Request for Information: FSG53 Aviation - Industrial Hardware

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: Parts support for FSG53 Industrial Hardware NIINs under Customer Direct, Depot Direct, and FMS delivery.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

DLA-Aviation, Richmond is conducting market research to identify potential sources that may possess the expertise, capabilities and experience to provide a strategic support solution for a subset of NSNs under Federal Supply Classes (FSC) 53xx, Industrial Hardware. The attached list represents NSNs with active requisitions within the last five years. The approximate annual demand value for these parts is $28 million. DLA is considering putting these NSNs on long-term contract, and anticipates a single award proposed contract, of up to 10 years in length.

Scope of project: This initiative contains Industrial Hardware Federal Supply Group 53 (FSG 53) National Stock Numbers (NSNs) purchased and/or managed by DLA. Of these NSNs, 2,504 are considered priority and compromise approximately 80% of the total projected spend. The NSN list is attached to this RFI. This list possesses the following fields: National Item Identification Number (NIIN), Federal Supply Class, priority flag, Production Lead Time (PLT), OEM cage codes and part numbers, and projected demand quantity over 5 years. Additionally, the NSNs in this list are also pre-sorted by projected spend from highest to lowest.

Please provide your CAGE, Company name, address, and point of contact information.

1. Please indicate if your firm is a manufacturer, dealer/distributor, integrator, or other (explain).
2. Describe your current distribution capabilities (E.g., ability to meet customer requirements, surge capabilities, etc.)
3. In a customer direct (CD) supply arrangement, the contractor forecasts demand, manufactures the NSN or procures it from a sub-contractor, stocks, and ships directly to DLA customers (within the Time-Definite-Delivery standards of either 1 or 3 days). CD items may be shipped in commercial packaging unless otherwise stated. In a DLA-Direct (DD) supply arrangement, the contractor manufactures the NSN or procures it from a sub-contractor and ships to a DLA depot upon completion of the order; time to complete the order is based upon a negotiated production lead-time; contractor does not forecast, stock or ship to the DLA customer.
   1. Please describe what commercial infrastructure you have in place to support a CD supply arrangement.
   2. What additional infrastructure do you need (if any) to fully meet this requirement?
4. Provide a percentage breakdown of your current sales to commercial and government customers and indicate if you already produce, stock, or distribute material listed in the NIIN listing.
5. Would you consider partnering with another commercial company if you could not provide nationwide service? If so, would your interest be as a prime or subcontractor?
6. Can your company comply with all military product-marking requirements and packaging (E.g., RFID, commercial packaging, MIL STD packing)?
7. Please describe your experience and ability to meet quality and special testing requirements (including, but not limited to: Certificate of Quality Compliance, Product Verification Testing, Production Lot Testing, and First Article Testing).
8. Indicate your firm's business size (certified small or large).
   1. If small business, under which NAICS code(s) are you considered a small business?
   2. Which small business sub-category does your company qualify under (if any)? (8A, HubZone, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Woman Owned Small Business, etc.)
9. Please answer the following questions on your ability to support for priority and non-priority NSNs:
   1. What percentage of these NSNs can you support today on a CD basis?
   2. What percentage of these NSNs can you support today on a DLA Direct (DD) basis? In DD, the contractor has to manufacture or procure the item and ship to DLA-depots. In addition, MIL STD packaging requirements may apply.
   3. What percentage of NSNs can you support on both CD and DD?
   4. Is there a percentage of these NSNs you can support on neither CD nor DD? Explain.
   5. Did you use any information besides the NSN number itself to make these estimates? This may include company specific information (E.g., existing supplier relationships) or NSN level information (E.g., AAC code). If you did, please explain.
10. How would you propose to structure the NSN population (E.g., Would you delete any NSNs? Would you have separate contract terms for a subset of NSNs? Would you create sub-lists based on item characteristics?)
    1. How would you structure differently (if at all) for First Article Test (FAT), Critical Safety (CSI), and Production Lot Testing (PLT) items?
11. What pricing methodologies (E.g., discrete firm fixed price) would you suggest based on your proposed NSN structure?
    1. How would this change (if at all) across CD/DD support arrangements or NSN groupings?
    2. What do you envision the structure of the contract to look like (E.g., number of years, number of line items, etc.)?
    3. How would you factor in price changes across contract length?
12. Is there any additional information or data that would help you price and prepare a proposal?
13. For shipping, DLA requires the use of DLA/DCMA Vendor Shipping Module (VSM).
    1. What percentage of your annual government shipments are on VSM?
    2. Does using VSM inhibit your ability to perform in any way?
    3. Do you have experience using FOB Destination, using VSM only to obtain customer shipping addresses.
14. Describe your firm's ability to meet the Time Definite Delivery (TDD) standards listed below for high priority orders. Identify previous efforts where you were required to support specific timed deliveries and any risks associated with the effort. Be specific in how your organization met the delivery requirements and mitigated identified risks.
    1. Priority 01-03 IPG 1-2 Days
    2. Priority 04-08 IPG 2-5 Days
    3. Priority 09-15 IPG 3-12 Days
15. Would you consider offering volume based rebates in the contract? If yes, please describe how you would structure it. If not, please explain why.
16. What performance indicators would you suggest for contract evaluation (E.g., on time delivery, material availability, etc.)?
    1. How should this change (if at all) across CD/DD support arrangements or NSN groupings?
    2. Are you amenable to penalties for unmet performance goals? Why or why not?
17. Would you want a ramp up period for this contract?
    1. If yes, what is a reasonable ramp up period for a contract of this magnitude?
    2. Would you propose phasing in support over time?  If so what timeframe and phasing structure would you propose?
18.  How quickly could you price the list of priority CD NIINs attached? (example: all at once, 1,000 NIINs/month)
19. What additional services would you be able (if any) to provide for this NSN population (E.g., vendor managed inventory, inventory buybacks, other discounts, etc.)?
20. How would you visualize data exchange at a supply chain/inventory/stock on hand (SOH) level?

Summary Information:

The purpose of this RFI is to allow industry to provide input regarding not only your capabilities relative to the proposed requirement, but also to provide input of your experience and best practices that will allow the Government to develop an acquisition/solicitation strategy. A key part of this is determining feasibility of requisitioning all listed NSNs under a single contract. DLA encourages any suggestions to sub-divide and/or group the NSNs if that would increase the competitiveness of the proposed contracting process.

Please send your responses to the RFI questions to the following point of contact via e-mail:

Email to:

Christina Richardson, Contract Specialist, DLA Aviation

christina.richardson@dla.mil 

Lance Cangelosi, Program Manager, DLA Aviation

lance.cangelosi@dla.mil

Disclaimer:

In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. This RFI is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for information received in response to this RFI. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the RFI will not be returned.

Information provided in response to this RFI will be used to assess tradeoffs and alternatives to determine how to proceed with the acquisition process. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.