A5.2_JA_Simplified_Acquisition_v2.pdf

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Lee’s J&A Under SAT Template

Single Source Justification (Simplified Acquisition)

Is this a Bridge Action as defined in the? Yes X No

Control Number: SWF 19-19 Contracting Activity: CECT-SWF USACE Project/Program Name: Hydropower Test & Evaluation program – Whitney Powerhouse Request/Identification Number: PANSWD-19-P-0000 005168 Estimated Contract Cost (including Options): $160,640.00

Provide a brief non-technical description of the supplies/services to be acquired.

The district contract covers the two regions; Piney Wood (Sam Rayburn OD-SR) and Three Rivers (Whitney OD-WH/AQ) within SWF, and is the core of the District’s Hydropower Test & Evaluation (HT&E) program, which requires periodic testing of Generators, Power Transformers and Transformer Bushings, and Circuit Breakers and Bushings. The USACE Northwest Division (NWD) and USACE South Atlantic Division (SAD) have similar requirements and contracts, and when doing their own testing and evaluations have determined that, like SWF, Doble is still the only company who can meet their similar requirements.

Specifically, the Doble Engineering Rental agreement is for the lease of equipment available only from Doble Engineering Company and their engineering assessment of routine power factor test results obtained with the leased M4100 Insulation Analyzer, Doble Test Assistant software, Doble Universal Controller, and the M4300 Transport. The equipment is utilized throughout the USACE for insulation integrity measurements at all districts with Hydropower responsibility. The test results for common equipment is available through Doble for access by all clients for baseline information and common mode failure analysis. Doble Engineering maintains an exclusive database of hydropower equipment which incorporates test data from USACE and related Hydropower entities for over 40 years and forms an extensive failure mode analysis archive encapsulating historical data which projects failures of routinely tested high voltage equipment, and is an invaluable resource for non-standard analysis of abnormal test results predicting equipment condition. No other known entity has this historical database of failure mode indicators; therefore they are the sole source of this specific test equipment and the database from which results are assessed.

This contract is for a 5 year period (base plus 4 option years) for a total estimated value of $155,000, to be utilized by each of the three hydroelectric power plants in SWF. This contract will be used to follow-on the lease of sole source Doble Engineering Power Factor Test equipment (Original Doble Service and Equipment Agreement September 26, 1986-amendment 514) for a total period of five (5) years from date of award. Base Year price is estimated to be $29,725.50.

Option Year One is estimated to be $30,914.52. Option Year Two is estimated to be $32,151.11. Option Year Three is estimated to be $33,437.15. Option Year Four is estimated to be $34,773.85. Estimated total for Base plus Four Option Years is: $161,002.13. The Period of Performance will be 1 AUG 2019 through 31 July 2023 if all optional years are exercised.

a. The supplies and services are described below.

Equipment Required:

Qty Description:

1 M4100 10kV, Laptop Controlled, Insulation Analyzers :

a. Doble Test Assistant (DTA) Software and Limit Files (most recent version)

b. Doble Universal Controller

c. M4300 Transport

d. 10kV Insulation Test Cables (60’) and Miscellaneous Accessories

e. Perpetual Warranty:

i. Loaner modules/components shipped within 24 hrs.

ii. Recalibration/Replacement every three years

Section A: General Contract Information

Section B: Description of the Supplies/Services Required

Services Required:

Description: All Inclusive Support Services:

a. Test Equipment Firmware Upgrades & Operational Support

b. DTA and DTAWeb Upgrades & Operational Support

c. Direct Engineering Consultation & Test Results Interpretation Assistance

d. Use of Doble’s historical test library, access to the Doble database through “DTA

Web”

e. Annual On-site Training (5 days at a single location determined by SWF)

f. Maintenance & Test Guides, test records, technical reports

b. The requiring activity is CESWF-OD-SR for the overall SWF requirement. This contract satisfies the requirements for CESWF-OD-TB and CESWF-OD-WH.

Provide a clear/concise statement of the facts justifying the award of a single source or brand name contract. For example:

(1) Background:

Periodic testing of high voltage electrical equipment insulation has become an integral and vital part of the SWF hydropower maintenance and asset management program, allowing SWF to detect developing conditions in equipment that could lead to performance degradation, increased maintenance requirements, and possible catastrophic failure. For most private electrical utilities, such testing is a requirement for obtaining insurance on their electrical assets. The benefits of a regular testing program and test data analysis have been proven throughout the industry and virtually every electrical utility in the world performs some form of this testing.

Doble Engineering is the sole source for the M4000 Power Factor test equipment and their proprietary Doble Test Assistant software which taps into their database for analysis of historical test result of hydropower industry related equipment. No other vendor can satisfy both the Power Factor test equipment requirement and maintains the cumulative historical database which has grown over the last 40 years.

