RFI (Body Armor Level IIIA).docx

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

and PRESOLICITATION NOTICE

Body Armor (Level IIIA) U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Customs and Border Protection

DESCRIPTION

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) currently utilizes National Institute of Justice (NIJ) certified Level IIIA ballistic armor for duty and training use. In fiscal year 2023, CBP intends to solicit for a Multi-Award, Indefinite Delivery / Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract to augment and/or replace existing expiring body armor as a follow on to its current contract. This contract may be designated as available to other Federal Government Agencies for use both within and outside of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and may require a production in excess of 100,000 units over the life of the contract.

The Law Enforcement Safety and Compliance Directorate (LESC), Harpers Ferry, WV, on behalf of Operations Support (OS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is seeking to assess the body armor industry’s ability to provide CBP with suitable National Institute of Justice (NIJ) certified Level IIIA ballistic armor and carrier systems which meet the agency’s preliminarily identified requirements. To accomplish this, CBP intends to share information with and to make industry a partner in the acquisition process. In lieu of attaching a draft Statement of Work, we are including an abbreviate narrative overview of our intended technical direction and related general requirements, along with requested information from industry. CBP does intend to disseminate a complete draft SOW at a later time for industry review and comment prior to final release of the solicitation.

This announcement constitutes an official Request for Information (RFI). 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, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees 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 not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Sam.gov website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

INFORMATION REQUESTED:

1. Company Name, DUNS number, Company Address, Point of Contact, Telephone Number, and e-mail Address.

2. Do you use NAICS code 315990 - Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing? If not, what NAICS code do you use? What size business are you registered as with this code?

3. Identify your organization’s experience with and capability for manufacturing body armor certified by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Compliance Testing Program to their 0101.06 Body Armor Standard.

4. Are you currently ISO Certified?

5. Do you manufacture body armor that is currently certified by the NIJ to the 0101.06 Standard for level IIIA and listed on the NIJ’s Compliant Product List (CPL)? If not, do you manufacture ballistic carrier systems and are you capable of partnering with a ballistic panel manufacturer capable of answering yes to the question above?

6. Are you capable of providing all general requirements described within this document in-house or will you require the use of a sub-contractor for any portion of the contract? If subcontracting is required, please provide further detail to what extent as a percentage of the entire requirement.

7. Please provide your manufacturing capacity for vests on a monthly basis and what quantity could be devoted to DHS. Please separate this into concealable cut, custom measured panels and standardized shape/size panels.

8. Do you manufacture body armor that is NIJ Certified both separately as Non-structured and Structured?

9. Do you test your armor against fragmentation?

10. For both Non-structured and Structured specific NIJ Certified body armor, are you able to meet C-1 to C-5 sizing within a single model type for each?

11. Are you able to produce body armor in both concealable cut and CBP specific, requirement driven standardized shape(s)?

12. Do you currently produce any Level IIIA ballistic packages, both Non-structured and Structured, with an areal density of less than 0.95 lbs./ft² and a thickness less than 0.28 in.? If so, can you provide the NIJ Model designation along with the actual areal density and thickness measurements?

13. Do you have experience with, or are you capable of accepting individual orders/requests through password protected commercially available means such as Excel or Adobe?

14. Do you have the capability of producing instructional videos pertaining to care/maintenance and measuring/sizing?

15. Do you allow for Government Purchase Cards as a payment mechanism?

16. Indicate your current, or capability of compliance with both the Buy American Act, TAA and/or the Kissell Amendment.

17. Identify any current or potential future environmental, regulatory, or manufacturing concerns.

18. Identify any general questions or concerns you have related to the information provided below.

The following general requirements are preliminary and may be subject to change based on feedback from government stakeholders and industry. This list is not inclusive of all accessory, administrative, logistics, and warranty requirements which may be contained in a final requirements document.

· Scalable body armor carrier system with standardized panel shapes and sizes

· This will be CBP’s primary focus and is based on new DHS patented design¹.

· Patent number: 11,150,054

· Patent link: https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=6&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=bak.INNM.&OS=IN/bak&RS=IN/bak

· This system is an external carrier system, but requirements will also include a method to convert ballistic panels to a concealable format.

