SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Advanced Plant Habitat - IDIQ Ceiling Increase
- Notice Date
- 6/28/2017
- Notice Type
- Fair Opportunity / Limited Sources Justification
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- NASA/John F. Kennedy Space Center, John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, 32899
- ZIP Code
- 32899
- Archive Date
- 7/28/2017
- Point of Contact
- Michael S. Ahearn, Phone: 3218678618
- E-Mail Address
-
michael.s.ahearn@nasa.gov
(michael.s.ahearn@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- NNK15MA02B
- Award Date
- 6/13/2017
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION OVER $150,000 1. This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by the NASA, John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). 2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved: This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition in order to increase the ceiling price of the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Research and Development (R&D) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract NNK15MA02B from $9,700,000 to $11,350,000. The APH contract requires the contractor to provide all resources necessary to provide plant habit flight units, orbital replacement units, and parts with all associated documentation that includes the acceptance data packages, logistics analysis, spares plan, and ground and flight safety review data and support to the safety review panels. The APH contract also requires the contractor to provide sustaining services as required. These services are implemented via task orders issued under the APH IDIQ contract. This action is necessary to effectuate a redesign and acquisition of replacement hoses and seals for the Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Gaseous Nitrogen (GN2) and Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Quick Disconnects (QDs) which is covered under Task Orders #1 & #2. The redesign is necessary to correct a failure in the hoses and seals because under the current NASA approved design, they cannot demate under pressure in the CO2 and GN2 systems. In addition, they are creating debris in the MTL system. This action is also necessary to effectuate future Request for Information (RFI) tasks and enable the contractor to support sustainment in 2018 and 2019 as required by the contract. An RFI is created by the contractor when there is an issue or problem with the APH that needs correction. The contractor describes the issue and parts of the unit that are affected. NASA reviews the RFI and makes recommendations to which the contractor responds. Eventually there will be concurrence which may drive a contract change in accordance with the contract's Changes clause. Currently, APH has 370 RFIs, most of which are closed out and addressed. This number is much higher than originally anticipated, which will result in the contractor reaching the ceiling price before being able to address all RFIs and before being able to support sustainment in 2018 and 2019 as required. The RFI and sustainment tasks will be covered under the applicable Task Orders. 3. Description of the supplies or services required (including the estimated value): NASA KSC has contracted with Orbital Technologies Corp (ORBITEC) to acquire APH payloads to include fabrication and testing (qualification, acceptance and verification) of two flight units (and spares) with extensive subsystems (e.g. Growth Light Assembly (GLA), avionics unit, Water Recovery and Delivery System (WRADS), Environmental Control System (ECS), Power Distribution Assembly (PDA), Thermal Control System (TCS), and growth chamber for implementation on the International Space Station (ISS). The Engineering Development Unit (EDU) is currently in operation at KSC. APH is part of the research being conducted on the ISS to meet the needs of long-term spaceflight to destinations such as Mars. NASA KSC has developed APH to learn the effects of long-duration microgravity exposure to plants in space. The APH is configured as a payload that will be mounted on a standard Expedite the Processing of Experiments to Space Station (EXPRESS) rack. The increase in ceiling price is necessary to enable the redesign and replacement of failed QDs to ensure the CO2 and GN2 systems provide the appropriate atmospheric conditions for plant growth and the necessary MTL cooling to allow the payload to operate without overheating. Without redesign and replacement, the entire APH system would be subject to failure. The increase in ceiling price is also necessary to effectuate future Request for Information (RFI) tasks and enable the contractor to support sustainment in 2018 and 2019 as required. The Independent Government Estimate (IGE) is (REDACTED) to complete the project. The IGE covers the redesign of the hoses and seals for the CO2, GN2, and MTL QDs as well as costs associated with completion of RFI tasks and sustainment. The estimated value for the redesign and replacement effort and 2017 sustainment is (REDACTED). The IGE for sustainment costs is (REDACTED)for 2018 and (REDACTED) for 2019, which is higher than the (REDACTED) for 2018 and (REDACTED) for 2019 that was anticipated at the time of contract award. The reason for the significant increase is that the technical team determined that additional Science Carriers would be necessary to support sustainment. At the time of contract award, NASA did not anticipate the extent to which the carriers would be utilized. Recently it has become evident that additional carriers will be needed for the payloads to store seeds and conduct experiments. The Science Carriers cost approximately (REDACTED) to (REDACTED) each, and additional carriers will be needed in 2018 and 2019. Lastly, the technical team estimated that the cost to complete all RFIs is approximately (REDACTED). Currently, there is $501,749.49 unallocated or remaining from the $9,700,000.00 contract ceiling