Grain Oriented Electric Steel - Attachment 1.pdf

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Strategic Materials

Request for Information (RFI)

1.0 Description

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Strategic Materials Contracting Directorate is seeking information on how an interested contractor could provide product for the Grain Oriented

Electric Steel acquisition.

1.1 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the

Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, DLA Strategic

Materials is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals.

Responders are advised that DLA Strategic Materials will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with response to this RFI will be the sole responsibility of the interested party. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, the contract opportunity will be synopsized on the SAM.gov website. The potential offeror is responsible for monitoring this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

2.0 Background

DLA Strategic Materials is the operational agent of the Stockpile Manager, Under Secretary of

Defense, Acquisition & Sustainment (USD-A&S), charged with implementation of the provisions of the Strategic and Critical Materials Stock Piling Act (50 U.S.C. Section 98 et seq., hereafter referred to as the “Act”). Section 2(b) of the Act requires the Stockpile Manager to

“…provide for the acquisition and retention of stocks of certain strategic and critical materials…, to decrease and to preclude, when possible, a dangerous and costly dependence by the United

States upon foreign or single sources of supplies for such materials in times of national emergency”.

2.1 Proposed Buy: 3,125 metric tons Grain Oriented Electric Steel.

2.2 Proposed Delivery Period: five years from the date of contract award.

2.3 Limitations: none

2.4 Security Requirements: N/A

3.0 Requested Information

DLA Strategic Materials Directorate is seeking information for a potential acquisition of Grain

Oriented Electric Steel.

3.1 Grain Oriented Electric Steel Information

• Please provide specifications of all Grain Oriented Electric Steel for use in manufacturing that are produced, sold, or required by your company. Specifications can be commercial or company specific. Proprietary specification information submitted to the Government will be held as Business Confidential and not disclosed outside of DLA Strategic

Materials or the chain of command responsible for the operation of the National Defense

Stockpile (NDS). The provider is responsible for identifying proprietary information.

Request for Information

Specification information is important as it helps insure that the materials potentially acquired for the NDS could be released to industry for the production of end items in the event of a National Emergency.

• What is your annual overall production/throughput/consumption of Grain Oriented

Electric Steel?

• What is your average delivery rate (i.e., material produced and accepted by a consumer) per year?

• What other forms of Grain Oriented Electric Steel material are sold to industry customers and how does the volume of those sold compare?

• What is your plant/distribution capacity per year by form, type, or market sector?

• How much Grain Oriented Electric Steel raw material is stockpiled and how often is the inventory replenished?

• How does the time of year effect availability of material?

• What additional information do you deem critical for a potential Grain Oriented Electric

Steel acquisition to ensure that such material meet defense requirements in the event of a

National Emergency?

3.2 Grain Oriented Electric Steel Market

• In the next two to five years, are there any anticipated manufacturing process changes, mature technology development programs, or shifts in end-user requirements that are likely to result in a change in the material? If so, what are they?

• In the next two to five years, are there any anticipated material substitutions that may drive a transition towards or away from the use of Grain Oriented Electric Steel, that will affect the demand of the material? If so, what are they?

• Are there frequent changes in the market price for this material? If yes, how do you address those changes?

• What customer market sector(s) (i.e., military-aerospace, commercial-automotive) purchases your material?

• What additional amount of material per year could you deliver without disrupting deliveries to your current customers, hiring additional personnel, or expanding output capacity?

3.3 Product Quality Information

• For users, what do you usually specify when purchasing Grain Oriented Electric Steel

(e.g., weight, form, thickness, grain size, chemistry, finishing, specifications, etc.)?

• Are there any crucial impurities that have adverse effects on performance and what are the limits of those impurities in products that are specified?

o How are these impurities tested (frequency, location, and test method)? Please specify which method for which element or compound.

• If you are a purchaser, do you test the material you receive to determine whether it meets the material specifications you request?

o If so, what is the test frequency, location, and applicable specification of each test

(e.g. each end of each coil, per lamination, etc.)

• Do you have your own laboratory perform the material testing? If not, which laboratory do you use and what analyses are performed?

