53--Hardware, Weapon System

The U.S. Army Contracting Command - New Jersey, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ 07806-5000, on behalf of PM Soldier Weapons, intends to solicit, negotiate and award a sole source contract to United Support Solutions, Inc. of Cedar Grove, NJ 07009-1240, under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(g)(1)(A) as implemented by FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i). The anticipated effort requires a delivery quantity of 10,000 M2 Link Guides for Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations (CROWS). This contract will be a one-time buy with an expected period of performance of three months from contract award. The M2 Link Guide is a bent piece of sheet metal with black oxide finish that is to be built to a U.S. Government Technical Data Package. This piece sits on the ejection side of the weapon on the Soft Mount Assembly of the M153 CROWS. It has two chamfered through holes for mounting with flat screws to the soft mount. This piece effectively guides disjointed links that are ejected from the receiver of the weapon away from the weapon and away from critical components such as the Sight Servo Assembly. The M2 Link Guide requires the engineering and design of a specialized set of stamp dies to produce the necessary bends to meet the drawing specifications. The cost of designing and producing the dies necessary for this production is significant. United Support Solutions has already designed and fabricated the dies required for this product under a previous contract. United Support Solutions is the sole contractor possessing the ability to provide this item without introducing significant duplication of costs to the program. The additional cost for another contractor to perform this task is not expected to be recovered through competition and is considered to be unacceptable. Please note that this notice does not constitute a Request For Proposal (RFP). A determination by the U.S. Government not to compete this proposed contract action based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the U.S. Government. The anticipated award timeframe for this action is 4QFY13.