A03_-_Redacted_Simplified_Acquisition_Sole_Source_Justification__-__FINAL.pdf

Control Number: [redacted]

Simplified Acquisition Sole Source Justification Review Document

Program/Equipment: Enhanced Fiber and Film Processing Extruder Capabilities Equipment for the Government-owned Thermo

Fisher Rheodrive 16 and Process 11 Extruders

Authority: 41 USC 3304(a), implemented by FAR 13.501(a); The property or services needed by the executive agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the executive agency.

Amount: [redacted]

Prepared By:

Typed Name: Randy Mrozek DSN: [redacted]

Title: Research Chemist Date: 1/22/2016

Procuring Contracting Officer:

Typed Name: Catherine K. Abbott DSN: [redacted]

Date Reviewed: 1/22/2016

Technical Representative:

Typed Name: Randy Mrozek DSN: [redacted]

Title: Research Chemist Date Reviewed: 1/22/2016

Requirements Representative:

Typed Name: Joseph Lenhart DSN: [redacted]

Title: Team Lead/Research Chemist Date Reviewed: 1/22/2016

Legal Review: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

DSN: [redacted]

Simplified Acquisition Sole Source Justification

Using Simplified Acquisition Procedures

1.a. Contracting Agency - USA RDECOM Acquisition Center

Adelphi Contracting Division

CCRD-AD-CO

2800 Powder Mill Road

X

Legal Advisor

Adelphi, MD 20783-1138

1.b. Requiring Agency – U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD)

Macromolecular Science and Technology Branch

4600 Deer Creek Loop

Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5069.

2. Description of Action - Approval is requested to solicit for a new firm fixed-price type contract in support of the Materials and

Manufacturing Division within the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (WMRD) on the basis of other than full and open competition pursuant to FAR 13.501 (a). The requested contract is for the procurement of equipment that provides enhanced fiber and film processing extruder capabilities. The suggested sole source vendor is Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GMBH, 25 Nimble Hill Road, Newington, NH 03801-2727, Cage: 6RT26, a large business. Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 - 2016 Research, Development, Test and

Evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be utilized for this effort.

3. Description of Supplies/Services - This contract action will result in the procurement of equipment for the existing Government-owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 drive unit and Process 11 extruder to be used for processing polymers and polymer composites into fibers and films with precisely controlled dimensions and morphology. The proposed acquisition consists of the following:

Item Quantity Ind. Cost Line total

Volumetric RotoTube Feeder for Process 11 567-7662 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Volumetric Single Screw Feeder for Process 11 567-7650 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Feeder Screw Single Lead (SL)/12/16/04 567-7655 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Feeder Screw SL/12/16/06 567-7653 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Feeder Screw SL/12/08/06 567-7652 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Rheomex 19/33 Operating System (OS) Extruder 567-2004 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Additional Measurement Port for Rheomex 558-0125 Two (2) [redacted] [redacted]

Venting Port for R252/302 557-2906 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Gravimetric TwinScrew Feeder OS 567-4120 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Dosing tube 200T for SS13/10 and TC20/12 557-3331 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Dosing tube 223T for SS13/15 and TC20/11 557-3333 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Set of twin screws for pellets narrow SS13/10 557-3330 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Set of concave twin screws for powders narrow 557-3334 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Wear Resistance (WR) Treatment Single Screw Extruder 557-2900 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Hopper with Closure 567-2420 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Pneumatic agitator for hopper 567-2420 567-2421 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Standard Screw 3:1, 33 L/D 557-2164 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

19/33 Short Metering Screw 4:1 557-2165 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

19/33 Venting screw, 3:1, 2:1 557-2161 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

19/33 Special foaming screw 557-2163 One (1) redacted] [redacted]

Dosing tube 190T for TC20/05 with vertical 557-3335 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Fixed Speed Vertical Stuffer Feeder – complete 554-1255 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Feeder Stand 567-4004 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Adder 19/33 Screw Wear red 606-0820 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Ram Feeder for 16 millimeter (mm) Twin Screw 606-0821 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Tape, Sheet and Ribbon Die 150 mm, Flexible 567-2246 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Fiber spinning die 557-2376 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Fiber spinning plate 002-4882 One (1) [redacted] [redacted]

