Inactive

Sources Sought or Request for Information (RFI) Description of Requirement: This is a Request for Information (RFI) for PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This... Sources Sought or Request for Information (RFI) Description of Requirement: This is a Request for Information (RFI) for PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Responding to this RFI is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI and any follow-on information requests. All responses must be in writing. Data submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered. This RFI shall not be construed as a commitment by the United States Government (USG) to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. The USG will in no way be bound by this information if any solicitation is issued. Disclaimer: Reference herein to any specific commercial company, product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the USG or the Department of the Army (DA). The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the USG or the DA and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. Objective: The purpose of this RFI is for market research to make appropriate acquisition decisions and determine the level of interest among QUALIFIED small and large business contractors capable of performing the work. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition has been determined to be 541330. The US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) desires to procure corrosion engineering-related logistics, technical, analytical, programmatic, research and development, testing, and technical writing support for the GVSC and Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) Life Cycle Management Center (LCMC). Services to be provided include: Platform specific corrosion problem resolution for fielded Army Ground Equipment and watercraft, including platform specific and/or Fleet Corrosion Trend Analysis reports to support Operational Sustainment Reviews, Engineering Change Proposals (ECP), Modification Work Orders (MWO), Depot Statements of Work (SOW); National Maintenance Work Requirement (NMWR); Depot Maintenance Work Requirement (DMWR) and other supporting documentation such as Maintenance Information Messages (MI), Maintenance Action Messages (MA), Ground Safety Advisory (GSA) etc. A traveling assessment team to collect and analyze statistically representative corrosion trend data from fielded equipment by variant, build/overhaul date, geographic location, and across the entire vehicle population. This includes review and collection of corrosion information both at the vehicle level down to area and part level, conducting risk assessments based on equipment findings, and evaluating organizational capability for corrosion and coating risk mitigation based on Army Regulation and industry best practices. At the conclusion of each assessment, detailed reports of all findings are generated. Services will also include the improvement of these reports, particularly enhancements of detailed equipment findings. Analysis, development, and validation of corrosion related commercial and military specifications and standards, Commercial Item Descriptions (CIDs), Technical Manuals (TM), Technical Bulletins (TB), and Engineering Drawings. Identification of corrosion, mold, and mildew mitigation solutions relevant to tactical and combat military vehicle depot rebuilders, field maintainers, and PM life-cycle managers. Corrosion control programmatic support, training, and technical assistance to provide acquisition program, project, and life-cycle managers with guidance for developing and implementing a corrosion prevention and control program for DoD weapon systems, ground equipment, and Army Watercraft Systems. Field audits of Installation Maintenance Facilities (IMDs) and depots. Audits also include training, support, and technical assistance provided to the facility personnel and management. Conduct research, development, testing, evaluations, and engineering projects and programs regarding corrosion prevention and control technologies for fielded weapon systems, new acquisition systems, and engineering updates to existing systems. Identification of appropriate test protocols, execution of testing, collection and evaluation of data, and identification of corrosion prevention products on Army Ground Equipment including periodic exposure, inspection, analysis, reporting, and test specimen review. Demonstration/validation plans and testing of corrosion prevention products on-the-lot, in the motor-pool, at depots or done in conjunction with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of Army ground equipment platforms. Produce written and video training materials including video production involving planning, script writing, storyboard development, casting, filming location determination, scheduling, filming, editing, etc. All responsible sources may submit answers to the Market Survey questionnaire below and a capability statement to be considered by the agency. Administrative Information: Responses to this notice shall include the following information: (a) Company Name (b) Address (c) Point of Contact (d) Phone, Fax, and Email (e) Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) (f) Cage Code (g) Tax ID Number (h) The business status of your company (Socio-Economic Factors: 8(a), HUBZone, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, etc.) Corrosion Engineering Services Questionnaire: 1. What experience/methodology do you have for conducting corrosion surveys on Army Ground Equipment and compiling the resulting data to add value to an organizational corrosion prevention program? What evaluation software have you used, and is it proprietary, built in-house, or commercially available? Describe the software in detail, including the field platform used (e.g. tablet, phone), the database used to store and manipulate the data, backups, and your organizational ability to generate meaningful evaluations and results from the database. Assume that tens of thousands of observations will be recorded on a sample of several thousand vehicles at various Contiguous United States (CONUS) and Outside Continental United States (OCONUS) locations. 