Thermwood Brand Name KO Determination_ERDC 20-2065.pdf

ERDC 20-2065 31 August 2020

Contracting Officer Determination

Brand Name

(a) Identification of the agency and of the contracting activity.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center

(ERDC) Contracting Office (ECO) intends to make contract award pursuant to the authority of

FAR 13.106, Soliciting Competition, Evaluation of Quotations or Offers, Award and

Documentation, for the purposes of providing written consent and approval to procure Brand

Name Thermwood Three Axis CNC Router.

(b) Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

The Directorate of Public Works (DPW) has a requirement to procure one Thermwood Multi-

Purpose M63-510 large bed, three-axis Computer Numerical Control (CNC) router to support the

ERDC’s research and development mission.

(c) Citation of the appropriate statute and/or regulation upon which the D&F is based.

In accordance with FAR 13.106(b) Soliciting from a single source (1) For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold (i) 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 (e.g. urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name or industrial mobilization).

(d) Findings that detail the particular circumstances, facts, or reasoning essential to support the determination.

The Thermwood brand has been identified as the only product that can meet the Government’s requirement. This acquisition provides for equipment that must be compatible with the two existing Thermwood machines. These machines will link to work in tandem and will also share a post processer and licensed software packages for the two machines already owned and in use by

USACE ERDC. If a different machine is purchased it will not work in tandem with the existing machines and will not be able to provide the function required by this purchase. The acquisition of another brand of machine will require the Government to duplicate previous purchases of equipment that we already own and will not be able to function for the process that this Multi-

Purpose 3Axis Router is intended. The purchase of the Multi-Purpose 3Axis Router is necessary to maintain standardization among the existing equipment owned by DPW. As this is a brand name justification, no one contractor’s unique qualifications are used as the basis for this justification and market research confirms that there are multiple vendors that can provide this brand product. Therefore, companies eligible under the solicitation will be afforded the opportunity to compete for this requirement.

ERDC 20-2065 31 August 2020

(e) A determination, based on the findings, that the proposed action is justified under the applicable statute or regulation.

Based on the above and in accordance with FAR 13.106(b)(1)(i), it is hereby determined that

Brand Name Thermwood is the only product compatible with existing USACE ERDC software/hardware, therefore it is in the best interest of the Government to procure Brand Name

Thermwood to satisfy this requirement.

Davita S. Baloue

Contracting Officer