SOURCES SOUGHT
10 -- SPECIAL PURPOSE RECEIVER (SPR) FOR THE M16/M4-SERIES RIFLES AND CARBINES
- Notice Date
- 4/1/2002
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- N00164 300 Highway 361, Building 2521 Crane, IN
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- N00164-02-R-0077
- Response Due
- 4/30/2002
- Point of Contact
- Paul Johnson, Contract Specialist, 812-854-3225, FAX 812-854-5095
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to Click here to contact the Contract Specialist
(johnson_p@crane.navy.mil)
- Description
- 1. DESCRIPTION: This announcement is for the re-initiation of an earlier project that was delayed due to urgent support of current hostilities. This announcement constitutes a Commercial Agency Announcement (CAA) and a synopsis of an upcoming solicitation. This CAA cancels and replaces SOL N00164-01-R-0103. This CAA is advisory only, alerting industry to the government?s plans to publish a Request for Commercial Offerings (RCO) solicitation, and summarizing the future RCO for industry information. The Navy is issuing this CAA on behalf of the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Special Operation Peculiar Modification (SOPMOD) Program and other federal agencies. A solicitation will be published on or about 19 April 2002 that seeks to award IDIQ contracts to vendor(s) who can provide accessory parts and assemblies for performance improvements to the M16/M4-series rifles/car bines. Specifically required are Special Purpose Receivers (SPRs) for both short and long range precision fire, with improved MILSPEC 1913 rail interfaces, as well as related improved weapons parts and assemblies. These improvements may be Non-Developmental Items (NDI), Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), or NDI/COTs that can be rapidly developed into suitable items for US Special Operations and Law Enforcement. 2. BACKGROUND: Special Operations Forces (SOF) operates around the world in extreme conditions including underwater, surf-zone, desert, arctic, jungle, and urban environments. They subject their weapons and equipment to extremely high usage rates and stresses. Due to the manner in which SOF utilizes its equipment, normal military specifications are in many cases not stringent enough to support SOF use. Although the currently fielded M16-series Rifles and M4A1 Carbine s meet military performance specifications, these weapons have exhibited performance characteristics that do not meet SOF requirements when subjected to the extreme operational conditions imposed upon them by SOF operators. 3. GENERAL, OBJECTIVE 1 (SPR Rail Interface): Sources are sought for new SOPMOD rail interface designs. The SOPMOD program is not seeking alternate sources for the currently fielded SOPMOD Rail Interface System (RIS, NSN 1005-01-416-1089), rather is seeking alternative Forearm rail subsystems with improved operational performance characteristics: (a) RAIL POSITIONS: As with the current SOPMOD RIS, MILSPEC 1913 rails are still required in the 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 positions on the rifle/carbine forearm. As an objective, the SPR 12:00 rail will be continuous and unbroken from the rear of the upper receiver to the forward gas assembly to permit rig id mechanical alignment of eye-axis aiming accessories. (b) FORWARD COMPATIBILITY WITH FUTURE EGLM: A rigid or monolithic interface method is desired that will allow a future EGLM to be mounted in the 6:00 position, while (1) withstanding the shock of firing all currently fielded 40mm Low Velocity rounds, (2) maintaining zero repeatability of the EGLM when removed and remounted, (3) allow the EGLM to be mounted as closely to the rifle/carbine barrel as possible without interfering with host weapon barrel harmonics during firing. 