Inactive 8(a) Set-Aside (FAR 19.8)

1. DESCRIPTION: This Request for Information (RFI) notice is to support acquisition strategy development and identify capable sources to fulfill the high-level requirements described below. This notic... 1. DESCRIPTION: This Request for Information (RFI) notice is to support acquisition strategy development and identify capable sources to fulfill the high-level requirements described below. This notice is In Accordance With (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 15.201 and Part 19.203. This RFI is for market research purposes. This is a market research announcement for planning purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP). Information submitted will be considered as an exchange of information and may be used for acquisition planning or in future acquisitions. Participation in and preparation of a response to this RFI is voluntary. MDA will not reimburse costs associated with responding to the RFI. RFI responses will not be considered offers and will not be accepted by MDA to form a binding contract. The MDA Targets and Countermeasures (TC) Life-Cycle Management (TCL) Directorate is conducting market research to determine industry’s interest and capability to provide Sustainment Engineering Integrated Product Support (IPS). 2. REQUIRMENTS: The MDA is seeking 8(a) small businesses able to provide Sustainment Engineering Integrated Product Support. The intent is to make an award to an 8(a) Small Business, if it is determined that capable 8(a) firms exist that can satisfy TCL mission requirements. The TC Sustainment Engineering IPS support encompasses the following IPS elements: Product Support Management; Design Interface; Sustaining Engineering; Supply Support which includes Property Accountability and Management; Maintenance Planning and Management; Packaging, Handling, Storage , and Transportation Support; Technical Data; Support Equipment Management; Training and Training Support; and Facilities and Infrastructure Support. The sustainment engineering support will provide “cradle to grave” lifecycle support across the TC portfolio, which includes all associated support equipment. In order to protect the United States, its Outside Continental United States (OCONUS) bases, friends and allies from ballistic missile attacks, the MDA requires a robust test program and must fulfill a demanding capability deployment schedule mandated from the highest level of the United States (U.S.) Government. To this end, the MDA/TC portfolio contains a complex mix of short, medium, and long-range target objects, countermeasures, and launch vehicles. The TC portfolio requires sustainment engineering support for the safe, efficient and expeditious packaging, handling, storing and transportation, certification, testing, transportability, modification, and maintenance of the Missile Defense System hardware, support equipment, and other property, as required. Missile Defense System equipment, hardware and property includes a diverse array of items including, but not limited to, launch vehicles and associated target objects and countermeasures; additional associated flight hardware such as air launch delivery hardware; ordnance and inert components for spares and test; and ground support equipment. The Contractor shall provide TC with the necessary sustainment engineering personnel, materials, and travel support required to successfully execute logistics technical operations aligned with the Missile Defense Agency’s Integrated Master Test Plan (IMTP) and data configuration management of the following tasks. Personnel must be readily available to support on-site daily at Redstone Arsenal (RSA), Alabama and travel to various forward staging areas (FSAs), test ranges, and other remote locations aligned with the IMTP. Personnel must be able to support telecommunication or video teleconference meetings, various working groups, ad hoc discussions, for the TC Program offices’ activities including activities for other Agency Program offices. Personnel must be able to daily work hand-in hand with the Mission Support Lifecycle Operations (MSLO) Division to execute mission requirements at various locations on RSA and at other remote locations. Personnel will work during normal duty hours, occasionally after hours and weekends, as directed by the Government to meet mission requirements. The Contractor shall travel both Continental United States (CONUS) and OCONUS to support mission activities, test events, and informational meetings. The Contractor shall conduct travel in support of other mission requirements, as directed by the Government. The travel requirements from year to year will vary along with the travel duration at the site. The Government requires sustainment engineering support at various mission locations to include Reagan Test Site located at the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands, Pacific Missile Range Facility Hawaii, Pacific Space Complex Alaska, Guam, Wake Island, Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah, White Sands Missile Range in AZ, and other CONUS and OCONUS locations identified during the life of the contract. