Hydrospace laboratory large littoral test chamber

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), Contracts Department, 110 Vernon Avenue, Panama City, FL 32407-7001, intends to Award of a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) type contract on a sole source basis to WSF Industries, Inc.,
7 Hackett Drive, Tonawanda, New York 14150 (CAGE Code 03020), for one Horizontal Large Littoral Test Chamber. The estimated total price for this contract is estimated at  including delivery to Panama City, FL. The Government’s minimum needs have been verified by the certifying technical and requirements personnel. The contract action will be funded with FY22 Capital Investment Plan Funds. The estimated delivery is up to 79 weeks after issuance of contract. Per FAR Part 6.302-1, 10 USC 2304(c)(1) [10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1)], Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Hydrospace Laboratory serves as an unbiased testing location for assessing and measurement of life supporting equipment and systems, and provides in-house research and development. WSF Industries, Inc., has been the manufacturer for the Hydrospace Laboratory, providing novel, customized test equipment, technical competency, and design rigor. For well over three decades,
the Hydrospace Laboratory has been able to customize the research and test equipment from
WSF Industries. The Hydrospace Laboratory requires an innovative, large hydrostatic chamber
to facilitate the Navy’s evolving research and development and testing needs which directly
support today’s warfighter.
A large hyperbaric test chamber is required to augment the Hydrospace Laboratory’s suite of
chambers for Hydrospace Laboratory to continue to be the foremost hyperbaric research test
facility. This five-foot inner-diameter chamber provides additional capacity to allow
simultaneous unmanned testing and phased overhauls, thus reducing tasking conflicts and
schedule interruptions.
The WSF Industries, Inc. proposed chamber configuration includes known, historicallyevidenced
suitability suited to meet the Hydrospace Laboratory needs and requirements. The
company itself rapidly responds to questions and has been historically and currently capable of
meeting Hydrospace Laboratory sui generis configuration requirements which allow for the
highly specialized testing performed at the Laboratory. The unique chamber configuration
proposed build will suit current and future requirements to allow the Hydrospace Laboratory to
function as an independent test organization and support modified testing for future research and
development applications. The proposed chamber configuration includes WSF Industries’
SmartClave® technology which integrates a programmable logic controller and touch-screen
display with an intuitive messaging system. This technology allows for enhanced oversight for
all phases of Hydrospace’s chamber operation. Additionally, WSF Industries offers
RAPIDOOR® which allows for quick chamber access and positive sealing. WSF Industries has
engineered this feature in a several alloys which allows for Hydrospace Laboratory to customize
the chamber to suit the often-wet, dynamic environment for testing. Patented safety features
prevent unlocking of the door while the vessel is under pressure, and safety features prevent
process initiation until the closure is locked securely. As such, these unique features are
advantageous to the Government in a way that no other brand’s configuration meets these testing
and safety capabilities.
If another brand chamber was to be selected, the Hydrospace Laboratory will be obligated to
introduce new methodologies and processes to the current baseline configuration that it is set for
replacement, and in this is expected to increase costs by $387,500 and push testing schedules to
unacceptable timeframes. These costs and delays are not expected to be recovered through
competition. Therefore, the WSF Industries, Inc. configuration is the only one available to meet
the minimum Government needs for this proposed requirement.

A sources sought notice was published on the Government point of entry SAM.gov website from
18 July 2022 to 1 August 2022. Because the requirement is a commercial item, it was synopsized
for less than fifteen days per FAR Part 5.203. WSF Industries, Inc. was the only entity
responding to the announcement. No additional market research was conducted because it is not
practicable, for the reasons discussed in paragraph 5 above, for any company other than WSF to
provide the required Horizontal Large Littoral Test Chamber.

Awarded contract N61331-22-C-0006 to WSF INDUSTRIES INC for 1006071.00 on 2022-09-29.