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

39 -- WINCH ASSEMBLIES SOL N61331-97-R-0049 DUE 092697 POC Jesse L. Johnson, Contract Specialist, (904)234-4539 Carol A. Dreger, Contracting Officer, (904)234-4863. The Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Dahlgren Division, Coastal Systems Station, Panama City, Florida intends to issue a sole-source contract to Sound Ocean Systems Inc. for the procurement of winch assemblies. The Battle Space Profiler (MSP) is being developed in response to the Mission Need Statement for Mine Countermeasures and MCM-1/MHC-51 Shipclass Top Level Requirements. The BSP system will be installed on surface MCM/MHC ships to provide an organic environmental monitoring and performance assessment capability. The BSP system will optimize sonar settings and mine detection as well as increase classification performance. The BSP system uses environmental sensors, which are housed in a recoverable fixture for measurement of environmental factors and computer programs to process and analyze the data and estimate system performance. The fixture and sensors will be self-powered and capable of deployment and recovery by two personnel via the BSP winch assembly being procured from Sound Ocean Systems Inc. (SOSI). Procurement of the BSP Winch Assemblies is unsuitable for full and open competition for the following reasons. Prior to deployment aboard any MCM/MHC ship, all equipment must successfully complete a rigorous test series including shock load tests per MIL-STD-901, and shipboard vibration test per MIL-STD-167. The Navy previously purchased five winch assemblies from SOSI. These winches were procured via competitive procedures during the second quarter of fiscal year 1997. The purpose of the procurement was to obtain certification from appropriate Navy officials for the winch assemblies to be deployed aboard MCM/MHC ships. The SOSI winch assembly passed all shock, vibration, and operational tests and is the only winch assembly approved for deploying and recovering the BSP. As a result of the certification, all MCM/MHC ships will be outfitted with the winch assembly beginning in August 1997. No other contractor has been approved to provide BSP winch assemblies. The physical size, weight, and operating characterics of the system components are crucial to providing the U.S. Navy a certified system. Since the physical size, weight, and orientation of the winch components determine the system response to shock loading and vibration, any changes in these characteristics from the design tested would require additional shock and vibration testing prior to U.S. Navy certification of a winch system. Re-certification of a winch assembly would be too costly and would take an additional four months to complete thus greatly delaying the U.S. Navy outfitting schedule. See Note 22. (0218)

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