Closed Circuit Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (CC-SCBA)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes. This RFI shall not be construed as an obligation on the part of the Government. This is NOT a Request for Quotations or Proposals (RFQ or RFP). No solicitation document exists, and the Government may or may not issue a formal solicitation as a result of the responses received to this RFI. The Government will not pay for any response or demonstration expenses. All costs incurred responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Failure to respond to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organizations capabilities. The Government's explicit intent through this RFI is to obtain general product information. The Government is not requesting and does not want to receive from respondents any proprietary data, trade secrets, business sensitive information, or information considered CONFIDENTIAL under 18 U.S.C. - 1905. The Government's constraint does not in any way relieve contractors from their responsibility to properly mark proprietary data when it is provided, nor does it alleviate any requirement for the Government to protect marked data. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government and will not be returned. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) is seeking information on commercially available closed-circuit self-contained breathing apparatus (CC-SCBA). This information is being sought for the DHS Science and Technology Directorate's System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders (SAVER) program which provides information on commercially available equipment to assist response organizations in equipment selection and procurement. The SAVER program develops knowledge products and conducts objective, practitioner-relevant, operationally oriented assessments and validations on commercially available equipment and systems. Relevant information will be shared nationally with federal, state, local, tribal and territorial response agencies. For further details on the SAVER program, visit the SAVER website at https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/saver. SAVER provides information on equipment that falls within the categories listed in the DHS Authorized Equipment List (AEL). The AEL item number for the subject products is 01AR-01-SCCC, titled - Respirator, Full-Facepiece, Closed-Circuit, Self-Contained (Re-Breather). The target audience for this information is the fire service community and their respective purchasing agents. NUSTL is requesting information and conducting market research to identify potential vendors, manufacturers, or distributors of CC-SCBA. Products of interest for this RFI: Must be listed on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) respiratory protection Certified Equipment List. Must be commercially available and able to be used by a fire service personnel in the United States to respond to and operate for long periods of time underground tunnels, unventilated areas, or other spaces having atmospheres that are oxygen deficient or immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH). Must include a cooling system for breathing air. Responses to this RFI are solely for the purpose of market research and will be used for a market survey of commercially available CC-SCBA. No content in this RFI shall be interpreted as a commitment on the part of NUSTL to enter a contract with any respondent or to make any procurement. By submitting a response to this RFI, each respondent agrees that any cost incurred in responding to this request, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of respondent. NUSTL shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI. This product summary questionnaire is a requirement as part of an RFI submission and should be filled out for each product. This survey will cover topic areas of general information, capabilities and features, costs, training, and support. Responses to this questionnaire must be completed by the date and time set forth in the RFI notice posted on SAM.gov. SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION Respondents are required to complete an online or written Product Summary Questionnaire for each product. The questionnaire associated with this RFI can be accessed here: https://nustl.gov1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9SRw2w5N7vqmHCS A PDF of the questionnaire is available for download, at the Federal Business Opportunities (https://sam.gov) where you can find this announcement, for the convenience of the respondent. The Product Summary Questionnaire includes questions seeking the following specific information: Company information Point of contact for respondent (name, title, e-mail, and phone number) Business type (manufacturer or distributor) Product name, type, description, and specifications Cost information (purchase price and General Services Administration [GSA] schedule information). All information received will be treated as public knowledge and may be used in SAVER program documentation. Manufacturers and vendors should not submit proprietary information in response to this RFI. You are required to answer all of the questions; you will be unable to complete the section without providing an answer to required questions, but you may answer - NA for any required question that does not apply to the product. Please do not include any proprietary information. An Adobe portable document format (pdf) version of the questionnaire is available to use to gather your own data, but this questionnaire must be completed on Qualtrics. You may go back to update and edit your responses until the survey is submitted. If you close your browser window, you may still go back and complete the survey if you do not clear cookies from your browser. You will not be able to review submitted forms. An unfillable PDF version of this survey is available at the SAM.gov website, along with the RFI notice. You may use it to prepare answers for your responses, but the online survey must be used to submit your responses. Any additional information including solution pictures, comments or inquiries emailed should be directed to Karin Decker and/or Norman Kaufmann at contact@example.gov with the subject line "SAVER CC-SCBA", copying the Office of Procurement Operations via email, specifically Mohammed Rizki, at contact@example.gov and John Whipple, at contact@example.gov. Responses to this RFI must be submitted to NUSTL no later than 4:00 PM EDT, 1 August, 2024. Submissions must: Include the RFI number (70RSAT24RFI000028) in the subject line of the email Be a maximum of five (5) pages in length (counting the cover letter) Be in either read-only Word or PDF format Include Point of Contact (POC), phone number and email address of the person (in the body of the email) to be contacted regarding any correspondence between the Government and the Vendor. The POC shall be capable of addressing questions or issues associated with the submission and content of the RFI Responses must have a cover letter that includes the following information Company Name Company Address Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Number Company's Size and Socio-Economic Status information (using NAICS code 339113) Technical Point of Contact(s) (Name, title, email, and phone number) Contracting Point of Contact(s) (Name, title, email, and phone number) OTHER The submitted information will be assessed for inclusion in SAVER projects and reports. Determination as to an individual product's suitability will be made by NUSTL based on the objectives of this request. Therefore, requests for feedback should not be made through the Federal Business Opportunities (https://sam.gov) posting agency. Respondents may be contacted following submission for more detailed product information. Information provided may be reformatted for publication in SAVER program documents. If a vendor does not respond to additional requests for information, information may be marked as - Not Available or omitted from the SAVER documents. This RFI is for information gathering and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a Request for Proposal or solicitation of an offer. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. Submission of vendor information constitutes consent to publication of that information in SAVER program documentation.