JA for Brand Name or Equal - OLD TG redacted_Redacted.pdf

Control Number: LRN-FY22-07

5. Reason for Authority Cited:

a. Background. The Old Hickory Power Plant was placed in service in 1957. The aging equipment is beginning to experience more frequent outages and loss of efficiency. The equipment has a designed service life of 35 years, but has been in service for almost 65 years and is experiencing declining efficiency, increased maintenance, and forced outages. The objective of this procurement action is to improve the efficiency and reliability of the turbine generator equipment. The new turbine generators must not only reliably function as a system, but also fit within the existing building footprint and be compatible with existing systems in the power plant without major modification.

b. Justification. It is industry standard practice, while designing intricate mechanical and electrical systems, to base design around products that meet the needs of the project based on the standard of quality required and the make and model used as basis of design. As all the components of a system must work together and function as a system, the basis of design of each individual component may change based on substitution. The standard of quality must remain the same as the USACE design.

In addition to forming a functional system, the products used as the basis of design for the subject project also fit within a specific footprint. Significant effort was undertaken by the Government to research and identify the individual components needed to design a complex integrated instrumentation system capable of meeting the project�s needs and standards. Not utilizing one component as the basis for design would leave such ambiguities in the design that it would not have sufficient detail necessary to complete the contract successfully or would require excessive and unnecessary work by the contractor for components that are commercially available, off-the-shelf items considered accessory components within the turbine-generator industry.

Competition is only limited to the extent necessary to meet the Government�s legitimate needs for this project. Contractors are free to use any product which meets the Government�s minimum needs. As indicated in the specifications �all listed manufacturers are the basis of design. Other manufacturers may be substituted as long as the standard of quality and characteristics of the substituted manufacturer meet or exceed the standard of quality and characteristics of the basis of design. Reference clause FAR 52.236-5, Material and Workmanship.� See Attachment 1 for the specification references.

The Materials and Workmanship clause reiterates this point: �References in the drawings and specifications to equipment, material, articles, or patented processes by trade name, make, or catalog number, shall be regarded as establishing a standard of quality and shall not be construed as limiting competition.� The Contractor may, at its option, use any equipment, material, article, or process that, in the judgment of the Contracting Officer, is determined to be equal through formal evaluation comparison against the specified salient characteristics as provided by the written specifications for each piece of equipment, material, article, or process.

Because each manufacturers� product has slightly different specifications, to achieve a 100% design, it is necessary to identify one (1) product (in each of the 34 Brand Name or Equal instances totaling 20 specific brand names) as the basis of design. All instances of brand name mentions is because to achieve 100% design, one must consider how existing systems in the power plant will be connected and aligned. While similar, these elements vary among manufactures and not utilizing one (1) component as the basis of design would leave such ambiguities in the design that it would not have sufficient detail necessary to compete a Design- Bid-Build contract.

The recently completed work on Old Hickory Unit 4 included scopes of work that will be repeated under the major rehabilitation effort for Units 1-3. Consistency in select parts included

Control Number: LRN-FY22-07 in several subsystems across all four (4) units reduces operations and maintenance (O&M) complications.

Where the protective coating of the hydraulic surfaces is concerned, the contract specifies vinyl paint formulated with specialized name-brand resins. Extensive research has been conducted by the coatings specialists at USACE�s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) to determine which commercial coatings work best, and, unfortunately, there is no ASTM or other specification to generically specify the vinyl resin. The specified resins contain critical additives and modifications that are proprietary to the manufacturer of the resin.

c. Alternatives. The only alternative for brand name or equal instances would be to remove all instances of Brand Name or Equal in the specifications and instead define requirements by salient features and performance characteristics. This would delay contract award by at least three (3) months due to: added design research, revising of plans & specifications, review processes, and potentially targeted industry/market research. Furthermore, it would increase the necessary effort by the Government to review Contractor�s proposed systems, including all components, to ensure that they are acceptable. This alternative would increase risk to the Government, as an oversight or omission when describing salient characteristics could lead to a component of the system not functioning as intended, and it increases the likelihood that the Contractor will propose an instrumentation system that does not meet project needs. Utilizing a basis of design with certain equipment specifications assumptions is a critical component of designing a complete, functional mechanical and electrical system. Several subsystems would be inconsistent with Unit 4 which significantly increases O&M costs and complexity with less interchangeability of spare parts and greater training required. Unlike some instance of brand name or equal, there is simply no acceptable alternative for most components that need to be consistent with Unit 4 and potentially connect via proprietary software.

d. Impact. Listing acceptable products by reference to Brand Name or Equal limits competition by increasing the likelihood that the Contractor will acquire the brand name products referenced. However, as noted in the specifications, the Contractor is allowed to submit any other product which meets the Government�s minimum characteristics and standards of quality. Due to the specialized equipment, integrated nature of the total system, and relatively low cost of individual components, listing the products by Brand Name or Equal is not expected to have a significant impact. Further, eliminating the basis of design elements would limit the Government�s ability to control the design, impact the installation and layout of adjacent systems, and adversely affect the ongoing operation and maintenance of the equipment, particularly in relation to maintaining consistency with the components recently installed in Unit 4. If the specific resins are not specified for the vinyl paint, then the resulting vinyl paint coating of the hydraulic surfaces may be more subject to failure from debris impact.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition. Competition is obtained to the maximum extent practical while meeting the agency�s requirements by utilizing a specific product only to the extent it is necessary to complete the 100% design, while allowing Contractors to use either the brand name or any other product that meets the Government�s minimum characteristics and standards of quality. A Notice of Intent (NOI) to Sole Source was posted to System for Award Management (SAM) (sam.gov) on 23 February 2022 which stated the intent to utilize Brand Name or Equal requirements in the plans and specifications. No responses were received from industry pertaining to the brand name or equal items.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: This J&A supports a discrete requirement that will end when the project is complete. Therefore, there are no planned actions to increase competition for the requirement covered by this J&A.

Further, market research indicates that contractors' bids could be less accurate for USACE turbine-generator rehabilitation projects if the specifications are not clear for small