TAILORED LOGISTICS SUPPORT PACKAGE INTEGRATOR DSCP-IA 08 OCT 1999 NOTICE OF MARKET RESEARCH The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, General and Industrial Directorate, General Hardware Unit is the Inventory Control Point for Springs (FSC5360), Miscellaneous Hardware (FSC 5340) and Angle Brackets (FSC 5341). We intend to issue a Request For Proposal for the award of one or possibly multiple contracts to acquire General Hardware items for Government installations worldwide. These installations are primarily Department of Defense activities located throughout the United States. We are issuing this Notice of Market Research as a vehicle for industry to provide recommendations/comments on the best business practices available for supplying this material to our customers. Current Situation: Approximately 93% of our customers' requisitions are received, processed and filled from our depot stocks. This process involves several cumbersome electronic systems and can take up to 30 days to fill a requisition. Some of the high volume, large dollar items are currently procured through long-term contracts with deliveries made to depots, from delivery orders placed through our Paperless Ordering Procurement System and issued electronically to our vendors. Other items are procured through Indefinite Delivery Purchase Orders, which are similar to the long-term contracts but for smaller dollar value items. The majority of items are procured through Purchase Orders and Contracts for one item at a time, with material being shipped to depots or directly to the customer. Lead times on these items range from 3 to 360 days, but average 90 -- 120 days. Our Fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30 and the following data represents an approximate annualized volume. Annual Sales dollars = $96 million Annual Requisition Volume = 630,000 Average Requisition Quantity: 20 Average Requisition Value: $134 Total number of items = 199,199 Springs = 63,499 Miscellaneous Hardware = 135,693 Angle Brackets: 7* Total number of active items: ** Springs: 52,730 Miscellaneous Hardware: 125,354 Total number of inactive items: Springs: 10,769 Miscellaneous Hardware: 10,339 Angle Brackets: 7 * There are approximately 1200 items that are considered as angle brackets that have not been placed in this category but currently reside in the Miscellaneous Hardware Category. ** An active item consists of an item that has had at least one requisition for at least one piece over the past year. Miscellaneous Hardware is a diverse group of items with different segments of industry manufacturing and supplying the item. There are 295 different types of items in this product group. Some of the major groups of items covered in Miscellaneous Hardware are bumpers, casters, turnbuckles, webbed straps, cabinet and door hardware including locks, hinges and latches. Springs consist of different sizes and shapes but all are classified as Coil, Flat & Wire Springs. There are four lock programs (high, medium, low security and re-keyable) in the Miscellaneous Hardware product group, which account for$ 12.7 million of annualized sales and approximately 200 items. Of the total number of items in the universe of 199,999, approximately 6,000 or 3% are being reviewed for inclusion in the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia MRO Prime Vendor. Likewise, a small number of items are ordered through the Benchstock Prime Vendor Program. Concurrently, the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia, General Hardware Unit is issuing a Notice of Market Research for Vendor Managed Inventory, which will shift the storage and shipment of current inactive inventory to a commercial entity. A Pareto Analysis was performed on the active items and that study proved that 20% of our customers account for 80% of our sales while 20% of our contractors receive orders for 62% of the items. Further analysis showed that 40 customers account for 50% of the sales and 40 contractors receive orders for 23% of the items. Customer Requirements: We intend to place contracts designed to meet individual customers' needs for their material requirements. Since day to day and basic repair requirements are being covered by the other Prime Vendor programs already in place, the remaining emergency, unanticipated, overhaul and program requirements should be addressed through this effort. The three general principles that need to be accomplished are Just-in-time delivery, Reduced Costs, Elimination of Stocked Material by the Inventory Control Point (Wholesale level) and Customer (Retail level). Information Requested: You are welcome to provide comments and suggestions on any aspect of our procurement process. Specifically we are looking for comments concerning: What types of items should be covered? How to add or delete items Delivery times If the requirements should be divided and how? (i.e. by service, region, type of item) The most efficient electronic ordering systems Pricing Methodologies (Note: Price proposals should not be submitted at this time) The best logistics solutions for these items What data would be helpful to make a formal proposal. How the transition period should be handled and how long it would last How would a surge in demand due to a relief effort or active theater deployment be handled You are invited to furnish written comments and recommendations regarding the general approach and any specific provisions, as well as proposing alternate approaches involving different strategies or commercial practices. The Government will not pay for any information submitted under this Notice of Market Research. However the quality of information submitted will be an evaluation factor in the resulting Request For Proposal (RFP), i.e., those responses that provide more advantageous, beneficial and efficient solutions will be evaluated higher than others on the resultant RFP. Proprietary information will be kept confidential in accordance with applicable laws. Upon reviewing the comments received from this notice, the Government intends to issue a formal Request For Proposal (RFP). Responses should be submitted through any of the following methods by October 29, 1999. Subject: Tailored Logistics Support Packages (TLSP) Mail: Defense Supply Center Philadelphia Attn: DSCP-IAB, Jeff Jobes 700 Robbins Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19111 e-mail: jjobes@dscp.dla.mil Address Facsimile transmissions to: 215-697-2290 All questions, please call Jeff Jobes at (215) 697-2410. Posted 10/08/99 (W-SN390391).

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