J&A Posting

Added: Oct 11, 2011 9:42 am This contract action was accomplished using other than competitive procedures because there is only one responsible source due to a unique capability provided, and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements (FAR 6.302-1). See posted J&A for further information.

This contract action was not awarded as a fixed price type because it was not possible to estimate accurately the extent or duration of the work or to anticipate costs with any reasonable degree of confidence. As such, a time-and-materials type action was awarded for non-commercial supplies and services (FAR 16.601(c)).

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT
FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION


Program/Equipment: Anthropomorphic Test Device Program

Previously Planned Option Year Value: N/A Projected Option Years Value: $5,649,696

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1 Amount for J&A: $8,229,696


Prepared by:

Name: Ian Quillman DSN: 298-0758
Title: Contracting Specialist


Procuring Contracting Officer:

Name: Renee Hodge DSN: 458-0362
Title: Contracting Officer

Technical and Requirements Representative:

Name: Brian Gatewood DSN: 278-4014
Title: Electronic Technician



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

Program Manager:
DSN: 298-3396
Name: Michael Clark
Chief, Ballistic Instrumentation Division

Signature Date:_22 August 2011______


Local Small Business Specialist
DSN: 584-1835
Name: Deborah Ahn

Signature_____//s//________(digitally signed)______ Date:Monday, August 22, 2011



Legal Counsel:
DSN: 298-1553
Name: David Scott

8/22/2011



Special Competition Advocate/Chief Aberdeen Installation Contracting Division
DSN: 298-2362
Name: Martha Mitchem

Signature:_________________________________ Date:_____________




JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL
FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION


1. CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen Proving Ground Installation Contracting Division (AICD).

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: Approval for an exception to full and open competition is being sought for the Aberdeen Test Center in support of the Anthropomorphic Test Device (commonly referred to as Crash Test Dummies) Program Requirements Contract. A requirements type contract will be used with a three year ordering period. This action has a value of $8,229,696. Initially 2011 R&D (2 year) funds will be used for the first task orders.


3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: Maintenance, parts, and repair services in support of the Anthropomorphic Test Device program. The requirement includes scheduled and unscheduled maintenance (calibration and repair) of load cells and accelerometers, and a replacement ATD and parts. It also includes support of ATD verification Lab software, equipment and provides unique lab supplies. The overwhelming portion of the costs of this requirement are new parts and a new ATD.
Cost Element Cost
CLIN 1 Calibration $365,000
CLIN 2 Repair $50,000 (T&M)
CLIN 3 Replacement ATD and Parts $2,100,000
CLIN 4 ATD Lab Support(Software, Supplies,etc) $65,000



CLIN 0001 is estimated calibration costs, taking into account scheduled and unscheduled calibration. Below is the breakdown of the estimate:
Scheduled/Unscheduled Calibration: Total is $260,000 for 521 load cells requiring yearly or as needed calibration.

Scheduled/Unscheduled Calibration: Total is $105,000 for 630 accelerometers requiring yearly or as needed calibration.

CLIN 0002
Unscheduled Maintenance and Repair of Anthropomorphic Test Device parts: $50,000 for 400 hrs

(1) 400 hrs x 1 person x $125/hr = $50,000 (approximately)

Below is a breakdown of the CLIN 0003 costs:

Parts Parts Cost
Anthropomorphic Test Device $1,000,000
Anthropomorphic Test Device Body Parts $450,000
Load Cells $500,000
Lab Supplies $50,000
Accelerometers $100,000
Total Parts $2,100,000











CLIN 0004 is for software and software support. Its estimated costs are $50,000.

The total value of this award is estimated at $8,229,696.

