REDACTED JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMS
Control No: JA-19-Adel-238 Contractor: Romanoff West, LLC Supply/Service: Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMSTwo (2) Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilti... Control No: JA-19-Adel-238 Contractor: Romanoff West, LLC Supply/Service: Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT FOR COMMERCIAL ITEMSTwo (2) Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting FAR PART 13 SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION Program/Equipment: Two (2) Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines, to include: two (2) vacuum pumps, two (2) vacuum pump melting chambers, one (1) water re-cooling system, and two (2) days of training at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD. Authority: 41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2), implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501(a) -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. Amount: Prepared by: Contracting Officer:Joseph Dellinger DSN: 290-0769 Contracting Officer Date: 04/04/2019 Email: joseph.m.dellinger2.civ@mail.mil Technical: Requirements: Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition. Control No: JA-19-Adel-238 Contractor: Romanoff West, LLC Supply/Service: Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines FAR PART 13 SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1. Contracting Activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), Adelphi Contracting Division (ACD), 2800 Powder Mill Road, Building 601, Adelphi, MD 20783. 2. Description of Action: The United States (U.S.) Army Research Laboratory's Weapons and Materials Research Directorate (ARL-WMRD) requests a new firm-fixed price (FFP) contract with Romanoff West, LLC, 606 S Hill Street, Suite 1103, Los Angeles, CA, 90014. The Government projects award for July 2019 and fiscal year 2019, Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be used. _X_ An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement either does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(i), or is an R&D acquisition and does not meet the definition of services in 10 U.S.C. 2330(c)(2). 3. Description of Supplies/Services: The Government requires two (2) Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines, to include: two (2) vacuum pumps, two (2) vacuum pump melting chambers, one (1) water re-cooling system, associated consumables, and two (2) days of on site training to be conducted at APG, MD. These machines allow melting of metals in order to form new alloys. The machines precisely control the environment under which metals are melted and cast into molds and allow the melting and casting to occur within one (1) single contained housing unit. The operation of the machine is controlled by an onboard controller that is programmed with the specific conditions for melting and casting. Delivery Date: 30 August 2019 4. Authority Cited: 41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2), implemented by FAR 13.501(a) -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. 5. Reason for Authority Cited: One of ARL's focuses is making new metallic alloys with properties such as highstrength, high corrosion resistance, low-weight, and high ductility. ARL performs research on a variety of general alloy classes such as steel alloys, aluminum alloys, magnesium alloys, and specialty alloys to test the properties listed above. To make the alloys listed above, raw materials are heated to temperatures between 200 degrees (°) Celsius (C) and 2,000 °C. The melting is done under vacuum conditions or under an inert gas such as Argon, Nitrogen or Sulfur Hexafluoride and special care must be taken while melting to prevent the molten metal from coming into contact with oxygen (O). Contact of the molten metals with oxygen and/or water will result in a potentially hazardous fire or explosion. For example, Lithium and Magnesium will ignite and remain burning if melted in air. At high temperatures, most materials react with water to form hydrogen gas, which can result in an explosion and serious injury. Thus, melting and casting of new alloys is performed under specific conditions within a single housing unit. Producing these types of alloys is critical to ARL's mission to develop new materials for warfighter lethality and protection. Currently, ARL produces small batches of new alloys. The amount of a new alloy that ARL can currently make is approximately 100 milliliters (mL). This volume is enough to perform basic testing to understand how the alloy might corrode, how hard or soft it is, or how it behaves when compressed or stretched. However, this small quantity is not enough to understand how the material might behave under a ballistic event such as a bullet impacting the alloy. Thus, ARL requires a machine that is capable of producing larger volumes (no more than 800 mL) of new alloys safely in a contained environment. The Vacuum Tilting Casting machine, manufactured by Romanoff West, LLC., is required due to addressing a number of unique requirements that ARL must meet. The following are the ARL requirements that can only be met by Romanoff West, LLC's Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines: 1. Capable of fitting the machines in laboratory spaces that are approximately four feet (ft) by four ft. in length and width 2. Capable of operating at full functionality with a power supply of 480 Volts (V) or less 3. Capable of operating volume of materials that are 800 mL or less 4. Capable of operating at temperatures up to 2,000 °C 5. Capable of conducting melting in one (1) chamber and automatically tilting the metal into another chamber 6. Capable of melting under inert gas atmospheres and under vacuum 7. Must include a controllable induction heating generator of 20 kilowatts (kW) for rapid melting and thorough mixing 8. Must contain an automatic over pressure routine after completion of the casting process 9. Capable of vibrating during melting and casting 10. Must contain a digital controller capable of monitoring and displaying gas supply, pressure, temperature, and the ability to control all functions of the machine without requiring the use of a stand alone computer Furthermore, if ARL does not procure the Vacuum Tilting Casting machines offered by Romanoff West, LLC it would be required to build a custom machine which would result in an unnecessary duplication of cost to the Government at approximately and take approximately to build a unit capable of meeting the requirement. If a custom built machine is used, it would significantly delay testing by approximately to the training and testing that would be required to ensure the custom machine operates safely and effectively after it is built. Therefore, it has been determined that Romanoff West, LLC. is the only capable source of providing the required Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines that meet all of the Government's technical requirements. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: The Contracting Officer published the notice required by FAR 5.201 for any potential bids or quotations received to be considered. Also, a Sources Sought Synopsis was posted to the FedBizOpps (FBO) website on 04 April 2019 for five (5) days and no responses were received. Subsequently, a Synopsis with Intent to Sole Source was published to the FBO website on 17 April 2019 and it closed on 24 April 2019. At the time of the Synopsis closing, there were no responses from other vendors. Due to Romanoff West, LLC being the only known vendor that provides a Vacuum Tilting Casting Machine capable of melting metals in one chamber of the machine and tilting the melted alloys to another chamber within the same machine, a sole source acquisition strategy is reasonable for this effort, as there is no expectation of effective competition for the required supplies. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continually seek to explore the market to increase competition by attending conferences/exhibitions, examining trade journals, conducting Internet research, and holding open discussions with industry experts. To date, no vendor has been identified that can meet the Government's minimum requirement for the Vacuum Tilting Casting Machine and the only alternative to procuring the machine from Romanoff West, LLC., would be to build the machine with ARL employees, which would result in disruption of current programs and research. Before future acquisitions, the market will be surveyed to determine whether another manufacturer has emerged that could meet the Army's requirements, thus justifying the need for Full and Open Competition. If the Government becomes aware of other sources with the capability to meet the Government requirements, then a determination will be made for suitable competition. If and when another source is discovered, the Government will technically evaluate the response, and if the new source is deemed capable, then the Government will seek a competitive procurement. 8. Market Research: Market research was conducted from July 2018 to December 2018, by , in his respective field, via querying Government-wide databases of contracts and other procurement instruments intended for use by multiple agencies available at https://www.contractdirectory.gov/contractdirectory/ and other Government and commercial databases that provide information relevant to agency acquisitions, searching on the General Supply Schedule (GSA) website at https://www.gsaadvantage.gov/advantage/main/start_page.do, and reviewing catalogs and other generally available product literature published by manufacturers, distributors, and dealers or available on-line. Additionally, no other companies have responded to the synopsis (see Section 9) indicating they can provide this machine and meet all of the requirements listed in Section 5 above. Romanoff West have verified that there are no resellers available that provide the Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting Machine as they are the only source capable of meeting the Government's minimum requirements. 9. Interested Sources: A sole source pre-solicitation Synopsis providing notification of the Government's intent to issue a sole source purchase order (PO) to Romanoff West, LLC was posted to FBO, via www.fbo.gov, for seven (7) calendar days on 17 April 2019 with a closing date of 24 April 2019. This Synopsis posting resulted in no respondants as Romanoff West is the equipment manufacturer and the only responsible source capable of providing the required Vacuum Tilting Casting machines in support of WMRD's ongoing research activities. 10. Other Facts: a. Procurement History No procurement history exists as this is a first time buy of these machines. 11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Title: Materials Engineer 6/17/2019 Technical Certifier (Tech) 12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Title: Materials Engineer 6/17/2019 Requirements Certifier 13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. This determination will be made using the following: __ Cost analysis _X_ Price analysis __ Should-cost __ IGCE __ Audit: __ Other: As a part of this basis, certified cost or pricing data: __ will be required. _X_ will not be required and the following exception applies (FAR 15.403): __ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on adequate price competition. __ Prices that will be agreed upon are based on prices set by law or regulation. X A commercial item is being acquired. __ A waiver has been granted by the head of the contracting activity (HCA) in accordance with DFARS PGI 215.403-1. __ The contract action is a modification to a contract or subcontract for commercial item(s). X The estimated cost of the contract action is less than the threshold for certified cost or pricing data. X Joseph Dellinger Contracting Officer (KO) 14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. X Joseph Dellinger Contracting Officer (KO) Approval Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of two (2) Blue Power VTC 800 V Ti Vacuum Tilting Casting Machines, to include: two (2) vacuum pumps, two (2) vacuum pump melting chambers, one (1) water re-cooling system, and two (2) days of training at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD at on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. X Joseph Dellinger Contracting Officer (KO)
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