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering support for multiple missions simultaneously aligned with the IMTP. The number of trips will be up to 20 per year with median trip duration being five (5) business days. The Contractor shall provide the appropriate sustainment engineering level to support functions for rocket propulsion systems and related ordnance components. This support includes inspections and evaluation of propulsion and ordnance components in the MDA inventory or proposed to be incorporated into the MDA inventory. All inspections and evaluations shall be documented in the applicable Contracts Data Requirements List (CDRL) for that period of performance (PoP). The Contractor shall have sustainment engineers certified as hazardous material certifiers to provide technical support for ordnance item packaging, handling, storage, and transportation requirements. This task includes the evaluation and dissemination of current and historical data for propulsion systems and related propulsion and ordnance components that support the MDA mission. The Contractor shall provide retain and disposal recommendations for ordnance and inert components in the MDA/TC inventory with supporting rationale and documents. This includes the capability to inspect and assess ordnance components and large assemblies containing hazardous and ordnance items. To support the disposal of assets, the Contractor shall have the training required to verify and certify items as inert and material deemed, as safe for items in inventory requiring disposal. For hazardous items, the Contractor shall provide Hazardous Waste Profile Sheets on the hazardous materials due for disposal. The Contractor shall create procedures, and when possible to conduct Pathfinder Operations and for the assembly and disassembly of various assemblies containing ordnance and hazardous items in the MDA inventory. The Contractor shall provide onsite sustainment engineering support to execute the procedures and ensure property actions associated with the assembly and disassembly of hardware are documented for submission to the TC Accountable Property Officer (APO) and MSLO. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering technical and propulsion expertise to create, evaluate, and execute rocket motor and related ordnance component testing required to support the MDA mission. This includes preparation of technical test documentation; design and analysis of test specific hardware; setup of the test support hardware and support equipment; assembly of the test article; evaluation of test data; and preparation of test reports for these testing events. The Contractor shall provide the required sustainment engineering level with the subject matter expertise (SME) to support the production, assembly, and disassembly of various rocket motors, other complex ordnance systems, and components/sub-components to support MDA flight tests. Contractor sustainment engineers shall provide key specific technical engineering insight to program management production areas where there were challenges and/or issues when rocket motor production was previously resurrected from mothball to production status. Contractor sustainment engineers shall review/analyze program management processes; production plans; conduct hands-on production inspections; evaluations and analysis for improvements; support identification and selection of component and sub-tier suppliers, material and tooling requalification; support safety reviews; review/analyze item procurement requirements schedule to include identification of long lead-time items; identify risk reduction opportunities; support quality management; and cost management, etc. Contractor shall provide other sustainment engineering functional services, as required. The contractor shall provide sustainment engineering subject matter expertise support for liquid propellant hazardous material storage, transportation, and disposal or repurposing/recycling in the MDA inventory: Unsymmetrical Dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH) and Nitrogen Tetroxide (N2O4)). This includes discussions, information papers, supporting contract development, conducting market research, etc. The Contractor shall track quantities of liquid propellants in the TC inventory, and provide an engineering assessment for future uses, and options for recycling and reuse, and lastly, disposal. The Contractor shall be the interface between TCL and the U.S. Army Designated Disposition Authority, who determines, if the liquid propellants are suitable for reuse or disposal. The Contractor shall provide inputs to the quarterly MDA Environmental Liabilities Report, forecasting liquid propellant usage, disposal costs, and potential risks, if identified. The Contractor shall support the Engineering Technical Reviews (ETRs) including System Requirements Reviews (SRRs), Preliminary Design Reviews (PDRs), Mission Design Reviews (MDRs), Critical Design Reviews (CDRs), Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs), Pre-ship Readiness Reviews (PSRRs), and the Programs’ other Technical meetings to support acceptance of rocket motors, components, and full up assembled propulsion systems, including hands-on detailed inspection of the hardware and in-person inspection of the support hardware for acceptance. This task also includes the sustainment engineering assessment of test support locations and logistics operational concepts to determine how MDA hardware will interface with external organizations’ infrastructure, support equipment, and test hardware. The Contractor will document the assessments and provide engineering evaluations on how to