4. AUTHORITY CITED: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements

5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED: Services/supplies/parts can only be provided from original source as this is a follow-on requirement for the continued provision of highly specialized services and devices.

a. Background: Prior to 2007, ATC's anthropomorphic testing in test vehicles occurred at a frequency twice a month with an inventory of approximately 12 ATDs to rotate through these tests. Since that time, ATC's inventory has increased to 41 ATDs and testing is up to 4 vehicles in one week, with 5 to 11 ATDs per vehicle. Due to this increase in testing requirements this procurement has a direct impact on ATC's capability to support short suspense's in testing and the ability to maintain a capable inventory of ATDs to use in vehicle testing. The load cells and ATD are manufactured by Denton ATD who is now a subsidiary of Humanetics Innovative Solutions. Humanetics Innovate Solutions possesses the proprietary drawings for manufacturing, distribution rights, calibration and sales/engineering support staff for continued support of this hardware. The calibration of load cells is critical for survivability live fire testing. The data retrieved is used as a means of analyzing and mitigating the effects of live fire vehicle testing on human bodies. Humanetics Innovate Solutions (Denton ATD Inc.) has been the supporting contractor during the increases mentioned above in ATD testing. Use of this contractor has prevented ATC from disrupting any of the mission critical testing. A delay in testing would cause a significant increased cost to the government. Costs could range from two hundred thousand dollars per day upwards of millions of dollars. The costs would be dependent on the amount of time it would take for ATD's to become available for use. Depending on this time, tests could be pushed back significantly and cause milestones to not be met.

b. Alternatives: Humanetics Innovate Solutions manufactures specific load cells used in high injury areas on the Anthropomorphic Test Device. These loads cells are specialty and proprietary parts. There is no other company that can provide these load cells. Time and capability to support Anthropomorphic Test Device are the critical elements to consider. To involve another contractor whose practices are not proven and cannot supply current parts would have a detrimental effect on ATC's ability to continue to meet the rigorous time constraints involved in the Anthropomorphic Test Device Program. Humanetics Innovate Solutions is capable of completing all of the order requirements in a timely manner with no interruption in ATC's ability to support testing. Humanetics Innovate Solutions calibrations are traceable and maintain our standard of historical data. Other issues to consider are readily available stock on hand, compatibility, and traceability. Some of the engineering changes include improved seats, better armor, improved survivability all of which improve the survivability of the crew members in combat. The vehicles supported by the ATDs are used in various Army missions involving personnel movement, supply transport, direct combat and security. Humanetics Innovate Solutions is a leader in the Biomechanical Testing field for many years and is well trusted in their scope of work. They have been involved with the different types of testing using anthropomorphic test devices including; automobile crash testing, ejection seat testing, pedestrian strike testing, and various explosive type tests. They understand the J211 Crash Standard that sets the injury criteria that determines how seriously a passenger is injured. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) manages the guidelines in the J211 for the automotive industry. ATC conforms to ITOP 4-2-208, ITOP 1-2-505 and DA PAM 73-1 which incorporates SAE industry standards and includes requirements to be compatible with military vehicle testing. Humanetics Innovate Solutions is the manufacturer of ATC's new inventory of Anthropomorphic Test Device. They manufacture the specialty parts, possess skills and facilities to meet the high demand of Anthropomorphic Test Device requirements we have placed on them due to increased testing. Humanetics Innovate Solutions has managed all of the additional requirements in a timely professional manner which prevented interruptions in ATC's ability to support vehicle testing. There are similar crash test dummies on the market that can sense loads and provide the feedback in testing that is required by Aberdeen Test Center to meet mission requirements. An alternative to a requirements type contract would be using purchase orders for each calibration and parts replacement as we needed.

c. Justification: The ATDs require unique support in replacement parts and calibration of instrumentation used to represent specific areas of a human body. Crash test dummies are full scale ATDs that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts. This data can include variables such as velocity of impact, crushing force, bending, folding, or torque of the body, and deceleration rates during a vehicle collision. They remain indispensable in the development of and ergonomics in all types of vehicles. The high capacity load cell in the lumbar spine is a specialty and proprietary part owned by Humanetics Innovate Solutions. The high capacity load cell is required in live fire testing due to the nature of military vehicle test because of the high level of vertical axis stress on the ATD. The enhanced tibia leg assembly is another specialty and proprietary part owned by Humanetics Innovate Solutions. The enhanced tibia leg assembly is an area on the ATD that receives high levels of stress due to testing. The six axis femur is a third specialty item that has begun to receive a great deal of scrutiny. These parts are critical in ATC's ATD testing and cannot be provided by another contractor. The calibration of load cells and accelerometers need to maintain traceability to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) to avoid legal ramifications. The Endevco accelerometers are part of the whole ATD and without them the ATD is incomplete and unusable, therefore the complete set of load cells and accelerometers needs to be maintained together to reduce downtime for calibration. Traceability and specifications of the load cells and accelerometers is maintained by calibrating at a single location. Humanetics Innovate Solutions provides this single location for calibration of the load cells and accelerometers which allows us to keep the ATD as a single unit. This significantly reduces turnaround time and cost to the Army. The data will also be used for engineering changes to the vehicle which will make the vehicles safer.


