EFK-Upgrades RPP.pdf

U.S. Army Contracting Division, Natick Contracting Division, DEVCOM SC BOTAA 22-01

REQUEST FOR PROJECT PROPOSAL

Area of Interest: Soldier Sustainment Directorate, Combat Feeding Division. Upgraded Expeditionary Field Kitchen Prototype and Change Documentation

Objective: This Request for Project Proposal (RPP) is issued to request preproposals in accordance with Section (B) of the U.S. Army Contracting Division, Natick Contracting Division Broad Other Transaction Authority – DEVCOM SC BOTAA 22-01 competitive announcement. It is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to award an agreement, nor will the Government pay for the information solicited. This RPP is in compliance with the DEVCOM SC

BOTAA 22-01.

The Combat Capability Development Command – Soldier Center (CCDC-SC), located in Natick Massachusetts is seeking proposals on the capabilities and willingness of private entities (non-profit and commercial/nontraditional) to design, fully document, fabricate and retrofit an existing (used) Expeditionary Field Kitchen (EFK) into an improved EFK variant prototype to include creating the proper engineering change documentation to support Government follow-on testing. The upgraded EFK prototype shall capture newer and mature technologies to improve the overall performance, address safety issues, and reduce maintenance and life cycle sustainment costs to the Marine Corps. Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) packages are also required to support each CCDC-SC approved change. The EFK Upgrades project’s primary objective is to develop and enhance the existing EFK’s capabilities, address/eliminate known safety issues and reduce life cycle costs and user burdens.

Background: The Combat Capabilities Development Command – Soldier Center (Department of the Army) is seeking to partner with a vendor for the development and prototype fabrication of an improved Expeditionary Field Kitchen (EFK Upgraded) and ECPs for retrofitting existing EFKs when they go through RESET at a Military Depot and to support replacement subassembly or component availability to Marines through the Military supply system via Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) requisitions. This project is a combination of developmental, fabrication, integration and test efforts. The developmental components will drive an iterative strategy to achieve an acceptable final design(s) for Military evaluations. After a decade of use, several common deficiencies have emerged over the lifecycle of deployed EFKs. In addition, the current EFK does not adequately support the Marine Corps’ newer approach to addressing future logistics challenges through operational energy in contested environments.

The EFK provides food preparation and sanitation facilities at field locations. The field kitchen can be setup and operated by a crew of six and can provide greater than 500 meals, two times a day. It is a complete field kitchen that is highly mobile. Major subsystems of the EFK include electrical power distribution and lighting, wastewater plumbing, and ventilation. The EFK consists of a 3:1 ISO expandable MECC shelter mounted on a MCC20 trailer. The trailer and EFK shelter combination is transportable by the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement (MTVR) over improved roads, unimproved roads and cross country. The shelter and trailer are transportable by truck, rail, sea, or air. The EFK is the newest expeditionary kitchen for the Marine Corps. It is integrated into a three-in-one, soft-sided, expandable 20-foot International Standards Organization (ISO) shelter. The kitchen includes:

• One mechanical room access ladder

• Two convection ovens

• Two tilt skillets

• Two TRHs

• Two refrigerators

• Five work tables

• Insulated food and beverage containers

• A full complement of food preparation and serving utensils

• Two sets of stairs with railings at the kitchen doors

• Three space heaters in the kitchen

• Two 115V duplex interior convenience outlets

• One exterior convenience outlet

• Four makeup air fans (two portable / one fixed / overhead array of ducts)

• Eighteen normal (white) and blackout (red) ceiling light assemblies

• Four fire extinguishers

The expandable side walls are hinged at the container base, sealed with rubber weatherproof seals, and incorporate four anti-racking door locks which are used in the shipping configuration. The side walls are lowered by mechanical winches to form the floors of the wings in the deployed configuration. Each side wall of the EFK incorporates an insulated fabric section that provides the roof, side, and end walls of the expandable wing. The fabric section is permanently attached to the ISO container framework with a watertight butyl rubber seal. The fabric section consists of three layers: An external durable, UV resistant and weatherproof vinyl coated polyester soft wall cover; an opaque insulation layer, and an inner liner. The cover material is designed for use in ambient conditions from -67° F to +149° F. The fabric cover is supported by steel arches that use a spreader bar to put tension on the cover. The arches are disassembled and stored in vinyl bags for packout.

Primary objectives are to develop value-added improvements that will increase durability and longevity, reduce cook and maintenance burdens and life cycle sustainment costs, increase up time and availability and address known shortcomings identified through years of operational use. All without compromising the EFK meal preparation abilities, mobility or adding significant burdens to the user or maintainer. The final upgraded EFK design should be fully documented so that a Depot can purchase, fabricate, and integrate the materials changes into existing EFKs.

