Final Version_Request for Information_R3 Lookup Tool (002).pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Research and Development Enterprise Service Activity (J68)

Reclamation, Recovery, and Resupply “R3” Lookup Tool

THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PROPOSALS. THIS IS A

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED FROM

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO REIMBURSEMENT WILL BE MADE FOR ANY COSTS

ASSOCIATED WITH PROVIDING INFORMATION IN RESPONSE TO THIS

ANNOUNCEMENT OR ANY FOLLOW-UP INFORMATION REQUESTS. NO

TELELPHONE CALLS OR REQUESTS FOR SOLICITATION WILL BE ACCEPTED

OR ACKNOWLEDGED. COMPANY BROUCHURES ARE NOT DESIRED.

1.0 Background

As America’s combat logistics support agency, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) provides the United States Military Services, other federal agencies, and partner nation armed forces with a full spectrum of logistics, acquisition, and technical services. DLA sources and provides nearly all the consumable items that the United States Military Services need to operate – including, but not limited to, food, fuel and energy to uniforms, medical supplies, and construction material.

More information about DLA is available online at http://www.dla.mil/.

The mission of the Research and Development Enterprise Service Activity (J68) is to develop and deliver new capabilities through applied technologies and innovative solutions to enhance warfighter sustainment. R&D pioneers DLA’s industrial base and supply chain innovation across 13 leading-edge logistics research (LogTech), manufacturing technology (ManTech), and small business innovation programs (SBIP) to enhance Warfighter readiness. R&D’s focus areas are:

Business and Digital Development Data Modernization, Supply Chain Resiliency, Additive Manufacturing, Rare Earth and Strategic Materials, GenAI/AI/ML, Large Language Models, Digital Sustainment Platform, Digital Twin/Digital Thread, Nuclear Enterprise Sustainment Support, and Greening and Sustainability.

2.0 Objective

The mission of the Research and Development Enterprise Service Activity (J68) is to develop and deliver new capabilities through applied technologies and innovative solutions to enhance warfighter sustainment. R&D pioneers DLA’s industrial base and supply chain innovation across 13 leading-edge logistics research (LogTech), manufacturing technology (ManTech), and small business innovation programs (SBIP) to enhance Warfighter readiness. R&D’s focus areas are:

Business and Digital Development Data Modernization, Supply Chain Resiliency, Additive Manufacturing, Rare Earth and Strategic Materials, GenAI/AI/ML, Large Language Models, Digital Sustainment Platform, Digital Twin/Digital Thread, Nuclear Enterprise Sustainment Support, and Greening and Sustainability. Critical, strategic, and rare raw materials— such as antimony, germanium, and gallium— are vulnerable to Chinese export controls. Immediate http://www.dla.mil/ opportunities exist at large volumes in the DLA Disposition Services Excess, Obsolete, and Unserviceable (EOU) business process of reclamation of raw materials.

2.1 The reclamation process is dependent on the integration of Federal Logistics Information System (FLIS) data, DLA Warehouse Management System (WMS) data, and technical data— via DLA contracts and the United States Military Services Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)— to provide visibility into raw materials within all parts across DLA. This capability will mature circular economy resource recovery operations and preserve value in domestic supply chains, while reducing dependencies on adversarial supply sources.

2.2 The DLA is in support of R&D seeking information from the community on how an interested contractor will provide a lookup tool that allows users to input critical, strategic, or rare raw material and retrieve a list of items containing that material. Each item in the list shall display the National Stock Number (NSN), an image of the item, a description of the item, the technical data package, the Part Number (PN) containing the raw material, and the percent makeup of the raw material in the item. Items that contain the raw material but do not have an NSN shall also be included in the list retrieved from the search.

3.0 Description

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes of a Hackathon– it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the Research and Development Enterprise Service Activity (J68) is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does preclude participation in any future RFP pertaining to this Hackathon. Said Hackathon will have three phases: Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III; responding to this RFI is part of Phase I.

3.1 If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the SAM.gov site. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

3.2 RFI Release Date: July 15, 2025

3.3 Product or Service Code: AJ12 (Physical Sciences - Applied Research/Exploratory Development)

3.4 Contracting Office Address:

DLA Contracting Services Office – Philadelphia (DCSO-P) Attn: Latoya A. Coney 700 Robbins Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19111 For White Papers, Email: RANDD.DCSO@dla.mil Files too large to email may be submitted by using: DoD SAFE (https://safe.apps.mil)

3.5 RFI Closing Response Date: August 15, 2025

3.6 Subject: DLA Research and Development – R3 Lookup Tool

3.7 Contact Point

All correspondence is to be sent to Senthil Arul at Senthil.Arul@dla.mil and Latoya Coney at Latoya.Coney@dla.mil and RANDD.DCSO@dla.mil.