optimize the interface, addressing concerns/risks and issues. The Contractor shall review and evaluate the earthen covered magazine (Bunkers) environmental data for both temperature and relative humidity on a monthly basis and as required to ensure the temperature and relative humidity are within the asset’s control limits. The Contractor shall graph the monthly data for each bunker and place the graphs in a PowerPoint slide presentation for submission to TCL and MSLO leadership. The Contractor shall keep TCL and MSLO leadership informed, as data is obtained especially when the magazine environments exceed the requirements for the TC assets that are stored in each of the bunkers. The Contractor will work with TCL and MSLO leadership to assess options for remediation, if the magazine environments cannot be maintained to the requirement criteria for adequate temperature and humidity controls within applicable asset limits. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering storage, and facilities analysis and evaluation to support identification of storage capability for TC assets, as required. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering expertise for the Pathfinders, Load Tests and execution of other Mission Operational requirements, as required. Inspect hardware and produce documentation to support the certification that hardware is inert to support disposition. All operations shall be documented and any significant findings provided to MDA/TCL leadership. This task requires the engineering staff that completes these tasks to be trained and certified to handle ordnance items. The Contractor shall design, develop, analyze, and verify new hardware and required modifications to existing support hardware to provide increased capability for TC Technologies developed by MDA. The contractor shall provide Computer Aided Design readable engineering drawings at timeframes specified for all analyses and verifications documentation. This task requires knowledge of the existing MDA support equipment, including the Heavy Haul Trailer; the various configurations of the MDA Conveyor Trailer; the Renmark trailer; the missile transporters and strong-back trailers; the motor transport trailers; the TARVANS; the rocket motor semi-trailer; the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile target storage trailer; the transportation container and modified Air Force Type II trailers for transport of the SR-119 motor for the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile target vehicle; and other specialty support hardware. The contractor shall provide support for records retention of the documentation of the modifications to existing hardware, as well as the evaluation and dissemination of historical data on existing support hardware. Contractor shall have an advanced level of expertise with SolidWorks and ANSYS modeling and simulation software and others, as required. The Contractor shall have weld expertise to review weld procedures, reports, provide recommendations for weld processes and identification of critical weld requirements. The Contractor shall support the nondestructive inspections, as required. The Contractor shall work with TC Program Offices and other MDA Program Offices to develop the specifications for new support hardware required to complete the TC mission. The contractor shall participate in the design reviews, technical meetings, and in-person inspection of the support hardware for acceptance. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering assessment of test support locations and logistics operational concepts to determine how MDA hardware will interface with external organizations’ infrastructure, support equipment, and test hardware. The Contractor will document the assessments and provide sustainment engineering recommendations on how to optimize the interface and address any concerns and issues. The Contractor shall be responsible for the creation, modification, and update of operational procedures Hazardous and Safety Critical Procedures (HSCPs) for the use of new hardware, for modified hardware, existing hardware, and for existing hardware used for a new purpose. Currently, HSPCs cover a variety of topics, including the operation of trailers such as the conveyor trailers for roll transfers of flight hardware, the air transportation of the specialty support equipment trailers, assembly/disassembly of complex components, and packaging of rocket motors for transportation. The task includes hands-on verification of the new hardware modifications and procedures to support the MDA mission through Pathfinders and Proof of Concept operations. The Contractor will provide lead sustainment engineering support in executing procedures to transport and transfer rockets, rocket motors, and other hazardous and sensitive material. All operations, Pathfinders, and Proof of Concept operations will be documented and any significant findings will be provided to TCL and MSLO leadership, TC Program Offices and other stakeholders, as required. The Contractor shall use physical hardware and existing historical documentation to create models of rocket motors and propulsion components, and associated support and handling equipment to complete technical analyses including structural, dynamic, thermal, and aging analyses to support transportation and flight evaluations. This task includes the creation and verification of models