Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) Retrofit/Production

AMENDMENT 0001 - February 25, 2021: Corrections made under INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST to Item 1, clarifying that the response date is April 6, 2021 and to Item 5, clarifying that Front Matter does not count against the page count limitation. RELATED NOTICE: ICLS-ERCA-6Mar2020 - Parts Management, Technical Manual Development & Interim Contractor Logistic Support - Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) Increment (INC) 1c Program - Sources Sought DESCRIPTION OF INTENT: This is a Request For Information (RFI) ONLY. This RFI and the information herein, is issued solely for information and planning purposes. Thus, it should not be construed as a commitment by the United States Government (USG). This is NOT: 1. a Proposal Request of any kind 2. an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation 3. a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list The USG will in no way be bound to this information if any solicitation is issued. However, no solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered. A contract/agreement will NOT be awarded from this announcement. This is an important opportunity for industry to provide input on this program as the Government gathers data for informational planning purposes only. There is no risk to respondents for participating in this RFI. Response to this RFI is strictly voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to it and any follow-on information requests. Data submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned. DISCLAIMER: Reference herein to any specific commercial company, product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the USG or the Department of the Army (DA). The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the USG or the DA, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION: It is the responsibility of Industry, when providing any comments/responses, to properly mark such information that is considered proprietary or is otherwise restricted. The USG is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Nor is the USG obligated for like data in possession of third parties or for data which is afterwards placed in the public domain by the contractor or by third parties through no fault of the USG. Should the USG need to reproduce the protected data for distribution purposes between Government offices, data will be reproduced with restrictive legends in place. The USG acknowledges its obligations under the Federal Acquisition Regulation 3.104-4 to protect confidential information provided to the Government (18 U.S.C. - 1905). Pursuant to this statute, the USG is willing to accept any trade secrets or proprietary restrictions placed upon qualifying data forwarded in response to this RFI and to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure, subject to the following: Qualifying data must be clearly marked PROPRIETARY and be accompanied by an explanatory text so that the Government is clearly notified as to exactly what data qualifies. Mark only data that is truly confidential. Do not mark data that is already in the public domain or is already in possession of the USG or third parties on an unclassified basis. Proprietary data transmitted electronically must have the PROPRIETARY legend on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail as well as at the beginning of the file. Proprietary information contained within the correspondence shall use the legends: "PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS" and "PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS." The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain proprietary information may receive only limited or no consideration since the Respondent's marking of data as "PROPRIETARY" will preclude disclosure outside the Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain proprietary information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available. ERCA DESCRIPTION The ERCA vehicle is a tracked system whose objective is to increase lethality over current SPHS platforms by integrating a Government-designed extended range cannon onto an existing M109A7 vehicle. REQUIREMENT The Program Executive Office Ground Combat Systems (PEO GCS), Program Manager Self-Propelled Howitzer System (SPHS), Product Manager Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) vehicle are conducting this Request for Information to assess domestic U.S. industry interest and capability to: Manufacture an ERCA from the ground up: or Retrofit M109A7 vehicles into ERCA vehicles a. Retrofit activities will include installing a new cannon and armaments system, including structural modifications to the M109A7 cab, and installing 600V power electronics. 3. Provide some level of Interim Contractor Logistics Support (ICLS) which would include all or some of the following logistics activities: a. Parts: Provide parts management in support of integration, testing, and issuance of the ERCA vehicle(s). Major tasks include supply parts (identify, procure, store, ship, and receive all spare parts required) in accordance with ERCA development efforts. Inventory control and accurate parts tracking will be critical tasks. Approximately 2000+ new parts are required to support ERCA during its development, test, issue, and assessment across multiple USG locations within CONUS, to include test sites. b. Technical Manuals: Develop, validate, and verification of MIL-STD 40051 compliant Operator, Field Level Maintenance, and Repair Parts and Special Tool List (RPSTL) Technical Manuals.Composition, development, validation, and verification of a -10 Operator's Electronic Technical Manual (ETM); utilizing the existing M109A7 -10 TM(TM 9-2350-401-10-1& -2) as a baseline in accordance with (IAW) Military Standard (MIL-STD) 40051-2C, Document Type Definition (DTD) Style Guide, and any preliminary ERCA Technical manuals developed during the prototyping phase. c. Development of Programs of Instruction (POIs) for Operator New Equipment Training (OPNET) and potentially, Field-Level Maintenance New Equipment Training (FMNET) d. Maintenance of tracked SPHS prototypes equipped with large caliber primary armament system(s) during: development (to include potential long-term storage), test, training events, and First Unit Equipped. Maintenance on these systems would include all chassis and armament components IAW the Army's two-level maintenance system as defined in AR 750-1 (Field and Sustainment). INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST: Responses to this RFI are due April 6, 2021. Responses received after the stated due date, whether received by email or by mail, may not be considered. Responses to this request for information should be sent via e-mail to Brianna Davis, Contract Specialist, at brianna.n.davis21.civ @mail.mil. You are requested to put - ERCA POR RFI Response [Company/Vendor name] in the subject line of the email. Attachments shall be in a Microsoft Word or PDF format. Phone inquiries will not be addressed. