TAO JOFOC Redacted.pdf

Version 1.0

Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN ACTION EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

USING SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C 1901.

Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Acoustic Release and Parts, NWWG2100-20-00134

Agency and contracting activity.

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Eastern Region Acquisition Division (ERAD) and the National Weather Service (NWS) National Data Buoy Center (NDBC).

Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

NOAA, AGO, ERAD-Kansas City intends to issue a new Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) purchase order to EDGEONE, LLC, (Edge Tech) 4 Little Brook Rd, West Wareham, MA 20576 for the purchase of new acoustic releases and spare parts to repair and maintain the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) Array Local Warnings and Forecast and Tsunami Warning Network of the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), National Weather Service (NWS).

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

The requirement is for new acoustic releases and miscellaneous parts to repair and maintain the new releases as well as existing releases owned by the NDBC to include:

Base Year Ordering Period FY 20 : fifteen (15) 8242XS Acoustic Releases, fifty (50) External On/ Off Switch kits for 8242XS, and eight (8) 8242XS Main Electronics Boards;

1st Option Order Period FY 202 -202 : ten (10) 8242XS Acoustic Releases 2nd Option Ordering Period FY 202 -202 : ten (10) 8242XS Acoustic Releases;

3rd Option Ordering Period FY 202 -202 : ten (10) 8242XS Acoustic Releases

. The total estimated cost of the contract over four years is $ . These releases allow the NDBC to get back TAO ocean temperature, salinity, current sensors deployed at depth (below the ocean surface) on an NDBC mooring or the tsunami detection equipment deployed on the bottom of the ocean floor. The releases can be activated via an acoustic transmission to open and release the equipment from the mooring weight allowing it to float back to the surface with the attached floats. This will allow the TAO Local Warnings and Forecast and Tsunami Warning Network of the NBDC, NWS to accomplish its mission to protect life and property by providing essential environmental observations used by the NWS warning systems, environmental models, short term forecasts, climate record, and feed several NWS products.

Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104

In addition, NDBC systems are intrinsic to the NWS’ Weather-Ready Nation initiative by providing public and private sector users with real time observations needed to make fast and smart decisions needed to save lives and enhance commerce.

4. Statutory authority permitting the sole source acquisition.

41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7M as authorized by FAR 13.500(a) and implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

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:

EDGEONE, LLC is uniquely qualified to provide these services to the NDBC. They have the longest history of reliability data on acoustic releases in the industry. Their 8242XS acoustic release meets or exceeds the NDBC requirements for deep water deployments (6,000 meters) and the required release load of 5,000kg while still providing 2-years of deployment life with an alkaline battery pack. Although the NDBC has had an alternate vendor for acoustic releases in the past, field use has shown that the EdgeOne 8242XS model is the most reliable.

Previous Benthos acoustic releases were purchased but the NDBC experienced multiple failures of the releases not opening after a near two year deployment. Since we didn’t get the releases back it is difficult to determine what the actual cause may be but it was estimated that there may not have been sufficient energy storage in the Benthos battery packs to 2 actuate the high torque motor to get the release to fully open at the end of the deployment. Hence, the NDBC specification was changed in 2015 to include more of a mechanically driven release such as the one in the EdgeOne that appeared to be more reliable after extended deployments.

The NDBC did investigate the use of Lithium batteries in the acoustic releases to expand the energy storage but there are many transportation restrictions on Lithium batteries and it makes it nearly impossible to get these releases shipped to the required destinations fully assembled. Hence, the NDBC requirement remains an alkaline battery pack for the releases. Due to this reason, the 8242XS and its controlling deck set the 8011have been purchased for the NDBC since 2015.

The NDBC must have a large inventory of releases to support both the TAO and Tsunami Warning Programs. With these large inventories it became essential to be able to reduce sparing levels and increase reliability to stay within program funding requirements. There are additional operational costs and mission risk for supporting the two or more different release systems. Each system will require full sets of documentation, spares and repair parts, training, and resources to manage deployed configurations.

Additional spares inventory will be required and the added space to warehouse that larger inventory.

Mission risk increases, especially at sea during servicing operations in 30-day or longer cruise in the middle of the Pacific Ocean because of the complexity of having different release equipment, deck control boxes, mechanical interfaces, testing and start-up schemes. To address the cost and risk issues it became apparent that the NDBC needed to use only directly interchangeable releases. As such, the EdgeOne 8242XS model became the standard to which all field service personnel were trained to operate and deploy and all lab technicians were trained to maintain. Hence, the NDBC began to sole source procurements for the 8242XS and its controlling deck set model 8011 in fiscal year 2015. To make a switch to a new acoustic release model and vendor the NDBC would need to replace the complete operational inventory. This would be over a $3.7 million capitalization cost for the NDBC which includes the releases, the deck sets, and the consumables (i.e., batteries, anodes, O-rings, etc.) currently in inventory

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 Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

This procurement forecast is posted as DOC - Forecasting and Advance Acquisition Planning System (FAAPS) No: 63335 on https://faaps.commerce.gov . Additional Market Research was conducted and the components parts and releases are all proprietary and are unavailable for resale. The Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition and a synopsis of this action will be published in the Government-wide Point of Entry via http://www.fedbizopps.gov in accordance with Section 5.201(b)(1)(i) of the FAR. A procurement for these same products was conducted in fiscal year 2018. The procurement (NWWG2100-18-00233) was posted to FAPPS as number 54950. The procurement was posted to FedBizOpps as NWWG2100-18-RQ-00233. This procurement resulted in the award of contract

EA133W18SU0839.

The government will continue to conduct market research to gauge the marketplace capabilities for future requirements.

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

The Contracting Officer will determine the anticipated prices fair and reasonable based on comparison with historical prices paid by the Government and comparison with the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). The Contracting Officer will request other than certified cost and pricing data in accordance with FAR 15.403-4 to ensure that all prices are deemed fair and reasonable.

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

The NDBC has continued to do market research for acoustic releases over the years via internet searches, attending industry conferences such as the ONR/MTS Buoy Workshops held every two years and the annual Oceanographic Work Boat show, and meetings with interested vendors. In fact the 3 NDBC invited Teledyne-Benthos, a previous supplier of acoustic releases, to the NDBC on July 10, 2013 and again on January 31, 2019 to have a technical discussion on our sub-surface ocean equipment needs that included acoustic releases.

The NDBC performed the latest internet market search for possible vendors of acoustic releases in early December of 2017. This search identified six vendors who make acoustic releases but only one, EdgeTech (aka EdgeOne) whose published specifications met or exceeded the NDBC requirements (see attached Internet Market Research). The last known RFI was conducted by the NDBC and the Eastern Acquisition Division in early February of 2015 in the form of a request for information posting on FedBizOpps to identify available sources and to evaluate the availability of the marketplace to meet the NDBC requirements for acoustic releases with only EdgeOne responding.

EA133W18SU0839 .

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

All facts have been documented in section 5 and 10. There are no additional facts to be reported in this section.

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

There were no sources who expressed written interest in the acquisition.

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 will continue to conduct thorough market research to gauge the marketplace capabilities for future requirements.

Technical/Requirements Representative Certification

I certify that this requirement constitutes the Government’s minimum needs and the supporting data provided herein is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Date

13. Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval

KOHLER.CRAIG

.A.1034870752

Digitally signed by

KOHLER.CRAIG.A.10348707

Date: 2020.03.10 14:06:11 -05'00'