MAP JA (13 Month Extension) CA4 RED 4 (002)_Redacted.pdf

FOIA # 4 Contractor Proprietary Data

CMO Control Number: 2019-089

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this action is 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2304(c) (1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1, “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.” specifically, FAR 6.302-1 (a) (2) (iii) (A) and (B) which states, “Services may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements.”

5. Reason for Authority Cited: GDLS possesses unique capabilities and as the sole manufacturer of the Abrams series of vehicles, GDLS is positioned to provide manufacturing analysis and recommendations for more efficient production of the Abrams vehicle. GDLS is also the facility manager at the main production facility JSMC-L, a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) facility, and as such GDLS has an understanding of the current plant layout, and the condition and remaining life of the Government owned production equipment currently at the facility.

Additionally, as the producer of the vehicles, GDLS owns the propriety manufacturing processes and understands the facility and industrial equipment capabilities needed to perform such processes. Ownership of these propriety production processes and knowledge of the available equipment and plant layout is essential to provide the services required under this effort. A new contractor would have to either reverse engineer the current production processes or start from scratch to develop its own new process to manufacture the Abrams vehicle without the proprietary data. GDLS also has proprietary rights to many of the Abrams components, so changing the manufacturing process could substantially increase the time required to validate the SEP V4 upgrades.

c. Substantial Duplication of Cost:

The estimated cost for a new contractor to acquire the baseline information of Abrams production processes and Abrams production facilities, including the overall condition of the industrial property facilities and maintenance requirements of both is estimated at

This baseline information is needed in order to perform the types of analyses that will be required of the contractor on this proposed effort. It is anticipated that a new contractor would have to: conduct interviews; gather data and historical records from multiple organizations (Government and contractor) and then collate the data in order to analyze the information and draw conclusions to develop its baseline data. A.T. Kearney conducted a similar analysis for a PEO GCS Industrial Base Study in 2013, but the study covered just the Labor Assessment, Equipment and Site Overview, and Financial analysis. A new contractor would have to do a complete review of the equipment and production processes, in order to make recommendations for changes to the production line to accommodate new vehicle configurations. The A.T. Kearney study did an overview for all PEO GCS vehicles for , and it is anticipated that a deep dive evaluation to develop the baseline for Abrams, JSMC, Scranton, Tallahassee, GDLS Anniston Operations and Sterling Heights costs would be a similar price. Therefore, if another contractor were to perform the proposed MAP

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efforts, it could potentially cost the Government an additional in order for the new contractor to gather sufficient information and experience to successfully perform the proposed MAP efforts. This cost is approximately 1 ½ times more than the projected one year contract extension cost. If the Government were to compete this effort, it is unlikely that it would be able to recoup or save this 150% through competition. There is no projected cost savings through competition for this effort as the data is proprietary to GDLS. The additional work for a new contractor to provide educated recommendations for analyzing the current production/manufacturing line would be cost prohibitive. GDLS has proprietary manufacturing sheets already developed, but a new contractor would have to develop its’ own process to manufacture Abrams vehicles There would also be additional costs for GDLS as a sub-contractor to a new contractor for the many proprietary components on the Abrams vehicles.

d. Unacceptable Delay: The qualification and establishment of another contractor to provide Abrams MAP support for production process improvements, at JSMC, and SDP would create an unacceptable delay in supporting the vehicle production line and thus maintaining Army readiness. The MAP contract is designed to support any of the many issues that come up during production and production planning. It addresses concerns/changes/problems at the manufacturing facilities. A new contractor would need experience with a Heavy Combat Vehicle production line and specific knowledge about the GDLS’ Abrams Main Battle Tank family of vehicles production lines and processes in order to make efficient and constructive recommendations for improvements and upgrades to accommodate new production configurations and varying production levels. The period of performance to collect and analyze the data is estimated to be 24 months.

2 Time

(i) Competitive Source Selection Evaluation and

Qualification and establishment of a New Contractor to provided support at JSMC and

SDP

12 Months

(ii) Manufacturing Process Sheets 12 Months

TOTAL 24 Months

(i) A new contractor would first go through the SSEB process before being awarded a contract, estimated to take three months to complete. Once awarded, the contractor would require qualification. Once qualified the contractor would need to gain a thorough working knowledge of the operation and maintenance processes and procedures of the production line. It is estimated this effort will take nine months to accomplish.

(ii) Abrams manufacturing process sheets involve a mix of Unlimited Rights, Government Purpose Rights, and Limited Rights associated with the Technical Data Package. The Government does not have in its possession, nor has the rights to, key manufacturing processes, certain ballistic welding processes and procedures, and assembly data, which are proprietary to GDLS. A contractor would have to develop his foia 4

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11/12. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

ROBERT G. CZARNIK Date: ____7 Aug 2019__________________

Deputy Product Manager, Abrams Tank Systems Signature: //Robert G Czarnik//

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. This determination will be based on results from a technical review and price analysis.

JOSEPH A. NEUMANN Date: _____09 August 2019____________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____//Signed//_______________

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

JOSEPH A. NEUMANN Date: ______09 August 2019___________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: _____//Signed//_____________

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