Description
Organization: NAVSEA, NAVICP
Team Name: Emergency Escape Breathing Device Source Selection Team
Related Acquisition Topic(s): Commercial and Non Developmental Items (CANDI), Direct Vendor Delivery (DVD), Integrated Product Teams (IPT), Performance Based Acquisition
Description:
The Emergency Escape Breathing Device (EEBD) Source Selection Team (SST) formed to procure a replacement for the existing EEBDs which had been produced to a Navy design specification. The EEBD gives a sailor 10 minutes of air to escape a fire scene and exit to a weather deck. The goal of the team was to purchase a commercially available unit that would be smaller, lighter, and quicker to don.
The Navy fielded over 300,000 EEBDs manufactured to a Navy specification in the early 1980s. These units had a 16-year service life which was rapidly ending by the mid 1990s. In a number of instances, the specification resulted in units that did not fulfill the requirements of the Navy. NAVSEA and NAVICP decided to purchase a commercially available unit vice MILSPEC unit. NAVSEA conducted several years of testing and market research on the units found in the aeronautical and mining industries. Based on this research, NAVSEA and MPR Associates developed a Commercial Item Description (CID). This CID became the foundation of the upcoming solicitation.
A cornerstone of the CID was that the EEBD have approval from the National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH). This process is a lengthy and costly procedure which acted as a deterrent to competition and required the team to market research and several interfaces with industry to ensure receipt of competitive offerors.
Because there were possible commercial replacements for the "old" EEBD, the team decided to use the commercial acquisitions procedures found in Part 12 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). This turned out to be one of the first commercial acquisitions processed by the NAVICP. Many aspects of the solicitation needed revision during the solicitation process to comply with the FAR. Along with these revisions, a general paradigm shift occurred in the way that the team conducted the acquisition.
Another barrier the SST had to overcome was the use of Best Value to select the awardee. Because the team anticipated the competitors on this requirement would submit different technologies, each with its own strengths and weaknesses, they developed the Best Value criteria to select the winning offer. While use of Best Value was not a new approach to the members of the team, many aspects of the Source Selection Plan, the CID and resulting solicitation required honing to ensure consistent requirements.
The final barrier that the EEBD Source Selection Team had to overcome was the desire to use Direct Vendor Delivery (DVD) for the EEBD. No units delivered under this contract would go into the Navy Supply System. This provides an immediate cost avoidance in reduced inventory carrying costs. Additionally, the EEBD has a shelf life that starts the day of manufacture. By only ordering units on an as needed basis, no shelf life is lost sitting in a warehouse.
The NAVICP issued a solicitation that specified award to the offeror that proposed the Best Value to the Navy. The factors being evaluated were Technical, Price, Life Cycle Cost, and Management. Interwoven teams from the NAVICP, NAVSEA and Coastal System Station reviewed the proposals and reported to the Source Selection Authority (SSA). The SSA reviewed the team reports and determined that the offer from Ocenco Inc. of Kenosha, WI, represented the Best Value to the Government. NAVICP awarded a five-year contract at a total estimated amount of $55M to Ocenco.
This selection benefited the Navy in many ways:
Commercial practices allowed for shipment of EEBDs from the manufacturer directly to the end user. This generates a significant cost avoidance of approximately $2M as the Ocenco EEBD will not be received, stowed and issued in the traditional Navy Supply System.
Fleet requisitions pass through the NAVICP to the contractor, who makes direct shipments to the customer. The EEBD contract has served as the pilot for electronic processing of delivery orders, which greatly reduces the processing time and cost for individual buys. Additionally, this increases the useful life of EEBDs, which was reduced by storage in the Naval Supply System.
The Ocenco EEBD unit is significantly smaller, lighter and quicker to don than the "old" EEBD. The new EEBD is wearable on the belt as opposed to the "old" unit's shoulder strap. This unit replaces a second belt worn Supplemental Emergency Escape Device, which was developed for use in Engineering spaces. Now one EEBD is placed on board ship with reductions in training time and costs.
Ocenco's proposal included no-cost disposal of the residual hazardous material found in their EEBD. This dramatically reduced the life cycle cost of the EEBD and gave potential savings of over $2M. The present Scott's EEBD required approximately a $10.00 per unit disposal cost.
The Ocenco EEBD has a NIOSH approved service life of 15 years. This greatly exceeded the 10-year service life requirement in the RFP.
No time is lost qualifying the Ocenco EEBD after award. Submission of bid samples and detailed test data, along with having a NIOSH approved unit ensure that their EEBD is "plug and play" for the Navy's mission.
The Ocenco EEBD is the commercial Best Value successor to a model designed over 15 years ago. The new unit combines the attributes of a mining industry design with the requirements of the Navy CID. Ocenco's unit price is similar to historical unit prices, while the integrity of the new unit and the "fringe benefits" offered by the company resulted in a proposal clearly more advantageous to the Navy than other offerors'. The current contract deviates from past practices in many ways, including: commercial acquisition procedures, use of Best Value and Direct Vendor Delivery. This resulted in the EEBD SST selecting a commercial, state-of-the-art unit that reflects the cutting edge of a commercial manufacturer's capabilities.