2. Where (geographic locations) can your organization support inspections, demonstrations, training, and other projects? 3. What is your experience with the development, testing, application and transition of corrosion prevention and control products and application procedures? Include your experience identifying, introducing, integrating, and troubleshooting new corrosion prevention control technologies (e.g., Chemical Agent Resistant Coatings (CARC), Corrosion Inhibiting Compounds (CIC), design improvements, alternative materials, and composites) at various levels within the Department of Defense. 4. What is your experience with corrosion control process audits and quality assurance practices in DoD depots and OEM manufacturing facilities? What services and reports did you provide? 5. What experience do you have drafting and processing Military and Commercial specifications and manuals for corrosion related materials and procedures? 6. Provide examples of your experience with interfacing between inter-governmental agencies and commercial enterprises on research and tactical/combat vehicle corrosion issues (i.e., industry and depots, different agencies within the Department of Defense (e.g., Government laboratories to Government depots, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Army Corrosion Prevention and Control Executive (CCPE)). 7. What experience does your organization have with development and modification of corrosion prevention methods and maintenance procedures for military ground vehicle technical publications? 8. Describe your company’s laboratory, engineering capabilities, and access to corrosion test facilities to evaluate corrosion prevention materials and technologies for use in military operational environments. 9. What experience do you have providing tactical and combat vehicle and watercraft corrosion control-related acquisition, programmatic, and logistic support to government vehicle procurement programs? What systems did you support and what documents/services did you provide? 10. Describe your organization’s experience in developing and delivering corrosion prevention and control training and demonstrations on military ground vehicle and military watercraft systems. Include any experience with all levels of Army maintenance, including field/Unit-level maintenance, intermediate/on-base elevated maintenance, and depot-level maintenance. Describe your understanding of each level’s capabilities, paint/repair processes/procedures, and what unique information each level would require in a potential training course or product demonstration. 11. What training, if any, would engineers and personnel responsible for this type of contract be given? Provide the governing organization that would give this training (e.g. AMPP, STAR4D, etc.). If you use in-house or proprietary training, provide the topics covered. RESPONSES DUE: Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified Point of Contact (POC) no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 10 April 2024. Please submit all responses to Charles Machi at charles.a.machi.civ@army.mil. Please format the subject line of the response email as follows: “[Organization Name] Response to Market Survey - Corrosion Engineering Services.” RESPONSE FORMAT: Only electronic responses are requested. Please provide e-mail responses in PDF format to the Government POC listed. If you submit multiple e-mail messages, please make sure the subject lines include, for example, “message 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3,” as well as [Organization Name]. All interested entities (e.g. companies, non-profit organizations, and academic institutes), regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this RFI. All material submitted in response to this RFI must be unclassified and properly marked. No manufacturer/distributor shall be given a copy of another manufacture’s/ distributor’s product information collected in this survey. GENERAL INFORMATION: The Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this RFI. The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. §1905 to protect information qualifying as “Confidential” under this statute. [To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term “Confidential” in the context of “Classified Information,” we will use the term “PROPRIETARY.”] Pursuant to this statute, the Government is willing to accept any PROPRIETARY (e.g., trade secret) restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following: 1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) “PROPRIETARY” with any explanatory text, so that the Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately protected. 2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly proprietary (excessive breadth in marking inappropriate data as “PROPRIETARY” may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting, or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are protected. 3. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the Government will be protected in accordance with the Government's rights in the data. 4. Proprietary data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the government, shall contain the “PROPRIETARY” legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate, when only portions of an electronic file are proprietary, use the restrictive legends ‘PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:” and “PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS.” 5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text. 6. The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain proprietary information may receive only limited or no consideration since the respondent’s marking of data as “PROPRIETARY” will preclude disclosure of same outside the Government and, therefore, will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available.