Amendment A00003 to RFP HSCG38-10-R-H00001

Justification and Approval for Other Than Full and Open Competition Under 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by FAR Subpart 6.3, and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows: (1) Agency and Contracting Activity. Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard, Aviation Logistics Center (ALC), Weeksville Rd., Elizabeth City, NC proposes to enter into a contract on a basis other than full and open competition. (2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved. The US Coast Guard has a requirement on a sole source basis to acquire multi-function Electronic Flight Display Systems for use on US Coast Guard HC130-H aircraft including non-recurring engineering services for integration design, pre-production hardware, engineering support services and production hardware The proposed contractor is Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S), 720 Pennsylvania Drive, Exton, PA 19341-1129, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The estimated Contract Value is $12,339,072.00 (3) Description of Supplies/Services. The US Coast Guard HC-130H aircraft supports a broad spectrum of US Coast Guard missions. Since the US Coast Guard has transferred to the Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard aircraft equipment requirements have increased to meet mission requirements associated with Homeland Security. These requirements call for the installation of common, interoperable and sustainable systems to the maximum extent possible. To meet the Homeland Security strategic vision, the Coast Guard has developed the HC-130H Phase 1 Avionics Upgrade Operational Requirements Document (ORD), which calls for a multi-function Electronic Flight Display System (EFDS). That system must be fully compatible and inter-operable with the IS&S Engine Instrument Display System (EIDS) that is currently on the aircraft. This EFDS is required to replace the out of production legacy flight instruments on the HC-130H that are no longer sustainable. IS&S is the only manufacturer that can provide EFDS's that are fully compatible and inter-operable with their EIDS and provide non-recurring engineering services for system integration design necessary for system installation on the aircraft. The Government anticipates award of a Firm Fixed Price Requirements type contract consisting of a Two (2) -year Base Period for purchase of Non-Recurring Engineering Services (NRE) for integration design development, purchase of pre-production activities hardware including hardware necessary for qualification testing and purchase of EFDS for one (1) Prototype aircraft installation and one (1) Validation aircraft installation; and three (3) One (1) -year Option Periods for purchase of Production EFDS units and Engineering Support Services. Period Term Value Base Period 2-Yr $5,024,854.00 Option Period 1 1-Yr $2,576,224.00 Option Period 2 1-Yr $2,576,224.00 Option Period 3 1-Yr $2,161,770.00 Total Contract Value $12,339,072.00 An Electronic Flight Display System consists of the following components: REDACTED Description Qty Unit Total 10" Flat Panel Display,Data Concentrator Unit, Electronic Chart/Map Server Unit, EGPWS,Display Control Panels (DCP),Supplementary DCP, Hand Controller Subsystem, Air Data Module (ADM),Installation Configuration Module ,Caution Warning Advisory Panel , Engineering Test Kits ,Pre-production kits,Non-Recurring Engineering Hours,Spare EFDS Kits, Engineering Support Services Hours. (4) Identification of the Justification and the Rationale. The statutory authority permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. (5) Demonstration that the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority. The HC-130H aircraft cockpit is currently undergoing an Engine Instrument Display upgrade where the current analog Engine Instrument display panels are being replaced with an IS&S digital Engine Instrument Display System (EIDS) through a separate Coast Guard HC-130 avionics upgrade contract. The same Display Panels and associated hardware used in the EIDS can be used for the complete cockpit upgrade providing for commonality in the cockpit avionics architecture, maintenance flexibility and operational flexibility. Additionally, the aircraft cockpit instrument display panels are flight critical components. New displays, associated hardware and software must be fully compatible with the existing flight critical EIDS equipment and software. If the Coast Guard incorporated an Electronic Flight Display System that was not fully compatible with the IS&S EIDS it would result in reduced flight safety, reduced operational availability, and reduced deployment capabilities. The EIDS display units and associated hardware used in the EIDS are only manufactured by IS&S. Based on market research no other manufacturer could be identified who produces hardware and software compatible with the existing EIDS equipment. Additionally, components that comprise the EIDS and EFDS are commercially available off- the-shelf items requiring minor modifications to software and materials necessary for installation on the aircraft. These modifications will not alter essential physical characteristics of the System, the System's components nor will it change the purpose of the integration process. Incorporation of common equipment from one (1) manufacturer allows critical maintenance and operational flexibility that would not be available if an EFDS from a different manufacturer were incorporated into the cockpit. Therefore IS&S has unique qualifications that no other company has that will satisfy the U.S Coast Guard's EFDS requirement because: (a) Commonality: Implementing a proven cockpit avionics architecture available for all C-130 aircraft variants, the CG has already installed two of the IS&S displays and supporting architecture through a separate HC-130H upgrade contract. The subsystems and connections that support the two existing IS&S displays employ a common architecture that enable growth to a total of six (6) displays while mitigating program costs associated with redundant weight, power demand, non-recurring engineering, program delays and integrated logistics support. (b) Maintenance Flexibility: Common instrument display systems offer deployed maintenance personnel field options to perform troubleshooting or more importantly, to swap failed flight-critical instrument display panels with non-flight critical panels. (c) Operational