SOURCES SOUGHT
63 -- Explosives Detection Systems for Break Bulk Air Cargo Inspection
- Notice Date
- 1/6/2004
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- DHS - Border and Transportation Security, Transportation Security Administration, Headquarters TSA, 601 S. 12th Street TSA-25, 4th Floor, Arlington, VA, 22202
- ZIP Code
- 22202
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-PREQ-04-RED-500
- Response Due
- 1/16/2004
- Archive Date
- 1/31/2004
- Point of Contact
- Richard Gunderson, Contracting Officer, Phone 571-227-1578, Fax 571-227-2913,
- E-Mail Address
-
richard.gunderson@dhs.gov
- Description
- MARKET SURVEY Explosives Detection Systems For Break Bulk Air Cargo Inspection The Transportation Security Administration?s (TSA?s) Office of Security Technologies (CTO) intends to conduct an evaluation program to assess the viability of commercial off the shelf (COTS) or Non-Developmental Item (NDI) explosive detection systems (EDS) for inspecting break bulk air cargo. This announcement is published to solicit data, information, and samples from interested offerors who have sample equipment ready for government evaluation. TSA Office of Security Technologies (CTO) will evaluate performance of sample equipment through laboratory evaluation, and through operational test and evaluation (OT&E) during a pilot test for those samples that successfully complete the laboratory evaluation. The TSA's evaluation will be conducted in three phases: 1) Responses to this market survey will be analyzed to determine a list of potential offerors; 2) Potential offerors will provide a sample for laboratory evaluation; and 3) Potential offerors whose samples are deemed acceptable as a result of laboratory evaluation will become selected vendors, receive a Request for Proposals (RFP), and, if selected, their sample(s) will be deployed to airports selected by TSA to participate in operational test and evaluation during a pilot test. Selected vendors whose samples perform successfully during OT&E will then become qualified vendors. The TSA will not pay any bid and proposal and/or independent research and development costs incurred in response to this evaluation program, including the market survey, the laboratory evaluation, the draft and final RFP?s, and the operational test and evaluation pilot test. All information received in response to this announcement will be considered proprietary. Respondents shall clearly mark specific company proprietary information accordingly. MARKET SURVEY REQUIREMENTS In accordance with the section titled ?Submission Requirements for Market Survey?, interested offerors must submit the following in order to be considered for qualification as a potential offeror. ? Interested offerors who have a CAGE code shall list it in their response to this market survey. Interested offerers who do not already have a CAGE code shall state their willingness to enter into the National Industrial Security Program (NISP) at their own expense, and shall provide the date when issue of their CAGE code is expected. Accordingly, potential offerors will be required to have a CAGE code issued through the NISP administered by the Defense Security Service (DSS) before they can become selected vendors. ? Sample equipment, which is to be provided by potential offerors, must meet the requirements of the Draft Specification. Interested vendors shall request the Draft Specification from the Contracting Officer listed at the end of this announcement. If sample equipment does not meet all the requirements of the Draft Specification, interested offerors shall provide a matrix listing the requirements that the sample equipment meets and does not meet. ? Interested offerors shall certify that they are able to submit one sample for laboratory evaluation and provide up to three additional units for operational testing and evaluation in accordance with the anticipated schedule of events. ? Interested offerors shall provide an organization chart, with roles and responsibilities identified. The organization chart shall show interested offerors? relationship with parent companies. ? Interested offerors shall provide company financial data, including Dunn & Bradstreet number. If applicable, interested offerors shall also provide DCAA auditor name and phone number. Upon completion of the market survey, interested vendors will be notified if they will proceed to the next phase of the evaluation program. Potential vendors will be notified of the location of the laboratory evaluation at this time. LABORATORY EVALUATION Interested offerors who are qualified through the market survey process will become potential offerors. Each potential offeror shall submit one sample, at no cost to the government, for laboratory evaluation. The unit will be evaluated to ensure that it meets the requirements of the Draft Specification. Potential offerors will not be permitted to participate in the laboratory evaluation other than to provide support when requested by CTO. The TSA reserves the right to stop the laboratory evaluation and reject the potential offeror?s sample equipment if it does not meet the requirements of the Draft Specification. In order to receive information concerning evaluation criteria, evaluation results, and certain concepts of operation information, potential offerors may need to be able to receive and store classified material up to and including the Secret level by the time the laboratory evaluation is completed. Vendors shall bear all costs associated with shipping its sample to the laboratory evaluation site, providing installation support and Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) at the laboratory evaluation site, and removing its sample from the laboratory evaluation site. Each potential offeror shall also submit the following with the sample for laboratory evaluation: ? Proposed training materials for review and evaluation ? Proposed operators and maintenance manuals for review and evaluation ? Warranty terms and conditions ? License materials ? Points of contact for support During the laboratory evaluation period, CTO may conduct build/assembly plant site visits for sample equipment that is expected to successfully complete laboratory evaluation. CTO site visits, if conducted, will take place prior to shipment of sample equipment to the OT&E pilot test sites. Upon completion of the laboratory evaluation, potential vendors will be notified if they will proceed to the next phase of the evaluation program. OPERATIONAL TEST AND EVALUATION PILOT TEST Potential offerors whose sample equipment successfully completes laboratory evaluation will become selected vendors, receive a Request for Proposal (RFP), and, if selected, will be requested to provide up to three samples for OT&E during the pilot test. Request for Proposals. The RFP will require selected vendors to submit, at a minimum, the following products, and supporting data and information: 1. Proposed amounts for one, two, and three equipment samples. 