NOAA Special Notice to Award Sole Source Urgent Requirement Propulsion Parts

PISCES Propulsion Drive cabinets were designed and installed by OEM (Rockwell) with Allen-Bradley components. The OEM only recognizes certified Allen-Bradley parts from an OEM authorized distributor. Failure to use parts from an authorized distributor have no warranty and are not recognized nor recommended for installation by the OEM and carries a significant risk for the guaranteed safe operation of a critical ship system.

The required supplies or service must be compatible in all aspects (form, fit, and function) with existing systems or equipment and the source is uniquely qualified to meet the requirement. PISCES Propulsion Drive cabinets were designed and installed by OEM (Rockwell) with Allen-Bradley components. The OEM only recognizes certified (Insert PR/RFQ number, as applicable) 2 of 3 Source Selection Information – see FAR 2.101 and 3.104 Allen-Bradley parts from an OEM authorized distributor.

Failure to use parts from an authorized distributor have no warranty and are not recognized nor recommended for installation by the OEM and carries a significant risk for the guaranteed safe operation of a critical ship system. The nature of the requirement has been deemed urgent due to unusual and compelling circumstances. Following competitive procedures would result in unacceptable delays resulting in serious injury to the Government.

PISCES is currently pierside under CAT 1 CASREP 2025-05 for propulsion motor heat exchangers and drive operation failures as well as CAT 2 CASREP 2025-02 for Propulsion Motor Drive tripping. Rockwell OEM service engineers were brought onboard to troubleshoot Propulsion Motor Drive tripping and discovered one card in each drive cabinet for the two motors had failed. PISCES had one card onboard which was used to fix one motor, but requires replacement of the other motor drive card to restore ship propulsion control.

The listed OEM approved authorized distributor has the needed part on hand and can ship it immediately. Rockwell, the OEM, is already scheduled to return to the ship on 25 May to validate repairs and can install the new card in the port motor at that time. OEM service engineer availability is very limited and they are time constrained for service engineers to work on the SD3000 propulsion drives that the FSVs are designed with and must be scheduled many weeks in advance.

The new card is required to be on board by 25 May to be available for installation by the OEM service technician upon arrival. While other vendors throughout the US may be able to meet the need if allowed to sell OEM parts nationally, the listed distributor is the only authorized distributor for Allen Bradley parts for the Gulf Coast Region that PISCES is assigned to and is the fastest known source for OEM parts locally.