Installation PolyLab (OS) 777-5128 Two (2) [redacted] [redacted]

ESTIMATED TOTAL: [redacted]

4. Authority Cited: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 USC 1901, implemented by FAR

13.501(a), using the specific authority selected below:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 USC 1901, implemented by FAR 13.501(a), using the specific authority selected below:

__X__(1) The property or services needed by the executive agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the executive agency;

____(2) The executive agency’s need for the property or services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the Federal

Government would be seriously injured unless the executive agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals;

____(3) It is necessary to award the contract to a particular source—

____(A) to maintain a facility, producer, manufacturer, or other supplier available for furnishing property or services in case of a national emergency or to achieve industrial mobilization;

____(B) to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a Federally funded research and development center;

____(C) to procure the services of an expert for use, in any litigation or dispute (including any reasonably foreseeable litigation or dispute) involving the Federal Government, in any trial, hearing, or proceeding before a court, administrative tribunal, or agency, whether or not the expert is expected to testify; or

____(D) to procure the services of an expert or neutral for use in any part of an alternative dispute resolution or negotiated rulemaking process, whether or not the expert is expected to testify;

____(4) The terms of an international agreement or treaty between the Federal Government and a foreign government or an international organization, or the written directions of a foreign government reimbursing the executive agency for the cost of the procurement of the property or services for that government, have the effect of requiring the use of procedures other than competitive procedures;

____(5) Subject to section 3105 of this title, a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the procurement be made through another executive agency or from a specified source, or the agency’s need is for a brand-name commercial item for authorized resale;

____(6) The disclosure of the executive agency’s needs would compromise the national security unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals; or

____(7) The head of the executive agency (who may not delegate the authority under this paragraph)—

(A) determines that it is necessary in the public interest to use procedures other than competitive procedures in the particular procurement concerned; and

(B) notifies Congress in writing of that determination not less than 30 days before the award of the contract.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The Materials and Manufacturing Sciences Division of the WMRD at the US ARL requires the procurement and installation of enhanced fiber and film processing attachments for the Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive

16 OS state-of-the-art drive unit [redacted] and Process 11 extruder [redacted] located within the ARL’s facility at 4600 Deer Creek

Loop Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005. Thermo Electron is the only manufacturer that can provide compatible attachments to the existing Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 drive unit and Process 11 extruder, equipment that is proprietary to Thermos Fischer and is the only manufacturer that can ensure 100 percent equipment compatibility. Thermo Electron holds all data rights for the above mentioned equipment/system and therefore is the only responsible source that can ensure proper integration and installation. The

Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 OS drive unit and Process 11 extruder are comprised of complex configurations of which Thermo Fisher owns the proprietary specifications and manufacturing drawing details thus making them uniquely qualified to meet the Governments minimum requirements as they are the only certified vendor that can ensure appropriate technical support as well as continued compatibility if the equipment requires repairs. Procurement of the above-mentioned film and fiber processing attachments will give the Government the ability to evaluate polymeric materials in a fiber and film morphology on the laboratory scale enabling the development of novel polymers and polymeric additives that are typically available in limited quantities. This capability will allow the Government to evaluate these new materials prior to costly scale-up in support of the continued development of materials that exhibit superior mechanical performance [redacted]. The addition of the enhanced film and fiber capabilities to the existing Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 drive unit and Process 11 extruder will provide WMRD with the ability to process novel and more defense relevant materials into fibers and filaments [redacted]. [redacted]. [redacted]. This work would http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/41/3105 also provide substantial logistical cost savings to the Government as equipment and supplies could be printed on demand at the point of need. Acquisition of a different brand of equipment versus purchasing the required parts from Thermo Fisher would result in a higher cost to the Government as it would require replacement of all technology currently in place to house and power the equipment.

The cost of procuring two (2) new fiber and film processing systems from another company would cost over [redacted] which would result in a substantial duplication of cost for the Government. In addition, the added time necessary to purchase, install, test, and train personnel to use the replacement technology would be detrimental to workforce efficiency as it could take several months to complete.