Some known issues to be addressed during this effort include:

• The wing walls absorb rainwater therefore affecting the structural integrity of the floor panels and increasing the stresses on the winch, winch cable and safety strap. The winch, winch cable and safety strap have all failed at one point thus causing the wall to fall thus injuring Marine users and/or causing equipment damage. Issues include premature winch failures, premature cable corrosion, cable flat spotting and failures and premature UV degradation of the safety straps.

• A significant amount of time and inherent danger exist when deploying the wing walls

• The EFK’s fabric pole support system and the fabric itself is heavy and physically difficult to employ.

• The floor panels absorb water and the Marine Grade plywood subfloor becomes wet, delaminates, and loses structural integrity. It also increases stress in the winch system.

• Over time the interior fabric liner degrades and flakes off, thus negatively affecting the sanitary cooking environment needed to prepare meals inside the EFK. An Anti-microbial coating is also needed.

• The existing water system is complex and the users have many challenges with priming and pressurizing it as currently designed. Operating, troubleshooting and maintaining the potable system is problematic.

• The user requests a simple, low cost, affordable and durable method to push grey water 50 feet from the grease separator outlet to a separate greywater bladder or tank.

• A method to improve Operational Energy performance is required to reducing power, weight, water and system fuel consumption by leverage existing, mature and affordable off-grid power supplementation.

All proposed changes will be constructed of military grade materials that can be implemented via the MIL STRIP requisitioning process through DLA and/or as ECP kits installed during Depot level RESET efforts by the US Government. It is envisioned that the Government will conduct portions of the original EFK’s First Article Test to ensure each design change meets the stated performance requirements. The Contractor will be required to make design changes to ensure compliance and/or to the technical documents to ensure all the accepted changes are available, affordable, retrofittable and designed to not only address the areas of concern but meet the original First Article Test requirements. A complete production representative EFK can also be viewed at the CCDC-SC in Natick Massachusetts upon request and prior visitor access approval. A copy of the EFK’s System Specification (dated April 2010) can also be obtained by vendors upon request.

Requirements: The purpose of this RPP is to solicit preproposals for concept design and fabrication of and Upgraded EFK prototype and development of Engineering Change documents in collaboration with CCDC-SC design team to address known deficiencies and provide improved field feeding and sustainment capabilities of the fielded EFKs. A used production representative EFK shall be provided to the Contractor for design, modifications and Contractor test purposes.

The selected vendor for this effort shall design, develop, fabricate and integrate upgrades into that EFK so that it is capable of being evaluated in a lab and/or test environment by US Government test personnel and the Marine users. The preproposal should identify the current Technology Readiness Level (TRL), the military utility, concept, materials, manufacturing methodology, and novel technology of the proposed prototype and ECP documents to include trade-offs. The Government anticipates the award of a prototype agreement(s) for an innovative upgraded EFK system and all associated engineering documentation (3D Models, Drawings, Parts Lists, Bill of Materials and validated installation/retrofit instructions) proposed in response to this announcement.

Timeline: Development timeline is contingent on OTA award and funding availability. Notional WBS and IMS shall be submitted as part of proposal and detailed WBS/IMS with the full proposal if requested. Each phase should be proposed as a 9-12 month effort.

Phase I: (target 12 months)

Concept Design, Fabrication and Documentation Stage Following OTA award, CCDC-SC will provide an existing EFK and EFK Technical Manual to the vendor along with a list of known EFK faults, failures, maintenance burdens, sustainment burdens and potential technical insertions to improve field feeding performance of the EFK after RESET or during Sustainment actions. It is anticipated that the vendor will then enter a concept development phase to generate proposed design concepts to address the list and provide multiple refined design concepts based around the CCDC-SC guidance. This phase is expected to be iterative in nature. Following the design evolution phase and approval by the CCDC-SC lead engineer, the vendor will proceed to document and fabricate the improved components. A copy of the original EFK System Specification shall also be provided to the Vendor upon request.

Proposed Phase 1 deliverables:

1. (0-6 months) Iterative generated 3D concepts models with primary design features identified: materials, purchased parts, fabricated parts, specs, construction which can be provided in MS PowerPoint format and presented as part of regular design meetings.

Reoccurring status meetings will provide a mechanism for continued feedback.

2. (6-12 months) A complete BOM, Parts Lists, and all material required for fabrication and integration ordered. Fabricate and integrate one complete Upgraded EFK prototype based on approved prototype design submittals. Note: An existing used EFK will be provided as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). Continue to mature each Engineering Change Proposals documents. Finalize and deliver the Engineering drawings, specs, Parts Lists, Bill of Materials, and installations/retro fit instruction, and costs for each ECP. This also includes any relevant materials specifications.