• If you send samples to an external laboratory, which laboratory do you use? What testing is performed?

• If you are a purchaser, would you be able to provide a letter from a producer stating that your material has met or exceeds manufacturing requirements in the past? If not, please provide a reasoning.

• Please include any comparable Safety Data Sheet (SDS), or Certificate of Analyses

(COA) for Grain Oriented Electric Steel products your company sells or distributes.

3.4 General Information

• How do you typically price the material? What unit of measure do you use to price the required material?

• Please provide a copy of a redacted commercial contract that includes your standard terms and conditions.

• Do you have provisions for agreements longer than one year? If so, how long term is tolerable?

• Do you provide spot deliveries? If so, typically how much could you provide and in what timeframe could you deliver?

• Packaging methods for Grain Oriented Electric Steel. Please include any industry standards that relate to how the Grain Oriented Electric Steel is packaged.

• What are the common storage conditions for Grain Oriented Electric Steel? The material will be stored at a Government depot. It is not uncommon for NDS inventory to be stored for periods of time exceeding twenty-five years, so please include information on the following:

o Shelf life o Environmental impact o Regulations o Material Rotation Requirements

• What are the common delivery Methods for Grain Oriented Electric Steel? The material will be delivered to a Government depot for storage.

• What is your typical delivery time for Grain Oriented Electric Steel from the date of receiving a contract/order?

• Do you offer prompt payment discounts?

• Does your company offer a discount for either long-term supply orders or large volume orders?

• Do you typically use subcontractors to produce/provide this material or service?

• Do you have an active iRAPT account for submitting electronic invoices in the Wide Area

Workflow System?

• Please include the Material Safety Datasheet (MDS) or Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for

Grain Oriented Electric Steel products your company sells or distributes.

• If you were requested to provide sales data identifying the percentage of material sold to the Government and the percentage of material sold to the general public, would you comply?

• Would you agree to a contract that contains Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) clause 52.216-2-Economic Price Adjustment—Standard Supplies? (Economic Price

Adjustment is described in the Supplement of this RFI [STATE SECTION].

• Is your company registered in the System for Award Management (SAM)?

(https://www.sam.gov/).

• Does your company have a cage code? If so, what is it?

• Please submit lessons learned from current or previous contract awards.

4.0 Responses

4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper.

4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word or Office 2010 compatible format are due no later than

September 4, 2024, 5:00 EST. Responses shall be submitted via e-mail; only to the

Contracting Officer Mr. Ronald Fairley at ronald.fairley@dla.mil. Proprietary information, if any, MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned.

4.3 Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information and shall include the following as a minimum:

• Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and email of designated point of contact.

• Recommended contract strategy.

• Either, (1) copies of executed non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the contractors supporting DLA Strategic Materials in technical evaluations or (2) a statement that the responders will not allow the Government to release its proprietary data to the

Government support contractors. In the absence of either of the foregoing, the

Government will assume that the responder does NOT agree to the release of its submission to Government support contractors.

• Business type (large business, small business, small, disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System

(NAICS) [INSERT NAICS CODE and DESCRIPTION.] “Small business concern” means a concern, including its affiliates that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts, and https://www.sam.gov/ mailto:ronald.fairley@dla.mil qualified as a small business under the criteria and size standards in 13 CFR part 121. A small business concern for the purposes of this procurement is generally defined as a business, including its affiliates, with no more than 1,500 employees. Responders are cautioned, however, that this is a general description only. Additional standards and conditions apply. Please refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 19 for additional detailed information on Small Business Size Standards. The FAR is available at https://www.acquisition.gov/browse/index/far.

• The facility security clearance of the offeror.

5.0 Industry Discussions

DLA Strategic Materials representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors.

Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

6.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by email to the Contracting office, email address above. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to SAM.gov; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 12:00 PM EST on

Wednesday, August 28, 2024, will be answered.

7.0 Summary

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY to identify sources that can provide Grain

Oriented Electric Steel for a potential future acquisition. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. DLA Strategic Materials has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should NOT be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.