d. Impact: If the contract requirements are not maintained the impact on ATC's ability to provide Anthropomorphic Test Devices for testing would be immediate delays in vehicle testing which in turn would impact the Army's mission of testing vehicles. The cost and affect of a failure of this contract could delay critical resources for the Government which would increase overall cost to the Government. Costs could range from two hundred thousand dollars per day upwards of millions of dollars. The costs would be dependent on the amount of time it would take for ATD's to become available for use. Depending on this time, tests could be pushed back significantly and cause milestones to not be met. The Army and other customers use ATD's in testing to determine the injury caused by the testing event. If the high capacity lumbar load cell and the enhanced tibia leg are not maintained, ATC would reduce the survivability of the ATD during high level events. Therefore reducing our ability to report proper injuries to the ATD. Decisions to purchase a vehicle or make engineering changes are made depending on the results of the ATD. The results of ATD's injuries in testing saves soldier lives due to purchasing the safest military vehicle the Army can provide and continuing to improve the new and current inventory of vehicles by making engineering changes that give the crew better survivability rates during combat events. The ATD's have provided immediate results of survivability which contributed to rapid initiatives providing solders with vehicles that have the greatest survivability in theater. Therefore a failure in the ATD contract could have a direct impact in saving soldiers lives.


6. EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION: Market research revealed (ref: Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Inc. E-News Flash Issue 1 dated November 2010), that in April 2010, Denton ATD and First Technology Safety Systems became subsidiaries of Humanetics Innovative Solutions and would be operating under the new company name of Humanetics Innovative Solutions, Inc. effective February 1, 2011. This research was corroborated with Michael Clark and Brian Gatewood, both of Aberdeen Test Center, on August 1st as being correct and that market conditions had not changed. There are no distributors for Humanetics Innovate Solutions. A notice of intent to sole source was issued July 14, 2011 and closed August 16, 2011. There were no interested parties or responses to this notice to sole source.


7. ACTIONS TO INCREASE COMPETITION: Testing of the material is ongoing for evaluation. The government has determined that these materials are to be used in actual applications; however, the government is in the process of defining performance specifications that will allow for competition. Requirements have not yet been defined, and therefore ATC would have to evaluate other material in similar configurations during the research stage. If new companies emerge with a solution they claim can meet the performance of material provided by Humanetics Innovative Solutions then validation testing can commence to verify its effectiveness.

8. MARKET RESEARCH: Initial research was conducted by ATC two years ago for Anthropomorphic Test Devices. There have been several efforts in the past to obtain competition for ATD parts and services. A notice of intent was posted February 10, 2009 to award a sole source Requirements Contract for repair services and ATD parts to Denton ATD, which was later bought by Humanetics. Another contractor, First Technology Safety Systems responded to the notice of intent to sole source, as an interested party. After further market research, it was determined to issue a solicitation for the requirement. Both, First Technology Safety Systems and Denton ATD, submitted proposals. Denton was determined lowest price technically acceptable and purchase order W91ZLK-09-P-0771 with a base and two options years was awarded. W91ZLK-09-P-0771 reached its limitation September 2010 and other competition efforts were sought through FEDBIZZOPs and FEDBID for ATD parts. Solicitation W91ZLK-10-T-0441 for ATD devices was posted on August 27, 2010 and closed September 7, 2010. Only Denton ATD submitted a quote in response to the Request for Quotations and purchase order W91ZLK-10-P-1138 was awarded. A past requirement for ATD parts and five anthropomorphic test devices was solicited through FEDBIZZOPs via Request for Quotes W91ZLK-11-T-0028 on December 17, 2010 and closed December 28, 2010. The procurement was advertised as unrestricted in hopes of maximizing competition. The solicitation stated ATD's of Denton brand name or equal and sited that the ATD's had to be in compliance with the 49 Code of Federal Regulations; Part 572, Subpart E, Transportation. Only Denton ATD submitted a quote in response to the Request for Quotes. During the procurement process, procurement polices had changed. The new policy does not allow award of a requirement, if only one quote is received in response to a solicitation. Requirements with only one quote must be re-competed for an additional 30 days. There have been other recent requirements for ATD products, where only Denton ATD has provided quotes. Performance of this device and its replacement parts, to include maintenance must be in very specific configurations and then written to a performance specification around what is to be determined to be available from commercially available materials. Humanetics Innovative Solutions (Denton ATD) provides specialty and proprietary lumbar spine load cells, femur load cells and enhanced tibia leg assembly that cannot be provided by another company. The lumbar spine load cells, femur load cells and tibia leg assemblies are proprietary to Humanetics Innovative Solutions. Formal market research was conducted via notice of intent to award sole source on 11 March 2011, as required by FAR 5.201, and again posted on July 14 2011, also with no responses. No inquiries or comments were received from other sources in the marketplace, nor has there been any interest expressed by any other firm to perform the services for the interim period.

