RedactedACC1824.pdf

CMO Control Number: 2013-172

Department of the Army

Limited Source Justification for GSA Purchases above the Simplified Acquisition Threshold

1. Contracting Activity: The United States Army Contracting Command-Warren

(ACC-WRN)

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm Fixed Price Delivery Order under General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule Contract Number GS-07F- 0123H with Willard Marine, Inc. The estimated value of this procurement action is $3.36M and will be funded with FY13 Other Procurement Army (OPA) funds.

3. Description of the Supply or Service Purchased: This delivery order will procure 42 each Willard-Marine Sea Force 490 Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Rescue Boats with a 40 horsepower (HP) engine.

The estimated unit price for each vessel is $80,000 ($80,000 X 42 = $3.36M).

The delivery of these boats is required by January 1, 2014 in order to mitigate any further safety accidents due to not having a proper rescue boat.

4. Authority Cited: This acquisition is conducted pursuant to the authority of 40 U.S.C.

501 and FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B), “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”. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B) the Willard-Marine Sea Force 490 is the only vessel available to meet the requirements of 46 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 199.262 due to its unique and highly specialized nature. The CFR defines the guidelines that a vessel must meet. The Sea Force 490 is the only vessel that is SOLAS certified, and meets the space claim requirement of 16’- 17’ required on the Army’s fleet of Logistic Support Vessels and Landing Craft Utility Vessels.

Product Directorate Army Watercraft Systems (PD AWS) is the life cycle manager of the eight (8) Logistics Support Vessels (LSV), and 34 Landing Craft Utility 2000 (LCU) vessels (42 total vessels). 46 CFR 199.262 requires each cargo vessel (LSV and LCU) to carry at least one rescue boat. Each rescue boat must be approved under 46 CFR

160.156 and equipped as specified in 46 CFR 199.175. Currently, each LSV and LCU carries a smaller non-SOLAS certified craft, which has been termed a “workboat” and does not meet the requirements in 46 CFR 160.156. During the November 2012 Army Watercraft Configuration Control Board (CCB) the Army community endorsed replacing the workboat with a SOLAS compliant rescue boat.

The significant characteristic of the Rescue Boat for the LSV and LCU vessels is that the rescue boat is SOLAS certified by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in accordance with the requirements stated in 46 CFR 160.156. To obtain SOLAS certification from the USCG, manufacturers of rescue boats must equip these boats in accordance with the table in 46 CFR 199.175.

In order to be SOLAS certified, a boat must be evaluated and approved by the USCG.

SOLAS certified boats are primarily evaluated to the standards of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Resolution MSC.48(66), amended, entitled "International Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code", as referenced by the Safety at Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS), Chapter III. This includes vessel coloring, seating configuration, impact ratings, electrical specifications and other numerous requirements. SOLAS certification is a lengthy process, which takes approximately three to six months to complete after the USCG receives a request to certify a vessel.

Additionally, the Army’s LSV Automotive Tank Purchase Description (ATPD) which enumerates the vessels’ requirements state that a rescue boat must be no less than 16’. The 17’ limitation is based upon the space claim limitation on the LSV and LCU. A rescue boat larger than 17’ would require a new cradle on the LSV/LCU fleet causing the government to incur additional costs (modification to LSV/LCU) and cause an unnecessary delay in meeting an immediate need.

The only known SOLAS certified vessel in the 16 to 17’range meeting the specification, is the Willard Marine Sea Force 490 Rescue Boat (U.S. Coast Guard Certificate of Approval number 160.156/25/1), available under GSA Schedule contract GS-07F- 01234H. This acquisition will be limited to the Sea Force 490 SOLAS compliant Rescue Boat equipped with a SOLAS compliant Evinrude ETECH 40 HP outboard motor based on market research and in accordance with FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B).

Awarding this requirement to a vendor other than Willard Marine will cause an unacceptable delay in preventing safety issues from using “workboats” instead of SOLAS rescue boats. The initial delivery of four rescue boats are to be delivered by January 01, 2014 and a production quantity of four per month thereafter. This acquisition is being undertaken, partly due to a safety incident resulting in crew injury on the LSV 4. During the launch of the work boat in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor the work boat capsized resulting in an injury to the crewmember aboard. A requirement of a SOLAS rescue boat is the ability for a capsized boat to self right. When the work boat capsized, it did not self-right, trapping the soldier under it. Having a proper SOLAS rescue boat would have prevented this injury.

Attempts at identifying sources other than Willard Marine capable of providing a SOLAS compliant rescue boat in the 16-17’ range have been unsuccessful. Because of the lengthy process to certify a rescue boat, no sources other than Willard Marine have been identified as capable of fulfilling the government’s immediate need. Each day a rescue boat is not part of the LCU/LSV fleet will unnecessarily increases risk of injury to a soldier. Any vendor who submits a vessel for SOLAS certification will take at least three to six months before it can receive its certificate. A competitive solicitation would require three to six months before an award could be made putting crewmembers at risk for almost an additional year.

