Question_ _Answer__3.pdf

HSBP1016R0004 – DHS Level IIIA Body Armor Question and Answer #3

Question 1: SOW Section 4.2.17 states that ballistic labels must include the statement: “Ballistic performance is warranted for seven years.” Per the NIJ labeling requirements manufacturers are required to indicate their standard declared warranty period which is predominantly 5 years for models currently listed on the CPL.

If a manufacturer submits a model that has an NIJ declared warranty period of 5 years, and it is labeled as such, can they simply include the DHS required seven year warranty statement as an addition to the label?

This would result in the label stating two warranty periods. Is this acceptable?

Answer: No, the label must state the full warranty period as required by the contract (7 years).

Question 2: SOW Section 4.17.2 states that some vests will ship CONUS, some OCONUS.

Can the Government provide an estimate of the percentage that will ship CONUS for costing purposes?

Answer: Section 4.17.2 includes Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Shipments to these locations are estimated account for less than 1%.

Question 3: SOW Section 4.1.12 Throughout the contract, the Government intends to pull from stock of new and used vests for quality assurance (QA) testing. Vests shall be provided to the vendor who shall be responsible for facilitating testing as well as all expenses incurred, including shipping (exception being the initial shipping of body armor to the vendor).

QA testing must be performed at an NIJ approved laboratory and include both penetration/backface deformation testing and ballistic limit testing. The government shall determine the breakdown of test type at the time test armor is provided to the vendor. The purpose of this testing is to determine if the ballistic panels are performing in accordance with the parameters of this specification throughout the warranty period and are not experiencing excessive degradation in performance. The government shall only test vests that are considered serviceable for continued use by officers and agents.

Can the Government better define a vest that is considered “serviceable” for continued use by officers and agents?

Answer: Serviceable meaning within a vest’s 7 year life cycle and fit for duty use.

Question 4: SOW Section 4.3.2 Trauma pads shall exhibit the same construction, materials, layer counts, covering, attention to detail and quality as the ballistic panels they are supplied with.

Is this meant to include stitching patterns?

Answer: Yes.

Question 5: SOW 4.8.2 Ballistic accessory panels shall exhibit the same construction, materials, layer counts, covering, attention to detail and quality as the ballistic panels they are supplied with.

Is this meant to include stitching patterns?

Answer: Yes.

Question 6: SOW Section 4.15.2 4.15.1 Vendor shall provide a dedicated, secure web based order system (WBOS) for use by DHS agencies. The site shall provide a mechanism for on-line ordering, as well as tracking and identifying the status of individual orders. The site shall be operational within 90 of contract award.

Can the Government provide awardees a sample/demo user ID login that will enable them to see the existing online web based ordering system? No proprietary data will need to be shared, but this will allow new vendor sites to mirror existing and maintain functionality.

Answer: No. Please see addendum 2 to the SOW (Attachment 1) for print screens of the WBOS.

Question 7: SOW Section 4.15.22 “Shopping Cart” page shall remain populated (saved) until the agency personnel checks out, even if the person logs out or the program times out.

Is there a minimum or maximum amount of time that the data must be kept available upon Log-out or time-out on server?

Answer: Data shall remain in the system until it is either submitted as an order or deleted by the user.

Question 8: SOW Section 4.2.1 Ballistic panels shall be available in both concealable cut and SPEAR/BALCS cut shapes (2012 version or later).

Is the Government going to provide the correct BALCS patterns after award?

Answer: No.

Question 9: Solicitation Attachment 2 Pricing Schedule Item 10 Ballistic Panels references SOW Section

4.2 & 4.3 which includes concealable and BALCS cuts.

Is it the Government’s intent to have offerors provide only one price for all concealable and BALCS sizes?

Answer: Yes, at the contract level. The type of cut (concealable or BALCS) will be detailed in the request for quotation (RFQ) for the subsequent delivery orders. As a result of the competition for the delivery order a price for the delivery will be established.

Question 9a: How does the Government determine if the “one” price is reasonable for evaluation purposes with such a wide range of sizes requested?

Answer: The Government will perform price evaluation in accordance with the RFP.

Question 9b: Will the Government consider providing a size (C-3 for example) for price evaluation purposes?

Question 9c: Can the Government provide a size tariff for the BALCS cut requirement?

Question 9d: Can the Government provide a height and waist tariff for all potential 122,700 units?

Question 10: Solicitation Section Subpart 3 – Wear Test Items & Subpart 4 Samples. There does not appear to be a color identified for these wear test items and samples. We have started building the wear test items in black as we have black material ready and available.

If a color is determined through this Q&A session that is not black for the wear test items and samples will the Government accept a deviation for color?

Answer: The color shall be black.

Question 11: Solicitation Section Subpart 4 Samples. The Government has identified C-3 for the ballistic panel sizes.

Are there any size requirements for the remaining samples (CLINS 20 to 50E) due on June 8th? If yes, can the Government please provide them?

Answer: For subpart 4 of the Proposal Preparation and Content section of the RFP there are no specific size requirements beyond what is listed in the SOW.

Question 12: According to communication from the personnel who were sent to conduct measuring, the Government will allow multiple submissions from one offeror but the submissions have to be completely separate.

Can the Government explain the process for multiple submissions?

Answer: If an offeror choses to submit more than one body armor option each offer shall be submitted as a separate proposal for evaluation purposes.

Question 13: According to communication from the personnel who were sent to conduct measuring, individual contracts will be issued for each agency.

Can the Government please clarify the delivery order procedure after award of this base contract?

Will fair opportunities be issued to all awardees to compete on?

Is the Government planning to issue delivery orders without competing them?

Answer: The Government anticipates awarding multiple contracts as a result of this solicitation (HSBP1016R0004). The ordering procedures for delivery orders awarded under the contracts will be conducted in accordance with FAR 16.505(b). The evaluation criteria for competitive delivery order will be defined in the request for quotation for each delivery order and can either be lowest price technically acceptable or trade-off.

Question 14: 4.1.10.6 The minimum allowable penetration results for determining each RCC’s ballistic limit shall be three perforations, six stops, and 3 either; within a velocity range of 90 ft/s.

Are you requiring all 12 shots to be within 90 ft/s? This is a problematic task to accomplish with RCC’s since it is very difficult to have precise velocity control when testing with RCC’s. Is the intent to have 12 shots with at least 6 partials and to obtain a 3x3 V50 with a range of 90 ft/s. Typically for Military standards referencing RCC’s it is only required that the 3 completes and 3 stops that are used to calculate the V50 are within determined velocity requirement. The NIJ standard is designed for bulleted threats and is written in that manner. NIJ use 12 shots per panel over 10 panels to develop a statistical calculation requiring at least 60 partials and at least 30 perforations. NIJ does not use RCC’s for testing and did not incorporate in NIJ 0101.06 the proper methodology for RCC testing.

Answer: Yes. Please see the answers to questions 8 and 10 of question and answer #2 posted to FBO on 04/09/2016.

Question 15: The 2gr and 4gr RCC’s require a different setup to obtain velocities because of their size. Our set up only obtains one velocity reading. When testing with 2gr. and 4gr. standard Light/LED screens cannot be used. Paper screens or magnetic coils are use which are one reading. Even if Doppler is used it is a extrapolated calculation and not very accurate do to the noise with sabots and pusher discs. Is this acceptable or are two readings required?

Answer: Yes, your approach is acceptable. Only one velocity reading is required for 2gr and 4gr.