Operation of the Quad City Cartridge Case Facility (QCCCF)

The Army Contracting Command - Rock Island Arsenal is soliciting fixed-price prototype whitepapers for potential capabilities to be developed and manufactured at the Quad City Cartridge Case Facility (QCCCF) in support of Department of Defense and potentially commercial cartridge case production. The primary objective is to maintain critical defense industrial base capability for producing steel and brass cases for direct and indirect fire munitions at a minimum rate of 3,000 units per month, including specific case types such as the M148A1B1 105mm Steel Direct Fire Case, M14 105mm Brass Indirect Fire Case, and various Navy and Bofors cases. Evaluation criteria include past manufacturing experience, the solution's alignment with government needs, understanding of QCCCF operations, proposed facilities and equipment investments, and milestone adherence. The solicitation follows a two-step evaluation process with white papers due by January 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM Central, and only offerors who attended specific 2025 Vendor Opportunity Days or toured the facility in the past two years are eligible to submit. The questions submission deadline was December 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM Central, with white paper submissions permitted to include up to 25 pages of standard 8.5" x 11" pages plus an additional 25 pages for oversized supplementary materials.

This solicitation employs no set-aside designations and will be awarded as a Fixed Price Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) under 10 U.S.C. § 4022 with a 48-month period of performance, potentially leading to a follow-on production contract. The contract requires involvement of either a nontraditional defense contractor, a nonprofit research institution, small businesses as significant participants, or at least one-third of project costs funded by non-federal parties. The government will provide utilities and maintenance funding for the first three years, transitioning to contractor-funded operations in year four under a Government-owned, Contractor-operated (GOCO) facility structure. The QCCCF is currently capable of producing approximately 5,000 steel cases and 13,000 brass cases per month on a 1-8-5 production schedule, with the facility housing multiple hydraulic presses ranging from 100 to 5,000 tons of capacity. The facility is located at Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois 61299, with all contract performance taking place at this location.