9. INTERESTED SOURCES: No other sources have expressed an interest. The notice required by FAR 5.201 had been published for a prior requirement via FEDBIZZOPPS on July 14, 2011 and closed August 16, 2011. There were no interested parties or responses to this notice to sole source. See attached Synopsis.

10. OTHER FACTS:

Previous requirements that have been solicited/awarded:

W91ZLK-11-P-0018 - Posted on ASFI, with no responses to solicitation
W91ZLK-11-P-0022 - Posted on ASFI, with no responses to solicitation
W91ZLK-11-P-0032 - Posted on Fed-Bid, with no bids
W91ZLK-11-P-0213 - Sole source to Humanetics


All of the above awards were competed through FEDBIZZOPPs or FEDBID. Only DENTON ATD (Humanetics Innovative Solutions) was able to provide pricing and the requirements.

11. Technical and 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.


Name: Brian Gatewood Date: 22 August 11

Signature:

Title: Electronic Technician

12. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. This determination is based upon the cost and pricing provided by the requiring activity and the procurement history of similarly priced items. Humanetics also publishes their price lists to the public, further establishing a fair and reasonable price. Certified cost or pricing data is not required for the commercial items in accordance with FAR 15.403.

Name: Renee Hodge Date: 22 August 2011

Title: Contracting Officer Signature:

13. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Name: Renee Hodge Date: 22 August 2011

Title: Contracting Officer Signature:


APPROVAL

Based upon the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the purchase of the anthropomorphic test devices and anthropomorphic parts, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10U.S.C. 2304( c )(1), subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.


Date: Signature:
Martha L. Mitchem
Special Competition Advocate

DEFINITIONS:

Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) - Commonly referred to as a Crash Test Dummy
used in Live Fire Testing for assessing crew survivability against Army Injury
Criteria. Full-scale anthropometric test devices (ATD) simulate the dimensions, weight
proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record
data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated adverse vehicle events. This
data can include variables such as velocity of the event, crushing force, bending, folding,
or torque of the body and deceleration rates during the event for use in Live Fire Test
and Evaluation.

Load Cell - an electronic device that is used to convert a force into an electrical signal.
This conversion is indirect and happens in two stages. Through a mechanical
arrangement, the force being sensed deforms a strain gauge. The strain gauge converts
the deformation (strain) to electrical signals. A load cell usually consists of four strain
gauges in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. Load Cells measure neck, lumbar spine, femur, upper and lower tibia axial forces in the ATD.

Accelerometer - A transducer (gage) or electromechanical device that measures
acceleration forces acting on an article. Accelerometers measure head, chest, pelvis and middle tibia directional stresses to the ATD.

Calibration- The validation of specific measurement techniques and equipment. At the simplest level, calibration is a comparison between measurements-one of known magnitude or correctness made or set with one device and another measurement made in as similar a way as possible with a second device. The device with the known or assigned correctness is called the standard. The second device is the unit under test (UUT), test instrument (TI) or any of several other names for the device being calibrated. Calibrations that support live fire testing at Aberdeen Test Center are traceable to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) through a verified chain of compliance. People supporting calibration must have a traceability statement as well as a statement of uncertainty.

Instrumentation - includes both load cells and accelerometers.