price. The difference between the $501,749.49 remaining and the $2,150,000.00 needed to complete this contract is $1,648,250.51. Therefore, the ceiling price on the Firm-Fixed Price contract needs to be increased from $9,700,000.00 to $11,350,000.00. The allocations will be made under the applicable task orders. NNK15MA02B has a period of performance from December 10, 2014 to September 30, 2019. APH is scheduled to be delivered to the ISS in 2017. The ceiling price changes are summarized in the table below: NNK15MA02B Contract Ceiling Price $ 9,700,000.00 Amount Remaining on Contract $ 501,749.49 _______________________________________________________________________ Estimate to Complete the Contract (REDACTED) $ 2,150,000.00 - (Total Needed) _______________________________________________________________________ Amount Needed to Complete Contract $ 2,150,000.00 Less Amount Remaining on Contract - $ 501,749.49 Total of Increase Needed $ 1,648,250.51 NNK15MA02B Contract Price $ 9,700,000.00 (initial ceiling) Plus Amount of Increase Needed + $ 1,648,250.51 Total New Contract Price $ 11,348,250.51 - ($11.35M (rounded)) 4. Statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: The statutory authority for permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304 (d)(1)(B) which provides that full and open competition need not be provided "in the case of a follow-on contract for the continued development or production of a major system or highly specialized equipment, or the continued provision of highly specialized services." Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) states, "services may be deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of follow-on contracts for the continued provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in (A) substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition". NNK15MA02B is a follow-on contract to NNK12MA35B in which ORBITEC created the design for APH. ORBITEC has unique capabilities gained from their experience under contracts NNK12MA35B and NNK15MA02B that will enable them to support the redesign of the hoses and seals for the CO2, GN2, and MTL QDs as well as support future RFI and sustainment tasks. Award to any other source would result in a substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. The duplication of work would include finding another company that is suitable to performing this requirement; transition of the design; the cost of getting the new contractor up to speed in the labor groups for management, engineering, technicians, quality, scientists, and logistics on the design, fabrication and testing of the hardware. Costs would also be attributable to have a new contractor gain knowledge of the verifications required for the ISS program as well as site visits by NASA to verify the contractor's engineering, quality and configuration management would be acceptable to build flight hardware. A new contractor would have to design or purchase test support equipment for functional, acceptance and certification testing. The estimated value and impact to duplicate these efforts is (REDACTED) based on actual costs incurred under contract NNK15MA02B. 5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited: ORBITEC is a leading subsystems integrator and high-technology development company and has years of experience developing plant-related payload hardware that has flown to the ISS. The contractor has been involved in the development of Space Plant Growth Facilities, which includes the Biomass Production System (BPS), Plant Research Unit (PRU), AstroGarden, Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE), Astroculture, Advanced Astroculture (ADVASC), and the Commercial Plant Biotechnology Facility (CPBF). For the assembly of the PH payload, ORBITEC utilized hardware and software design documentation and prototypes developed and approved under the preliminary and critical design phases acquired under contract NNK12MA35B. The contractor has knowledge and experience in developing flight hardware and plant-related payloads on the Space Shuttle and ISS, and currently utilizes the same skill mix of electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, scientists and software engineers in developing Light Emitting Diode (LED) plant lighting and capillary interface nutrient/water delivery and humidity control systems used for plant payloads in space. ORBITEC has put these experienced engineers on the APH project and it includes the lead mechanical designer of the Wisconsin Center for Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR) CPBF which was an equivalent payload in power and volume to APH and allows the entire lesson learned to be applied to this project (especially to control temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide levels and lighting). Payload integration and operation support is a NASA led effort with ORBITEC supporting NASA since the beginning of this project in FY12. Under contract NNK15MA02B, ORBITEC evolved from the preliminary design reviews through fabrication and certification. One of the unique capabilities ORBITIEC has involves their unique insight into dealing with the physical size, power requirements, and especially the fluid systems (water delivery system for the plant, temperature and humidity control system, and CO2 systems). The weight, volume and maximizing valuable space station resources (power and water) are an important consideration for any payload designed for spaceflight. It is partly in this area where APH encountered the failing hoses and seals. The failed parts were ordered by ORBITEC with the recommendation of NASA. NASA and ORBITEC plan to work together to redesign and acquire replacements to ensure mission success. ORBITEC is the only company that has the experience and skill mix to fabricate and develop a plant habitat in a zero gravity environment for the ISS. No other company has shown the ability to provide for this entire requirement and the complexity of this project demands that only one company be responsible for ensuring its success. 