used in the analyses, as well as documentation of the analyses and results. This task includes the programming, download, and evaluation of data from environmental data recorders to document and evaluate the operation of the transportation support equipment. All operations, analyses, and evaluations will be documented with all findings provided to TCL and MSLO leadership, TC Program Offices and other stakeholders, as required. The Contractor shall prepare interim hazard classification technical data packages, certificate of equivalency technical data packages, and Air Transportability Test Loading Activity certification technical packages to support the transportation of MDA flight and support equipment assets. This includes creating and maintaining collections of hazard classification information and safety data sheets in a repository. The Contractor shall work with MSLO to document the transportation environments for sensitive and flight hardware. This will be accomplished through the use of electronic environmental data loggers. Currently, MSLO uses the Lansmont SAVER units for this purpose. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering guidance for the programming of the SAVER units to document how the MSLO equipment is performing (not to support flight assessments of hardware that has been transported). The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering support to MSLO to address any transportation environmental issues due to the MSLO hardware being used for transport. The Contractor shall provide training to the TCL logisticians so that they can monitor environments during transport and processing, especially when the assets are located on the military aircraft. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering support for the download and assessment of the data from the SAVER units and provide the results to MSLO leadership. The Contractor shall support TC property accountability and management requirements IAW the TC Property SOP, DoD Instruction (DoDI) 5000.64, “Accountability and Management of DoD Equipment and Other Accountable Property,” April, 27, 2017 (as amended), MDA Instruction 5000.64-INS, “Accountability and Management of MDA equipment and Other Accountable Property”, June 25, 2020, and the MDA Manual 5000.64-M, “MDA Property Accountability and Reporting,” June 26, 2020. The Contractor shall support property physical inventories, as required. The Contractor shall ensure all asset source documentation is submitted to the TC APO, IAW DoD and Agency policies and procedures. The Contractor shall provide inputs to the quarterly MDA Environmental Liabilities Report for the forecasting of liquid propellant usage, disposal costs, and potential risks, if identified. The Contractor shall provide informational and technical reports, as required by the Government. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering support for the development of support agreements between MDA and other government agencies with which MDA must interface to achieve mission success, including Redstone Test Center, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, U.S. Army Development Command, Tooele Army Depot, Dugway Proving Grounds, White Sands Missile Range, Edwards Air Force Base and any other locations, as required. The Contractor shall provide sustainment engineering support for the development of contracts to support mission requirements, as required. The Contractor shall support the development of the Agency’s and TCL’s policies and procedures, as required. The Contractor shall manage current and historical technical records including classification, declassification, technical reports, test reports, technical evaluations, assessments, property transactions, disposal, storage, organization, and cataloging in digital format. The Contractor shall provide SharePoint expertise to support the development and sustainment of the TCL SharePoint portal site located on the MKO SharePoint portal site. The Contractor shall develop a knowledge management/configuration management plan for the TCL portal site to improve data configuration management and collaborative communication for mission support. The Contractor shall prepare and submit the required CDRL documents in accordance with required contract CDRL structure. The Contractor shall submit the Contractor’s Progress Status & Management Report, Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report and the Contract Funds Status Report on the 15th day of each month. In order to close out the contract, the contractor is required to compile and submit Computer Aided Drawings (CAD), as an attachment to the Contract Summary Final Report. 3. INSTRUCTIONS: 3.1. Responses to this RFI are due no later than December 20, 2023 at 4:00 pm Central Standard Time. Submit RFI responses via e-mail to TC-Futureacquisitions@mda.mil. 3.2. Data and research may be available via public/open sources. 