Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition
This document justifies the use of other than full and open competition for a new non-commercial Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract to provide support for F-16 Avionics Intermediate Shop (AIS) Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) Commodities Sustainment requirements. The contract will cover sustaining engineering, ATE maintenance, and technical order maintenance to ensure continued operational capability for AIS test stations.
Awardee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
Contract Type: Firm Fixed Price (FFP) ID/IQ with Time and Material (T&M) CLIN for materials.
Period of Performance: 5-year initial ordering period (01-Mar-2026 to 28-Feb-2031), with a 5-year option ordering period (01-Mar-2031 to 29-Feb-2036), and performance available through 28-Feb-2037.
J&A Type: Class J&A, as the optional ordering period is not pre-priced.
Sustaining Engineering for ATE Commodities.
Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) Maintenance.
Technical Order Maintenance.
Software maintenance and change implementations for C&S, Self-Test, and Calibration Adapter software programs.
Provisioning data, including Engineering Data, Logistics Product Data, and Commercial Drawings.
BAE Systems is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Engineering Authority for AIS test stations, possessing exclusive data rights and proprietary information necessary for sustainment.
The acquisition is a follow-on to existing contracts, and BAE has unique qualifications and expertise.
Awarding to any other source would result in unacceptable delays and necessitate a complete redesign of test stations, estimated to take over 10 years.
Developing new Test Program Sets (TPSs) for existing test stations would take approximately 70 years.
The F-16 AIS ATE sustainment effort does not have commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) or non-developmental item (NDI) alternatives.
A Sources Sought notice was posted on SAM.gov (FA8251-25-RC-AIS) from 30 Jul 2025 to 29 Aug 2025, resulting in five respondents.
While some respondents demonstrated capability in sustaining engineering tasks, they lacked access to the proprietary data required and did not have agreements with the OEM.
Consequently, BAE Systems is identified as the only source capable of meeting the Government's requirements without unacceptable delays.
This document is a Justification and Approval (J&A) and does not contain proposal submission details. The solicitation is expected to be posted separately.
The document mentions that a Disadvantaged Veteran-Owned Small Business contractor expressed interest, but ultimately, BAE was identified as the sole capable source.
Funding is cost-shared across multiple entities including USAF, Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve, and FMS partners.
The Government intends to continue pursuing the purchase of data rights from BAE to enable future competition.