J&A_Redacted.pdf

FD2020-18-00964

The last attempt to obtain data was on 8 February 2018. Mr. Robert Mikita, Business Unit Manager for CEF Industries, LLC, 320 S. Church Street Addison, Illinois, 60101, Phone number (630) 607-1050, email: r.mikita@cefindustries.com replied on 9 February 2018 by email declining to provide or sell their proprietary data to the government. Mrs. Laura Crowley, Sales Manager with Aero Precision, 201 Lindberg Avenue Livermore, California, 94551, Phone number (925) 583-943, email: lcrowley@aeroprecision.com was also contacted on 8 February 2018 via email. Ms. Crowley provided a response on 27 February 2018 stating Aero Precision is the exclusive distributor for CEF and therefore does not have access to their data rights, which in-turn cannot be provided to the government.

C. The 417 SCMS/GUEA Engineer has determined that reverse engineering costs are estimated to exceed for NSN 1620-00-859-0769LE/ CEF and Aero Precision Part Number 8448M4. Based on this cost it would take over 134.57 years to break even. These parameters are limited to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) with the designs, data, and drawings created at CEF's own expense. Since the data required to manufacture the LC-130 Ball Screw is limited to CEF (Aero Precision is only a distributor of CEF), interested vendors would have to be willing to invest the time, funding, and manpower required to reverse engineer the entire LC-130 Ball Screw package at their own expense.

D. Accordingly, CEF and its distributor Aero Precision, are the only firms capable of providing the supplies described in Section III above, without the Government experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements. Based on the preceding information, the AMC/AMCS code assigned to this NSN is 3/R.

VI. DESCRIPTION OR EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE

SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS DEEMED PRACTICABLE:

A. A combined Request for Information and Sources Sought Synopsis (RFI/SSS) was posted to FedBizOpps.gov on 12 March 2018 and closed on 26 March 2018. The contracting office was not notified of any interest from industry.

B. This requirement will be synopsized in FedBizOpps, as a notice of contract action IAW FAR

5.201. If other sources express interest as a result of this synopsis or other action, they will be listed in the official contract file.

C. Other actions: 417th SCMS engineers regularly pursue discourse with industry manufacturers who may be interested in reverse engineering, or redesigning the LC-130 Ball Screw in an effort to expand the manufacturing base. Furthermore, the 417th SCMS IPTs regularly inquire approved manufacturers as to the possibility of sharing or selling data rights to proprietary technology, designs, or processes utilized in military aircraft landing gear manufacturing.

D. Qualifying Country Sources: None

VII. DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

The following steps will be taken to ensure that the anticipated cost of this acquisition will be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer will comply with the procedures and criteria contained in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) under Part 30 - Cost Accounting Standards, Part 31 - Contract Cost Principles and Procedures, Subparts 15.4 - Contract Pricing; to include technical evaluations and audits, as appropriate. Additional steps to ensure price reasonableness will be under the guidance of the Contract Pricing Reference Guides, jointly developed by the Federal Acquisition Institute and the Air Force Institute of Technology. The Contracting Office will obtain cost and pricing data IAW FAR Subpart 15.403. The final step is to include the Price Negotiation Memorandum (PNM). This detailed documentation and justification of price reasonableness will be disclosed in the official PNM, to be prepared upon completion of negotiations.

VIII. DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS

OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASONS MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT

CONDUCTED:

A. As described in Section VI above, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was conducted by a Sources Sought Synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties. There were no interested sources.

B. In addition, the 417 SCMS/GUMC Integrated Product Team conducted market research that yielded the following results:

1. 1 March 2018, a search conducted on the Thomas Net (http://www.thomasnet.com), an internet site from the Thomas Registry with NSN 1620-00-859-0769LE, CEF and Aero Precision /Part Number 8448M4 resulted in zero results in the product, company name, brand name, Computer Aided Design (CAD) drawings and industrial web directories. In addition, Google.com, PRPS, and Haystack Gold were searched but failed to yield any additional sources of supply.

2. 1 March 2018, a review of commercial catalogs and other generally available product literature published by manufacturers, distributors, and dealers or available on-line was completed. Only CEF has products that are designed and tested for use on the LC-130 aircraft with its expected loads and usage range.

3. 1 March 2018, contacted knowledgeable individuals in the government and industry regarding market capabilities to meet requirements. Through previous conversations with Deb Demiceli at CEF Industries, and through performing additional market research via internet database searches as noted above, it is concluded that the LC-130 Ball Screw is not procurable from any source other than CEF Industries. To date, only

CEF has taken the steps to develop and test data for ski ball screw production for the LC-130 system. Aero Precision is only a distributor for CEF and does not own or have any data for ball screw development. USAF LC-130 Program Manager, Aileen White, and USAF LC-130 Engineer Brad Lundell, concluded no additional sources of supply are available based on many years of combined professional experience working on the LC-130 program.

IX. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION:

The ball screw assemblies are used on commercial aircraft however, aircraft dimensions and designed load requirements are unique for the LC-130. There is no commercially available equivalent to the LC-130 Ball Screw assembly and modifications cannot be done economically to commercial assets to make them compatible with this aircraft. Based on the market research conducted, there is a high level of confidence that there are no additional sources capable of satisfying the agency’s need for this proprietary item nor are there any other commercial or non-developmental items which could be utilized to meet the needs or which could be modified to meet the needs of the government.

X. LIST OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE

AQUISITION:

See Section VI above

XI. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE MAKING

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITIONS FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED:

The Air Force regularly inquires the manufacturers in regards to sharing or selling the proprietary data rights for use in free and open solicitations. Furthermore, the Air Force regularly performs analysis to determine the feasibility and cost effectiveness of reverse engineering the proprietary technology.

XII. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S CERTIFICATION:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on the Coordination and Approval Document evidences that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief (FAR 6.303-2(b)12).

XIII. TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL’S CERTIFICATION:

As evidenced by their signatures on the Coordination and Approval Document, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein, which is their responsibility, is both accurate and complete (FAR 6.303-2(c)).