US Army ARDEC, AMSTA-AR-PCW-A, Building 10, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey 07806-5000

A -- LIGHTWEIGHT 155MM HOWITZER ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING DEVELOPMENT DRAFT RFP SOL DAAE30-96-R-0003 DUE 013196 POC Major Trent Ensley, Contract Specialist, (201) 724-7870, email=tensley, Gregory L. Gorman, contracting Officer, (201) 724- 3271. Major Trent K. Ensley, Contract Specialist, email-tensley, 201-724-7870, Gregory L. Gorman, Contracting Officer, 201-724-3271. The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center extends an invitation for proposals regarding the Lightweight 155mm (LW155) Howitzer. The LW155 howitzer system is anticipated to replace the current M198 Towed Howitzer for the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. A revised draft solicitation will be issued for the EMD Shoot-Off and Engineering and Manufacturing Development phases of the LW155 program. Firm Fixed Price contracts will be awarded for the Shoot-Off (multiple contracts are anticipated). The contractor shall be responsible for providing training, technical support to the tests, and System Support Package at Government test sites. The Government will bear the cost of the test program (proving grounds, instrumentation, data collection, etc). Those offerors awarded Shoot-Off contracts will continue in the best value source selection process for the LW155 EMD contract. Results of the shoot-off will be provided to the Source Selection Evaluation Board to assess the system performance (which will include the impact of design changes resulting form Test Incident Reports). This information will be supplemented by the offeror's revised technical proposal and revision to production costs including providing not-to-exceed prices for long lead items, and the FY00 and FY01 production years. The Government will select only one contractor for the Cost Plus Incentive Fee EMD contract with ceiling priced production options. During EMD the contractor will fabricate and test a total of eight prototypes to validate engineering changes and investigate/validate manufacturing technologies. Subject to a favorable milestone decision to proceed, a formal RFP will be released on or about 29 Feb 96. Government and industry comments regarding the draft solicitation can be sent to: US Army ARDEC, ATTN. AMSTA-AR-PCW-A, Major Trent Ensley, Building 10, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey 07806-5000. The draft solicitation and information regarding this action can be accessed at http://procnet.pica.army.mil. (0023)

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