Attachment_02_Brand_Name_Justification.pdf

Control No.: HEC-17-013

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

1. Contracting Agency: United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA), 7701 Telegraph Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22315.

2. Description of Action: A new Firm-Fixed Price purchase order using fiscal year 2017 Army Operations and Maintenance (OMA) funds for brand name electrical testing equipment.

3. Description of Supplies/Services: The United States Army Prime Power School has the requirement for four (4) Megger SMRT 46 Relay Test Systems to support required Army training for proper calibration and maintenance procedures on mission essential equipment.

4. Authority Cited: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a)(1)(ii) Sole Source (Including Brand Name)

5. Reason for Authority Cited: Based on extensive market research, it was determined that there is limited competition available to support this requirement.

Meggar brand SMRT 46D Relay Test Systems are required because these are the same units deployed in the field. It has been determined that the US Army Prime Power School must train students on equipment that will be used in the field after completion of training. If another brand name was to be selected for this requirement, it would create interoperability issues with the current equipment provided to soldiers by the United States Army Prime Power School, which would lead to mission delays and an increase in training costs. These additional costs would include, but would not be limited to, redevelopment of current lessons, renovation of facility space, and re-training of instructors. The estimated cost for such a change is approximately $40K for materials and equipment and $30K for staff training, and it is estimated that it would require approximately 1.2 man-years of effort to revise the lessons plans to accommodate another test relay system. In addition, the current Meggar electrical relay test systems are configured with an Army specific configuration code for the purposes of satellite time-synchronization. There are separate relay-compatible satellite clocks that can be programmed to provide output contact pulses on the one minute or half minute mark that can initiate the test set and resolve this issue, but those would need to be purchased separately if another brand was selected. This would represent additional cost to the government, and would create additional delays because time would be required for additional configuration. It is not anticipated that these costs could reasonably be recovered through competition, and the delays associated are unacceptable; they would create significant degradation to the training mission of the 249th.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research has been performed and it has been determined that numerous vendors sell Megger equipment. Competition from multiple vendors (both large and small) is expected.