Hammerhead Program Engineering Services Increase

Description The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) intends to award a sole-source modification to Contract No. N00024-21-C-6425 with General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS). This action will increase the Engineering Support Service (ESS) ceiling by 42,000 hours to support the Hammerhead Program. The Hammerhead is a moored-torpedo variant mine system capable of detecting, classifying, and defeating Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) targets.

Under a competitively awarded 2021 contract, GDMS is the prime contractor and sole systems integrator responsible for the design, development, and production of the Hammerhead system. The Department of the Navy requires these additional ESS hours to support critical program requirements and engineering changes for modified configuration(s) that are a logical technical progressions of the baseline system.

Without this increase in engineering support, configuration effort will halt, which will preclude the commencement of the production phase and cause a failure to deliver this critical capability within the Fleet’s required timeline.

Statutory Authority and Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition The proposed contract action is being solicited pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 3204(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements." GDMS is the only responsible source capable of providing the required ESS for the Hammerhead system without causing unacceptable delays in fielding a critical capability.

As the current prime contractor, GDMS possesses the active facility clearances, proprietary technical data, and specialized knowledge of the Hammerhead system architecture required to perform the work immediately. Competing this requirement would result in an estimated 24-month cumulative delay due to the time required for source selection, knowledge transfer, and facility stand-up.

Such a delay would halt ongoing engineering efforts on the critical MOD 1 configuration, preventing the finalization of the Technical Data Package (TDP) and delaying the transition to production, thereby compromising the Navy’s ability to meet national security requirements. The Government will obtain Government Purpose Rights (GPR) to a validated Hammerhead TDP, which may allow for future competition of Hammerhead requirements.

Capability Statements / Submission Instructions This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, all responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency. Interested parties are invited to submit a response demonstrating their ability to provide the required services. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Responses to this notice must be received by 4:00 PM Eastern Time on the response date stated in this posting. Responses shall be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed below and must reference this notice ID in the subject line.