Solar Array Battery Control (SABC) Card

NOTE! This is a Notice of Contract Award and makes available the justification required by 6.303-1. PRIOR POSTING OR POSTING AS A NOTICE OF CONTRACT AWARD WAS NOT POSSIBLE DUE TO ERRORS ON THE FEDBIZOPPS WEBPAGE. CONTRACT AWARD DATE: 20 July 2012 CONTRACT AWARD NUMBER: FA9453-12-C-0221 CONTRACT AWARD DOLLAR AMOUNT: $448,502 CONTRACT LINE ITEM NUMBER: CLIN 0001 CONTRACTOR AWARD NAME: SEAKR Engineering Inc. CONTRACTOR AWARDED DUNS: 122032006 CONTRACTOR AWARDED ADDRESS: 6221 S Racine Cir, Centennial CO 80111-6427 COORDINATION AND APPROVAL DOCUMENT (also known as Justification Review Document) CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: AFRL/RVKI PROGRAM/PROJECT: Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) Solar Array Battery Control (SABC) Repair AUTHORITY: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(3), as implemented by FAR 6.3(a)(2)(iii), Only One Responsible Source ESTIMATED CONTRACT COST: $450,000 TYPE J&A: Individual JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION I. CONTRACTING ACTIVITY The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RVEP) has designed, integrated, and tested the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) program as an experimental space flight mission. This Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition is a repair effort for the solar array battery control (SABC) card of the Integrated Avionics System (IAS), i.e., the spacecraft bus computer, for the DSX spacecraft. Purchase Request F2KBAA2110B004 is available for funding a firm fixed price (FFP) contract with the original SABC card designer and builder, SEAKR Engineering, Inc. to build an identical SABC card and replace the damaged card. An SABC card was originally provided as subcontract effort under Microsat Systems Inc. (MSI) Contract No. FA9453-04-C-0001. (MSI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). Hereinafter, the referenced contract will refer to SNC.) II. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING PROCESSED This action is expected to be awarded as a new FFP contract, with an estimated total value of $450,000 and an expected award date of 21 June 2012. A period of performance of 12 months is planned. This repair effort is expected to support the DSX program which currently has an anticipated launch date of August 2015. III. DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY'S NEEDS Under the contemplated contract, SEAKR Engineering, Inc. (hereafter, "SEAKR") will provide the following supplies and services in sustainment of the DSX program: a. Approximately 1200 staff-hours will be acquired for this repair/replacement requirement. Functions to be performed include: procuring all necessary components, printed circuit boards, spares, and supplies to build and replace an SABC card to the original specifications; providing the necessary ground support equipment to verify operation of the new SABC card; assembling the SABC card and performing functional tests to verify the performance of the card; baking out the new SABC card under vacuum (1.0 x 10^-5 Torr) at approximately 80 degrees C for 8 hours (unpowered); performing 8 thermal workmanship cycles: one cycle between -45 deg C to 85 deg C (ambient pressure), and 7 cycles between - 25 deg C to 55 deg C (ambient pressure); verifying post-test functionality of the SABC card; receiving, inspecting, and taking control of the flight IAS; and removing the original SABC card from the IAS and replacing it with the new SABC card. The anticipated period of performance of this effort will be from 21 June 2012 through 21 June 2013, and 3600 RDT&E appropriations will fund this effort. b. New parts and components to build the SABC card will be acquired in 2012. The time to acquire long lead parts will drive the contractor's schedule and ultimately, the delivery date. Delivery of the new SABC card will occur on/before 21 June 2013, and 3600 appropriations will fund this effort. The estimated value of the parts/components of the new SABC card is $267,000 and the total estimated cost for this procurement (parts + labor) is approximately $450,000. All items will be procured with 3600 funds. IV. STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 10 USC 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii), Only One Responsible Source, for a follow-on contract for highly specialized services, when award to any other source would result in substantial unacceptable delays. V. DEMONSTRATION THAT THE CONTRACTOR'S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES THE USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED ABOVE (APPLICABILITY OF AUTHORITY) a. Only One Responsible Source (FAR 6.302-1) exists where the Government can get the highly specialized services to meet the Government's requirements. SEAKR designed, built, and tested the original SABC card as a subcontractor under SNC Contract No. FA9453-04-C-0001 for the DSX spacecraft. Thus, SEAKR has intimate knowledge of precisely how to rebuild and extract the replacement SABC card for the DSX spacecraft. SEAKR also performed a failure modes and effects analysis when the SABC card unexpectedly failed during Governmental testing of the DSX spacecraft. Since SEAKR currently holds the data rights for the original SABC card, the Government would experience unacceptable and substantial schedule delays if a competitive new award for a comparable flight card was pursued. Delays in completing this work will slip the ability of the DSX team to finish the DSX spacecraft in a timely fashion and thus jeopardizes the launch manifest of the $155M DSX spacecraft. The AFRL DSX program office does not have the authority to slip the launch schedule. (1) Subsection One. The SABC card is a critical card in the IAS, it controls the solar array and battery charging for all the spacecraft subsystems and 14 payloads. It manages the power distribution between charging the batteries and running the entire spacecraft. Without a functioning SABC, the DSX spacecraft wouldn't last more than a few hours on orbit. SEAKR previously was a subcontractor to the DSX Host Spacecraft