4. GENERAL, OBJECTIVE 2 (SPR Performance): To ensure system balance, also sought are rifle/carbine parts, components, subassemblies, or modifications that enhance reliability, endurance, safety, and operational performance as compared to the current M16/M4 series rifles/carbines. The Government is not seeking alternative sources of current parts for the current M16-series/M4A1 carbines, rather is seeking alternative parts and subassemblies that significantly increase weapon reliability and performance. (A) PARTS AND SUBASSEMBLIES: These improvements, listed in priority order of government interest, may include new and improved (1) magazines, (2) bolt assemblies/bolt carrier groups, (3) barrels, (4) upper receivers and upper receiver groups, (5) trigger, sear, and hammer sets, (6) ambidextrous weapon controls, (7) flip-up/spring-up front and rear iron sights, (8) front and rear pistol grips, (9) buttstocks, and (10) bipods any other components of, or mechanical accessories to, the M16-series/M4A1 carbines, with the exception of the lower receiver. The government wishes to avoid modifications to the lower receiver. (B) VERSIONS: The SPR, should be optimized for (1) precision fire operations, and (2) a capability to ad apt weapon to mission needs with barrel lengths appropriate to the operational mode. The barrel lengths are nominally 9 to 11.5 inches for close quarters battle and 16 to 18 inches for precision fire. All versions must fit M16/M4 series lower receivers. Parts commonality between the two versions is a secondary goal. (C) OTHER PERFORMANCE GOALS: (1) Increased reliability, durability, corrosion resistance, ease of cleaning, lubricity/reduced friction; fully functional for a minimum of 15,000 rounds (Threshold)/30,000 rounds (Objective), performing up to the standards and firing rates to be published in the Solicitation, functional reliability exceeding that of the standard M4A1 carbine at high and low temperature extremes as well as other hostile (sand/dust/dirt/mud/surf) environmental conditions (2) Improved safety- delay cook-off, fail-safe features, fires/functions safely and without delay of draining in the Over-The-Beach (surf zone, weapon flooded with water) environment. (3) User Acceptance: operational suitability, increased live-fire hit scores, decreased live-fire engagement times, speed/accuracy of engagement, controllability in semi-automatic and full automatic fire, improved handling qualities, light weight, snag free in movement through vegetation and battlefield obstacles. 5. ACQUISITION PLAN: Source Selection will be conducted in accordance with the Kaminski contracting method. Items will be selected on a ?Best Value? Contracting basis. IDIQ contracts will be awarded to offerors in accordance with the following plan: (A) RCO Solicitation is anticipated to be published on or about April or May 2002. The RCO solicitation will provide the government requirements in detail. Please do not respond to this advisory announcement until such time as the RCO solicitation is published. (B) Solicitation is expected to close on or about May or June 2002. Upon the closure date and time, the offeror must deliver 5 written copies and 1 electronic copy of the Offeror?s Technical Proposal. The Technical Proposal will include (if needed), as an enclosure, a copy of the MS PowerPoint Briefing to be presented by the offeror during follow-on Oral Presentations. The evaluation process is expected to follow the below step. A Source Selection Board (SSB) will then be convened. The SSB will consist of an Operational Evaluation Team (OET), a Technical Evaluation Team (TET), and a Contracting and Management Evaluation Team (CMET). A Test and Evaluation Review Panel (TERP) Chairman will be appointed from the membership of the SSB. The TERP Chairman will be overall responsible for the joining and compilation of ad jectival voting scores, and for source selection documentation at all stages of source selection. Also, an SSB Chairman will be assigned by the Source Selection Authority (SSA) to chair the SSB. Screening criteria, in order of importance are (1) Operational Evaluation, (2) Technical Evaluation, and (3) Contracting and Management Evaluation. The most important adjectival voting results will be those developed by the OET. The second most important are the results of the TET. However, the TET may disqualify a technical proposal if it violates physical laws, engineering principles, contains technical features that would prohibit it from meeting the specification, or if it contains technical errors indicating that the offeror is technically incompetent or is proposing a technical approach that is unacceptably risky. The CMET will provide the third most important results. How ever, the CMET may disqualify a vendor for statutory or past performance reasons or for unreasonable prices. Vendors who propose more rapid delivery schedules and can prove that they can meet those schedules will receive preference for award in the voting of the Contracting and Management Evaluation Team. This project seeks to