Burst Diaphragm RFI

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ARNOLD ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT COMPLEX - WHITE OAK SITE - BURST DIAPHRAGM RFI Facility Description Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel No. 9 (Tunnel 9) is located in White Oak, Maryland and is part of United States Air Force Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC). It is a unique world class ground-test facility with a blowdown capability that uses gaseous nitrogen as the working fluid and operates at Mach numbers of 7, 8, 10, 14, and 18. Tunnel 9 provides critical aerodynamic test and evaluation (T&E) data necessary for vehicle development. It is used for hypersonic ground testing and the validation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The burst diaphragms are critical components to testing operations and are a consumable (two diaphragms per run). A sufficient inventory are critical to continuing operation of the Tunnel and support testing operations. The government is performing market research to identify sources with recent experience in the fabrication of custom burst diaphragms. This is not a Request for Proposals (RFP), and no solicitation will result from this RFI. Technical Market Research Appendix A contains engineering drawings describing the burst diaphragms (Drawing # 77-1088 and 80-1126). The current burst diaphragms are made from Stainless Steel Type 304 Annealed Plate/Sheet (ASTM A666), Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed Plate/Sheet (ASTM B708), and Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed Plate/Sheet (ASTM B654). 1. Please describe your ability to manufacture the three different materials used to make the burst diaphragms. Please include example of parts made from Stainless Steel Type 304 Annealed (ASTM A666), Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708), and Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654). 2. Please describe how you would procure plate/sheet stock of Stainless Steel Type 304 Annealed (ASTM A666), Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708), and Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654) material. a. Please describe how you would assess and certify the material properties of all material purchased. Reported material properties at minimum shall include chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation. b. Please state your understanding of issues that may be associated with the procurement of Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708), and Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654) material in a short time frame (1 week to 2 months), and state how these issues are to be overcome. 3. Have you, within the past five years, purchased Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708)? If so, (a) state your source(s) of Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708) and state the current availability of this material at each source; (b) state the range of material chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation of the purchased material; (c) state the lot-to-lot variability in chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation. 4. Have you, within the past five years, purchased Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654)? If so, (a) state your source(s) of Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654) and state the current availability of this material at each source; (b) state the range of material chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation of the purchased material; (c) state the lot-to-lot variability in chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation. 5. Have you, within the past five years, purchased Stainless Steel Type 304 Annealed (ASTM A666)? If so, (a) state your source(s) of Stainless Steel Type 304 Annealed (ASTM A666) and state the current availability of this material at each source; (b) state the range of material chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation of the purchased material; (c) state the lot-to-lot variability in chemical composition, yield strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and percent elongation. 6. Please describe your experience in minimizing part-to-part variability of large quantities of parts. a. What is a reasonable percent variation of parts to be expected out of tolerance with your manufacturing process? 7. As an example, please provide a cost estimate for the manufacture of 30 of each burst diaphragm (70-1088-1, 70-1088-3, 70-1088-11, 70-1088-12, 70-1088-13, 80-1126-1, 80-1126-5, 80-1126-6, and 80-1126-7) for a total of 270 burst diaphragm. Please describe your plan and schedule to manufacture these 270 burst diaphragms. 8. For Tantalum Alloy (Ta-10W) Annealed (ASTM B708), and Niobium-Hafnium Alloy (C-103) Annealed (ASTM B654) burst diaphragms, would the manufacturer be interested in using Government Furnished Material for the plate/sheet stock? 9. Procurement for burst diaphragms would be on a rolling basis as inventory is used for testing operations. Due to the uncertainty of testing conditions, each burst diaphragm order will have varying quantities of each type of diaphragm. With these varying order quantities, what issues do you foresee in procurement of materials and manufacturing to allow delivery within 3 to 4 months from order date? Additional Questions for Respondents 1. Is your company interested in competing for a portion or all types of burst diaphragms procurement? 2. How long has your company performed this type of work? 3. Has your company performed this type of work on a Government contract? 4. Are you currently performing similar type work on a commercial or government contract? Please describe these efforts and provide customer points of contact for each effort. 5. Would you be willing to participate in this acquisition with other firms as a partnership? If so, in what capacity? 6. What quality assurance processes does your company employ? 7. Please identify the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code you think is appropriate for the areas in which you have expressed an interest. 8. What topics would you like to have discussed in future Government / contractor meetings? Note to Respondents Packages may contain single or double spaced text, but shall not exceed 20 single-sided pages in length. Please include the following with your response: Name and address of firm Point of contact and telephone number Business size (large or small). If small, identify category (i.e., Small Disadvantaged Business; Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business; HUBZone; etc.) Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code Registered NAICS Code(s) Affiliate Information: Parent company Joint Venture Partners Potential Teaming Partners Please submit any additional comments or suggestions that you would like to share with us regarding this potential acquisition. Email your responses to Mr. Robert T. Mosley, robert.mosley.3@us.af.mil and Mr. Adam P. Foret, adam.foret.1@us.af.mil, no later than August 23, 2019, 12:00 PM CST. If you have any questions, you may call Mr. Mosley at (931) 454-6706 or Mr. Foret at (931) 454-4448. Please note that official information regarding this acquisition will be provided by the Contracting Officer. Any information received from other sources should not be relied upon as official. Any questions / comments deemed sensitive or proprietary received from industry will NOT be posted on the FBO website. There are currently no plans to hold an Industry Day. If it is decided to hold one, the notification will be posted to the FBO website. Further information and descriptions of AEDC facilities, including the AEDC facility at White Oak site, may be found on our website www.arnold.af.mil by following the link in the center of the page under Spotlights to the Test Facilities Guide.