Rare Earth Separation and Purifications

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Strategic Materials Directorate has issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking vendor capabilities for the separation and purification of rare earth oxides. This is a planning-stage procurement notice that does not constitute a binding obligation, request for quote, or guarantee of future contract awards. Interested vendors must submit capability statements by February 11, 2026, at 12:00 PM EST to demonstrate their technical and operational capacity. Respondents should address separation and purification methodologies, production capacity, recovery percentages at multiple purity levels (99.5%, 99.9%, and 99.99%), completion timelines, analytical capabilities, and controls for uranium and thorium concentration. The government will evaluate submissions based on demonstrated capability to meet technical requirements and production specifications, though no formal evaluation criteria scoring methodology has been disclosed at this pre-solicitation stage. Additionally, vendors should provide information on domestic and international capacity, competitive landscape analysis, typical lead times, annual production capacity, packaging requirements, and market price trends.

The feedstock subject to this RFI consists of approximately 12,600 kilograms of rare earth oxides in fine powder form, containing yttrium oxide (1.9%), samarium oxide (33.2%), europium oxide (46.1%), gadolinium oxide (11.4%), and trace quantities of terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, and ytterbium oxides. The material may be delivered to one of three DLA locations: Hammond Depot in Indiana, Hawthorne Depot in Nevada, or Scotia Depot in New York. No set-aside designations apply to this procurement. No specific budget range, contract award value, or incumbent contractor information has been disclosed in the pre-solicitation notice. All responses must be limited to 20 pages in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format with 12-point font and one-inch margins, and respondents should clearly mark any proprietary information as such. The government will not reimburse response preparation costs, will not provide feedback to respondents, and all submissions will become government property.