UxSOC_Sole Source.pdf

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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 or 41 U.S.C. 1903) Requisition: 140802-24-0306

1. Agency and contracting activity. Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants

Office, Eastern Acquisition Division and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, Uncrewed Systems Operations Center (UxSOC), Uncrewed Marine Systems Division (UMSD).

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

NOAA/UxSOC/UMSD intends to award a new Sole Source Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the capability to award Firm Fixed Priced task orders to Lynker Corporation (Lynker) for DriX Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) Maintenance, Operations and Training Support Services.

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

This requirement will be for the Maintenance, Operation and Training Support Services, which will provide training services for UMSD employees at multiple certification levels, logistical assistance in preparing and testing USVs, operational assistance during hydrographic and fisheries projects, and Maintenance for the fleet of DriX USVs.

The USV has maintenance requirements for DriX USV that can only be provided by DriX-certified experts. The operational support services will support the USV and future USV fleet, which will allow NOAA to continue building the institutional knowledge to maintain and operate the DriX vehicles. The USVs will be deployed from NOAA ships or shoreside monitoring centers to conduct hydrographic and acoustic fisheries surveys that will be used to produce nautical charts and provide data for fishery stock assessments.

The Maintenance, Operation and Training support services required include:

Onsite instructor led training classes for DriX Supervisor level, DriX Master Level; DriX

Surveyor Level, DriX Engineer, DriX Electronics Tech and DriX Instructor Level.

Online training access for up to nine to twelve students to the DriX Surveyor Level.

Annual instructor led training for one person to the DriX Expert Level.

Instructor provided at Remote Operations Center Training for up to five students.

Provide technical support (Engineers) for Hardware Acceptance Testing and Sea Acceptance

Testing of new DriX USVs.

Provide operational and technical support (DriX experts) for hydrographic and fisheries missions, up to 380 person days/year for project operations, logistics and maintenance.

Provide Over the Horizon monitoring for DriX operations (up to 180 days/year).

Provide engineering support to perform annual maintenance for NOAA DriX fleet.

Provide additional engineering support as needed.

The above services will be to operationalize the fleet of DriX USVs with NOAA ships and projects to increase the efficiency of hydrographic mapping and fisheries sonar surveys. The IDIQ contract vehicle will have an ordering period from date of award through August 31, 2026 with an estimated value of $7,500,000.00.

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

X 41 U.S.C. 1901, using SAP up to $7.5M 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 :

Only one source - Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

In the United States, Exail Inc. (Exail) is the sole provider of the DriX USV and Lynker is the sole US provider of DriX Maintenance, DriX Operations and DriX Training. The UxSOC/USMD’s current DriX USV was purchased in 2021 from Exail while a second DriX USV was purchased on a sole source basis from the vendor Exail in 2023, as backup to the current DriX. The DriX USV allows the USMD to be ready in the event that one vessel needed maintenance or repairs, or should ship schedules overlap. To keep both the USVs operating, Maintenance, Operations, and Training Support is required.

This acquisition will allow for Operations and Maintenance support services required to test, maintain, and operate the USMD’s fleet of USVs. The Teaming Agreement between Exail and Lynker Corporation, which is effective from September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2026, states that Exail will provide its DriX USV with DriX experts support and Lynker will provide DriX Maintenance, DriX Operations and DriX Training for NOAA.

Lynker is currently the only U.S. based company of the required services, as training and experience can only be obtained through the Exail training regimen. They will provide the technical expertise in the form of DriX experts in engineering, operations and training to bring NOAA personnel to operational levels. The intent of the proposed acquisition of services is to support rapid operational use of USVs on NOAA ships, which has become a demonstrated need within multiple NOAA Line Offices.

Selection of an alternative service provider without the DriX expertise would severely jeopardize the mission, as it would require postponing the intended operations on NOAA ships. It is imperative the USV fleet remains in operational use. NOAA ships have tight schedules due to synchronicity of logistic requirements, biological windows, and other constraints. Ship schedules are planned years in advance, and time for USV operation has already been allocated into ship schedules for FY24. Thus, acquiring a service provider that can provide DriX USV Maintenance, Operation and Training support services would allow for the DriX USV fleet to remain operational, and help to achieve maximum efficiency of NOAA fleet operations.

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

A Sources Sought Notice was posted to the Government-wide Point of Entry at www.SAM.gov in accordance with FAR 5.201(b)(1)(i) on October 17, 2023 with a response date and time of

October 31, 2023, 12:00PM Eastern. Two responses were received, SRR International, Inc. and Lynker Corporation. On October 17, 2023, a Sources Sought Notice was posted to SAM.gov. The response date was October 31, 2023, 12:00pm Eastern. Two responses were received, SRR International, Inc. and Lynker Corporation. The capability information provided by SSR demonstrated a cloud computing/computing share point software management company. The vendor has no experience with uncrewed technologies and didn’t provide the requested information such as training and certification levels of their personnel. The strategy stated in their response was to hire incumbents to fulfill contract requirements; however, since this is a new requirement there are no incumbents. SRR was determined to not be capable of providing the services. Lynker is the only vendor with a Teaming Agreement with the manufacturer of the DriX

USV.

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(s) will be fair and reasonable based on comparison with the Independent Government Cost Estimate and historical pricing for similar USV support services.

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

In addition to the Sources Sought Notice, the Contract Specialist conducted market research through an internet search of the required services, as well as conversations with the Program Office inquiring about the sole source nature herein. As of now, there are no other vendors offering the specific services needed to maintain, operate and train personnel for the DriX USVs.

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

All pertinent facts have been documented with other sections of this document. There are no additional facts to be reported in this section.

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

The vendors stated in Section 6 expressed a written interest in the acquisition; however, only Lynker was found to be capable of providing DriX certified personnel.

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 will continue to conduct market research to gauge marketplace capabilities for future requirements; however, it is unlikely that any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirement will be a competitive procurement due to the highly specialized and unique nature of this requirement.