Suction RFI-2024_v2.pdf

Field, Portable Emergency Suction Apparatus

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS, NOR A REQUEST FOR

QUOTATIONS; IT IS STRICTLY A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI). NEITHER

UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS NOR ANY OTHER KINDS OF OFFERS WILL BE

CONSIDERED IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI. NO CONTRACT WILL BE AWARDED

PERSUANT TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

SUBJECT: The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Troop Support is conducting market research on behalf of the U.S. Army for the next generation of field, portable emergency aeromedically certified suction devices for use in the deployed environment. Responses to this RFI are due no later than 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) on 6/20/2024.

DISCLAIMER: This RFI is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Neither unsolicited proposals nor any other kind of offers will be considered in response to this RFI. Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI marked as “proprietary” will be handled accordingly. Information provided in response to this RFI will not be returned. DLA does not guarantee that any resultant acquisition action will result from this RFI.

BACKGROUND: The military requires an emergency suction apparatus designed to be small, lightweight, portable, and easily transportable. The device will be used to perform evacuation of bodily debris and fluid in the field environment to care for combat casualties. For the deployed environment, portable suction devices are needed that can be used under austere conditions experienced in Roles of Care 1 (i.e. Point of Injury and the Battalion Aid Station), Role of Care 2 (i.e. Medical Company/Treatment Teams) as well as air and ground casualty evacuation.

Therefore, the devices shall be able to obtain Joint (Dual) Airworthiness Certification (JAC) consisting of a Safe to Fly (STF) letter from the USAF (for fixed-wing aircraft) and a Fleet Airworthiness Release (AWR) and an Aeromedical Certification letter from the U.S. Army (for rotary aircraft). Also, the devices must be able to withstand extremes of storage and operating temperature and humidity, dust/sand, transit shock and vibration, and blowing rain. They also must be maintainable, sustainable, and repairable by military and civilian biomedical maintenance technicians (BMETs) using existing military supply channels (i.e., repair parts, consumables, maintenance services).

The purpose of this RFI is to perform market research to identify products that may meet the military’s requirements. The requirements are specified in fairly general terms to maximize flexibility and allow for trade space analysis. More refined requirements will be established after market research is analyzed and tradeoff comparisons are made. Ultimately, a system will be selected for operational and environmental testing and evaluation by the DoD.

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS (ECs): In addition to addressing the above concerns, the field, portable emergency suction apparatus shall meet the essential characteristics mentioned in the attachment, Compliance Spreadsheet Template:

SUBMISSION PACKAGE: The submission package should consist of the following information:

• Provide responses to the Essential Characteristics placed within the tabular format by completing the compliance spreadsheet template attachment.

• Provide product brochures, operating and service manuals, technical specifications, videos, and maintenance information for the field portable suction device, including a summary and explanation of how the system meets DoD requirements. Also, please discuss any considerations or trade-offs the Government should consider including issues with draft requirements or any additional information that the Government should be aware of.

• Schedule information. What is the manufacturing lead time for the system, and how many systems can be produced and delivered monthly per year?

• Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) characteristics/life cycle data for the system (historical information on parameters such as mean-time-between-failures, mean-time-to-repair, etc.)

• Environmental/durability testing performed and any experience with operating the system in an austere environment, including placing the unit in prolonged storage between uses.

Vendors should address how their unit has or will be able to perform in a deployable environment which includes rough environmental conditions (heat, cold, moisture, etc.), rough handling (shipment by air including combat transportation (helicopter, air drop, etc.)

and ground (over rough road or off road), and remote locations (limited access to electricity, no commercial shipping methods for parts/consumables, no online or phone access for tech support, etc.)

• Potential upgradeability of the system (as technology matures). Vendors should include a discussion of upcoming new products and/or features over the next 12 months.

• Training and technical support available (initial and sustainment training for life of system).

• Availability of spare parts from the company, any manufacturing sub-contractors, and the company’s global distribution partners/centers. This should include discussion of the life of the product itself along with support after product is no longer sold in the commercial market.

• As part of this RFI, the Government may request vendor presentation and product demonstrations, at no cost to the Government, and if acceptable for the vendor. Please describe the kind of product presentation or actual product demonstration that could be provided in conjunction with this RFI. Include whether there is an actual system available for possible product demo.

• Procurement and life cycle costs

• Integrated Product Support Elements to be addressed by vendors (This is just a brief summary of some of the concerns that need to be addressed for each Integrated Product Support element):

1. Supply and Support: Ability to add repair/spare parts to DLA contract and ensure that the repair parts catalog is updated and current. That is, the vendor keeps this account (for example ECAT) up-to-date, and the government can easily purchase these items from

DLA.

2. Maintenance Planning & Management: What is the vendor’s current strategy to support their equipment out in the field and how will the vendor modify its current processes to provide similar support to our DoD technicians providing maintenance support for the systems?

3. Packaging, Handling, Storage and Transportation: The vendor must be aware of environmental changes that the equipment will encounter and address packaging, handling, storage, and transportation concerns that may be based on military specifications (MIL-STD-810G).

4. Technical Data: All technical data shall be available for the DoD Technicians to use. The DoD shall reserve the rights to publish all the technical data necessary to operate, maintain and, sustain the field portable suction device. The DoD would be responsible for keeping the Technical Data secured and used only for Official Use. Additionally, the OEM shall provide hard copies of such technical data to accompany the system.

5. Support Equipment: The field portable suction device must have the ability to be maintained with government owned Test Medical and Diagnostic Equipment (TMDE) and tools fielded with the unit assemblages for military technicians to use.

6. Computer Resources: Only if applicable, the field portable suction device must comply with all the current DoD network requirements prior to connection to the DoD network.

7. Training and Training Support: The vendor must demonstrate the willingness to provide the requested training for the user and maintainer.

Feedback Requested

The purpose of this RFI is to assess the commercial industry’s ability and or capabilities to provide a portable emergency field suction device. The response to the structured questions listed below will provide DLA Troop Support with the desired information. Respondents are encouraged to provide any additional information including relative topics outside of the specific information requested.

1. Does your firm currently manufacture or have the ability to provide an aeromedically certified suction device specifically as specified herein?

2. Would your company be interested in responding to a future solicitation for the device outlined in this RFI?

3. Is there any information or requirement(s) that you feel is relative to this RFI that is missing?

Any information provided in response to this RFI will be considered and treated as unrestricted information which can be used by the Government in any future planning or acquisitions. DLA Troop Support does not anticipate awarding a contract in response to this RFI. All information, comments, and suggestions determined to be beneficial to DLA Troop Support may be incorporated into future acquisition documents, including solicitations or contracts, without identifying the source or obtaining prior approval from the source.

The Government shall not be responsible or liable for any costs incurred by any party in the preparation and submission of any response to this RFI.

The following document is provided for as a supporting attachments to this RFI:

Attachment: Compliance Spreadsheet Template.xlsx

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS: Candidates for the field portable emergency suction apparatus must satisfy the following top-level requirements:

• Approved, cleared, or registered by the FDA, if applicable

• Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliant

RESPONSE INFORMATION: All Submissions, questions, and inquiries regarding this RFI should be directed to the following POC’s:

Tracee Murray Acquisition Specialist Phone: (215) 737-9098 Email: tracee.murray@dla.mil

Anthony Giunta Contracting Officer Phone: (215) 737-2126 Email: anthony.giunta@dla.mil

Technical questions only:

Bini Thankachan Biomedical Engineer Phone: (215) 737-2066 Email: bini.thankachan@dla.mil

Mailing Address: DLA Troop Support 700 Robbins Ave.

Philadelphia, PA 19111

Attn: Tracee Murray, Acquisition Specialist

Capital Equipment Division- FSDC

Email responses should be no larger than 10 megabytes (MB) in size.

If larger attachments are required, the Department of Defense (DoD) Secure Access File Exchange (SAFE) is a web-based file transfer service that provides authenticated DoD employees and guests (vendors) the capability to securely receive and send “drop-off” large files, including files that are too large to be transmitted via email. Guests may send files to the Government only if the Government has requested the files. Therefore, if you wish to take advantage of this method, please send your request for a DoD SAFE link to Tracee.Murray@dla.mil and an email notification with mailto:tracee.murray@dla.mil mailto:anthony.giunta@dla.mil mailto:bini.thankachan@dla.mil mailto:Tracee.Murray@dla.mil

URL Link to Initiate Drop-off will be generated through email. Note, up to 25 files per Drop-off with a total combined size up to 8 GB may be sent. Vendors may request additional Drop-off links to accommodate additional file transfers.

Each RFI response will receive a confirmation email. Please include a point of contact, phone number, email address, and website information.

This RFI is not a solicitation. The Government will not pay for any information submitted, or for any costs associated with providing the information.

The response should describe the company’s capability to offer, manufacture, and sustain the components as characterized by the requirements addressed in this RFI. If unable to provide a product(s) capable of meeting all requirements, the respondent should offer trade off considerations.

LATE SUBMISSIONS: Failure to respond to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future competition, nor will information provided in response to this RFI be used to exclude anyone from responding to any future requests for proposals. Communications with DLA in regard to this RFI will only be permitted in writing during the RFI response period. Responses to the RFI received by DLA after the submittal deadline and time may be considered.

OWNERSHIP OF RESPONSE TO RFI: All informational material submitted in response to this request becomes property of DLA.

RELEASE OF CLAIMS, LIABILITY, AND PREPARATION EXPENSES: Under no circumstances shall DLA be responsible for any response preparation expenses, submission costs, or other expenses, costs, damages or loss of whatever nature incurred as a result of the respondent’s participation in this RFI process. Respondent understands and agrees that they submit a response at their own risk and expense, and release DLA from any claim for damages or other liability arising out of the RFI process.

ERRORS IN RESPONSE: DLA shall not be responsible for any errors in respondent’s response. Respondent is responsible for careful review of its entire response to ensure that all information is correct and complete. Respondents are liable for all error or omissions contained in their responses.