field equipment in a time frame that is relevant to current conflicts. Delivery of first articles is August 2002 (Objective)/March 2003 (Threshold). The Source Selection Panel will then establish the competitive range. Offerors of proposals found to be in the competitive range will be invited to renovate their proposals based on SSB findings and to proceed to the next stage of competition, which will be Oral Presentation/Demonstration. (C) Oral Presentations/Demonstrations, will be conducted on or about June or July 2002 at a location to be announce d. The SSB will hear oral presentations made by the offerors in the competitive range and clarify/discuss the offerors? technical proposals. It is expected that some limited product demonstrations will be allowed at this time. Upon completion of Oral Presentations/Demonstrations, the SSB will conduct a second adjectival vote. The TERP Chairman will provide the SSB Chairman with the documentary source selection recommendation(s). The SSB Chairman, in conjunction with the Source Selection Authority, will make the final decision for award. The SSA will strive to award only one contract per sub-system variety but may award more than one contract if a compelling reason is found. (D) Follow-on Developmental and Operational Testing will be conducted on a schedule to be determined by the contact negotiation and award process. 6. RECITALS: In accordance with Federal Acquisit ion Regulation (FAR) Part 15.202- ADVISORY MULTI-STEP PROCESS, the Government invites potential Offerors to respond to the Request for Commercial Offerings (RCO) solicitation when it is published. No solicitation document exits at this time. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS ADVISORY ONLY. THIS REQUIREMENT HAS ALREADY BEEN PUBLISHED PREVIOUSLY FOR INDUSTRY COMMENT. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, RATHER PLEASE WAIT TO FORMALLY RESPOND TO THE RCO SOLICITATION WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED. The government does not intend to award solely on the basis of this CAA. Nothing in this announcement constitutes an obligation on the part of the government. The government will not pay for submissions resulting from this announcement. The SOPMOD program office will not provide M16/M4 rifle/carbine parts drawings or RIS parts drawings. 7. RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS. Please do not be confused by related gove rnment announcements. While SOPMOD is seeking Offerors, or teams of Offerors, to provide fully system-balanced offerings for SPR, certain sub-components and closely related accessories will be competed separately on different solicitations, three of which are: (A) Enhanced Grenade Launcher Module (EGLM) Parties interested in EGLM should view and respond to solicitation N00164-02-R-0063, which can be found at http://www.crane.navy.mil/supply/synopsis.htm (B) Family of Muzzle Brake/Suppressors (FMBS). Parties interested in FMBS should watch for separate announcements which have been published under SOL N00164-02-R-0065 - SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS - FSG 10 - NAICS 332994. FMBS will affect SPR participants in the future, in that SPR offerings should be insensitive to muzzle attachments. SPR selectees may be required to produce offerings that are compatible with the future S OPMOD FMBS, as well as the current SOPMOD QD Sound Suppressor (Sound Suppressor Kit, NSN1005-01-437-0324) 8. CONTACT INFORMATION: (A) SOPMOD Program Registration: Ms. Paula Pifer, Code 4081, telephone (812) 854-5686, FAX 812-854-1044, email pifer_p@crane.navy.mil Please update your information with Ms. Pifer if you have had a change since the last update. (B) SOPMOD Technical Point of Contact: Mr. Paul Miller, Code 4081, telephone (812) 854-6654, FAX 812-854-1044, email miller_p@crane.navy.mil Please avoid unnecessary communications with the TPOC until the RCO solicitation is published. (C) Contracting Department Point of Contact is Mr. Paul Johnson, Code 1162NP Bldg. 2521, NAVSURFWARCENDIV Crane, 300 Highway 361, Crane IN 47522-5001. Mr. Johnson's telephone number is 812-854-3225, FAX 812-854-5095, e-mail johnson_p@crane.navy.mil.
- Web Link
-
Click here to download synopsis
(http://www.crane.navy.mil/supply/02R0077/02R0077.htm)
- Record
- SN00051723-W 20020403/020401213306 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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