Summary: No later than 12 months after contract award, a fully functional and testable Upgraded EFK shall be provided to the CCDC - SC in addition to complete ECP packages for each approved Government design change.

Phase II: (Optional)

The phase II OTA option should be included as part of the original proposal and WBS, however it is subject to change based on phase I outcomes and Government funding availability. Phase II is intended to be a continuation of the phase I developmental effort if the initial upgraded prototype did not meet certain Government Developmental Test Requirements or requires further refinement to provide additional improvement capabilities. Phase II should be proposed as Phase I continuation to include a delivery of final upgraded EFK prototypes in line with Phase I deliverables, including updated ECP documentation.

Any proposed military standard test plans for delivered prototypes would be written in collaboration with the Vendor and executed at the expense of the Government. All materials, excluding the single GFE production unit, shall be provided by the prime vendor.

Proposed Phase II deliverables (alternate option)

1. The original GFE modified EFK with additional changes.

2. Updated ECP documentation to match the updated prototype configuration.

3. Final cost and pricing data for each proposed EFK upgrade and ECP.

Performance Objectives: Preproposals shall be submitted to the following email address:

shawn.p.haubner.civ@army.mil

Preproposals should be limited to three pages, and include the following:

1. A description of the relevant technology including supporting data (when available), the scope of the proposed effort including a high-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), and a description of the proposer’s research, development, manufacturing, past performance, or other special qualifications.

2. The preproposal should indicate the TRL level of the proposed prototype if applicable.

3. The preproposal must also include a projected cost for the efforts described in the preproposal (Phase I and optional Phase II).

Additional Information:

1. Provide listing of shelter fabrication capabilities and capacities, including any specialty equipment necessary for fabrication and complete integration of the prototype and possible future production retrofit models.

2. Provide description of any previous and relevant Military unique Field Kitchen, Field Feeding Equipment Items or Shelter/Containers fabrication capabilities, or specific examples relevant to the current RPP, including government contracts.

3. Brief company description of facility(s), personnel employed, years of experience.

4. Provide in response if any subcontracts will be required to fabricate and document the planned engineering improvements.

5. Brochures or other descriptions of general organizational or individual capabilities will not be accepted as a preproposal.

6. All preproposals will be assigned an identification number and an email will acknowledge receipt of a preproposal. Usually, the Project Manager of the submitting organization should receive a decision letter or email regarding the preproposal within mailto:shawn.p.haubner.civ@army.mil

30-45 days of submission.

Administration: The Government will retain comments and information received in response to this RPP. Proprietary information should be identified as Company Proprietary. Do not use Government security classification markings. All written responses must be received by COB 16 February, 2023. Responses should be sent by e-mail to: shawn.p.haubner.civ@army.mil with Subject Line of Responding Organization and RPP Title. Material that is advertisement only in nature is not desired. Respondents may review the DEVCOM SC BOTAA at sam.gov for additional areas of interest and/or preproposal submission instructions and representative POCs.

Attachment 0001 Expeditionary Field Kitchen Salient Characteristics

For the purpose of preproposal generation, the following materials and expected design considerations are summarized below. These are not intended to be fully defined and are subject to change as the project evolves.

Anticipated Design features:

• Materials and designs selected shall be available, affordable, structurally suitable, provide tangible improvements, reduce or eliminate safety and sustainment fleet challenges and meet the current EFK System Specification and FAT Test Requirements (operational, safety, mobility and environmental, antimicrobial, antifungal etc...) Note: prototypes delivered are intended for user evaluation and mission suitability, not qualification testing per appropriate standards. It is intended that all materials and construction selected meet applicable TRL and would be suitable for follow-on qualification.

• Materials that are structurally suitable, corrosion resistance, highly durable and appropriate for each applicable change.

• There can be no increase in the overall size, weight, power consumption, fuel consumption or negative performance impacts. Only minimal affects to the pack-out are acceptable. No changes are anticipated to the MCC20 Trailer, unless preapproved.

• The sum total of the proposed changes that can be implemented during RESET at a DEPOT shall not exceed $260K each. This is not the sum total of the proposed changes developed under this effort.

• Changes must not increase the Food Service or maintainer Marine manpower requirements.

mailto:shawn.p.haubner.civ@army.mil http://www3.natick.army.mil/(S(1g3ayjadw2dxhgvu41u4g4f1))/NSRDEC-BOTAA.aspx

Anticipated Capability and Material Requirements:

• Forming, welding, machining, electrical, exhaust, engineering, drafting, plumbing, sanitation, combustion, fabric work, fabrication, integration, test, Material Handling Equipment, etc...

• Metals, composites, fabrics, adhesives, rubber, fuels, cleaning agents, etc...