Bus (HSB) contractor, SNC and provided the SABC as part of the IAS as a delivery to SNC. The IAS resides in the HSB. SNC delivered the HSB to the Government in June 2009 under Contract No. FA9453-04-C-0001. SNC's contract will end 30 Sep 2012. Since this delivery, SEAKR has performed troubleshooting work and twice performed a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) on the SABC due to failures that occurred during DSX integration and testing. The services SEAKR will provide are highly specialized because they developed and designed a unique, one of a kind, SABC and IAS specifically to meet the DSX research and development mission. This SABC card supports all the DSX spacecraft subsystems as well as 14 different payloads and has never been built or flown in space before. Only SEAKR would be able to efficiently (i.e., schedule) build a new SABC for the DSX spacecraft within reasonable cost and technical risk by merely building an exact duplicate of the existing SABC they previously built. Therefore, this acquisition will be a follow-on contract for the continued development of highly specialized equipment. (2) Subsection Two. SEAKR has the unique facilities, personnel, tooling, test chambers, and ground support equipment to provide the Government a replacement SABC card at the lowest cost, shortest schedule, and lowest technical risk. These assets provide unmatched value for the Government. (3) Subsection Three. The AFRL DSX Program Manager believes that award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the Air Force's requirements. Awarding to any other contractor would cause unacceptable delay in the DSX readiness and launch schedule. Any other contractor would have to reverse-engineer the SABC and then learn how to build a new one. Any other contractor would also have to reproduce all the SABC card drawings, computer finite element and thermal models, and perform structural analysis of the SABC. All these additional tasks would add months to the contract performance and cause DSX to lose its launch manifest and miss its launch. (4) Subsection Four. Accordingly, SEAKR is the only firm capable of providing the supplies and services described in Section III above without the U.S. Air Force experiencing unacceptable delays in fulfilling its requirements. VI. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS DEEMED PRACTICABLE A Sources Sought Synopsis announcement under Solicitation No. FA9453-12-R-0221 was posted on FedBizOpps on 23 April 2012 announcing the Government's intent to procure repair effort related to the solar array battery control (SABC) card of the Integrated Avionics System (IAS), which is the spacecraft bus computer for the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft. The notice allowed interested parties the opportunity to respond by 27 April 2012 with information documenting their qualifications and capabilities to meet the requirements. No capability statements were submitted in response to this announcement. VII. DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE The contracting officer considers SEAKR a responsible source pursuant to the standards at FAR 9.104. In the past, SEAKR has provided fair and reasonable prices for past subcontract actions executed against the DSX contract FA9453-04-C-0001. The contracting officer anticipates using Price/Cost analyses and cost reasonableness as methods for determining a fair and reasonable price. In performing the cost analysis, a technical/quantitative evaluation will be obtained from the program office as well as rate/system information from the cognizant DCAA. Since the contract value will be below the TINA threshold, the contracting officer plans to consider other than cost or pricing data that clearly: (1) reflects fair market value or total allowable cost of performance by a well-managed, responsible contractor plus reasonable fee; (2) indicates the ability to satisfy the contract terms; and (3) demonstrates reasonableness. VIII. DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS, OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASONS MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED As described in Section VI above, market research, in accordance with FAR Part 10, was conducted by the Sources Sought announcement of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition and soliciting inquiries from interested parties. The results provide a high level of confidence that no other qualified sources exist. IX. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION Currently SEAKR holds the data rights to the original SABC card. This further supports the use of other than full and open competition since technical data for the card is restricted and therefore not releasable outside of the Government. X. LIST OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION See Section VI above. XI. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE MAKING SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITIONS FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED No actions are planned for future acquisitions of supplies or services. This effort is a build and replace service to duplicate a unique item designed, built, tested, and delivered to the Government specifically for the DSX program. It is in the Government's best interest in terms of cost, schedule, and technical risk to return to the same contractor, SEAKR, to procure a replacement SABC card for the DSX spacecraft. The effort is estimated to be one year or less depending on the length of time required to procure the parts necessary to build the replacement SABC card. XII. CONTRACTING OFFICER'S CERTIFICATION The contracting officer's signature on the Coordination and Approval Document evidences that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief (FAR 6.303-2(a)(12)). XIII. TECHNICAL/REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL'S CERTIFICATION As evidenced by their signatures on the Coordination and Approval Document, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein, which is their responsibility, is both accurate and complete (FAR 6.303-2(b)).