D--Special Notice of Sole Source Contract Action

Under the authority of 6.302-1, the U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center, Natick Contracting Division, Natick, MA intends to award a Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order to Protonex Technology Corporation, of Southborough, MA, as the only manufacturer and reseller of the BPM602 BAO Power Manager. They are also the only manufacturer and reseller of the cables that support the BPM602 BAO Power Manager. This developmental item is unavailable from any other source. Nothing herein should be misconstrued as a request for proposal. No solicitation document is available. Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agencys needs: The Future Warrior Technology Integration team (FWTI) needs a small, soldier wearable power manager to distribute and regulate power across the soldier system as well as log data on energy consumption through bi-directional communication with other system components. The power manager must be ruggedized for military use per MIL-STD-810F. The FWTI soldier system components that will transmit data to the power manager are leveraged from the USAF Battlefield Air Operations (BAO) arena, so the power manager will have to be compatible with those areas. A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e. unique qualifications, proprietary rights, etc.): Protonex is the only manufacturer and retailer of the BPM602 BAO Power Manager for the Air Force's Battlefield Air Operations (BAO) Kit. As a result, they are the only company who can tailor their system software to be compatible with the requirements of our soldier system. Protonex also has a unique position in the marketplace because they are high tech integrators of man-portable power systems from batteries, to fuel cells, to power management. The only other company in the market place that can manufacture this type of power manager is Smart Fuel Cell Gmb (SFC) of Germany. They are currently under contract with FWTI and their power manager is currently being used with the FWTI systems being tested. A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: The Untied States Air Force conducted extensive research in the area of man-wearable power management systems when it developed its Battlefield Air Operations (BAO) Kit. Two main contractors were selected for prototype fabrication - Smart Fuel Cell Gmb (SFC) of Germany and Protonex of Southborough, MA. Also the US Army Communications-Electronics Research Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) at Ft. Monmouth, NJ has done extensive market research and has recently awarded Protonex a contract for development of a next generation man-wearable power manager. Both The USAF BAO Kit project and CERDEC project have provided extensive market research in this area, and we are leveraging this research in selecting Protonex for this purchase. 5) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: Protonex is a locally based technology development firm. This close proximity, Southborough, MA, will be highly beneficial for rapid trouble shooting and technical changes required on developmental programs like this. Information received will be considered solely for determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement in the future. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the U.S. Army RDECOM Acquisition Center, Natick Contracting Division, via e-mail at contact@example.gov no later than 23 November 2009, 14:00 pm EDT.