Delaying the delivery of the required extruder has the potential to eliminate the current technological development lead that the US

ARL has developed which could negatively affect ARL’s missions and programs. Due to the aforementioned, Thermo Fisher is the only responsible source capable of meeting the Government’s requirement.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: There was no effort to obtain competition on this effort because to date , Thermo Electron, has been identified as the only source to meet this requirement due to their proprietary rights on their specific models which the

Government owns. Although there are other extruders available in the commercial market, cross referencing different manufacuturers is no guarantee that other sources can provide an extruder that will ensure 100 percent compatibility and integration with the existing

Government owned equipment. Based on the compatibility requirement the Government published an intent to sole source notice on

FedBizOpps on 18 November 2015 with a response date of 30 November 2015. Upon closing of the intent to sole source notice, no other sources have written to express an interest in challenging the requirement by another brand extruder.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: Based on information provided in paragraph 5 above, competition for this action was not feasible. The Government will continue to survey the market to help locate other sources that can provide sub-ambient twin screw extruders that can interface with the drive units already in place or other known sources that can obtain proprietary rights to be authorized resellers of Thermo Electron equipment - which so far there are none to date. Until the aforementioned circumstances change, the Government will continue to use the existing known source, Thermo Electron.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted on 6 April 2015 by Randy Mrozek (Chemist) of the of the Materials and

Manufacturing Division within WMRD who has fourteen (14) years of experience in the field of melt extrusion processing. Internet-based searches as well as catalog reviews were performed to determine if other vendors carried attachments that are compatible with

Thermo Fisher drive systems. Internet and catalog searches of three (3) major laboratory scale melt processing equipment manufacturers: Brabender GmbH & Co, the Leistritz Corp, and Thermo Electron revealed that only Thermo Electron provides attachments compatible with the Government owned extrusion systems.

9. Interested Sources: In accordance with FAR 5.201, an intent to sole source synopsis was posted to FBO.gov for ten (10) days with a response/closing date of 30 November 2015. To date, no responses have been received. Based on the aforementioned, Thermo

Electron is the only source capable of providing an extruder that is compatible to the Governments existing equipment as detailed in paragraph 5 above. As required by FAR 5.201, any other bids or proposals received shall be forwarded to the approving official for consideration.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history.

(1) Contract numbers and dates of the last several awards.

W911QX-10-P-0604 awarded on 22 September 2010.

W911QX-14-P-0265 awarded on 04 September 2014.

(2) Competitive status of these actions.

W911QX-10-P-0604 awarded under full and open competition.

W911QX-14-P-0265 awarded on other than full and open competition.

(3) Authority previously used for less than full and open competition.

W911QX-14-P-0265: FAR 13.501(a); The property or services needed by the executive agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the executive agency.

(4) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, a summary of the contents of paragraph 7 of the justification for that procurement and an explanation of the results.

W911QX-14-P-0265 was awarded on a sole source basis to Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GMBH based on the need to procure a small scale (<50 gram/hour (g/hr)) parallel twin screw extruder with process conditions that can be directly scaled-up to the

Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 PolyLab OS state-of-the-art twin screw extruder. Additionally, the

Government required that the small scale parallel twin screw extruder provide screws that rotate at high revolutions per minute

(rpm) (> 900 rpm), contain feeding ports designed for liquid injection, venting, powder feeding, and pellet feeding up to three

(3) mm in diameter, provide adjustable screw diameter to length ratios of 40 and 25 L/D (where L/D refers to length of the screw (L) divided by the diameter of the screw (D)), be directly coupled to an injection moulder to avoid material aging history, and be capable of placement on a standard benchtop to fit within current space allocations. Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe)

GMBH was found to be the sole manufacturer that could meet the Government’s minimum requirements.

(5) If any prior award was accomplished by full and open competition, a detailed explanation of the changed circumstances.

The ARL required a small scale (<50 (g/hr) parallel twin screw extruder with process conditions that can be directly scaled-up and compatible with the Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 PolyLab OS state-of-the-art twin screw extruder previously purchased under contract W911QX-10-P-0604 and installed in ARL’s facility at, 4600 Deer Creek Loop

Aberdeen Proving Ground MD 21005. Although two (2) bids were received (C.W. Brabender and Thermo Electron) during this procurement, C.W. Brabender was not able to meet several of the specifications required by the Government.