3.8 RFI Number: R3T-RFI-001

3.9 RFI Requirements:

1. The applicant must show how the solution will meet the capabilities described in Appendix I.

2. The applicant must demonstrate and describe an understanding of DLA and relevant DLA policy, the process, data sources, and technology used by which the information was extracted or collected for the DLA description.

3. The application or solution must be made available free of charge and without any restriction for testing and evaluation.

4.0 Responses

4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a White Paper. Follow the Research & Development Enterprise Service Activity (J68) Emergent IV Research and Development Broad Agency Announcement BAA0001-22 directions for White Paper response:https://sam.gov/api/prod/opps/v3/opportunities/resources/files/fac2b2937d874ef 4a6bff5489bbbfcc2/download?&status=archived&token=.

4.2 Vendors interested in responding to this RFI should review BAA 0001-22, Emergent+IV+BAA+Final (1).pdf. Please ensure that your response follows the format prescribed for the BAA. The White Paper should address the RFI Requirements located in section 3.10 of this RFI.

mailto:RANDD.DCSO@dla.mil https://safe.apps.mil/ mailto:Senthil.Arul@dla.mil mailto:RANDD.DCSO@dla.mil https://sam.gov/api/prod/opps/v3/opportunities/resources/files/fac2b2937d874ef4a6bff5489bbbfcc2/download?&status=archived&token=.

https://sam.gov/api/prod/opps/v3/opportunities/resources/files/fac2b2937d874ef4a6bff5489bbbfcc2/download?&status=archived&token=.

4.3 The white papers will be submitted via email to the Research and Development Office via the following mailboxes: Latoya.Coney@dla.mil and RandD.DCSO@dla.mil. All responses to this RFI must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time on the closing date. *****THE RFI NUMBER “R3T-RFI-001” MUST BE IN THE

SUBJECT OF THE RFI RESPONSE. *****

4.4 DLA will notify Respondents submitting a White Paper in response to this BAA by email message acknowledging receipt and a subsequent email message after reviewing the White Paper either (1) providing instructions for the submission of a technical proposal or (2) advising that DLA does not wish to receive a technical proposal and providing feedback to the Respondent regarding the rationale for this decision.

4.5 This RFI is for planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service. DLA is not seeking proposals and will not be accepting unsolicited proposals. DLA will discard, without opening, any unsolicited proposals. The U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be at the expense of the interested party. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

4.6 All vendors responding to the RFI with white papers are required to demonstrate that they can provide a capability that meets the government's minimum requirements above.

mailto:RandD.DCSO@dla.mil

Appendix 1 – R3 Lookup Tool Capabilities

The table below describes the minimum capabilities for the R3 Lookup Tool. Vendors are encouraged to describe additional capabilities they can provide.

No. Capability Description

1 User Input The tool shall have a search functionality where users can input the name or identifier of a strategic, critical, or rare raw material.

2 Automated Lookup

The tool shall search through the Federal Logistics Information (FLIS) database and return a list of items containing the strategic, critical, or rare raw material.

3 Data Presentation The results shall be displayed on a dashboard or other medium for user-friendly consumption. The results shall display the following:

• National Stock Number (NSN)

• Image of the item

• Description of the item

• Technical data package

• Part Number (PN) containing the raw material

• Percent makeup of the raw material in the item

Non-provisioned items, i.e., items without an NSN, shall also be included in the results and display the following:

• Local Stock Number (LSN) or another identifier

• Image of the item

• Description of the item

• Technical data package

• Part Number (PN) containing the raw material

• Percent makeup of the raw material in the item

4 AI Utilization The solution shall leverage, interface, and/or integrate with DLA-approved Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to assist in searching commodities or weapons platforms.

5 Integration The solution shall integrate with DLA’s existing Warehouse Management System (WMS) and FLIS to demonstrate the ability to search and be deployed or interface in a multi-cloud environment.

6 Scalability The solution shall scale to support military requirements and DLA transition to full operational capacity and production. The solution shall be able to be updated with additional data from other agencies and Major Subordinate Commands (MSCs) across DLA.

The desired solution shall be scalable to integrate reclamation of materials back to DLA or into the organic industrial base/ defense industrial base. The final scaled solution would take raw materials from cradle to cradle, internally handling reclamation, recovery, and resupply.

7 Security The solution shall comply with DoD cybersecurity policy.