6. Description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable: As explained herein, Contract NNK15MA02B is a follow-on to Contract NNK12MA35B for the PDR and CDR for the development of the EDU prototype. It would be impractical, costly and ineffective for NASA to solicit and award to another source for this Research and Development (R&D) effort. NASA will require the unique capabilities of ORBITEC to evolve from the preliminary design reviews into the fabrication and certification phase that's required for producing flight ready APH hardware. Another source would be inexperienced on the design and the unknown amount of time required for another source to learn the design and then build the APH payloads and subsystems/ORU, would cause additional costs to be incurred. Notice was not posted on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website based upon the exception at FAR 5.202(a)(11) where, "the proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing contract that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of FAR 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action". Contract NNK15MA02B was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of FAR 5.207. This current requirement is to raise the ceiling price for all work that is currently within the scope of the contract which includes RFIs, sustainment and the re-design and replacement of parts. The Federal Strategic Sourcing Home Page was reviewed but it was determined that the required items are not available through this source. 7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable: The anticipated cost for this acquisition will be determined fair and reasonable based on individual firm-fixed price and/or time and material task orders to be issued under the contract which will be negotiated between NASA and ORBITEC. The labor rates have already been negotiated, leaving only the labor hours and materials to be negotiated at the appropriate time. 8. Description of the market survey conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market survey was not conducted: Market research was conducted in 2012 and 2014 under NNK12MA35B and this contract NNK15MA02B. Updated market research for this acquisition was also conducted by consulting with the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and performing internet searches for other sources capable of designing and developing plant habitats for use in space. Although some companies and universities are currently conducting studies and experiments to grow plants in space, no company showed the combined experience of plant biology in microgravity and capabilities to engineer the key elements of the APH. ORBITEC has experience with developing plant biology payloads like the BPS and VEGGIE and has demonstrated the success of meeting the key elements and key areas for success. ORBITEC also employs the lead mechanical engineer and lead software engineer that worked on the first generation Quad Locker Plant Biology payload CPBF which PH is modeled from. ORBITEC remains the only company that can meet NASA's requirements. 9. Other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as: A substantial duplication of costs to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition in accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) is detailed in paragraph 4. This R&D IDIQ Contract has two years left to complete performance. The APH Flight Unit is scheduled to go up to the ISS in 2017. ORBITEC is the only company that is capable of fulfilling the Government's requirement. If this action was competed, it would not only have a significant impact the price as previously explained, but it would also have a significant impact on the schedule. Under the current schedule, partial deliveries are to be made in March and May of 2017 with the final deliveries to the ISS in June 2017. A scientist is scheduled to go to the ISS in November 2017 to perform experiments on the APH. ORBITEC is required to develop training for the scientists. One or two scientists will be scheduled in 2018 and 2019. NASA estimated the schedule would be delayed by one year if another contractor completed this requirement. A one-year delay would result in no deliveries being made and scrubbing of all scientific missions to the ISS. 10. A listing of sources, if any, that expressed in writing an interest in the acquisition: ZIN Technologies of Cleveland (ZIN), OH expressed an interest by responding to the initial solicitation posted for NNK15MA02B. It was determined at the time that ZIN did not demonstrate the experience in the development of a payload for plant biology and the multiple elements that must be considered to be successful through various life cycles of plant biology. For this acquisition, the ZIN website was again reviewed to make a determination if ZIN had acquired the requisite experience and another review of ZIN's capabilities were considered before determining that ORBITEC was still the only source capable of meeting NASA's requirement. 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 the supplies or services required: The agency continually attempts to overcome barriers to competition by analyzing different sources that might be qualified for similar future acquisitions. However, the unique nature of the APH project does not lend itself to this goal. If the requirement changes, the Agency will begin surveying the market for new sources.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/28414df61fed015dd4aafba25a1cdc79)
- Place of Performance
- Address: ORBITEC, 1212 Fourier Dr, Madison, Wisconsin, 53717, United States
- Zip Code: 53717
- Zip Code: 53717
- Record
- SN04561554-W 20170630/170628235312-28414df61fed015dd4aafba25a1cdc79 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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