A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION -- DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TITLE III PROJECT NOMINATION This is a request for information (RFI) only. FAR 52.215-3, Request for Information of Solicitation for Planning Purposes (Oct 97) applies to this RFI. FAR 52.215-3(c) is completed as follows. "The Air Force provides this REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) inviting industry to nominate potential projects for the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III Program." Title III of the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 provides the President with the authority to provide appropriate incentives to develop, maintain, modernize, and expand the productive capacities of domestic sources for critical components, critical technology items, and industrial resources essential for the execution of the national security strategy of the United States. Title III is a Tri-Service/DLA program. There are a number of incentive forms available under Title III of the DPA. However, direct purchases, purchase commitments, and the purchase and installation of advanced production equipment at the supplier's facility are the incentive forms contemplated for future Title III projects. The DPA contains four criteria that every Title III project must satisfy. Before any funds may be obligated on a Title III activity, the President must certify to the Congress that: (1) The industrial resource or critical technology item is essential to the national defense; (2) Without the incentives under Title III of the DPA private industry cannot reasonably be expected to provide the needed industrial resources or critical technology item in a timely manner; (3) Activities under Title III are the most cost-effective, expedient, and practical alternative for meeting the need; (4) The combination of U.S. national defense (military) demand and foreseeable non-defense (commercial) demand will be greater than the total domestic industrial capability resulting at the conclusion of the Title III activity. It is also important to note that the DPA is concerned with domestic (defined in the Act as within the United States or Canada) sources of supply and demand. Foreign capabilities and demand are not considered. Title III can not be used to create or expand a foreign source, regardless of the essentiality of the material to U.S. defense requirements. The Title III program has established three major thrust areas for its future activities: Technology Transition, Sustainment, and Dual Production. Technology Transition projects use Title III authorities to accelerate insertion of emerging leading edge technologies (materials, components, subsystems, and/or processes) into defense systems. The objective is to achieve increased performance, improved affordability, reliability, and/or maintainability and decreased life cycle costs. A candidate project would address a technology that has nearly completed development and prototype production, and its full-scale production faces investment and expansion hurdles. Sustainment projects result in increased capabilities for and support to the warfighter. They would seek to enhance performance, reliability, maintainability, and decrease costs to sustain fielded systems. Candidate sustainment projects would address a technology already in at least limited production, or needing some modification of production processes to enable full-scale production, and especially suited for insertion as modifications or upgrades to current military systems. Dual Production projects foster the concept of civil/military integration, wherein production of military-unique products can be achieved on essentially commercial production lines. The intent is to take advantage of state-of-the-art commercial production technologies in producing military products, while also benefiting from shared high volume, low costs arising from commercial production. Candidate Dual Production projects would identify military products (subsystems or components) which could be produced more efficiently utilizing commercial processes and practices. Industry responses to the RFI will be assessed to identify projects for potential future (FY 2001 and beyond) Title III actions. Limit RFI responses to five (5) page unclassified white papers. Project nominations should address, in as much detail as possible subject to the page limitations, the items in following format for Title III Project Nominations. Title: Name of the proposed Title III project. Sponsor: Identify the suggested government sponsor. The sponsor should be the organization/agency that has the technical expertise to assist the Title III Program Office in the execution of the project. Thrust Area: Identify the primary Thrust Area for the project. (Projects may have contributions in more than one Thrust Area.) Project Need: Provide background information on the material (defined by the DPA as "critical technology items" and "industrial resources") and proposed project. Address the material's importance to national defense and the need for Title III assistance. Material Demand: Describe current and future applications and demand for the material including projected DoD and commercial demand. Industry Capabilities: Describe industry's current and expected capability to produce the material. Include domestic (U.S. and Canada) and worldwide production sources. Address the market dynamics and constraints affecting industry's ability and willingness to meet DoD demand without Title III incentives. Risks: Include a discussion of technical and business risks and issues that must be addressed and resolved (or accepted) before initiating the Title III project and establishing a viable source of supply. Project Concept: An initial concept is required to support proposal evaluation and approval. State proposed project objectives and outline the business and technical approach -- what the proposed project would accomplish and how. Provide the business case justification for the project. Using the preferred incentive type, provide a breakdown of estimated project costs by phase and by fiscal year. Title III acknowledges that the amount and phasing of funds will vary considerably, depending on the material problem, the incentive type, and the selected approach. Cost sharing between the Government and the project contractor(s) is expected. Project nominations are due to the address below not later than 3:00 p.m. EST, 17 December 1999. Address any questions and send project nominations to: John Blevins, AFRL/MLMP, 2310 8th Street, Building 167, Room 109, WPAFB, OH 45433-7801, (937) 656-9803. Nominations may be e-mailed to John.Blevins@afrl.af.mil . Questions may also be addressed to Mike Soboroff at (703) 358-9090 or e-mail Soboroff_Mike@techmatics.com .This is not a solicitation announcement for proposals and no contract will be awarded from this announcement. The Title III Program may or may not select any of the received nominations for use as a Title III project. Any projects developed and executed from these nominations will be competed in a full and open competition. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement and/or any follow-up information requests. No telephone calls will be accepted requesting a bid package or solicitation. There is no bid package or solicitation at this time. All information received shall be safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure. Please ensure any sensitive or proprietary information is clearly marked as such. Additional information about the Defense Production Act Title III program, its history, organization, and current project activities can be found at the Title III web site at: WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=S&;ProjID=Reference-Num ber-RFI-TITLE-III&LocID=904. E-MAIL: John Blevins, John.Blevins@afrl.af.mil. Posted 11/22/99 (D-SN402800).

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