3.3. In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, RFI submissions will be only be accepted via email. All submitted information should be appropriately marked and will be handled accordingly as marked. Respondent’s information/documents submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned. The Respondent’s information/documents should be complete, be informative, and clearly demonstrate competencies and expertise in executing the requirements. MDA will not accept any responses submitted as classified information. Industry is encouraged to respond with information not constrained by proprietary data rights. If proprietary data is included in the reply, the respondent is responsible for appropriate markings on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis. 4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: 4.1. Respondents and/or Prospective Offeror’s should be from an 8(a) Small Business (if a solicitation is issued) and its subcontractors/suppliers must be United States firms/businesses and not foreign owned, controlled, or influenced. 4.2. Responses shall be single-spaced, minimum 12-point Times New Roman, not more than 20 pages, and describe corporate experience and/or relevancy in the areas described in the requirements scope. Do not submit generic corporate marketing materials for this RFI. 5. COMPANY INFORMATION/PROGRAMMATIC RESPONSE: Programmatic responses shall address the following: 5.1. COMPANY PROFILE: Provide a profile of your company, including Company Name, Point of Contact, Address, Telephone and Fax Numbers, Email Address, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code and/or Tax ID Number, Facility Clearance Level, and all applicable socio-economic business/company profile (e.g., 8(a), Socially and Economically Disadvantaged, Historically Underutilized Business Zone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, and Woman-Owned Small Business). The company shall provide proof of Small Business Administration (SBA) social disadvantage qualification letter, entry and anticipated date of exit from the SBA 8(a) Program. 5.2. EXPERIENCE: MDA/TCL requests a consolidated table of experience based on the requirement scope as listed with the below information: 5.2.1. Provide your sustainment engineering experience conducting target Proof Load Tests, Pathfinders, target roll transfers and movements, target C-17 uploads and downloads, upper and lower stacking operations, and launch stand Proof Load Tests. 5.2.2. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting ground and air flight test deployments, flight tests execution, and retrograde operations. 5.2.3. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting MDA’s Mission Support Lifecycle Operations Division (MSLO) to meet mission requirements supporting the TC Program Office, the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Program Office, the Sea-Based Weapon Systems Program Office, and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Program Office. 5.2.4. Provide your sustainment engineering experience providing maintenance oversight for support equipment used to support flight tests. What type of support equipment was used and what maintenance operations were performed? 5.2.5. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting MSLO’s Service Life Extension Plan. 5.2.6. Provide your sustainment engineering experience conducting site surveys at test ranges. For example: Regan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands; Pacific Missile Range Facility; Hawaii, Pacific Space Complex Alaska; Guam, and Wake Island. 5.2.7. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting MDA’s Mission Support Lifecycle Operations. 5.2.8. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting Space Force relative to the M57 motor. 5.2.9. Provide examples of your experience supporting property management and accountability aligned with MDA and DOD policies and procedures. 5.2.10. Provide your sustainment engineering experience supporting the SR-119 motor transportability study for the shipping container and the trailer. 5.2.11. Provide sustainment engineering examples with modeling design & modification of heavy haul trailers that carry rocket motors. For example: MDA Conveyer Trailer, Renmark Trailer, Air Force Type II Trailer, IRBM Target Storage Trailer, and Strongback Trailer, etc. 5.2.12. Provide sustainment engineering performance examples with assembly and disassembly of rocket motor stages and other complex ordnance and non-ordnance systems. 5.2.13. Provide specific examples of your sustainment engineering propulsion component testing experience(s) dealing with MDA or other DoD agencies’ assets. 5.2.14. Provide examples of your support for earthen covered magazines (bunkers) to ensure assets requirements were maintained within control limits. 5.2.15. Provide your experience related to certification, Packaging, Handling, Storage & Transportation (PHS&T) and disposal of Unsymmetrical Dimethyl hydrazine (UDMH). 5.2.16. Provide examples of Interim Hazard Classification (IHC) preparation and approval. 5.2.17. Provide examples of Certification of Equivalency (CoE) preparation and approval. 5.2.18. Provide examples of Air Certification Data Package preparation and approval. 5.2.19. Provide examples of Hazardous and Safety Critical Procedures (HSCPs) written to support mission requirements. 5.2.20. Provide examples of your sustainment engineering experience working with various types of MDA Targets and Countermeasures. 5.2.21. Provide examples of how Castor IVB production assembly management was conducted. 