SOLICITATION NOTICE
19 -- SEALION III
- Notice Date
- 5/4/2016
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 336611
— Ship Building and Repairing
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, U.S. Special Operations Command, Headquarters Procurement Division, 7701 Tampa Point Blvd, MacDill AFB, Florida, 33621-5323, United States
- ZIP Code
- 33621-5323
- Solicitation Number
- H92222-16-R-0021
- Point of Contact
- Roxanne A. Gerry, Phone: 813-826-5177, Spencer T. Armstrong, Phone: 8138265975
- E-Mail Address
-
gerryr@socom.mil, spencer.armstrong.ctr@socom.mil
(gerryr@socom.mil, spencer.armstrong.ctr@socom.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Special Operations Forces (SOF), Acquisition. Technology and Logistics (AT&L), Directorate of Procurement, intends to award a sole source contract to Vigor Works, LLC (formerly Oregon Iron Works), which is located in Clackamas, Oregon. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(ii), only one responsible source will satisfy agency requirements with the available technical data without incurring substantial duplication of cost that is not expected to be recovered through competition. Furthermore, in accordance with 6.302-1(b)(2), the existence of limited data and patent rights for specific construction details and components make the SEALION III available from only one source. To compete the requirement would present unreasonable technical, cost, schedule, and litigation risks. Vigor Works, LLC (Vigor) is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for SEALION I and SEALION II under contracts N39998-00-C-8002 with The Department of the Navy, Office of Special Technology, and N00167-04-C-0021 with Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (CCD), respectively. The SEALION craft were developed under an Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) project funded with Navy Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriations. Both contracts were awarded on a sole-source basis and Vigor is the only source possessing the expertise, experience, manufacturing capabilities, and unique knowledge of the SEALION I and II design. Vigor asserted proprietary data rights to 45 drawings developed at private expense and used in development of SEALION I and II under its Navy contracts. These drawings are essential to multiple aspects of the SEALION design, including the variable freeboard capability, and provide the details necessary to manufacture the craft from a TDP. The fabrication details inherent in SEALION I and II have been verified against the SEALION CPD during numerous DT/OT events. In the development of the SEALION III TDP, which consists of over 29 drawings and 175 sheets, the Government could not include details from the Vigor drawings required to ensure configuration commonality without risk of violating Vigor's assertions and subsequent litigation. A different builder using the SEALION III TDP without these fabrication details would result in significant unnecessary cost to the Government. These additional contract costs are seen when comparing the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) provided during Market Research (see Section 7). Additional Government RDT&E cost would be incurred to assist a different builder during construction detail development. Similarly, additional Government operations and maintenance cost would be incurred throughout the craft lifecycle to logistically support the new configuration of SEALION III. Schedule and performance risk would be assumed based on the full range of DT/OT events required to verify the new design details. Furthermore, Vigor holds the rights to three patents used in the design of the SEALION: 7,305,903; marine vessel vent plate; 7,004,096, marine vessel coaming structure; and 6,901,875 retractable marine fitting. Without the patented designs for these three elements of the SEALION, any other offeror would be required to expend additional Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) not included in the Government's independent cost estimate and the solution would/could not be substantially the same as the current craft. In a competitive environment, the inability of the Government to share Vigor's intellectual property in SEALION I and II with other offerors would result in a markedly different craft from the current baseline configuration that, in turn, would lead to increased risk in the areas of tactics development, operational/maintenance training, and fleet sustainment. In response to the SEALION III sources sought announcement published on FedBizOps, Vigor re-asserted to USSOCOM its intellectual property rights regarding SEALION I and II. Review of the assertions validated Vigor's claim and sharing of the proprietary information in a full and open competition would make USSOCOM vulnerable to litigation. The Government requested a price for the data rights and patent licenses from Vigor and it declined to sell them for constructing SEALION III. Additionally, one of the critical CPD criteria is the survivability/signature requirements of the craft. A large portion of the $12.5M development costs of SEALION is associated with this requirement, which requires extensive, specialized welding expertise. Vigor developed this expertise during the construction and retrofits of SEALION I and II, as well as developed specialized jigs and fixtures to ensure the craft were produced within the specification tolerances. No other boat builder is known that possesses the level of expertise and experience with a craft the size and nature of SEALION. Any other boat builder would have to invest in developing the manufacturing capability for signature requirements already possessed by Vigor. Since this is a purchase of only one craft, the Government could not likely recoup these costs. In light of the intellectual property assertions and the unique technical requirements of the SEALION, a competitive acquisition is not likely to result in competitive pricing and would result in unacceptable risk to technical, cost, and schedule for the program. These risks are as follows. Technical Risk Factors: 1. No other vendor is known to possess the degree of technical expertise or manufacturing capabilities of Vigor with regards to constructing a craft with the signature considerations required to meet the CPD. Achievement of critical signature management requirements by a company other than Vigor would require substantial Government oversight and technical assistance. 2. There would be loss of configuration commonality with SEALION I and II. Cost Risk Factors: The Government derived the cost estimates included in the following paragraphs from previous SEALION and other maritime combatant craft contract actual costs. 1. The OEM data rights assertions and patent rights limit the construction details that the Government can provide to other potential sources in the SEALION III TDP. Without these details, any other offeror would be required to expend additional Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) not included in the Government's independent cost estimate and the solution would/could not be substantially the same as the current craft. 2. Using a new manufacturer would result in an estimated additional $2.2M in DT/OT. Building SEALION III to current baseline configuration will require only limited DT/OT to ensure performance requirements of the CPD are sustained. 3. Sustainment and training costs for the fleet of three craft will increase if the SEALION III configuration does not match existing craft. A conservative estimate for this increase is $2.02M over the first five years of operation. 4. Lack of experience and/or understanding of the unique signature manufacturing tolerances and/or proper tooling and equipment are likely to result in offerors underestimating the development costs, leading to a high risk of program overruns. Schedule Risk Factors: 1. An offeror unfamiliar with the SEALION system would likely underestimate its technical complexity. 2. Duplication of NRE and DT/OT efforts will add approximately 6 - 9 months. As such, only Vigor Works can perform the Government's minimum needs. However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement or an exception to the Government's intent to purchase on a sole source basis, which shall be considered by the Government if received within 45 days of this notice. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/ODA/USSOCOM/SOAL-KB/H92222-16-R-0021/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 7701 Tampa Point Blvd., Tampa, Florida, 33621, United States
- Zip Code: 33621
- Zip Code: 33621
- Record
- SN04105271-W 20160506/160504234309-6f34550735c809f31353e1b041e86c5f (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 |