Inactive

1.Contracting Organization: United States Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District 2.Description of Action: This procurement incorporates a brand name requirement for components (air handlers an... 1.Contracting Organization: United States Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District 2.Description of Action: This procurement incorporates a brand name requirement for components (air handlers and condensing unit and/or controls) from the manufacturer, Trane Inc., to work with the existing Heating, Ventilation, & Air Conditioning (HVAC) chiller systems in the construction of the Armed Forces Medical Examining System (AFMES) Warehouse Addition/Alterationthat includes a one-story addition consisting of 2,500 gross square feet and renovations of an existing3,300 square feet. 3.Description of Services: Dover AFB utilizes, Trane Inc., as the single manufacturer respective to this installation for their HVAC Chiller system. As the proposed project, Armed Forces Medical ExaminingSystem (AFMES) Warehouse Addition/Alteration, will be located at the Dover AFB in Delaware, the AirHandlers and Condensing Units and / or controls will also be required to use Trane Inc. to be installed aspart of the HVAC system in this effort toward standardization. The contract duration for both new construction and renovation for the warehouse IS 545 calendar days. 4.Authority: The Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) at 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1(a)(2) and required by FAR 6.303-2(b)(4), states when supplies or services required by theagency are available from a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of supplies orservices will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for. 5.Applicability of Authority: The United States Air Force (USAF) has approved the selection of asingle manufacturer for the HVAC chiller systems at the installation level to achieve mandatorystandardization. Accordingly, any components to be installed will need to work with the existing HVAC chiller system as is the case with the current proposed construction project for the AFMES warehouse.The USAF standardization of their HVAC chiller system is integral to generate cost savings in training expenses and efficiency improvements in mission performance not otherwise available under full and open competition. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center (AFICC) had submitted a Class J&A to implement this acquisition strategy to preplan the brand name HVAC chillers per installation. The Class J&A will eliminate inefficiencies and duplication in cost by reducing the need to train USAF HVAC maintainers on multiple manufacturers’ systems, and will also allow over time for the HVAC Chiller repair to be done in-house as the primary option versus contracting out these services. The Class J&A will also increase mission performance efficiencies by streamlining and specializing Civil Engineering (CE) maintainer's training, increasing expertise of organic maintainers thereby reducing downtime of chillers for repair and replacement due to increasing expertise of organic maintainers. The increased availability of trained maintainers also improves the sustainment of the Air Force's equipment, machinery, and communications systems. Also, process efficiencies will increase by allowing CE pre-planning for building design, will improve lifecycle maintenance and replacement of expensive and critical equipment, and will leverage spending on spare parts inventory. 6.Efforts to Obtain Competition: Justification (Notice ID: FA8003-19-R-8000) posted 13August 2019 to beta.SAM.gov attachment titled HVAC_Chiller_Justification_and_Approval_-_Redacted.pdf states the following: -IAW FAR 5.201 a Notice of Proposed Contract Action/Special Notice, 238220, HVACChillers, was posted on FedBizOpps (FBO) 15 March 2019; the posting remained open for 15days. A brief description of the requirement was included in the FBO notice. Two sourcesexpressed interest in the published Special Notice/Synopsis that was posted on FBO, neither ofthe sources were chiller manufacturers.-A survey was conducted in March 2019 in preparation of the creation of the CategoryIntelligence Report (CIR). The Air Forces current main Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) companies were contacted and these manufacturers account for 88% of the chillersinstalled on USAF Bases.-The market research and the subject matter expert analysis captured in the CIR documents thattraining effectiveness and system knowledge diminish as manufacturer diversity increased,with both chillers and control system. Inversely, costs to train go up to pay for diverse trainingprograms over all the systems. 7.Fair and Reasonable: Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through its PhiladelphiaDistrict, proposes to issue a sealed bid - Invitation for Bid (IFB) for the construction of the ArmedForces Medical Examining System (AFMES) Warehouse Addition/Alteration. Price competitionwill be used through the open bid process. The low bidder’s price will be evaluated by the contractspecialist to ensure the submitted price is responsive. 8.Market Survey: As stated in paragraph 6, efforts were made to obtain competition by USAF forthe HVAC Chiller. Subsequently, all components that will be installed as part of the HVAC Chillersystem will need to work with this existing system as the case for the current proposed project thatwill require air handlers, condensing unit and / or controls for the AFMES warehouse Addition/Alteration. The market research and the subject matter expert analysis captured in the CIRdocuments that training effectiveness and system knowledge diminish as manufacturer diversityincreased, with both air handlers, condensing units and/or control system. Inversely, training costincrease when facilitating diverse training programs over all the systems. 9.Other Facts: Justification (Notice ID: FA8003-19-R-8000) posted 13 August 2019 tobeta.SAM.gov states it does not preclude Contracting Officers from publicizing the J&A with theirspecific solicitation IAW FAR 6.305(c). 10.Interested Sources: See paragraph 6. USAF has approved the selection of a singlemanufacturer for their HVAC chiller. Accordingly, air handling units, condensing units and / orcontrols shall be as manufactured by Trane Inc.