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the survey. Do not submit classified material. Font size no smaller than 12 and no more than 20 pages total (if included, Front Matter is not considered part of the page count). Number each response with the appropriate question number. You do not have to repeat the question in your response. If you cannot answer the question, please indicate - No Response. Please respond to every question. If a prior response will satisfy another question, state: - See response to question XX. If your sales media and/or manuals contain a restricted distribution statement, issue a release statement indicating that the restricted material may be distributed to Army personnel involved with this Request for Information. Spell out any acronyms in their first instance. When answering the questions below please limit your responses to Heavy Tracked Vehicle Combat Systems (30+ tons) that your company manufactured, re-manufactured, or converted for the U.S. Government. RESPONSE Administrative nformation: Company a. Name: b. Mailing Address: c. CAGE: d. DUNs Number: e. Business Type (Check/list all that apply); 8(a) - Minority Owned - Disabled Veteran - Small Business - Hub Zone - Small-Disadvantaged - Large Business - Women Owned 2. Personnel Responding to this Questionnaire a. Name: b. Title: c. Company Responsibility/Position: d. Telephone/Fax Numbers: e. Email address: General Questions: 3. Does your company have a Validated Earned Value Management (EVM) system? If not, do you have a plan to obtain a Validated EVM System? Please describe your company's plan if you plan to obtain a Validated EVM System. 4. Describe your material release/handling/tracking system at the production facility for Contractor Furnished Material (CFM) and Government Furnished Material (GFM). 5. Considering the requirement as stated in this RFI: a. Identify risks associated with conducting this work. b. Would there be a need for access to or utilization of specialized data bases, software tools or Enterprise Resources Platforms? Identify them. c. Describe the facilities that would be used to facilitate this requirement specific to these functional areas : i. Retrofit ii. Manufacturing iii. Quality Assurance iv. Logistics 6. Please provide any feedback or questions your company may have as it pertains to the requirements summarized in this RFI. Concerns, risk and tips are helpful to shape the requirement and determine the acquisition strategy. Functional Area Specific Questions: Retrofit: 7. Describe your company's experience retrofitting existing combat vehicles with Government provided technology solutions. Include your company's ability to adapt existing facilities, tools, equipment, processes, etc. for this purpose. Manufacturing: 8. Describe your company's experience with production or modification of military ground combat vehicles. a. Describe the facilities, tools and equipment which have been used to build the system(s). b. Include the weight class, quantity of systems and timeframes for which your experience applies. 9. Describe your company's capabilities (including certifications) and experience regarding welding heavy gauge aluminum alloys. 10. Describe the maximum size component which your company has fabricated and/or refurbished. Please define the machining capabilities used to support these efforts. Engineering: 11. Describe your company's process and experience with Configuration Management with regards to ground combat vehicles. Please include how it addresses Engineering Change Proposals and contract modifications. 12. Describe your company's manufacturing engineering capability in producing ground combat tracked vehicles, and/or subcomponents. Quality Assurance: 13. If your company were to manufacture the ERCA or modification kit, describe how you would develop and qualify your manufacturing processes and build checklists for the vehicles to be produced or modified against. 14. What Quality Management Systems (QMS) standard is your company registered or compliant to? a. Explain how the enterprise applies QMS for the four key Quality Areas : i. Quality Planning ii. Quality Control iii. Quality Assurance iv. Quality Improvement 15. Describe your company's inspection and test capabilities, at both the vehicle and subsystem level. a. Does your company have or have access to test facilities, a test track, bore sight range and automated test equipment? 16. Describe your approach for inspecting incoming material. 17. Does your company have a Material Review Board (MRB) and/or procedures relating to non-conforming product? Please describe key elements: to include, how procedures relating to non-conforming material are utilized within your supply chain. 18. Does your company have a documented supply chain management /Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA) system/process? a. Describe the key elements of this system/process. b. What supplier performance metrics are utilized? i. Are suppliers required to have a documented QMS? ii. Briefly describe these requirements. iii. How are quality test and inspection requirements communicated to your suppliers? Logistics: 19. Has your company ever been awarded a contract from the United States Government to: a. Develop Logistics Products Data or provisioning records b. Develop technical manuals c. Update/modify existing technical manuals d. Provide Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) e. Develop and apply vehicle Modifications Work Orders (MWO) f. Provide Field Service Support (FSR) 20. For each of the items in 19 above that generated a yes response, provide: a. One contract number (most recent) that supports, with i. Highlight or extract of the scope of work in that awarded contract that speaks to the specific requirement. ii. What MIL-STDs, Performance Specifications, Regulations, Policies, or specialized technical approaches were used to complete contractual requirements