Commander, U.S. Army Missile Command, Acquisition Center, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5280

A -- COMPETITIVE ENGINEERING MANUFACTURING AND DEVELOPMENT (EMD) OF FOLLOW-ON-TO-TOW (FOTT) MISSILE SYSTEM SOL DAAH01-96-R-0064 POC Felicia Jones or Terry Ganoe, Contract Specialist, AMSAM-AC-TM-T, 205-842-7140 or 205-876-7657 Sandra Byars-Smith, Contracting Officer, AMSAM-AC-TM-T, 205-876-4201. The purpose of this notice is to announce the release of an amended DRFP to industry and solicit responses concerning an alternate technical solution as outlined below. Amendment 02 to the FOTT Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) DRFP, which is being issued due to contractor comments and Government-initiated changes, has been placed in the FOTT Reading Room located in the Redstone Scientific Information Center (RSIC), Building 4484, Redstone Arsenal, AL, for eligible contractors to review and/or receive a copy. This amendment contains revised special contract requirement H-4 that no longer restricts the participation of foreign firms to the subcontracting level. However, the FOTT EMD program will require development effort in certain critical technologies and/or data that are not releasable to foreign firms. To participate in the FOTT program, a foreign firm may be required to team with a U.S. firm who possesses a U.S. facility security clearance with equivalent safeguarding capabilities, inclusive of the authority to receive critical technology/data required to execute a FOTT EMD program. Additionally, the Government has included the following clause in this amendment and may also include this clause in the final RFP. L19 "Special notice to offerors regarding an alternate technical solution for TOW dimension compatibility". In order to avoid unduly limiting competition, proposals will be evaluated that include an alternate technical solution that takes exception to the requirement for maintaining TOW dimension compatibility with all TOW launchers and vehicle storage racks. The alternate technical solution shall only impact Follow-On-To-TOW (FOTT) System Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) Performance Specifications, MIS-52838, paragraphs 3.1.2.1.4 (Dimensions); 3.1.2.3 (Missile Launch Container); and applicable portions of the applique kit minimum commonality baseline (MCB), as related to the two previously-referenced paragraphs. Such proposals shall include a detailed explanation of the exceptions and deviations to the above-stated requirements; cost data to support cost benefit analysis of the proposed solution's impact on life cycle costs including EMD costs, production costs, platform modification costs, operating and support costs, and any additional Government costs, e.g. platform live fire testing; and an explanation of the benefit of each exception or deviation to the Government. The offeror shall also include proposed changes to the impacted MIS-52838 paragraphs to accommodate the proposed alternate technical solution. The offeror may submit the alternate technical solution either as a sole proposal or as a change or alternate to its fully compliant proposal. All other provisions, requirements, and instructions of this RFP apply equally regardless of which proposal submission approach is used. All required data must be submitted with the proposal to be considered an acceptable proposal regardless of which submission approach is used . All proposals will be evaluated using the criteria specified in section M. Any and all associated costs not included with the offeror's proposal that should have been addressed will be included by the Government in the evaluation of the offeror's proposal. The Government reserves the right to award to that offeror whose proposal is determined to offer the best overall value to the Government and not necessarily the lowest cost (reference Section M-4). In the event the Government chooses to award to an offeror who proposes and alternate technical solution, the awarded contract will include revisions to the specified paragraphs and applicable portions of the applique kit MCB to accommodate the accepted alternate technical solution. (End of clause) In order to verify whether the inclusion of such a clause would be benificial, the Government is soliciting responses from prospective contractors who would offer a FOTT EMD proposal IAW the L-19 Clause, containing an Alternate Technical Solution for TOW dimension compatibility. Responses must include a technical description of the proposed design for the FOTT missile system to include the specifics of the alternate technical solution to TOW dimension compatibility requirements. The responses shall describe the concept for hardware and software integration of the proposed missile system design into each TOW platform with special emphasis on those aspects related to the alternate technical solution. Responses shall also include an assessment of how the proposed alternate technical solution impacts the operational effectiveness of each TOW platform. Responses are required not later than 30 days after publication of this synopsis. Responses should be sent to U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Attn: AMSAM-AC-TM-T/Felicia Jones, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5280. To visit the reading room, U.S. contractors must submit a visit request providing the necessary information to verify the company's/individual's security clearance to Ms. Felicia Jones, FAX 205-842-7126. U.S. contractors are also to include their cage codeand classified mailing address with each request in order to receive the classified portion of these documents. Foreign access to the FOTT Reading Room will be authorized only after an offical request for visit authorization has been approved. Foreign visit requests are submitted through respective embassies to HQDA, ATTN: DAMI-CHS. Foreign industry, non-U.S. citizens, or foreign representatives desiring to pick up a copy of the releasable portions of the documents must submit an official request for information through their respective embassy, Washington D.C., to HDQA, ATTN: DAMI-CHS, and an official visit request as described above. Requests received in any other manner will not be honored. Upon approval by the Government, appointments can be scheduled with Redstone Scientific Information Center (RSIC) by calling Ms. Gwen Wallace at 205-842-8444. The FOTT Reading Room contains both classified and unclassified data and data whose export is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U.S.C. Sec 2751 et seq) or and the Export Administration Act (Title 50, U.S.C. App 2401-2402). No Government response will be forthcoming after receipt of requested responses. The Government does not intend to pay for any contractor costs associated with visits to the reading room or preparation of responses. Comments concerning other DRFP provisions/requirements are not being solicited since contractors have already had two opportunities to submit such comments. (0219)

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