Defense Supply Center Richmond, 8000 Jefferson Davis Highway, Richmond, VA 23297-5000

16 -- VIRTUAL PRIME VENDOR (VPV) PROGRAM, WORLDWIDE WHOLESALE CONSUMABLE SUPPORT DUE 110199 POC Elizabeth Brown/DD179/(804)279-5259/ebrown@dscr.dla.mil, Fax (804) 279-3715 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES Virtual Prime Vendor (VPV) Program Worldwide Wholesale Consumable Support Purpose of RFI. 1. To provide industry the opportunity to comment on the operational application of the Virtual Prime Vendor concept to assist in determining the initiatives that will optimize the logistical support of Department of Defense (DoD) weapon systems programs. 2. To announce the current intentions of the Defense Supply Center Richmond to implement the VPV program in support of the weapons systems and reparables identified in the Statements of Objectives (SOO) below. 3. To engage industry and other interested individuals in an exchange of information on the technical aspects of the VPV program and likely costs. 4. To assess the capability of industry to provide the products and services envisioned for support of the weapons systems and reparable components identified in the SOO. 5. To provide industry and academia the opportunity to present alternative courses of action, methodologies, best business practices, and technologies with respect to the VPV implementation. 6. We are not seeking a philosophical discussion on theories and concepts. Background. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) serves within the Department of Defense (DoD) as a wholesale level industrial distributor of spare parts and maintenance, repair, and operating supplies for the military services worldwide. DLA is seeking unique and innovative approaches to support that will maintain the highest state of weapons system readiness. The VPV program will accomplish this by improving the supply chain that provides logistics support to the military service's maintenance facilities. New strategies are required using advanced manufacturing, distribution, and materials management techniques. These strategies will improve repair turn around time, assess the industrial base ability to respond to changes in customer demand, and effectively reduce the overall cost to the government. This requires integrating the commercial and military supply and distribution systems, electronic data interchange, inventory management and direct vendor delivery. Statement of Objectives (SOO). 1. The vendor shall provide wholesale consumables support to the Scheduled Level Depot Maintenance (SLDM) at the Naval Aviation Depot (NADEP) maintenance activity at NADEP Cherry Point, North Carolina, in support of the targeted weapons systems/ reparables rebuild and overhaul requirements. 2. The vendor may provide worldwide wholesale consumables support for the AV-8B and F-4 aircraft, H-46 and H-53 helicopters, and the F-408, T-58, and T-64 aircraft engines. 3. The vendor shall provide site specific retail supply operations as identified by the customer and bill for those services separately from wholesale consumables support. 4. The vendor shall assume all risk associated with technical, schedule, financial, pricing, transition, readiness, or other factors, which may impede the success of the VPV application. The vendor will establish riskmitigation mechanisms appropriate for each risk identified in the program. 5. The vendor shall function as the single source of supply and will operate or outsource the overall capacity to arrange for purchase, inventory management, forecasting, quality control, receipt processing, storage, packaging and transportation of specified parts. 6. The vendor shall establish a network of suppliers capable of meeting the requirements of the VPV arrangement. The vendor shall interface, coordinate, and provision materiel through current and future government contracts (IPV, CLS, Sole Source, Competitive, etc.) and incorporate these contracts into their performance plans. The vendor must establish contracts for items not currently under contract by the government. 7. The vendor shall provide for the capital reduction of government wholesale stocks of repair part consumables during the initial stages of vendor performance. 8. The vendor shall leverage private sector, best business practices in information and distribution technologies. The vendor shall integrate commercial and military supply and worldwide distribution systems using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Direct Vendor Delivery (DVD) for NSNs on this contract. 9. The vendor shall provide the system interfaces (capability, architecture, and compatibility) necessary to integrate its commercial systems into government systems for the VPV arrangement. 10. The vendor shall at a minimum, meet a supply availability rate of 85% by the end of the first six months, 90% by the end of the first year, and 95% by the end of 18 months that the program is in effect. 11. The vendor contract award target will be one year from the publication of the RFI. The vendor shall provide a 90-day post-award phase-in plan. Performance monitoring shall commence at the conclusion of this period. 12. The implementation vehicle will be a standard CPFF, FFP with incentive, or other, with a contract duration that would best support implementing VPV initiatives. 13. The program shall be responsive to surge requirements in support of worldwide contingency operations. 14. The vendor shall establish a wholesale cost recovery structure consistent with that commercially available through third party logistics providers. Questions/Solicited Information. Industry is encouraged to address each of the objectives stated in the SOO. Be as specific as possible in your response, indicating those elements that you believe are achievable and satisfy the approach outlined in this document. To the extent that you take issue with aspects of our approach, be equally specific in describing alternatives. Please key the specifics of your response to relevant RFI objective numbers Respondent's Invited to Participate. Comments are solicited from all parties who have experience in the current and emerging best business practices and technologies relating to integrated supply chain management, distribution, manufacturing, maintenance, and materials management techniques. Responses. We request that responses be forwarded in Microsoft Office for Windows via email to the Contracting Officer, Elizabeth Brown, ebrown@dscr.dla.mil by November 1, 1999. DSCR will announce, at a later date, an Industry Day to publish and further discuss the findings and recommendations that were developed as a result of this RFI. Posted 09/15/99 (W-SN380534). (0258)

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