SPECIAL NOTICE
99 -- This is a Justification and Approval Sole Source for the Manufacture of High Energy Density Lithium Batteries which was awarded 18 February 2009
- Notice Date
- 3/5/2009
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 335912
— Primary Battery Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Army, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Engineer District, Portland, Portland District, US Army Corps of Engineers, Contracting Division (CENWP-CT_, P.O. Box 2946, Portland, OR 97208-2946
- ZIP Code
- 97208-2946
- Solicitation Number
- W9127N-09-P-0121
- Archive Date
- 6/3/2009
- Point of Contact
- Jeffrey Abel, 503-808-4609<br />
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 1.CONTRACTING AGENCY: Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2.DESCRIPTION OF ACTION: Approval for a new Firm-Fixed Price Contract using FY09 Columbia River Fish Mitigation Act funding. 3.DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES OR NATURE OF CONSTRUCTION: Purchase of high energy density lithium battery packs to power juvenile salmon acoustic telemetry system (JSATS) autonomous receivers during the FY09 Field Season. The underwater receiver detects and decodes a modulated ultrasound signal transmitted from acoustic fish tags and are used for evaluation of fish behavior and survival. The delivery schedule is from 01 May 2009 to 01 July 2009. The estimated contract price is: $106,422.00. 4.AUTHORITY CITED: 10 U.S.C.2304 (c)(1) & FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B). Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. 5.REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED: In the development, of the JSATS autonomous receiver, batteries from several manufacturers were tested to identify the longest life and most reliable batteries required to power the receivers. The results of this testing (see attachment 1) revealed that Tadiran batteries met the requirements specified by the USACE. 6.BACKGROUND: The Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, owns 185 autonomous acoustic receivers designed and built by Sonic Concepts, Inc. The battery packs currently being used in the receiver are made up of seven batteries, soldered together in series. The batteries used in the packs are lithium/thionyl chloride batteries made by Tadiran. The Tadiran brand battery was chosen by USACE based on its proven ability to operate the receiver for at least 30 days. a) Justification: 1) The battery packs must utilize Tadiran batteries, be able to provide at least 30 days of power and be light enough so that the receiver remains buoyant. We need a total of 510 packs with shipment beginning in May in order to continue fish monitoring. 2) The proposed contractor is Saft Federal Systems, Inc a subsidiary of Tadiran Batteries LTD who are the manufacturer of the Tadiran battery. Saft Federal Systems, Inc. has the battery supplies on-hand for the packs and has the expertise to manufacture a battery pack that meets our design criteria and battery life needs for the receivers. Their design will result in a cost savings to the government of 48% over the battery pack purchased in 2007. 3) Competition to design a battery pack may have been feasible if there had been enough time to solicit and evaluate proposed designs. Unfortunately, due to the Continuing Resolution Act (CRA) and regional prioritization actions funds were not made available to the research team until January 2009. The battery packs must be replaced starting in May to continue tracking the fish without interruption and subsequent lose of data. 4) Saft Federal Systems, Inc a subsidiary of Tadiran Batteries LTD provided these battery packs in 2008 (under a sole source procurement). For FY09, the District intended to award a contract under full and open competition to procure autonomous nodes, which would include the battery packs, however, the award has been delayed until FY10. 5) Under the Endangered Species Act for the protection of stocks of Pacific Salmon listed as threatened or endangered, the 2008 National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinion on FCRPS (http://www.salmonrecovery.gov/) mandates that the Action Agencies provide improvements for fish passage and survival through physical and operational changes to the hydropower system. These changes require thorough investigation in to the efficacy of proposed changes. The JSATS autonomous receiver are a critical and functional part of these investigations. b) Impacts 1) Failure to obtain the battery packs will result in the failure of several key research programs funded by the USACE to meet the requirements of the 2008 NMFS Biological Opinion on the FCRPS for the recovery of ESA-listed stocks of Pacific Salmon. For FY09, the USACE has committed to nearly $2 million to research contracts that require the JSATS autonomous receivers. 2) Alternatives: The technical team did consider using USACE labor to assemble the battery packs, but that would still require an acceptable battery pack design and manufacturing of the battery pack. The cost of using our own labor would be approximately $60,000 not including the cost of materials and tools. Additionally, the time to solicit for production of the pack would not meet our deadline to keep the receivers operational for the upcoming juvenile salmon migration season. 7.EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION: Based on information in paragraph 6 above, competition for this action is not feasible. 8.ACTIONS TO INCREASE COMPETITION: In 2009, the Portland District USACE will issue a competitive solicitation to the acoustic telemetry market for a base plus 4 year options contract for the manufacture of new and refurbishment of existing receivers and to add needed features and repair of all receivers purchased and/or refurbished under that contract. Work completed under this new contract may result in re-evaluation of battery needs and criteria and ultimately a new batter pack design. The USACE will subsequently pursue a competitive contract for the procurement of battery packs. This contract will be in place prior to the FY10 salmon research season. 9.MARKET RESEARCH: An abbreviated search was conducted due to the urgency of fulfilling this requirement for battery packs. The original designer of the receivers, Sonic Concepts, Inc., was contacted to solicit a battery pack design that would reduce costs, and they suggested we contact the battery manufacturer for another battery pack provider source. As stated previously, funding was not available to activate the technical team to start the investigatory process into the redesign of the battery pack. A lack of time to properly solicit for and evaluate other battery pack designs has prompted us to go with the most feasible and subsequently cost effective battery pack design that can meet our time schedule. 10.INTERESTED SOURCES a) Sonic Concepts, Inc. submitted preliminary technical information in response to our technical team inquiry on a battery pack redesign, but their design resulted in a less reliable battery holder. b) An intent to award sole source notice will be posted on FedBizOpps. 11.OTHER FACTS: Price Fair and Reasonableness: In the past battery packs were purchased as part of the contract with the receiver developer, Sonic Concepts Inc. These battery packs cost $375 each and consisted of seven lithium/thionyl chloride D-cell batteries (to achieve the desired battery life two packs were used at a time). Total cost for batteries to the USACE for all of its research in 2007 was $677,000.00. To reduce the costs in 2008 Sonic Concepts, Inc. suggested that the government directly purchase the batteries from Tadiran and they would produce a battery holder. Total cost to the government under this proposed option was approximately $335,000.00. After discussions with Tadiran and the USACE funded researchers it was decided that battery holders are less reliable than are battery packs (batteries are soldered and/or welded together to form the pack, in a battery holder batteries are held in place by springs, if 2 batteries disconnect power, and subsequently data, is lost). Saft Federal Systems, Inc. provided a quote for a 15 D-cell battery pack at a cost of $195.00 each for a total cost of approximately $150,000.00, a cost savings of more than 48% to the government over 2007 years costs. In addition to the above cost savings, USACE is impacted by a tight delivery schedule for the packs. The first shipment of packs needs to on-site the first of May. Due to the Continuing Resolution Act (CRA) and SCT prioritizations funding was not obtained in a timely fashion to conduct the research on the battery pack before January and funding for contract award was not available until January. As previously noted, we did purchase these same batteries in January 2008 under a sole source procurement with Saft Federal Systems, Inc. on contract number W9127N-08-P-0076 and the quoted price was $195.00 each, which is the same price we were quoted for this purchase.
- Web Link
-
FedBizOpps Complete View
(https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=3527a4daa0143fcb5dfdbb1fdc4ca518&tab=core&_cview=1)
- Record
- SN01762650-W 20090307/090305220406-3527a4daa0143fcb5dfdbb1fdc4ca518 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |