Protection Kits RFI.docx

Request for Information for add on protection kits 10 October 2024

Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

DESCRIPTION OF INTENT:

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. No award will be made as a result of this request.

DESCRIPTION:

The Army is initiating a new acquisition program for an add-on protection kits for ground combat vehicles. The program consists of two different types of protection, within one kit. The kit includes fabricated nylon canvas bags containing a fill and a lightweight polyethylene foam configuration specific to each hatch of each ground combat platform. The use of textiles will require compliance with the Berry amendment for textile production.

The Army is assessing market research to inform a potential production contract for award in FY26. The Government owns level III technical data packages for all configurations and would provide the technical data to prospective vendors. A potential requirement could exceed 1,500 kits. The vendor would be required to source and use long life re-usable containers to ship kits to multiple locations.

DISCLAIMER:

Reference herein to any specific commercial company, product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the USG or the Department of the Army (DA). The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the USG or the DA and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

PROPRIETARY INFORMATION:

It is the responsibility of Industry, when providing any responses, to properly mark such information that is considered proprietary or is otherwise restricted. The USG is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Nor is the USG obligated to protect data in possession of third parties or for data which is afterwards placed in the public domain by the contractor or by third parties through no fault of the USG. Should the USG need to reproduce the protected data for distribution purposes between Government offices, all such data reproduction will clearly annotate restrictive legends.

The USG acknowledges its obligations under the Federal Acquisition Regulation 3.104-4 to protect confidential information provided to the Government (18 U.S.C. §1905). Pursuant to this statute, the USG is willing to accept any trade secrets or proprietary restrictions placed upon qualifying data forwarded in response to this RFI and to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure, subject to the following:

• Qualifying data is clearly marked PROPRIETARY and is accompanied by an explanatory text so that the USG is clearly notified as to exactly what data so qualifies.

• Mark only data that is truly confidential.

• Do not mark data that is already in the public domain or is already in possession of the USG or third parties on an unclassified basis.

• Proprietary data transmitted electronically must have a PROPRIETARY legend on both the cover of the transmitted information as well as on each applicable page therein.

• Proprietary information contained within the correspondence shall use the legends: "PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS" and "PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS."

Support Contractors: The USG has the option to utilize support contractors for evaluating responses. Responses that contain proprietary information may receive less consideration since the respondent's marking of data as "PROPRIETARY" will preclude disclosure outside the USG and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The USG will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

There is no risk to respondents for participating in this RFI. Participation in this effort is strictly voluntary, resulting in no cost or obligation incurred by the USG. The USG is not bound to this information if any solicitation is issued. However, this is an important opportunity for industry to provide input on this program. This RFI, and all information herein, is for informational planning purposes only and does not constitute a proposal request of any kind. All respondents therefore understand that there is no commitment by the USG.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST:

The USG will not publish any notifications regarding the results of this RFI, or any information identifying the respondents of this RFI.

Responses are expected to remain solely UNCLASSIFIED for this RFI. Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) is not authorized. All respondents shall submit via e-mail to the UNCLASSIFIED e-mail addresses listed at the bottom of this posting. Microsoft Office applications or Adobe Acrobat is preferred.

Respondents wishing to submit proprietary information may request a link to submit the proprietary data through the DoD SAFE (Secure Access File Exchange). Contact Valerie Muller, valerie.c.muller.civ@army.mil for a link to transmit files through DoD SAFE.

Responses are due no later than 1700 EST on 14 October 2024. Comment by Harris, Jennifer L CIV USARMY ACC (USA): Will need to revise prior to posting on SAM Responses received after the stated due date are not considered by the USG as part of this RFI.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THIS RFI:

1. Please respond to every question.

2. Number each response with the appropriate question number.

3. Questions do not have to be repeated in the response.

4. A “No Response” indication can be provided for those questions with a “no” answer.

5. If a response will satisfy another question, state: “See response to question XX.”

6. Include relevant sales media and product manuals. If providing an ACROBAT formatted manual, annotate the manual to indicate which material is applicable to the questions. If preferred, include Internet Web links to locations where animations/videos may be viewed.

7. If providing sales media and/or manuals containing a restricted distribution statement, issue a release statement indicating that the restricted material may be distributed to Army personnel involved with this RFI.

8. Spell out any acronyms in their first instance.

9. Clearly mark any proprietary information. If applicable, the front page of the response package should state, “Proprietary Information Contained.”

ADMINISTIVE INFORMATION:

1. Manufacturer

a. Company Name:

b. Mailing Address:

c. CAGE:

d. DUNs Number:

e. Company Web Site:

Business Type (Check or identify in your response all that apply):

8(a)

Minority Owned

Disabled Veteran

Small Business

Hub Zone

Small-Disadvantaged

Large Business

Women Owned

2. Personnel Responding to this Questionnaire:

a. Name:

b. Title:

c. Responsibility/Position:

d. Telephone/Fax Numbers:

e. E-mail address:

QUESTIONAIRE: Please provide answers to all the following questions with a “not applicable” being acceptable.

