbent supplier to the U.S. Army for the AN/AVS ANVIS HUD system for the CH-47D/F and UH-60A/L/M helicopters since 1991, with current contracts with DLA and Boeing. The AN/AVS-7 is the current system version.

The Contract Specialist performed additional market research in October and November 2018. WebFLIS showed CAGE 0WEC9, EFW, Inc. 4700 Marine Creek Parkway, Fort Worth, Texas, 76179 to be the only current source. No other sources of the ISDC were found searching the internet.

These above searches did not yield any other manufacturers for the ISDC other than Elbit/EFW.

9. Other Facts

The previous procurement history for the ISDC is shown in the table below. The acquisition was issued as other than full and open competition. The contract type was a spot buy, firm-fixed-price.

Contract Number Award Date Contractor Parts Extent Competed/Authority

SPRBL1-14-D-0004 Apr 10 2014 EFW, Inc. ISDC FAR 6.302-1/Sole Source

Army CECOM Integrated Logistics Supply Center (ILSC) manages this part.

10. Interested Sources

Elbit/EFW expressed interest in this acquisition, and Elbit/EFW owns the TDP in order to manufacture the ISDC to the Government requirements.

11. Actions to Increase Competition

The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if changes occur in the marketplace that would enable future actions for this part to be competitive.

The previous Justification and Approval for this item, approved on June 3, 2013, stated that “...the Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable a future procurement to be completed.” DFARS PGI 206-303-2(b)(i) requires an assessment of “whether the planned actions to remove any barriers to competition cited on the previous justification were completed.” The market research discussion above completed the planned action on the previous justification to verify that there were no changes in the marketplace which would make the current acquisition competitive.