COASTSYSTA Dahlgren Division, NSWC, 6703 West Highway 98, Panama City, FL 32407-7001

54 -- HYDROBALLASTIC TEST TANK SOL N61331-97-R-0051 DUE 100997 POC Jesse L. Johnson, Contract Specialist, (850)234-4539 Carol A. Dreger, Contracting Officer, (850)234-4863. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Coastal Systems Station, Panama City, Florida, intends to award a sole-source contract to C-Tech Defense Corporation for fabrication of a long range hydroballastic test tank for the RAMICS program. The test tank will feature modular sections for both air and water segments. Additionally, the tank will have a unique articulating mechanism which allows ground level access for loading and maintenance. As a minimum: (1) the tank must permit water entry angles from ten to ninety degrees relative to the water surface; (2) Feature a minimum of sixty feet of water travel with thirty feet of air standoff; and (3) Feature sufficient instrumented stations for water travel. This acquisition is unsuitable for full and open competition for the following reasons. The RAMICS program was initially funded as a result of a BAA solicitation in 1993 (FY 94). C-Tech Defense Corp. was a member of the Hughes Aircraft team and had the responsibility for designing a new supercavitating projectile. They have continued in that role since that time. The end product of this acquisition will be based on a preliminary design developed by C-Tech Defense Corporation, as part of privious RAMICS efforts, featuring data acquisition capabilities previously developed by C-Tech thus reducing the cost and the time to make the test tank operational. Making this capability operational will become critical as the program transitions into an ATD in FY 98. These capabilities do not exist anywhere within the Government or industry at this time and are required to complete the RAMICS mission and to support the ATD. In order to comprehensively test and measure the hydroballistic characteristics of the projectile it is essential that the fabricator of the test tank have intimate knowledge of the system and projectile. C-Tech Defense Corp. has spent over three years developing the projectile to the current state of the art, is the only vendor with the prerequisite knowledge of what it will take to test the projectile, holds the proprietary rights to the projectile design, and was the designer of the test capability. only C-Techn Defense Corporation has the unique knowledge base and the experienced personnel necessary to successfully conduct the work. The key personnel have invested over three years in gaining the unique knowledge, insight, and skills necessary. The projectiles are very sophisticated and require specialized knowledge to use properly thus the ability to design a means of testing them cannot be easily or cost-effectively duplicated by another vendor. See Note 22. (0231)

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