Notice of Limited Distribution Materials.pdf

NOTICE OF LIMITED DISTRIBUTION MATERIALS

This solicitation contains documents designated by competent authority as restricted in distribution. The Government views these distribution restrictions as necessary to ensure the Operational Security (OpSec) of sensitive information that potentially could cause harm to U.S. Soldiers, the U.S. Government, or U.S. Government interests, if the Government does not prejudicially limit distribution.

Access Requests

To gain an access determination for any limited distribution materials, all interested offerors must complete the enclosed Request for Access to Limited Distribution Materials. The purpose of this form is to provide the Government with verifiable evidence of the following:

Condition 1: The potential offeror qualifies by meeting the limited dissemination criteria stated in the distribution statement of the requested material.

OR

Condition 2: The potential offeror is capable of manufacturing (in the United States) Buy American Act and Berry Amendment compliant end items or end item components similar to that desired by this Solicitation as evidenced by production for the commercial sector or for a contract with any U.S. Government entity (federal, state, or local).

Access Determinations

See Figure 1 for a graphic representation of this process. If the information provided by the potential offeror enables Government verification of Condition 1 above, the Government will authorize immediate dissemination of the requested materials.

If the interested offeror does not qualify by Condition 1 or provides insufficient evidence to enable Government verification of Condition 1, the Government will examine the information provided for demonstrable evidence that the potential offeror meets Condition 2.

The potential offeror meets Condition 2 if they provide verifiable evidence that they have manufactured Buy American Act and Berry Amendment compliant end items or end item components similar to that desired by the Solicitation. The potential offeror may cite, in priority order, such production for any Government entity (federal, state, or local) or for the commercial sector. Citation of production does not equal verifiable evidence.

If the Government cannot independently verify the claims in a submitted Request for Access to Limited Distribution Materials, the Government will reject the potential offeror’s claims for access. However, if the Government can independently verify that the potential offeror meets the criteria of Condition 2, the Government may, at its discretion, authorize a distribution exception to that offeror.

Figure 1: Access determination process for limited distribution materials.

All distribution exceptions incur risk to the Soldier, the U.S. Government, or U.S Government interests. Therefore, the Government is not obligated to grant any exceptions.

The Government only authorizes distribution exceptions when the Government deems the risk posed by the exception as outweighed by the potential gains from additional Industry competition or innovation achievable only through the assumption of risk associated with the distribution exception.

In all cases where the Government assumes the OpSec risk and grants a distribution exception, the Government requires that the recipients disallow any additional dissemination of received documents without prior, written, Government consent.

Because of this restriction on further dissemination, the Government will not disseminate restricted dissemination documents to third-party consultants who must, by the very nature of their business, further disseminate the information to others to accomplish their business objectives.

If the potential offeror cannot or does not provide verifiable evidence that they meet either Condition 1 or Condition 2 stated above, the Government will not assume any additional OpSec risk, and the Government will notify the vendor that they do not meet the requirements of the distribution statement for receipt of the requested materials.

If a request for access is denied, a vendor may submit an updated questionnaire with more complete information and noted changes. The Government will review the updated request in the same manner as the original request.

The Government uses all available information to make its determinations, including information retrieved from open sources and Government access restricted databases.

The Government has no obligation to assume any OpSec risk and reserves the right to not grant a dissemination exception for any reason including the following specific examples:

1) Vendor provided information that is not verifiable or is different from the information obtained from verification sources.

2) Vendor claims are demonstrably false.

3) Vendor has no verifiable U.S. based manufacturing capability.

4) Vendor has no demonstrated or verifiable ability to manufacture any like end items or end item components.

5) Vendor does not provide sufficient information for a risk-based decision.

6) Vendor has no intention of manufacturing or submitting a bid for the manufacture of the solicited goods.

7) Vendor is a third-party consultant.