Doble Engineering has been providing detailed analysis services on an “as-called” basis whenever suspect power factor test results are called into question for the USACE for over 40 years. Included in the agreement is access by our technical staff to historical data for equipment similar to that owned by SWF that is available from no other source. The M4000 equipment provided by Doble are available from no other vendor.

The “Doble Method” was pioneered by Doble in 1929, and consists of high voltage insulation testing and analysis techniques utilized to perform diagnostics and predictive maintenance as part of a larger asset management strategy for high value capital equipment, and critical infrastructure. Doble test results allow SWF to identify and correct developing problems before they become major failures resulting in possible extensive equipment damage, outages/ lost power production capability, and exorbitant repair costs.

(2) Justification:

(a) To fulfill the requirements of this acquisition, the minimum needs of the government include:

Qty Description:

1 M4100 10kV, Laptop Controlled, Insulation Analyzers :

a. Doble Test Assistant (DTA) Software and Limit Files (most recent version)

b. Doble Universal Controller

c. M4300 Transport

e. 10kV Insulation Test Cables (60’) and Miscellaneous Accessories

f. Perpetual Warranty:

i. Loaner modules/components shipped within 24 hrs.

ii. Recalibration/Replacement every three years

Section C: Justification for Soliciting from a Single Source or Brand Name

Description: All Inclusive Support Services:

Test Equipment Firmware Upgrades & Operational Support DTA and DTAWeb Upgrades & Operational Support Direct Engineering Consultation & Test Results Interpretation Assistance Use of Doble’s historical test library, access to the Doble database through “DTA Web” Annual On-site Training (5 days at a single location determined by SWF) Maintenance & Test Guides, test records, technical reports

The minimum requirements of this acquisition are discussed below:

(b) As identified above, the proposed sole source contractor is Doble Engineering Company who can provide the minimum requirements, as they are the only one firm capable of performing the required work. Those characteristics are compatibility with existing equipment, training of personnel, access to historical data, engineering and technical support provided, and upgraded equipment and warranty.

Compatibility with Existing Equipment:

Doble is uniquely qualified to provide the equipment and services detailed above. The ability of the equipment to function with USACE owned equipment is critical to the success of this program. No other product in this specialized market has compatibility with SWF owned equipment. SWF did conduct an analysis of alternative products/services in the market, but at this time, no other manufacturers’ products are compatible.

Training of Personnel:

To introduce a different brand of equipment would require re-training of 10 personnel from the 2 regions which could take 6 months to a year. The initial five-day training session would cost a minimum of $40,000.00 (10 personnel x $800/day x 5 days) not including travel and per diem costs. During the training period, we could expect to experience longer outages for testing and higher potential for errors, which would decrease the ability to generate power. We would also not have access to historical data on equipment the SWF owns which is 30-50 years old and not having the ability to interact with experts in this field from other public and private utilities as well as contractor personnel to discuss important trend issues, new compliance, and procedures.

Access to Historical Data:

Access to Historical Data is critical to the success of SWF’s Test and Evaluation System. The age of the turbines, generators, power transformers, transformer bushings, circuit breakers and bushings used at our projects to generate power requires a database of information that spanning at least sixty years. Doble is the only firm with historical data from a variety of manufactures that spans the length of time required for SWF evaluation purposes.

Doble specializes in the insulation systems of high-voltage power apparatus. SWF utilizes specialized instruments provided by Doble to carry out an orderly apparatus test program; tests are performed for acceptance, troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, and predictive maintenance. Insulation testing is an “art” which is made effective only when the results are prudently compared with an extensive database and correlated with apparatus operating experience. Central to this process is Doble’s statistical test database, compiled over eighty years covering all major manufacturers and apparatus types, plus annual published reports relating to apparatus troubles and failures. This information, in both electronic and print form, is proprietary and copyrighted material available only to Doble clients. No other company has this type of historical information on equipment.

Engineering and Technical Support:

Doble provides regional Engineering and Technical Support as part of their service, which includes call in support as well as on-site support as needed as well as access to the Doble Library, Client Portal, DTA Web, and the “AskDoble” Email Discussion Forum which provides current information on procedures for testing and updated data information which benefits SWF District. Another part of Doble’s support is a personalized on-site annual five (5) days of training on maintenance, test guides, and technical reports.

Upgraded Equipment and Warranty:

With Doble, SWF has the option to upgrade equipment in the contract to next generation technology, at any time.

The Doble warranty program provides 24 hour replacement of test sets and leads. If equipment needs to be repaired or replaced due to mechanical breakdown, replacements are shipped within 24 hours of notification.

(c) Competition was not feasible for this contract action. Please see paragraph 6, Efforts to Obtain Competition and paragraph 8, Market Research for supporting information.