1. Previous Contracts:

a. Has your company received a prime contract from the US Government for production, assembly and packaging of add on kits or similar item?

i. Provide contract numbers.

ii. Provide a description of the work performed.

b. Has your company received a prime contract from a foreign government or foreign entity for a similar item?

i. Provide a description of the work performed.

c. Has your company performed as a sub-contractor on a contract from the US Government for production, assembly and packaging of add on kits or similar item?

i. Provide contract numbers.

ii. Provide a description of the work performed.

d. Has your company performed as a sub-contractor on a contract from a foreign government or foreign entity for add on kits or similar item?

i. Provide prime contractor name and a description of the work performed.

2. Security:

a. Does your company have experience with U.S. Army security regulations?

b. Does your company have a facility clearance level? If so, at what level?

c. Does your manufacturing facility have a current facility clearance? If so, at what level?

d. Does your company have the ability to open and maintain a secure Army data collection site (manpower, estimated labor hours, and total payments)?

e. Is your company currently able to transmit unclassified data in accordance with U.S. Government data encryption requirements?

f. Does your company deal with International Trade Agreement Regulation issues? If so, does your company have current experience with technical assistance agreements?

g. Has your company implemented an Operations Security plan?

h. Does your company have experience working with a Program Protection Plan?

i. Is your company foreign owned? If so, fully or partially owned? If so, what country?

j. Would your company’s manufacturing facilities be located in the U.S. and would the workforce utilized for a potential contract for the kits be United States citizens? If not, provide facility location(s) and workforce citizenship.

k. Regarding a scenario where your company was to produce the kits, are there any potential issues your company might have regarding arms controls and security requirements?

3. Manufacturing and Production Capability:

a. Provide a brief description of your company’s manufacturing capabilities including type of product, monthly quantity, quality level achieved, etc.

b. Is your company currently producing or have recently produced any type of nylon textile kits?

c. Is your company currently producing or have recently produced any type of polyethylene foam kits?

d. Describe the manufacturing/assembly processes and standards currently used by your company.

e. Provide a description of experience with ordering, cutting, drilling, welding, and finishing aluminum armor plate; ordering, cutting, polyethylene foam material in the production of a kit or similar item. Please include any examples of previous efforts of work performed or the Government contract number under which this work was performed.

f. Is the estimated floor space required to produce and package the kits currently available within your company’s current facilities?

g. If your company’s existing production facilities would not be used for this effort, please specify where and in what facility (new construction, sub-contractor facility, etc.) the kits would be made. Include descriptions of the facilities, tools and equipment that will be used. Please include a timeline to bring the facilities on-line.

h. What is the estimated percentage of fabricated parts or materials your company would manufacture in-house to produce complete kits?

i. What partnerships currently in place would your company use in the manufacturing process?

j. Assuming a production ramp-up, how many months after contract award would it take your company to construct the first kit?

k. Assuming one full-time shift (40-hour work week), what is the monthly rate of production that your company could support?

l. Assuming three full-time eight-hour shifts, what is the maximum monthly quantity your company could produce?

m. What would be your company’s minimum sustainment rate for the production?

n. Describe your company’s experience working with Wide Area Workflow.

o. Does your production facility have the capability of painting with CARC paint?

p. Does your company have experience with CNC machining?

q. Describe your companies experience with sewing textiles.

r. Describe your companies experience in manufacturing textiles in compliance with the Berry Amendment, DFARS 225.7002 and 10 U.S.C. §4862.

s. Please list all assumptions that you used to generation of this data.

4. Quality:

a. Is your company/facility ISO certified as it relates to quality management systems? If yes, what ISO certifications does your production facility hold? If not, what quality plan do you operate under? Please explain how it would be utilized in production.

b. Describe your company’s experience with procuring source-controlled materials, obtaining and providing quality data and/or vendor certifications of conformance for those materials.

c. Describe your company’s quality process for ensuring parts purchased, parts produced in house or produced at a supplier’s facilities conforms to your customer’s technical data package, include test facilities, equipment and fixtures.

d. Describe your company’s experience with conducting first article test on passive armor or similar items.

5. Costs:

a. Does your company have experience with submitting cost reports to the Government in accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 234.71? If so, please list the programs.

b. Does your company have experience with providing range pricing (pricing multiple lot quantities over a number of years) in response to a request for proposal?

6. Technical Challenges:

a. For this effort, as described herein, what does your company consider to be the greatest technical challenges?

b. List the risks involved for your company’s possible production.

7. Miscellaneous

a. Is your company able to deliver the initial set of kits within 10 months of contract award?

b. Is your company able to deliver the kits NLT 31 DEC 2027?

c. Is your company able to perform First Article Testing (FAT) on the kit produced for this contract?

d. What is your onsite storage capacity?

e. What experience do you have with long life re-usable containers?

f. What is your experience with shipping large quantities of products to multiple locations?

g. Describe your companies experience with consolidating kits into long life reusable containers for shipping.

Please send any Questions, Comments, or Concerns to the e-mail addresses listed at the bottom of this posting.

POINT OF CONTACT INFORMATION:

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