Enterprise Tinker Commodity Council, Market Research, Hydraulic and Flight Control, Supply Chain Improvement Effort, Request for Information

The proposed North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) Code is 336413, which has a corresponding Size Standard of 1,000 employees. Items on Attachment A have been purchased under other NAICS Codes to include: 332510 (Size Standard of 500 employees), 334511 (Size Standard of 750 employees), 334514 (Size Standard of 500 employees), and 336412 (Size Standard of 1000 employees). The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Request for Information (RFI). As stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers, and shall not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No funds are available to fund the information solicited. This RFI is issued as market research, solely for informational and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation) or promise to issue a solicitation in the future. The information provided in response to this RFI is for discussion purposes and any potential strategy that may be developed from these discussions would be the subject of a separate, future announcement. The information received in response to this RFI may be utilized by the United States Air Force (USAF) in developing an acquisition strategy, and requirements documents (i.e.; Statement of Objectives, Performance Work Statement, or Purchase Description). The USAF requires that only non-proprietary information be submitted in response to this RFI. The USAF shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for the use of any proprietary information submitted. This RFI is intended to identify opportunities to increase efficiencies and effectiveness for total product support and enhancement to include but not limited to repair, manufacture, re-manufacture, and/or overhaul of the items listed in Attachment A. These items include partnership opportunities at Tinker AFB, Hill AFB, and Robins AFB. The USAF owns all the necessary technical data for organic repair, however the USAF does not own level 3 manufacturing data and drawings necessary for re-manufacture or technology insertion improvements. The Enterprise Tinker Commodity Council (ETCC) is requesting industry input/advice on: - 1) improving reliability and repair processes - 2) increasing piece part availability - 3) improving end item material availability (measured by Requisition Objective (RO)) - 4) providing on-site technical / engineering support - 5) achieving 5% cost savings - 6) providing depot maintenance process improvements, to reduce organic Shop Flow Days (SFD) - 7) providing the organic shop self-sustaining capability with; technical data, training, test equipment, and fixtures at the end of the contract period The items in Attachment A have historically been plagued with; test stand, fixture, technical data, and awaiting parts (AWP) conditions. The ETCC is requesting ideas from industry that have encountered similar supply chain problems and successfully implemented change and improvements. The ETCC is open to effective resolutions to include a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for creative management and problem resolutions. This future effort could include supply chain management, logistics, forecasting of parts, parts availability, reparable forecasting, obsolescence issues, and delivery of serviceable assets. The Contractor shall be responsible for technology insertion to improve repair processes, recurring and nonrecurring engineering services and Contractor Integrated Materiel Management (CIMM) engineering solutions, test stand and fixture support, training, technical data support for the items in Attachment A. The engineering support activities may include detailed design engineering, maintenance engineering, systems engineering, technical analyses, drawing and source data availability and updates, reliability/maintainability analyses, liaison engineering support, and materiel deficiency reports analyses. The ETCC is interested in developing a strategy that can produce measurable benefits within six to twelve months through guaranteed availability, improved reliability, reduced cost, obsolescence management, and/or other desired logistics elements. Based on responses to this RFI, it is anticipated that, at some future date, a solicitation or series of solicitations may be issued to pursue opportunities for contract award. A pre-solicitation notice may be published in FedBizOpps prior to the release of any solicitation generated from the information gathered in response to this RFI. Not responding to this RFI will not preclude participation in any future solicitation. The Government is interested in all businesses to include, Small Businesses, Small Disadvantage Business, 8(a)s, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, Hubzone Businesses, and Women-Owned Small Businesses. The Government requests that interested parties respond to this notice as a prime or subcontractor as 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 by the teaming partners. Please provide the following information for your company: - Company name/Address - Cage Code - DUNS Number - Point of Contact - Phone/fax Number - Email Address - Web Page URL - Size of Business relative to NAICS Code (Small Business Size Standard employees or less) - U.S. or Foreign Owned Entity - Please indicate whether your interest is as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor Please provide responses to the following: Describe potential initiatives to improve supply chain performance and the logistical elements that could be affected. (Logistics elements include: Materiel Management, Distribution, Technical Data Management, Maintenance, Training, Cataloging, Configuration Management, Engineering Support, Obsolescence Management, Technology, Refreshment, In-Service Support Analysis, Repair Parts Management, Failure Reporting and Analysis, and Reliability Growth). Responders should provide examples of past experience and demonstration of their past accomplishments with items in Attachment A or similar items. Discuss and identify performance criteria and incentive plans that your firm has found particularly effective in this type effort. If your firm has performed under a DoD or commercial contract, provide best practices, to include lessons learned. For DoD contracts, please provide the DoD agency, contract number and contact information. For commercial contracts, please provide similar contract information if possible. Discuss experience helping a Government organic repair shop become self-sustaining with technical data, training, test equipment, and fixtures. Provide examples of where you successfully inserted new technology to improve reliability and repair processes. Briefly describe any potential constraint or boundary that you anticipate regarding responsibilities, if you were managing a DoD contract. Numbers of personnel involved in sustainment, their required skill levels, and the organizations' provision of training. Discuss experience working with OEMs to obtain parts and engineering support. Responses to this RFI must be readable by Microsoft Office or Adobe software. Responses to this RFI shall be unclassified and should not exceed 20 pages in length. Significant ETCC responses to a potential respondent's request for clarification will be posted to FedBizOpps under this RFI. ETCC may provide feedback to respondents regarding their response to this RFI. All interested parties are invited to submit a response to this RFI on or before 20 Mar 15, 3:00 PM, Central Standard Time (CST). Please note: emails containing file types such as: .zip, .xlsx, .docx, or other macro-enabled extensions, may not be delivered to the intended recipient. All responses and questions under this RFI must be transmitted electronically via e-mail to Ms. Kimberly Laverty, Procuring Contracting Officer, email: kimberly.laverty.2@us.af.mil.