Additionally, Thermo Electron is the only manufacturer that can provide a small scale (< 50 g/hr) extruder that has direct scalable processing with the Rheodrive 16 PolyLab OS system, due to the portfolio wide screw geometry. Thermo Electron has not allowed the data rights to be purchased by any other source and based on the aforementioned, future procurement actions to Thermo Electron were completed on an other than full and open basis.

(6) An explanation of any unusual patterns which may be revealed by the history; e.g., several consecutive, urgent buys.

Procurement history reveals consecutive buys from Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GMBH. The initial competitive procurement

(W911QX-10-P-0604) for the small scale (<50 g/hr) parallel twin screw extruder is discussed in section (5) above. The second procurement (W911QX-14-P-0265), awarded on a sole source basis due to compatibility is further discussed in sections (4) above and (7) below.

(7) If a justification was prepared to support the procurement made before this one, include a copy of the previous J&A as part of this approval package, and briefly describe the circumstances justifying the buy and whether there have been any significant changes.

W911QX-14-P-0265 was awarded on a sole source basis to Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GMBH based on the need to procure a small scale (<50 g/hr) parallel twin screw extruder with process conditions that can be directly scaled-up to the Government owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 PolyLab OS state-of-the-art twin screw extruder. Additionally, the Government required that the small scale parallel twin screw extruder provide screws that rotate at high revolutions per minute (rpm) (> 900 rpm), contain feeding ports designed for liquid injection, venting, powder feeding, and pellet feeding up to three (3) mm in diameter, provide adjustable screw diameter to length ratios of 40 and 25 L/D (where L/D refers to length of the screw (L) divided by the diameter of the screw (D)), be directly coupled to an injection moulder to avoid material aging history, and be capable of placement on a standard benchtop to fit within current space allocations. Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GMBH was found to be the sole manufacturer that could meet the Government’s minimum requirements. In addition, the cost of procuring an alternative small scale parallel twin screw extruder would result in additional material costs throughout its lifetime and purchase of a larger version for direct scale-up at a cost over [redacted], which would result in substantial duplication of cost for the

Government. Furthermore, procuring a new twin screw extruder to enable scale-up would’ve required new facilities to be procured to house the equipment. Based on the aforementioned, W911QX-14-P-0265 was awarded to Thermo Electron

(Karlsruhe) on 04 September 2014 on a sole source basis. There have been no significant changes to date.

b. Acquisition Data Availability:

This is a commercial product. Acquisition of adequate information to develop an alternate source is not cost effective. As

Detailed above, Thermo Electron’s data, drawings, specifications, etc. is proprietary, copyrighted and available only from

Thermo Electron. Therefore, the equipment required by the Government is not available from another source. Full and open

Competition does not apply in this situation as no purchase description can be developed since the data required is proprietary

And copyrighted by Thermo Electron.

c. Unusual and Compelling Urgency:

Not Applicable, as FAR 13.501(a) will be cited for this action.

d. Subcontracting Competition:

This procurement effort intends to procure the equipment directly from the proprietary owner, therefore it is anticipated that there will be no subcontracting competition available. If it should be later determined, however, that the contractor intends to subcontract any portion of this acquisition, the clause found at FAR 52.244-2 – Subcontracts will be included and will require that the contractor receive written consent from the Contracting Officer before placing any possible subcontracting opportunities.

e. Follow-on Contracts:

The original systems were procured from Thermo Electron under a competitive contract. Due to the proprietary nature of the embedded firmware, the supplies and services required to operate, maintain, and upgrade the systems are available only from

Thermo Electron. In order to compete this requirement, the Government would have to re-procure the presently owned systems at a cost of approximately [redacted] which would still not alleviate another sole source requirement to the successful contractor for the supplies and services required to operate his systems. The cost of [redacted] is considered to be a substantial duplication of cost that could not be recovered through competition

11. Technical 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.

Signer’s Title: Research Chemist

12. 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.

Signer’s Title: Team Lead/Research Chemist

Technical Certifier

Requirements Certifier

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. Fair and reasonableness will be determined based upon published price lists and previous contract history.

14. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer (KO)

APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of the above mentioned equipment for the existing

Government-owned Thermo Fisher Rheodrive 16 drive unit and Process 11 extruder on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority by FAR 13.501(a), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.