A--ARL III Multiple Award IDIQ Notice of Intent to Increase Ceiling

This serves as a Notice of Intent issued via the Army Contracting Command (ACC), Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Research Triangle Park (RTP) Division in support of the United States Army Materiel Command, Army Research Laboratory (ARL). The intent of this action is to increase the overall contract ceiling under the ARL III Multiple Award (MA) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract awarded on 30 November 2010 to the following seven (7) Contractors: Leidos (formerly known as Science Application International Corporation (SAIC) (W91CRB-11-D-0001), Battelle Memorial Institute (BMI) (W91CRB-11-D-0002), Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) (W91CRB-11-D-0003), Exelis, Inc. (formerly known as ITT Corporation) (W91CRB-11-D-0004), Northrop Grumman (W91CRB-11-D-0005), Wintec Arrowmaker Incorporated (W91CRB-11-D-0006), and Technical and Project Engineering (TAPE) (W91CRB-11-D-0007) respectively. The ARL III MA contract currently has a contract ceiling of $480,000,000 over a five year ordering period. The contract currently has less than $18,000,000.00 of ceiling with 19 months remaining under the existing ordering period. The intent of this action is to increase the contract ceiling in order to allow adequate time for a follow-on contract to be competed without interrupting the agency's mission to support these activities. Based on the current schedule of the ARL III MA IDIQ, an increase of $150M is required. The Army is currently in the acquisition process to award a follow on contract as evidenced by the following activity on www.FBO.gov: 20 November 2013 - Issuance of Sources Sought W911NF-14-R-0003 03 February 2014 - Issuance of Special Notice W911NF-14-R-0003 advertising and inviting Industry to participate in Industry Day on 11 March 2014, to discuss the Advanced Expeditionary Warfare Development (AEWD) requirement which will replace the ARL III ID/IQ contract. 26 February 2014 - Issuance of Special Notice releasing Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) for Industry comment. 11 March 2014- Held Industry Day The Army intends to increase the MA IDIQ contract ceiling to $630M for the seven (7) ARL III Multiple Award contracts under the authority of Title 10 USC 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The ARL III MA IDIQ contract vehicle utilizes Research and Development (R&D), Operations Maintenance and Administration (OMA) and Other Procurement Activity (OPA) to provide rapid response capabilities and support to special operations, stability operations, intelligence and irregular warfare. The base contract was issued on an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity basis in accordance with FAR 16.504. Task Orders are issued in accordance with FAR 16.505 entitled Ordering. The scope of the contract allows the contractor to furnish personnel, facilities, equipment and supplies to perform services including studies, technical investigations, research, development, experimentation, limited acquisition and logistics support for items and systems supporting upgrade and modernization of U.S. Army, United States Special Operations Command, other Government Agency and Department of Defense capabilities in expeditionary warfare, irregular warfare, special operations, and stabilization /reconstruction operations. The current global environment has stressed the need for these agile capabilities far beyond what has been experienced during the past management of this contract. Consequently, use of the contract has exceeded historical rates, which may lead to the ceiling being reached prior than the expiration of the contract period of performance of 30 November 2015. The additional ceiling amount of $150,000,000 is necessary to bridge the gap between reaching the contract ceiling and the award of a follow-on contract. This will prevent unacceptable delays in fulfilling the requirements of those critical organizations and other units being supported by the Government through this contract. This notice of intent is NOT a request for competitive proposals. Interested sources may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement within 30 days after the publication date of this notice of contract action. All information received within the 30 days will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.