(d) Indicate if the required action was “directed or mandated”. Not Applicable

(e) SWF has had an active Doble Services and Equipment Agreement in place for over thirty years. Doble has been the only company capable to provide the necessary test equipment that is compatible with SWF equipment and technical service required to perform testing and maintenance of installed power system equipment at the SWF hydropower facilities. SWF has equipment in use which is thirty (30) to fifty (50) years old, and the Doble database, which includes eighty (80) years of test results, has been instrumental and invaluable in assessing the conditions of our equipment.

(3) High Risk Impact:

Any action, short of renewing the Doble Service and Equipment Agreement will have a serious impact on SWF’s HT&E Program:

(a) HT&E Program Continuity - SWF engineers and technicians have spent a significant amount of time, money, and effort on Doble training courses, conferences, seminars and process development (including test records database development), specific to the usage of Doble’s diagnostic systems.

All test data compiled and analyzed by SWF over the years is benchmarked using Doble’s diagnostic systems. A departure from the Doble system would incur significant impact to SWF’s HT&E program in terms of retooling, retraining (initial training alone would cost a minimum of $40,000.00 as mentioned previously), learning curve, test schedules and testing processes and procedures development. It would take 6 months to a year for re-training on how to do the testing SWF wide, and would require longer outages for power generation from 1 days to 4 days for the testing. In addition, all testing and diagnostic assessments of critical high voltage apparatus at SWF facilities have been completed to date using the Doble system. A change at this time introduces substantial uncertainty regarding the integrity of test data, trending capabilities, operability, and overall test program continuity. It is impossible to estimate the impact of not having access to capability and operability data from non-SWF equipment let alone access to and continuity of historical data collected over the past thirty years on SWF equipment. Our inability to forecast operability issues, resulting in system outages or failure could easily be in the millions of dollars.

(b) Extension of the existing agreement with the Doble Engineering Company ensures continuity of compatibility of data collected during testing. Trend analysis for equipment over multiple yearly test periods is oftentimes the best indicator of impending insulation breakdown and failure. Continued use of the Doble M4100 analyzer ensures data compatibility and repeatability which validates the trend analysis of the results over time. This is critical to the continued reliability of the Hydroelectric Generator and Delivery Systems in service within the District.

(c) Compatibility with SWF Owned Test Equipment – In conjunction with the Doble M4100 Insulation Analyzers, SWF currently owns and employs additional Doble Test Equipment used to test and evaluate the condition of critical hydro-power apparatus such as generators and generator step-up transformers. The total estimated costs for the district at current market prices to replace all this equipment, learning and re-training on how to use the new equipment is expected to exceed the cost of the new five (5) year contract.

(d) SWF HT&E Program - The extensive services, which the SWF HT&E Program heavily relies on (direct consultation, tests results interpretation, use of Doble’s test database, client conference and committee participation) will be lost, diminishing the HT&E knowledge base, and USACE abilities to continue providing definitive assessments on the health and integrity of major hydropower electrical apparatus, and their serviceability, or potential for catastrophic failure.

(4) Alternatives:

The alternative to the Doble system is to purchase and replace the equipment and services with a different contractor. The estimated cost to replace existing owned equipment and time for re-training (as stated in section 2, Justification – Training of Personnel) is $40,000.00 - $500,000.00, and this includes a minimal estimation of lost power generation. This lost power generation could increase with extended periods of time for required testing of equipment. The District would also lose 80 years of historical commercial wide testing data available only to Doble customers to compare against for SWF equipment that is 30 – 50 years old and still operational.

Efforts to obtain competition were attempted based on information in paragraph 8 Market Research, as stated below.

This field of expertise is very small and all known contractors were evaluated to determine if they could meet the SWF requirements. The findings from the research conducted determined that Doble continues to be the only vendor able to provide the type of comprehensive equipment and services necessary to meet SWF’s HT&E program needs.

Based on paragraph 8(a), Market Research, Limited Sources for Test Equipment and Consulting Engineering Services, as stated below, only Doble currently provides the type of comprehensive equipment and services necessary to meet SWF’s HT&E program needs. SWF HT&E will review alternative sources and evaluate their ability to meet SWF requirements over the life of this new contract, but at this time, per the market research conducted, it is not possible to compete the current acquisition. SWF will continue to evaluate the market. Until other competition can be found, SWF has no other option than to procure Doble equipment.

I have determined, in accordance with FAR13.106-1(b)(1), that the circumstances of this contract action deem only a single source is reasonably available.

Date Typed Name and Rank/Grade of Contracting Officer

LAVONNE D. LEE

Signature of Contracting Officer

Date Typed Name and Rank/Grade of Small Business Signature of Small Business Specialist

Date Typed Name and Rank/Grade of Office of Counsel Signature of Office of Counsel

Section D: Efforts to Obtain Competition

Section E: Steps to Preclude Future Single Source or Brand Name Awards

Section F: Contracting Officer's Determination

6June19