Sole Source to Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc for ACS and the CTD systems Per Attachments

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, (NSWC PCD), Panama City, FL intends to award a firm-fixed price purchase order to the following:  Sole Source to Sea-Bird Electronics.

This purchase is for the following items:

Nomenclature                         Description                                                     Quantity 

FAS-000308                             ACS Spectrophotometer                                  2 EA

19P.132021S                            SBE 19plus v2 CTD                                        2 EA

801269.I                                    SBE 19plus 40 inch Deployment Cage          2 EA

20200.0                                     RS232 Converter Adaptor                              2 EA

The Sea-Bird Electronics ACS spectrophotometer is proprietary, custom made to order, and is similar to the current systems owned by NSWC PCD.  The base optical sensor is identical and the power and data handling reduction limits external auxiliary sensor integration. The NSWC PCD Oceanographic Office (OSO) can supplement with items already in current inventory.  The Sea-Bird Electronics CTD is also proprietary, custom made to order, and is identical to the current systems owned by NSWC PCD including modifications unique to oceanographic test support for up to 350 meter depths for the collection of conductivity, temperature, and depth data.  The Sea-Bird Electronics CTD is relied on for deep water column profiling and requires little training with the immediate ability to support quick turnaround operations required for NSWC PCD.  Both the ACS and the CTD systems are in operation at NSWC PCD with high demands.  Transitioning to a new set of equipment would require potential IT infrastructure changes to accommodate different software requirements.  The current set of RDT&E computers are configured with the appropriate software suite and data processing structures already support ACS and CTD requirements and have already been vetted through the lengthy IT process.  This equipment would provide continued operations, without leaving a gap in support and eliminating the need for new training requirements to support personnel.  As such, the government does not expect significant savings through competition and it is more advantageous to the Government to award on a sole source basis to Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc. for the items listed above.