NSWCPD Awards Largest Agreement in Command History through MSTIC OTA

NSWCPD Awards Largest Agreement in Command History through MSTIC OTA

By Gary Ell

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD) awarded an agreement under the Maritime Sustainment Technology and Innovation Consortium (MSTIC) Other Transaction Authority (OTA) on June 28, 2024.

The agreement, approved by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RDA), is valued at approximately $122 million for Research and Development (R&D), making it the largest agreement on the MSTIC OTA to date. This all-encompassing type of contracting vehicle, which can handle innovation and potential variability in site design, has never been awarded before in a single agreement, according to NSWCPD Technical Liaison Oversight Branch Agreements Officer and Branch Head Alicia McPeters.

"My team has been working for nearly two years on the award of this high visibility agreement to design, develop, and integrate Propulsion Load Systems into both the DDG(X) Land Based Test Site (LBTS) and FFG 62 Land Based Engineering Site (LBES)," said DDG 51 and future LBES Branch Head Brandon Weiss, who also serves as program manager for this project.

"The program kicks off a multi-year effort at NSWCPD that will usher in the most technically capable and highly complex propulsion load systems with NSWCPD and our MSTIC team," he said. "The load machine concept applies torque and speed in the ahead and astern direction on a propulsion shaftline to mimic hydrodynamic loads on a shaft during propulsion testing. This novel approach is the only way to provide full-scale test capability for new ship class test site validation."

Weiss noted that both of these ship test programs have unique requirements that impact National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-mandated need dates and system-level requirements, as well as introduce complexity that required a flexible agreement. Additionally, the integration of these systems with concurrent projects within the same building footprint introduces many challenges with layout and interference planning.

"Utilizing the MSTIC model helped us identify gaps in our technical specifications, right-size our requirement, and leverage technologies across programs to create a turnkey solution in a space constrained environment," he said.

Weiss continued: "Forecasting those challenges led us to utilizing the Other Transaction (OT) over a traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based approach to maximize that flexibility. We partnered with [NSWCPD] contracts, legal, and our command's technical experts to successfully negotiate a complex statement of work with industry partners. I could not be prouder of the effective and innovative collaboration our integrated team had throughout the pre-award stages of this agreement."

McPeters spearheaded the effort within NSWCPD's Contracts Department.

"When the Chief of the Contracting Office (CCO) at the time came to me about this project, I knew it was going to be a complex requirement that would take time. Sometimes requirements owners look to the OT Authority because they believe it's faster when, in most cases, this is not true," McPeters said.

"Working with Brandon and his team through this process was a positive learning experience for us as a team. We embraced the unknown, had to think outside the box, and gain an appreciation for program, technical, and statutory risk tolerance while being able to support the scope to a wide range of stakeholders. I know it was challenging at times, but I think we will see it was all worth it as execution of the project begins," she continued.

This project was the first in NSWCPD's history to require ASN RDA approval, which required sometimes daily interaction with Program Executive Offices (PEOs), Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Acquisition and Procurement (DASN(P)), Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Ships (DASN(Ships)), and ASN RDA, according to Weiss.

"Even more rewarding was when ASN RDA Hon. Nickolas Guertin came to NSWCPD for a tour of the test sites. It was especially rewarding to meet the person who just endorsed our path forward," Weiss said, "The special approval added four months to the award timeline, but ultimately helped us hone our justification to make it that much stronger. We persevered because we kept our eyes on the end goal."

McPeters noted that requirements under traditional procurement methods have their own challenges that are typically regulatory in nature. The OT Authority has very minimal statutory requirements, and she knew that the team would face challenges with this project simply because they had not done something like this before.

"The visibility of this project was an opportunity for learning at all levels of leadership throughout the command and external to the program offices that procurement is a process. Mission execution was my priority, but not at the expense of taking on too much risk for the command," McPeters said. "The trust the team placed in me was tremendously humbling, and the support of my leadership was what made getting this project awarded such an accomplishment not just for the command, but personally as well."

"The entire team (acquisition, contracts, technical, legal, and program/project management) successfully integrated together to make this happen. There were many hurdles along the way that took the entire team to navigate," Weiss added.

Working with teams to navigate terms and conditions that were amenable to both large and small companies alike, develop programmatic and technical guardrails outside of typical FAR guidelines, and aligning technical requirements was challenging, yet immensely rewarding, according to Weiss.

"We haven't had a project of this magnitude within the MSTIC program to date. It was extremely important to me that we got it right, not just for the success of the project, but to ensure that both the government and industry were afforded the flexibilities offered by the OT Authority while still protecting the best interests of the taxpayer," McPeters said.

NSWCPD established MSTIC to focus on innovative sustainment solutions that effectively address current and future security threats in maritime environments. Members have access to opportunities focused on developing and maturing technologies in the field of Maritime Sustainment that enhance the Navy's mission effectiveness. To learn more about joining MSTIC, visit http://www.mstic.org.

NSWCPD leads the MSTIC OTA with ATI as the Consortium Management firm. There are over 500 companies represented in the consortium so far, ranging from science and technology, reverse engineering, logistics, and business organizations that support NSWCPD's mission.

The OTA is "a streamlined purchasing vehicle that brings innovative research findings and state-of-the-art prototypes from industry to the federal government. Other Transaction-based collaborations are not subject to some of the regulations that apply to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based acquisitions. OTAs enable fast acquisition of critically-needed technologies in areas as diverse as shipbuilding, armaments, satellites, medical devices and electromagnetic spectrum technologies."

NSWCPD employs approximately 2,800 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.