6. Market Research: Once the decision was reached to replace the workboats on the LSV and LCU fleets, PD AWS personnel initiated market research to indentify multiple sources of supply for 15’-17’ SOLAS compliant rescue boats. Even though ATPD requires a 16’ rescue boat, PD AWS applied the 15’ minimum for a better overview of the SOLAS market. The results from market research are described below:

a. Attendance at a trade show from 05-07 in Dec 2012. The Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) assigned to PD AWS as the Marine Technical Advisor attended a marine trade show. He obtained a brochure from Zodiac Corporation, a well known manufacturer of inflatable boats. Zodiac has not responded to e-mail messages, phone calls or the RFI issued for this effort.

b. Internet Searches. The APD and MTA have conducted many searches (March thru July 2013) on the Internet for SOLAS compliant rescue boats.

Willard Marine’s Sea Force 490 rescue boat is the only SOLAS compliant 16’ -17’ rescue boat. The websites searched the United States Coast Guard website, Google searches for SOLAS Compliant rescue boats, Zodiac website as well as numerous other vendor websites.

c. Request for Information (RFI). The Army Contracting Command (ACC) issued two separate RFI’s to find a source capable of providing a SOLAS compliant 15’ -17’ rescue boat. The first RFI was issued in February 2013 on the TACOM PROCNET website in which three responses were received:

i. Duclos Manufacturing responded by stating that it could not support this requirement.

ii. Bay Marine - Offered their prototype, shallow draft catamaran. They did not offer any documentation showing USCG SOLAS certification.

After meeting with Bay Marine, it was the opinion of the PD that Bay Marine product is not suitable for the purposes of this requirement.

iii. Willard Marine- Offered their Sea Force 490 Rescue boat with an

Evinrude ETECH 40 HP outboard motor. A copy of the USCG SOLAS certificate for this system was provided.

The second RFI was issued in May 2013 on GSA Schedule 084 (Marine Craft and Equipment, Inboard and Outboard Engines, Towable Bladders and Floating Barriers and Buoys category). Two additional responses were received as follows:

i. HDS Systems-a small business with a GSA contract on Schedule 084.

They cited past experience supplying emergency response training equipment. To meet the requirement of a U. S. Coast Guard SOLAS rescue boat HDS Systems intends to add a Norwegian firm, Norsafe to their contract. No documentation was provided that substantiates that Norsafe has a USGC SOLAS certificate. On 01 Jul 2013 the complete USCG list of approved SOLAS rescue boats was downloaded from the USCG website. HDS was not listed as an approved source.

ii. Metal Shark Aluminum Boats-This firm indicated in its RFI response that it is capable of fabricating aluminum or fiberglass SOLAS rescue boats. However, Metal Shark did not provide a current USCG SOLAS certificate and the PCO followed up and requested clarification. This is the response from Metal Shark:

Metal Shark has acquired the assets of a company called Otech.

Otech had a previously certified SOLAS 15’ Rib. I have reviewed the documentation, however, and the SOLAS certification has expired.

We are looking at what the approval process to renew the certificate it.

2- Additionally, Metal Shark is in process of getting a 15' aluminum RIB certified as SOLAS. However, this certification is not complete.

d. Product Manager-Sets, Kits, Outfits and Tools. The AWS Assistant Product

Director (APD) contacted the Assistant Product Manager (APM) in the PdM SKOT organization that handles acquisitions of inflatable boats. One of the customers for PM SKOT inflatable boats are the Special Forces. The PdM SKOT personnel did not recognize the term SOLAS and their purchases are not SOLAS compliant.

7. Other Factors: There are approximately ten different configurations of work boat carried on the 42 LSVs and LCUs. The PD AWS team has decided that the LSVs and LCUs will be outfitted with a common SOLAS compliant rescue boat in order to comply with the requirements of 46 CFR 199.262. In addition, replacing the 10 variants of “workboats” with one version of a rescue boat will allow for reduced sustainment costs and better configuration management.

8. Actions to Increase Competition: This acquisition procures a commercially available SOLAS rated rescue boat. The AWS team tried to identify more than one source that could provide this equipment and so far has been unsuccessful. There are very few options the Government could take to increase competition in the commercial production of rescue boats. As stated in paragraph 6, the Government has performed extensive market research in order to identify potential sources for the SOLAS rescue boats in order to increase competition.

9. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which is included in the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Zina Kozak-Zachary Title: Product Director, Army Watercraft Systems (AWS) Signature:

E-Signed by KOZAKZACHARY.ZINA.J.1298136925 VERIFY authenticity with ApproveIt

Date: 25 July 13

10. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which is included in the justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Zina Kozak-Zachary Title: Product Director, Army Watercraft Systems (AWS) Signature:

E-Signed by KOZAKZACHARY.ZINA.J.1298136925 VERIFY authenticity with ApproveIt

Date: 25 July 13

11. Contracting Officer’s Best Value Determination: I hereby determine that this order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d) and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government’s needs.

Name: Keith D. DePoorter Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //KDD// Date: 2013 Aug 16

12. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Keith D. DePoorter Title: Contracting Officer Signature: //KDD// Date: 2013 Aug 16