2. Life Cycle Cost Estimates (Note 1): ? Equipment life cycle cost estimate, including maintenance schedule, mean time between failure rates, etc. ? List of high failure rate components and their cost per item, recommended stockage rate of high failure rate components, logistic factors for spares and spare parts replenishment, spare parts list with costs per item, part numbers and/or National Stock Numbers (NSN) and suppliers. ? Selected vendor?s standard commercial practice and pricing for scheduled maintenance. If scheduled maintenance differs from the vendor?s standard commercial practices, it will be described, and differences and associated price deltas will be provided. A schedule of maintenance throughout the life cycle of the equipment will also be provided. ? Selected vendor?s standard commercial practice and pricing for unscheduled maintenance, i.e., hourly rates, response time from receipt of request, travel charges if applicable, etc. If unscheduled maintenance practice differs from the vendor?s standard commercial practices, it will be described, and differences and associated price deltas will be included. ? Specific details of proposed warranty and associated pricing. ? A list of critical components and parts required during the life cycle of the equipment, and associated prices if not already contained in the warranty and scheduled maintenance submittals. 3. Updates to vendor-proposed training materials, incorporating any changes recommended by the government and/or resulting from the laboratory evaluation. 4. Updates to vendor-proposed operator and maintenance manuals, incorporating any changes recommended by the government and/or resulting from the laboratory evaluation. 5. Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) and Site Acceptance Test (SAT) procedures. 6. Installation/integration manuals. 7. Past performance information regarding reliability, maintainability, and availability (RMA). Definitions of the metrics used to report the purported RMA, how they are derived, and the sample size and period of time upon which the RMA is based will be included. 8. Demonstration of vendor?s ability to meet the delivery schedule. 9. Configuration Management Plan and configuration baseline. 10. Quality Assurance Plan. 11. Exhibits demonstrating vendor?s ability to produce required quantities of equipment. Selected vendors will be required to show manufacturing capability on a monthly basis for a period of approximately one year. A fully integrated schedule with resource allocation and man loading will also be required. The schedule will indicate the time needed for receiving long-lead items once ordered, production preparation, etc. Indicators for tracking progress will be included. Selected vendors that need to acquire resources will be required to indicate on the schedule when the resources are going to be acquired and applied. 12. Minimum economic quantities at commercially competitive rates. Economic quantity price break points are required. For example: Units 1-100 $ Units 101-150 $ Units 151-200 $ Etc. Note: This example is an example only. Selected vendors shall not interpret the example as desired quantity breaks. 13. Manufacturing plant/assembly facility information, including square footage, number of employees, and other information needed to support produceability and manufacturing quality evaluations. 14. CAGE code. 15. Past Performance information on relevant experience. Note 1. Selected vendors who have fielded or deployed inventories of the sample equipment will be required to base their life cycle cost estimates on results from those inventories. Selected vendors who do not have fielded or deployed inventories of the sample equipment will be allowed to base their life cycle cost estimates on engineering estimates. Award. TSA may award contract(s) for up to three equipment samples for OT&E pilot testing. Pilot Test. Data collection for the OT&E pilot test will be conducted for approximately 5 months. Selected vendors will not be permitted to participate in OT&E other than to provide support when requested by CTO. TSA reserves the right to stop the pilot test at any time if equipment samples do not meet the requirements of the Draft Specification or are determined by the test director to pose operational and/or safety of use risk. ANTICIPATED SCHEDULE OF EVENTS The following information is provided for planning purposes: ACTIVITY COMPLETION DATE Market Survey Responses Due January 16, 2004 Government Evaluates Responses January 23, 2004 Government Announces Results January 27, 2004 Government Provides Laboratory Evaluation Unit Delivery Instructions January 28, 2004 Government Receives Laboratory Test Articles On-Site February 04, 2004 Draft Request for Proposals (RFP) released February 27, 2004 Laboratory Tests Completed February 27, 2004 Proposed Offerors? Comments on draft RFP due March 05, 2004 Final RFP Released to Selected Vendors March 12, 2004 Final Vendor Proposals Due April 02, 2004 Award April 06, 2004 Initial Delivery and Installation of Field Evaluation units April 23, 2004 Field Data Collection Completed September 30, 2004 Submission Requirements for Market Survey Interested offerors shall submit responses to this Market Survey to: Richard Gunderson Transportation Security Administration TSA Headquarters ? West Building 4th Floor, TSA 25 601 S. 12th St. Arlington, VA 22202-4220 Telephone: 571-227-1578 Fax: 571-227-2913 Email: richard.gunderson@dhs.gov Written responses to this market survey are required. Responses shall be prepared using a font no smaller than 11 point; and shall not exceed 10 pages in length, including all data displays, charts, graphs, and tables. The due date for receipt of responses to this announcement is 2:00 P.M. EST January 16th, 2004. The information contained herein is subject to change. Response to this announcement is strictly voluntary, and does not constitute an obligation by the TSA to issue contracts or purchase equipment. In addition, interested offerors will not be reimbursed for any expenses incurred in responding to this market survey and submitting samples for laboratory evaluation. The TSA makes no implied or in fact contract by issuing and publishing this market survey. Moreover, all documents referenced and included are for informational purposes only.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Transportation Security Administration, Security Technologies Laboratory, Atlantic City NJ
- Record
- SN00498898-W 20040108/040106211511 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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