ATC Ballistic Lot Acceptance Testing of Personal Body Armor

This Sources Sought Notice is the initiation of market research under Part 10 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

This announcement does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, a Request for Quote or a Request for Proposal and it should not be construed as a commitment of any kind by the Government to issue a formal solicitation or ultimately award a contract. Responses to this notice cannot be accepted as offers. The U.S. Government is in no way liable to pay for or reimburse any companies or entities that respond to this announcement. Any costs incurred by interested companies in response to this announcement will NOT be reimbursed. Nothing in this announcement constitutes an obligation on the part of the U.S. Government, nor is the Government tasking any source to develop any technologies described herein.

Purpose: Request for Information - The US Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC), a subordinate activity of the US Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) is searching for potential sources that are capable of performing Ballistic Lot Acceptance Testing of Personal Body Armor as detailed in the attached Statement of Work. Ballistic lot acceptance testing shall be performed in accordance with the Performance Work Statement, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) standards and U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) protocols for the following three commodity categories: 1) soft body armor, 2) hard body armor, and 3) helmets. Place of Performance shall be at the contractor's facility.

The anticipated NAICS Code for the forthcoming requirement is 541380 (Testing Laboratories) with a small business size standard of $15,000,000.00. As part of the sources sought notice response, please state if your company is a small business under NAICS 541380. Respondents to this notice do not need to be registered for this NAICS in the Government's System for Award Management (SAM). However, any eventual solicitation would require active registration. SAM registration can be found at https://www.sam.gov.
A copy of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) is attached and should be utilized when preparing your response to this Sources Sought Notice. Please provide the following:

1) Whitepapers, commercial pamphlets, or any other documentation that would describe the company's ability to meet the above requirements.

2) Identify your company's CAGE code, and if applicable, small business size status.

3) Identify elements of the PWS which cannot be completed with your in-house resources and would require subcontractor support; also address the requirements at FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting.

4) Provide evidence of current NIJ certification and expiration date, or a detailed explanation of the resources currently held which would allow prompt acquisition of NIJ certification. For respondents without current NIJ certification, a timeline to achieving certification is required.

5) Provide evidence of current NVLAP accreditation and expiration date, or a detailed explanation of the resources currently held which would allow prompt acquisition of NVLAP accreditation. For respondents without current NVLAP accreditation, a timeline to achieving accreditation is required.

6) Clearly indicate your company's interest in submitting a proposal to any eventual Request for Proposals as a Prime, or if interest is solely in subcontracting opportunities (identify functional areas).

7) Address your company's ability to handle the requirements of testing for each of the three commodity categories (i.e. soft body armor, hard body armor and helmets)

All interested sources should provide the requested information in Microsoft Office Word format. Submissions shall not exceed 10 pages. All interested sources should provide the requested information regarding this notice NO LATER THAN 3:00PM EST, on 9 January 2019 to Ms. Roxanne Barbaris at: roxanne.barbaris.civ@mail.mil. Responses received after 3:00PM EST, on 9 January 2019 may not be considered in the Government's market research. For questions, potential respondents shall email Ms. Roxanne Barbaris at the aforementioned email address. The Government will review submissions as they are received.

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