A-10 Initial Spares for the Enhanced Wing Assembly

1. NOTICE: This is not a solicitation but rather a Sources Sought Synopsis to determine potential sources for information and planning purposes only. 1.1 The purpose of this Sources Sought is to conduct market research to determine if responsible sources exist, to assist in determining if this effort can be competitive and/or a total Small Business Set-Aside. The proposed North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) Code is 336413 which has a corresponding size standard of 1000. The Government will use this information to determine the best acquisition strategy for this procurement. The Government is interested in all small business to include 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, Hubzone, and Women-Owned small business concerns. The government requests that interested parties respond to this notice if applicable and identify your small business status to the identified NAICS code. Additionally, please provide any anticipated teaming arrangements, along with a description of similar services offered to the Government and to commercial customers for the past three years. Any responses involving teaming agreements should delineate between the work that will be accomplished by the prime and the work accomplished teaming partners. 2. This effort is to manufacture Initial Spare Parts for the Enhanced Wing Assembly (EWA). Contractor will manufacture and supply spare parts to the Air Force supply chain so they will be available to support EWA unique requirements until the Air Force and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) provisioning efforts can fulfill the spare requirements. The Air Force requires EWA unique parts to support initial flying operations and testing of the new wing prior to provisioning efforts being completed and implemented. Therefore, this acquisition will be a contract to assure the short-term supportability of the EWA. Requirements for producing EWA parts include the demonstrated capability to manufacture according to 3D modeling information including tight tolerances. This 3D data is still in development and will be provided with short lead times requiring maximum flexibility in producing parts. Contractors will be required to demonstrate verification that 3D data imported to be used for manufacturing exactly matches organic source data. Contractors are also required to submit a technical data package demonstrating their ability to produce or utilize, if they have available, extensive tooling that is unique to the EWA assembly to assure proper end products and mating points/surfaces, and the flexibility to change manufacturing processes should a design change necessitate it. This tooling is estimated to cost contractors an initial investment over $20M and will not be available as GFE during the execution timeframe of this contract. The technical data package must also verify the Contractor's capability to manufacture the parts and qualify first articles. Contractors would also need to demonstrate their ability to deliver parts on a compressed time frame should demand necessitate it. The Contractor will be required to verify capabilities to manage component inventories, develop manufacturing testing (or demonstrate it if in place), and manufacture and test aerospace ready-for-use subassemblies with existing quality processes suitable for military aerospace applications. DELIVERABLES REQUIRED: - Approximately 100 initial spare parts of varying quantities to establish the pipeline of EWA unique spare parts. - The effort to produce initial spares has an estimated value of $3.6M with an estimated delivery period from March 2013 to October 2015. - The Contractor shall establish, implement, and maintain an Initial Spares Program in accordance with the listing of parts - The Data Item Descriptions (DID) DD Form 1664, and Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRL) DD Form 1423-1 - When the prime contractor buys end articles or a portion thereof from a vendor/subcontractor, the prime contractor shall impose these specifications upon its vendors/subcontractors. The inclusion of the requirements on contractor's subcontracts/purchase orders to its vendor/subcontractors does not relieve the prime contractor of its obligation to insure timely delivery of the required deliverables.