Introduction: Pursuant to FAR Subpart 13.106-1(b)(1), the U.S. Army Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division, on behalf of the Product Manager - Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment (PM-SCIE) intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order on a sole source basis to: Carleton Technologies, 10 Cobham Drive, Orchard Park, NY 14127-0747. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. No solicitation document is available. 2) Nature and description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs: PM SCIE has a requirement to provide each user unit which is receiving Parachutist Oxygen Masks with a test stand to perform periodic testing of the unit's masks, oxygen consoles and bailout bottles. The initial Government requirement was for 16 US Army units to receive POMs, so 16 test stands were purchased under the existing POM IDIQ contract, W58P05-08-D-0010. However, due to an unforeseen request from CETSA units, an additional 3 test stands are now required that were not initially anticipated when the initial order for 16 was placed in 2010 and a later requirement for 2 in 2011. The Government has purchased the maximum amount allowable under the POM IDIQ contract. 3) A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only source available to provide these services or goods (i.e. unique qualifications, proprietary rights, etc.): The proposed contractor, Carleton, is uniquely qualified to fulfill the requirement for these test stands because they developed the test stands in-house to test their commercially available POM and associated parachutist oxygen equipment, and own the rights to it. The POM mask and test stand were used during the Operational Test phase of the POM, which ensured that the equipment was effective and suitable when employed by users in an operational environment. The Carleton test stand was used throughout the testing as a diagnostic tool verifying performance of the POM mask and met all requirements. If PM SCIE were to purchase test stands from a different vendor, it would result in great duplication of cost as well as schedule delay by having to repeat this Government testing. Any delay in delivery is unacceptable to the user, and there is no funding left on the program for testing. 4) A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason a market research was not conducted: A Request for Information (RFI) for Automated Test Stands was published in Federal Business Opportunities on 5 Nov 09 to assess the ability of industry to provide a test stand equal to or superior to the one purchased from Carleton. Two companies beside Carleton responded. Both their products, besides having the disadvantages of high cost and unacceptable schedule due to having to repeat Operational Testing, were deemed unsuitable. 5) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: All test stands in the field must be of a single configuration so that training and operation remain consistent. The parachutist oxygen system is life support equipment and all test stands must be consistent in design and operation. 6) 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 Government does not anticipate future additional requirements for the POM test stands at this time. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the U.S. Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick Contracting Division via e-mail to:
[email protected] no later than 3:30 p.m. EST on 2011 September 13. Contracting Office Address: US Army Contracting Command - Aberdeen Proving Ground CCAP-SCN-NESSIE, Natick Contracting Division 100 Medway Rd. Milford, MA 01757 Point of Contact: Mark Marchioli, Contract Specialist
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