H -- Fire Resistant Clothing Flash Fire Simulation Testing

The 77th Aeronautical Systems Group (77 AESG), seeks sources from industry with the capabilities to perform 3.5 second flash fire simulation with an instrumented manikin for fire resistant Air Force flight suits. The scope of this effort shall be to perform flash fire simulation tests on approximately 126 flight suits constructed from a variety of materials with a period of performance for this testing of approximately two months. The USAF will reserve the right to observe the testing of these garments. Specifically, this Notice seeks the following information: -Whether your company possesses the capability to perform instrumented manikin flash fire simulation testing for fire resistant clothing items. -Whether your company will accept a government firm-fixed-price contract. -Description of the equipment and processes utilized to conduct these tests. -Comments on additional technical questions of this Notice. -A brief description of your company's business size and business status (ie. small business, small disadvantaged business, woman-owned, HUBzone, service disabled veteran owned small business, and HBCU/MI). -If you are a small business, whether you are interested as a prime or subcontractor and any anticipated teaming arrangements. -If there are subcontracting opportunities, what percentage could be set aside for small business concerns. This notice is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the government. This is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid, or an announcement of a solicitation. Response to this notice is strictly voluntary and will not affect any developer/vendor ability to submit an offer if a solicitation and/or an RFP are released. There is no bid package or solicitation document associated with this announcement. The purpose of this document is to identify potential sources. Any requests for a solicitation package will be disregarded. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this notice or otherwise pay for any information provided. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of preparing submissions in responses to this notice and/or the Government's use of such information. Submittals will not be returned to the sender. Respondents to this notice may be requested to provide additional information/details based on their initial submittals. The Government recognizes that proprietary data may be part of this effort. All information received in response to this notice that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to the notice will not be returned. In accordance with FAR 15.201 (e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this notice. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any improperly identified proprietary information. The Government reserves the right to select one, some, or none of the submissions for further investigation. Submissions shall not exceed five (5) 8.5 X 11 inch, single-sided pages. Patents, license agreements, independent technical reports, and laboratory reports may be attached in an appendix and will not count against the length requirement. Vendors who submit packages for review do so with the understanding that U.S. Government personnel as well as their support contractors will review their material and data. Respondents will not be contacted regarding their submission or information gathered as a result of this notice nor the outcome of the Government's review of the solicited information. For submissions to be considered, developers/vendors must electronically supply (Word (.doc) or Adobe (.pdf) format) a comments/description of the preceding information in the order and format in which it is presented to gary.wellman@brooks.af.mil no later than 1 May 2007. Telephonic responses will not be accepted. Responses to this notice can be mailed to 77th AESG/PSK, 7980 Lindbergh Landing, Brooks City-Base TX 78235-5119, ATTN: Capt. Gary Wellman. Questions may be submitted to gary.wellman@brooks.af.mil.