JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (J&A)

Under 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1)

ONLY ONE RESPONSIBLE SOURCE AND NO OTHER SUPPLIES OR SERVICES WILL
SATISFY AGENCY REQUIREMENTS
RFP # HSCG23-12-R-OPC001
Brand Name Requirement for Ship Classification by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by FAR Subpart
6.3 and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.302-1(c), the justification for the use of the statutory
authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as
follows:
(1) Agency and Contracting Activity.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Coast Guard (USCG) Headquarters, Office of
Contract Operations (CG-9125), Washington, D.C., presents this Brand Name Justification for Other Than Full
and Open Competition (J&A) for review and approval.
(2) Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved.
Approval is requested for a brand name requirement contained within the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) Request
for Proposal (RFP), HSCG23-12-R-OPC001, which will solicit proposals for delivery of up to eleven OPCs. As
a part of the OPC procurement, the Coast Guard is required by statute to have the American Bureau of Shipping
(ABS) classify each OPC in line with ABS classification standards. The work to be performed by ABS is
described below in Section 3, Description of Supplies / Services, and the statute requiring the use of ABS is
detailed in Section (5), Demonstration that the Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited.
The contract will be awarded after a competitive source selection process and any shipbuilder selected to
construct the OPCs will be required to utilize ABS for ship classification.
(3) Description of Supplies / Services.
To effectuate the statutorily required ABS classification of the OPC, ABS will provide two separate services
during the OPC procurement. The first service will be engineering and design review, during which ABS will
review the contractors blueprints and drawings to ensure that the proposed vessel will meet the appropriate
ABS classification standards. The second service will be a ship survey conducted by ABS during ship
construction to ensure that all OPC ships shall meet the required ABS classification standards.
The brand name classification society and its address is as follows:
American Bureau of Shipping
16855 Northchase Drive
Houston
TX
77060
The OPC RFP includes numerous contract types. Phase I awards will be for Preliminary and Contract Design of
the proposed OPCs and will have Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Contract Line Items (CLINs). Phase II awards will be
for Detail Design and actual OPC construction and will include FFP CLINs, Fixed Price Incentive Fee (FPI)
CLINs, Cost-Reimbursement CLINs, and Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) CLINs.
According to the OPC technical authority, ABS classification for each ship will cost roughly 2% of the
estimated individual OPC cost.
(4) Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.
The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented
by FAR Subpart 6.302-1, entitled Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will
Satisfy Agency Requirements. The specific subpart is found in FAR 6.302-1(c), entitled Application for
Brand Name Description.