· Scalable system will include front, rear, and side soft ballistic panels in various but limited number of sizes for each. The removeable nature of the soft ballistic panels will allow for multiple combinations of front, rear, and side panels to maximize fit application.

· Scalable system is capable of holding both soft and rigid ballistic protection, but only Level IIIA soft ballistics will be included in this contract (no rigid plate armor)

· Ballistic panels for the Scalable system will be Non-Structured only.

· Scalable system plate carrier portion shall be made to fit CBP’s current Hesco Model 3800C- LE-MC ballistic plate with minimal movement and shall come in two foundational sizes capable of accommodating either 8x10” or 10x12” plates.

· Scalable system cummerbund shall be equipped with a non-metal, quick release system connecting the cummerbund to the left side and right side edge of the front plate pocket panel.

· The cummerbund shall allow for both active and passive adjustment.

· Traditional Concealable Cut body armor system

· This will be CBPs secondary focus and will serve to fill any needs that fall outside the Scalable system fit capabilities.

· This Traditional system will also be available for other agencies looking for a primarily concealable option.

· The Traditional system will consist of concealable cut ballistic panels, a single outer carrier option which utilizes some core features of the Scalable system to maintain commonality in appearance and certain functions (such as cummerbund design and attachment, as well as MOLLE and hook/loop placement for placarding), and a traditional concealable carrier.

· The Traditional system shall be available in both Non-structured and Structured configurations.

· Ballistics

· Ballistic models shall be certified by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to the 0101.06 Body Armor Standard and shall be listed on the NIJ’s Compliant Product List.

· Vendors shall include separate Non-structured or Structured designated armor models. Armor models do not need to be identical in build specifications.

· Both Non-structured and Structured models shall be NIJ certified to sizes C1 through C5.

· Ballistic panels shall have a manufacturer’s ballistic warranty of 7 years. Warranty commences at date of acceptance by the Government.

· Ballistic panels shall require fragmentation testing, using Right Circular Cylinders (RCC). V50 velocities shall meet or exceed the following reference velocities:

· Ballistics shall demonstrate V50 Ballistic Limit Performance at or above 1700 feet per second for the .357 Sig.

· Ballistic panels areal density shall not exceed 0.95 lbs./ft² with lower being better.

· Ballistic panel thickness shall not exceed 0.28 in. with lower being better.

· Ballistic panels shall be serialized individually (and not is sets).

¹ Performance under this contract award may require access to DHS owned intellectual property, including patents. The Department will grant the awardee a license to practice the DHS patented technology embodied in U.S. Patent Number US 11,150,054 entitled SCALABLE BODY ARMOR CARRIER SYSTEM FOR RIGID BALLISTIC PLATES AND SOFT BALLISTIC PANELS, for the duration and purpose of this contract. Others who are interested in obtaining a license to commercialize the DHS patented technology must obtain a license from DHS. DHS will be licensing this patented technology on a non-exclusive basis. More information on the licensing of government inventions can be found at https://ecfr.io/Title-34/Section-6.3 and interested parties may also contact the DHS S&T Technology Transfer & Commercialization Branch at T2C@hq.dhs.gov.

RESPONSES

Responses shall be the minimum length necessary to accommodate all requested information and submitted via e-mail only. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information.

INDUSTRY DISCUSSIONS

CBP 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 of CBP and would constitute market research.

QUESTIONS

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer, email address listed below. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted.

Instructions and Response Guidelines:

Please provide the information you deem relevant in order to respond to the specific inquiries of the RFI. Information provided will be used solely by CBP as market research. This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation (RFQ), and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response to this request. All information contained in this RFI is preliminary as well as subject to modification and is in no way binding on the Government.

RFI Responses shall be submitted electronically via email to the Contracting Officer, Connie McKay at connie.a.mckay@cbp.dhs.gov no later than 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 12, 2022.

Telephone responses will not be accepted. The Government is not required to respond to any information provided in response to this RFI. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor beta.SAM.gov for additional information pertaining to this RFI.

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