5.2.22. Examples of maintaining technical historical records and data. 5.2.23. Contract Number(s), Title and Objective of Contract, Contracting Agency and Point of Contact Information, Scope, Period of Performance, and Type of Contract (e.g., fixed price, cost reimbursement, etc.) 6. RECOMMENDED CONTRACT TYPE INFORMATION: This requirement is currently being performed under a Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) contract under the Small Business 8(a) Program. It is our desire that this effort continue under the Small Business 8(a) Program if it is determined that there are qualified sources that can meet the requirements. 7. RECOMMENDED ACQUISITION APPROACH: It is anticipated that this requirement will be required for a total of five (5) years, consisting of a Base period of one (1) year with four (4) one-year (1-yr) options and one (1) additional six (6) month option. It is anticipated that this effort is needed by 4QFY2024. 8. BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATE: What are the potential barriers to competition for this effort? How can MDA mitigate and resolve some of these barriers? 9. ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (OCI): The general rules in FAR 9.505, and 9.505-1 through 9.505-4 shall apply to any performance or participation by any potential Offer or and any of its affiliates or their successors-in-interest. If any actual or potential conflict exists, it must disclosed accordingly and submit an appropriate OCI Mitigation plan for review and approval if required. 10. DATA RIGHTS: Will you assert any claims of limited or restricted rights for the Government as part of your potential contract efforts (guided by Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements for types of technical data) such as contract data requirements lists, technical drawings, software, and hardware. DFARS defined categories of data rights are: 1) Unlimited Rights (UL); 2) Government Purpose Rights (GPR); 3) Limited Rights (for Technical Data) (LR); 4) Restricted Rights (for Computer Software) (RR); and 5) Special License Rights (SLR). 11. SMALL BUSINESS: The objective of this RFI is to determine the capabilities of small business to accomplish the requirements contained herein, and to inform the acquisition strategy development with regard to setting aside any future acquisition. In addition, the intent is to make an award to an 8(a) Small Business, if it is determined that capable 8(a) firms exist that can satisfy TCL mission requirements. MDA request the following information: The prime small business contractor responding to this RFI must include their past experience in managing subcontractors on similar requirements, and if applicable, include subcontractor or teaming partners’ past experience applicable to requirements specified in this Sources Sought. Responsible small businesses planning teaming arrangements to meet the support requirements listed above are expected to articulate the portions of work that the prime small business intends to perform as well as articulate the portions that subcontractors or teaming partners (if applicable) will perform. Responses must include business size and business socio-economic category of all subcontractors or teaming partners identified to perform work associated with the NAICS for this Sources Sought. 12. RISK MANAGEMENT: Describe what opportunities for mitigating risks to target mission success are inherent in the proposed solution. Describe risk management and mission assurance approach/processes. 13. PROTECTING INFORMATION ON FEDERAL AND NONFEDERAL SYSTEMS: Department of Defense (DoD) participates in a range of activities to improve the collective cybersecurity of the nation and protect U.S. data and interests. When working on DoD networks and when processing, storing, and transmitting Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) on their own company’s network(s) (nonfederal system(s)), Contractors are required to secure DoD's information by leveraging the National Institute of Standards and Technology information security standards and guidelines. Describe your cyber robustness, resilience, and hygiene approach towards protecting information and your ability to meet cybersecurity requirements. For nonfederal systems, address your management approach for ensuring that CUI is properly handled in your company’s network and how CUI is managed and implemented throughout your supply chain. At a high level, describe your company’s approach for addressing the requirements of DFARS 252.204-7012, “Safeguarding Covered Defense Information and Cyber Incident Reporting,” DFARS 252.204-7019, “Notice of NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements,” and DFARS 252.204-7020, “NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Requirements.” At a high level, describe your company’s use of System Security Plans (SSP) and a Plan of Action and Milestones for internal (nonfederal) information systems handling controlled unclassified information. For federal systems, note your strategies for implementing the Risk Management Framework and how active continuous monitoring of cybersecurity controls is implemented. 14. TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES: Describe processes, tools, equipment, and personnel knowledge experience of the requirement. Your responses to the herein described areas of support should be specific and generic statements or sentences merely parroting the requirement may not be considered for further evaluation. Response should be clear and to the point and should easily demonstrate your company’s qualifications and experience without a requirement for further discussion. 15. QUALITY, SAFETY AND MISSION ASS...