Flexibility: When encountering an in-flight failure of any one of the six (6) displays, aircrews are able to transfer vital flight or mission data to any other operating display or external display. All of the common displays can revert to a reversionary mode to provide an alternate display of desired data. Additionally, IS&S provides the engineering services critical for installation of the equipment on the aircraft. The non-recurring engineering effort includes engineering labor for the integration design, identification and execution of software and component modifications and various equipment qualification tests. Market research did not result in identification of another source who could perform these pre-production services for the IS&S products. (6) A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable. The U.S. Coast Guard issued Pre-solicitation Notice HSCG38-08-R-H00010 on March 18, 2008 on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) web site. No responses were received to the Notice. The formal solicitation document, Request for Proposal HSCG38-10-R-H00001 will also be advertised and posted to the FBO website and in accordance with FAR 5.207(c)(15)(ii) all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or proposal which shall be considered by the agency. A copy of the Pre-solicitation Notice issued under HSCG38-08-R-H00010 is included with this J&A. (7) Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. It is anticipated the cost to the Government for supplies and services will be determined fair and reasonable based on prices established in the Hanscom Air Force Base GATM Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract FA8730-06-D-0008 for same/similar services and similar hardware, software and components. Additionally, the contractor's proposal will be evaluated by an evaluation board comprised of USCG procurement and engineering personnel, USCG Program Office personnel and NAVAIR PMA 209 personnel using known historical data from similar programs where prices have been determined fair and reasonable. For award purposes the Government will evaluate the contractor's price proposal by adding the total price for all contract periods. (8) A description of the market research. The US Coast Guard, Office of Aviation Acquisition (CG-931), Washington DC conducted market research to identify any other potential sources of Electronic Flight Display Systems (EFDS). The market research consisted of face to face meetings with all of the major manufacturers of EFDS. Due to software and hardware constraints, each manufacturer had proprietary Systems that were not fully compatible and inter-operable with the existing IS&S EIDS on the HC-130H. As a result the market research did not find any companies, other than IS&S, that could provide the Coast Guard with an EFDS that is fully compatible and inter-operable with the existing IS&S EIDS. In this case fully compatible means you can remove any EFDS in the cockpit and place it into any other EFDS space, and still have full functionality. This is critical for operational and maintenance flexibility as described in paragraph 5. (9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition. To further support the use of other than full and open competition, the US Coast Guard has identified additional reasons why IS&S is the only responsible source and no other supply or services will satisfy the US Coast Guard's requirements. - Schedule Impact: If another vendor's EFDS were incorporated into the cockpit it would require an additional nine to twelve months of non-recurring engineering (NRE) to make the EFDS system function with the existing IS&S EIDS. - Cost Impact: This effort would cost approximately $9.6M, which is based on a parametric cost estimate for the adaption/modification of 56,000 source lines of code (SLOC). - Performance Impact: By introducing a second vendor's EFDS's into the cockpit the maintenance crew of a deployed aircraft would lose the ability to replace a failed Display or Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) component with a Display or LRU component from the EIDS. This will result in the aircraft being unavailable for missions until a replacement EFDS Display unit or component could be acquired. In the case of aircraft that are deployed to remote locations shipping the part would take 2 to 3 days. - Performance Impact: There is a significant increase to flight safety by having a digital cockpit consisting on 6 displays (4 EFD's and 2 EIDS) that are all fully inter-operable. In the event of multiple display failures (due to lighting strikes, fire, other emergencies, etc) the most critical flight data can be moved to any of the remaining functional displays. If any vendor other than IS&S provides the EFDs, we will lose a significant portion of that system redundancy because data could not be transferred between the EFD and the EIDS. (10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition. The U S Coast Guard issued a Sources Sought Notice to seek potential sources that could satisfy the requirements of the HC-130H ORD. The following sources responded to the U.S. Coast Guard sources sought synopsis. Lockheed Martin L3, SPAR Aerospace Div (Canada) ARINC Engineering Services Boeing M7 Aerospace MTC Technologies Rockwell Collins NCG Navigation Systems Div TKC Aero NCG California Microwave Systems Volaire Raytheon Tech Services Co. ILSC Spirit Avionics EPS Astronautics Westwind Technologies Scientific Research The US Coast Guard, Office of Aviation Acquisition (CG-931), Washington DC analyzed the individual system architectures of each interested source. As a result of this analysis, CG-931 determined that none of the sources met the requirement for an MFD system that is fully compatible and inter-operable with the IS&S EIDS that currently exists in the HC-130H aircraft. (11) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for required supplies or services. For reasons set forth in paragraph 5, the U.S. Coast Guard has no plan to compete future contracts for the supplies and service covered by this J&A. Instead, the Coast Guard is recapitalizing the HC-130H avionics system and is following the configuration available to other DoD entities. As such, the Coast Guard plans to partner with DoD for future avionics system upgrades that will adhere to increasing commonality requirements. It is expected that future USCG/DoD joint fleet requirements will be evaluated for competitive procurements.