Commandant(G-ACG-2B/SP), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 Second Street SW., Washington, DC 20593-0001

36 -- UNIFORM PATTERN MAKING EQUIPMENT SOL DTCG23-96-R-PPS306 POC Contact: L. Scott Palmer, Ph: 202/267-2489/Contracting Officer: L. Scott Palmer, Ph: 202/267-2489 The U.S. Coast Guard has a requirement to purchase one automated pattern making machine to develop uniform patterns for use in concert with its Uniform Pilot Program. The pattern making machine will be used at the Clothing and Textile Development Office in Natick, MA to produce patterns for Service Dress Blue uniform items for men and women. Due to the unavailability of adequate personnel at the Clothing and Textile Office in Natick, MA, pattern making is an ancillary duty. Therefore, the pattern making machine must be programmable, quickly producing patterns and locking them into memory for future use, thereby reducing the labor hours necessary to produce the required patterns. As such, the pattern making machine to be purchased must contain the following operational attributes: a. Advanced pattern making and grading program with all size pattern design, arc and circle interpolation, conformation and stature grading to ensure smooth curve generation; b. advanced pattern making program with automatic marker making and automatic marker updating; c. alteration/grading program utilizing custom grading for made-to-measure uniforms; d. drawing program that allows continued drawing during printing paper advance; e. high-speed precision, two roll feed, 72'' pen plotter; f. plotter control workstation; g. advanced program to electronically transfer or accept patterns to or from other pattern making equipment; h. scalability so that upgrades and customer support are available without purchase of new pattern making machine. The machine must be upgradeable and must automatically place garment pieces to ensure economical use of fabric. Further, the machine offered must be an existing machine designed for pattern making and currently in commercial use. The short time frame for the Uniform Pilot Program makes development of a machine unfeasible. The Coast Guard anticipates purchasing one pattern making machine. The period of performance will be 120 days. All interested parties must submit a capabilities statement and descriptive literature that sufficiently describes the qualifications and capabilities of their equipment to fulfill the above requirements. All responsible sources may respond to this notice and will be considered by the Coast Guard. This notice is not a solicitation nor is a formal Request for Proposal available. Submit literature to the address above. In the absence of responses from firms which have the capability to fulfill this requirement, the Coast Guard intends to negotiate with Lectra Systems, Inc., New York, NY for the equipment described pursuant to FAR 6.302-1(B)(1).--No other notice will be published until award is made. All correspondence should be addressed to: Commandant (G-ACG-2B/SP), 2100 Second Street SW, Washington, DC 20593-0001--Note 22 applies. This Notice is for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), has a program to assist minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to acquire short-term working capital assistance for transportation-related contracts. Loans are available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rates to provide accounts receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information and applicable forms concerning the STLP, call the OSDBU at (800) 532-1169. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting official listed above. See Numbered Note 22. (0093)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0266 19960403\36-0001.SOL)