Commandant (G-ACS-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 DUE 071696. 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, design, and marker-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. design, grade, update, and plot markers for garment patterns; b. plot pattern pieces true to the original pattern; c. electronically adapt and plot a standard existing pattern to a made-to-measure pattern; d. optimize material utilization; e. minimize both operator work hours and system down time; f. guarantee system support; g. offer scalability to support current and anticipated increased uniform program design and production requirements. The system shall include all hardware, software, network systems, and peripherals to enable a minimally trained operator to design garments competently, including the ability to manipulate, automatically grade, and produce patterns and markers so a clothing manufacturer can use them to make quality garments. Further, the machine offered must be an existing machine (or existing components) designed for pattern making and currently in commercial use. The short time frame for the Uniform Pilot Program makes development of a machine infeasible. The Coast Guard anticipates purchasing one pattern making machine as a commercial item under a firm-fixed-price contract. Offerors are encouraged to note the submission deadline of July 16, 1996. This allows less than 30 days for proposal submission per FAR 12.205(c), commercial items. The period of performance for delivery of the machine will be 120 days. Installation and training are to be included. The Coast Guard also anticipates procuring continuing maintenance for the machine for the base year and up to four option years following installation. Telephonic requests for the solicitation will not be taken. All correspondence should be addressed to: Commandant (G-ACS-2B/SP), 2100 Second Street SW, Washington, DC 20593-0001. 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. (173)

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