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RFP # HSCG23-12-R-OPC001
Brand Name J&A for Ship Classification by the ABS
(5) Demonstration That the Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited.
The governing statute is the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 (H.R. 3619 of the 111th U.S. Congress),
Title IV, Section 402, Chapter 15, Subchapter II, Section 573(c)(3)(A) (codified at 14 US Code 537). This
statute requires that the Commandant shall cause each cutter, other than a National Security Cutter, acquired
by the Coast Guard and delivered after the date of enactment of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to
be classed by the American Bureau of Shipping before final acceptance. The Coast Guard Authorization Act
can be found here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ281/pdf/PLAW-111publ281.pdf.
To implement the Acts requirements, Section C.9 of the OPC RFP states that The Contractor shall deliver the
ship(s) in class by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).
(6) Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential
sources as is practicable.
As previously noted in Section (5), the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, 14 US Code 537 requires all
USCG cutters (other than National Security Cutters) to be classed by ABS. As only ABS itself can provide ABS
certification, there are no other potential sources until U.S. statute changes to allow for ship classification by
organizations other than ABS. The USCG will continue to monitor future congressional legislation for changes
to the requirement.
(7) Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government
will be Fair and Reasonable:
The OPC Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated prices for ABSs classification services will
be fair and reasonable based on the information below.
To establish the basis for determining that the ABS prices will be fair and reasonable, USCG obtained the 2012
ABS fee schedules from the ABS Manager of Government Programs. These fee schedules included the labor
category rates which will be used by ABS during the OPC classification process. The ABS rates were then
compared to the rates of three GSA Schedule contractors with similar labor categories that had similar scopes of
work.
Each of the GSA Schedule labor rates were reasonably close to the ABS rates, as the rates were typically within
10% of each other. Based on this analysis, the OPC Contracting Officer determined that the 2012 ABS labor
rates are fair and reasonable.
The ABS labor rates for future years have not been determined, as rates are determined annually in December at
an ABS board meeting. For the past decade the yearly escalation rate for each ABS labor category has been
roughly in line with the average U.S. inflation rate. Based on the historical escalation rates, the OPC
Contracting Officer anticipates that future ABS labor rates will remain fair and reasonable.
To further establish that ABS prices would be fair and reasonable, the USCG examined the ABS classification
prices in the Coast Guard contract for the production of up to thirty-four Fast Response Cutters (FRCs). The
ABS classification costs for each FRC ship are roughly 2% of the expected individual ship cost, which is about
the same percentage of the expected per ship cost that will be paid to classify each OPC.
The USCG also compared the classification prices estimated by the OPC technical authority to the expected
ABS prices. USCG verified with ABS that the expected classification for vessels range from 0.5% to 2.0% of
the total cost per ship. ABS uses a cost range because classification costs of a ship vary based upon the ships
size and complexity. As the OPC ships will be larger and more complex than many smaller boats or ships, the
OPC classification costs will be roughly 2.0% per ship. This estimate is in line with the costs projected by the
OPC technical authority, who estimated the classification costs at about 2.0% of the total cost per ship.
Finally, as ABS has no capital stock, pays no dividends, and is a non-profit per 26 U.S. Code 501(c)(3), the risk
of paying an unreasonable total price is diminished due to ABS not being able to distribute any profits to
shareholders or individuals.

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RFP # HSCG23-12-R-OPC001
Brand Name J&A for Ship Classification by the ABS
(8) Description of Market Research:
Not applicable.
(9) Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Brand Name Competition.
Not applicable.
(10) A Listing of the Sources, if Any, That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.
The draft OPC RFP (which contained the ABS classification requirement) was published on Friday, June 15th,
2012, and a notification was posted to FedBizOpps (FBO) here:
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=689836cb4a9a3d53f0474dc3085aec8f&tab=core&
tabmode=list&= . Although the solicitation has been made publicly available, no companies have expressed a
written interest in providing the same sort of ship classification services provided by ABS. Additionally, until
U.S. statute changes, no other entity is legally allowed to classify USCG cutters besides ABS.
(11) A Statement of the Actions, if Any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to
Competition Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for Supplies or Services Required.
As long as it is mandated by statute, the USCG will be required to use ABS to classify vessels. The USCG will
continue to monitor future congressional legislation for changes that will allow for competition of vessel
classification services in the future.

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RFP # HSCG23-12-R-OPC001
Brand Name J&A for Ship Classification by the ABS
(12) Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.
I certify that this requirement meets the governments minimum need and that the supporting
data, which forms a basis for the justification, is complete and accurate.

_____________________________
XXXXXXXXXX
Deputy Ship Design Manager (CG-459)

___________
Date

(13) Contracting Officers Certification.

I certify that this brand name justification supporting the recommended use of other than full
and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

_____________________________
XXXXXXXXXX
Division Chief / Contracting Officer (CG-9125)

___________
Date

(14) Legal Review and Concurrence.

I have reviewed this justification and deemed it legally sufficient.

_____________________________
XXXXXXXXXX
Surface and Aviation Asset Team Lead Attorney (CG-0949)

___________
Date

(15) Approval.
I have reviewed this justification and recommend approval.

_________________________________
XXXXXXXXXX
Chief of the Contracting Office (COCO) (CG-912)

___________
Date

_________________________________
XXXXXXXXXX
Senior Procuring Activity Competition Advocate (CG-9)

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Date

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