USTPS - ASTARS

J&A_12_22203 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1. Contracting Activity. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD) Patuxent River, MD 2. Description of the Action Being Approved. This Justification and Approval (J & A) authorizes, on a sole source basis, a single award Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract with Calspan Corporation for the supply, operation and maintenance of a Saab 340A Aircraft to support the U. S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS) Airborne Systems Training and Research Support (ASTARS) Program at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) located in Patuxent River, MD. . This action will result in a three (3) year contract which will consist of one (1) base year and two (2) option years. This will be a follow-on to contract N00421-09-C-0103, also awarded to Calspan Corporation. 3. Description of Supplies/Services. This acquisition is to furnish, operate and maintain an aircraft containing Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) consisting of sensors, computers, controls and displays to support ground and flight test and evaluation training on a representative, integrated system at U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS). The aircraft selected for this action is a Saab 340A. The aircraft, supplied by Calspan Corporation, upon award of contract N00421-09-C-0103 which was competitively bid, was delivered and modified with GFE to support the training. The design, fabrication and installation by Calspan of the GFE on the Saab 340A was included in the performance work statement of the current contract. The existing contract was awarded on August 31, 2009 and expires on August 31, 2012. See Appendix A for Estimated Dollar Value 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition. 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. 5. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Statutory Authority. The current contractor, Calspan is the only responsible source that can satisfy agency requirements for the following reasons: 1) Duplication of Costs- Approximately $1,700,000.00 of non-recurring engineering (NRE) effort was required to install the GFE into the contractor provided aircraft that is required to conduct training while airborne and on the ground. The NRE also included insuring adequate power and cooling requirements for the equipment to be operated indefinitely and continuously on the ground and airborne. Additionally, multiple sets of GFE have been used to develop a lab based version of the sensors that can be used for training at less cost than flying assets, and function as operational spares for the primary flight sensors. If this requirement was completed and another contractor was selected, these furnishing and installation costs of GFE would have to be duplicated. 2) Unacceptable delay of work- Based on previous efforts, at least five and a half (5-1/2) months would be required if GFE is re-installed into another asset. In the previous procurement, it took five and one half (5-1/2) months from contract signing to first flight with USNTPS students. This resulted in an unanticipated delay in actual classroom training time, due to the installation and testing of all of the GFE. Calspan was responsible for the design, fabrication and installation of the GFE on their Saab 340A. The current contract required delivery of GFE at contract signing and it took five (5) months to complete fabrication and installation at the contractor's facility. The government does not own two additional sets of the GFE; therefore use of the GFE by another contractor would incur additional delays to remove the GFE from its current location. After arrival of the aircraft at USNTPS, there were two weeks required for government acceptance of the asset and training of USNTPS instructors in the use of the new systems. 3) Government is unable to meet requirements-If another contractor was selected, the USNTPS would have no asset available for training for approximately five and one half (5-1/2) months. This is unacceptable in a ten (10) month curriculum which has two classes in training at all times, with a six (6) month staggered start to provide approximately seventy (70) graduates per year. 6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Offerors as Practicable. The previous contract was funded to conduct NRE to host the government furnished equipment or install contractor provided sensors in an airframe capable of conducting in-flight instruction in the test and evaluation of the various sensors and their integration. During the previous procurement, only one other bidder could meet the technical requirements, but could not meet the delivery time required. Both Offerors required NRE efforts to develop a one-of-a-kind or unique asset for use by USNTPS. Only the contractor that was awarded the contract made the modifications required to a commercial airplane (SAAB 340A) to support the USNTPS mission. Market research has not revealed any assets that can meet these requirements without modification, and no funding is available for modification of aircraft until the contract is awarded. As such, there are no other assets available that can provide a completely operational system that is ready to use for instruction in the required timeframe. The current requirement was synopsized in the FedBizOpps on January 13, 2012 and responses were due February 3, 2012. No responses were received, except for Calspan. 7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost. In accordance with FAR 15.402, the Contracting Officer shall ensure that all supplies and services provided under this contract are procured at a fair and reasonable cost. The Contractor will submit a formal price proposal with certified cost and pricing data and sufficient information to support the accuracy and reliability of the estimate. Calspan's proposal will be reviewed by experienced technical and contracting personnel. Analysis will be based on historical cost data available from the most recent contract, as well as input from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA). The Contracting Officer will use this analysis as a basis for negotiating a fair and reasonable price. 8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Future Competition. USNTPS continually searches for either military or commercial entities that could possibly host similar or improved sensors in a configuration suitable to do ground and in-flight instruction. No such assets are known to exist at this time. Release of the Request For Proposal (RFP) will proceed after the signing of this J&A. Upon completion of this contract action (30 Sep 2015), if market research can show that sufficient technological advances at reduced costs can be implemented within the limited budget constraints to support the non-recurring engineering work required to design, install, and test either contractor or government furnished sensors on an appropriate host aircraft, the follow-on procurement could be competitively awarded.