Notice_to_Award_Sole_Source.docx

The U.S. Army Contracting Command – New Jersey, Emerging Technologies (ACC-NJ-ET), Benet Laboratories, Watervliet Arsenal, NY, on behalf of the US Army Armaments, Research, Development & Engineering Command’s (ARDEC) Benet Laboratories (BL) intends to award a sole source purchase order to The Plansee Group (herein referred as the Contractor), located at Metallwerk-Plansee-Straße 71 - 6600 Reutte - Austria. The NAICS Code for this acquisition is 332117 and the small business size standard is 500 Employees.

The government requires the Contractor to provide tantalum-tungsten metal powder and to produce three (3) tantalum-12.5% tungsten alloy liners. The contractor shall, using their proprietary production processes, produce 3 pieces of tantalum to the Governments specifications. The contractor shall continue the final steps of densification and heat treatment processes to convert the pre-forms into densified donor tubes for the explosive cladding to the Government’s specifications. The contractor shall provide the chemistry and physical properties and provide certificate of conformance for the donor tubes.

AUTHORITY: This acquisition is being conducted using other than full and open competition as authorized by FAR 6.302-1(b) (1) (ii). Responsible offerors may submit a capability statement, or quotation, which shall be considered by the Government; but this notice of intent, is not a request for competitive quotes. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract lies solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive requirement. No costs may be incurred for this effort unless specifically authorized by the Contracting Officer and this notice does not constitute such authorization. The Government reserves the right to award without discussions. The closing date for this notice is 18 September 2015 16:00 Eastern Standard Time. The point of contact for this requirement is Lauren McDermott, ACC-NJ, ET, 1 Buffington Ave, Bldg. 40, Benet Laboratories, Watervliet Arsenal, NY 12189-4000. Email: lauren.a.mcdermott.civ@mail.mil.

APPLICABILITY OF AUTHORITY: This effort is being done under Foreign Technology (and Science) Assessment Support (FTAS) funding. This requires that the funding go to a foreign source. The Plansee Group was the only foreign source identified in the market research to have a unique capability to manufacture the tantalum tungsten alloy donor tubes that could meet our requirements in the Statement of Work (SOW). The TaW alloy powder mix, preform preparation, densification, and heat treatment process are Plansee’s trade secrets. Plansee specializes and owns a conglomeration of smaller businesses that focus on refractory powder manufacturing, R&D, and refractory based tooling inserts, and they have strong ties to academia all over the world.

The purchase order will incorporate one or more clauses by reference, with the same force and effect as if they were given in full text. Upon request, the Contracting Officer will make their full text available. Also, the full text of a clause may be accessed electronically at this/these address (es):

FAR - http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm Local Clauses -http://procnet.pica.army.mil/reference/Clauses/locals.htm