COTA: SAMDIB - Rapid Applied Materials and Processing

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC), Rock Island, IL, on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Innovation Capability and Modernization office via its Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program (10 U.S.C. § 4817), in conjunction with Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), manages the Cornerstone Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 4022. Cornerstone was architected to create a broad-based, flexible, and enduring public-private Consortium focused on strategic strengthening of the U.S. Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and provide a strong complement to the mandates in Presidential Executive Order 13806.

ACC-RI, on behalf of DEVCOM CBC, intends to issue a competitive Cornerstone Initiative Request (CIR) on or about January 30, 2025; for SAMDIB Project Call – Project Rapid Applied Materials and Processing (RAMP). The development, certification, and qualification of metallic materials for critical defense applications today is a multi-year process that can commonly exceed a decade. A key step in this process is the synthesis and characterization of industrially relevant samples that are large enough to support extraction of multiple mechanical specimens in all relevant orientations. The primary historical sites that executed this work for the DoD were all closed in the post-Cold War peace dividend. Modern capability must be emplaced and made available to the defense-wide materials and design community to enable the timely insertion of new materials and manufacturing processes, while also enabling the promise of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) to be realized. 

The objective of this effort is to establish a RAMP facility capable of rapidly manufacturing metallic materials (as castings, forgings, and rolled plate products) and execute heat treatment and mechanical characterization within a threshold of 14 days and an objective of 7 days. The facility shall have a minimum threshold throughput of 5 heats per week, with an objective of 10 heats or more per week.

Execution of the immediate prototype tasks comprises of two phases:

Phase I – Establish Initial Operational RAMP Lab Capability

Phase II – Operate and Maintain Full Operational RAMP Lab Capability

Subject to funding, the Cornerstone CIR will solicit expenditure-based prototype proposals. The Government anticipates a single award but reserves the right to award to more than one Offeror. The Government may opt to cancel the CIR, make no awards if the submissions are insufficient in quality or fail to meet the intent of the solicitation. The use of teaming arrangements, subcontracting with qualified providers, and/or limited joint ventures is authorized.

Any OT awarded as a result of this initiative will incorporate the following clauses:

1. FAR clause 52.204-25, Prohibition on Contracting for Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment
2. DFARS clause 252.232-7006, WAWF Payment Instructions
3. DFARS clause 252.204-7012, Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting.

The CIR for this Project Call is restricted to Cornerstone Consortium members only and will be communicated to the Cornerstone Consortium and companies with pending applications via email. Entities are required to have begun the membership process for their proposal to be reviewed. Entities must have an active registration in SAM.gov, a favorable status in Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information Systems, and be members of the Cornerstone Consortium, with a signed Cornerstone Consortium Management Agreement, to be eligible to submit a proposal and be eligible for award of an OTA task. Contractors may obtain Cornerstone registration information located at https://cornerstone.army.mil or by inquiring at: usarmy.ria.devcom-cbc.mbx.cornerstone-ota@army.mil.

Interested parties should stay alert for any changes that may be published to this SAM.gov posting. Questions can be emailed to usarmy.ria.devcom-cbc.mbx.cornerstone-ota@army.mil  stating "SAMDIB Project Call: RAMP" in the subject line.

This Special Notice is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a CIR or an obligation on behalf of the U.S. Government. Issuance of this Special Notice is not a guarantee of a future CIR or an award and is not a commitment of any kind by the Government.