Heavy Support Bridge (HSB) Sources Sought Notice

DESCRIPTION OF INTENT

This Sources Sought Notice / Market Research survey seeks information for United States Government (USG) planning purposes only.  The Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) is seeking to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities and qualifications of various members of the community, to include both small and large businesses regarding a new procurement.   
 

The USG is requesting information on academia, commercial, and defense industry capabilities regarding the development of the U.S. Army's Heavy Support Bridge (HSB). The information sought includes, but is not limited to, capability upgrades, replacement of obsolete components, improvements to maintainability and reliability, and configuration updates. A key point of this research is the potential need for the integration of the bridge or gap crossing and launcher on a self-loading and unloading system, supported by the current Army infrastructure while taking advantage of emerging technologies for remote-control and autonomous operations.

The HSB system provides the U.S. Army with a critical tactical capability, enabling the rapid and secure crossing of dry gaps and obstacles up to 50 meters wide and deployed within 60 minutes or less. The system must be highly mobile, adaptable to various environments and threat scenarios, and capable of being replaced and retrieved quickly and efficiently. The system's design and functionality must also consider the need for logistics support, field service representation, new equipment training, and technical manual updates.

The threat environment in which this bridging or gap crossing system operates is expected to be dynamic and unpredictable, with potential threats including indirect fire, direct fire from fixed and rotary wing aircraft, and secondary threats from threat forces operating in and around the rear area. The system must be designed and constructed to withstand these threats and to provide a reliable and secure crossing capability.

Respondents are encouraged to provide information on their company's experience and capabilities in the following areas:

• Design and development of a bridge or gap crossing system and components
• Upgrade and modernization of existing systems
• Development of a chassis and launcher systems
• Logistics and field service support
• Replacement of obsolete components and improvement of maintainability and reliability
• New equipment training and technical manual updates
• Integration with existing infrastructure and systems
• Autonomous operations to build a bridge or gap crossing

NOTE: All survey input is voluntary, and no compensation will be made for your firm’s participation. Since this is a Sources Sought Notice, and not a solicitation for receipt of proposals or quotations, the Government does not encourage questions concerning this market research. Furthermore, the Government is not obligated to issue a solicitation or award a contract as a result of this announcement.
 

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE SURVEY

1. You may respond in total, or in part, to this survey. However, all responses must be received no later than (30 days after posting of this notice)

2. All completed surveys shall be sent via e-mail to:

Bobbi Brown

Contract Specialist, ACC-DTA

E-mail: bobbi.r.brown4.civ@army.mil   

Subject Line: GAP CROSSING MODERNIZATION AND SUSTAINMENT SURVEY RESPONSE

3. Relevant sales media and product manuals shall be included as attachments with your submission. Please clearly mark all proprietary information. The front page of your response package should state "PROPIETARY INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN" (all caps), if applicable. Also, please provide a release statement indicating that the proprietary information may be distributed to Army personnel involved with this survey.

4. Number each response with the appropriate question number. You do not have to repeat the question in your response. If you cannot answer a question, please indicate “No Response.” If a response will satisfy another question, state: “See response to question XXX.”

5. If providing an ACROBAT formatted manual, annotate the manual to indicate which material is applicable to the questions. If preferred, include Internet Web links to locations where animations/videos may be viewed.

6. Spell out any acronyms in their first instance.

7. Any product literature that cannot be emailed may be sent to:

ATTN:  Mrs. Bobbi Brown

Army Contracting Command – Detroit

6501 E. Eleven Mile Rd
BLDG 231, Floor 3

Detroit Arsenal, MI 48397-5000

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION & LABELING

The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 USC §1905 to protect information qualifying as confidential. Pursuant to this statute, the Government is willing to accept any trade secret or confidential restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions, and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following:

1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data as trade secret or confidential with the restrictive legend “CONFIDENTIAL” (all caps), including any explanatory text, so that the Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be protected.

2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly trade secret or confidential (overbreadth in marking inappropriate data as “CONFIDENTIAL” may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting, or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page that need to be protected.

3. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the Government’s possession will be protected in accordance with the Government’s data rights.

4. Confidential data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the Government, shall contain any restrictive legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate for portions only of an electronic file, use the restrictive legends “CONFIDENTIAL DATA BEGINS:” and “CONFIDENTIAL PORTION ENDS”.

5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the Government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text.

6. The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain confidential information may receive only limited or no consideration since the respondent’s marking of data as “CONFIDENTIAL” will preclude disclosure of same outside the Government, and therefore will preclude disclosure to support contractors assisting with the evaluation effort.

QUESTIONNAIRE / SURVEY

A) Vendor Profile. Please complete the yellow-highlighted fields below:

1. COMPANY NAME:

    MAILING ADDRESS:

    CAGE CODE:

    POC NAME / TITLE:

    PHONE NUMBER:

    E-MAIL ADDRESS:

    WEBSITE:

2. Business type for 332312 - Fabricated Structural Metal Manufacturing: (Please check all that apply.)

[  ] 8(a)

[  ] Small Disadvantaged

[  ] HUBZone

[  ] Women-owned

[  ] Service-disabled Veteran-owned

[  ] Large Business

[  ] Small Business (*If claiming small business status, the information must be verifiable in SAM.gov*)

None of the Above. Please Explain: _______________________________________

3. Please indicate if the NAICS code selected is appropriate, if not, please explain why.

4. Nonmanufacturer Rule. To qualify as a small business concern for set-aside or sole source supply contracts, a small business must meet at least one of the qualifications listed below. Please indicate which qualification, if any, applies to your firm:

[  ] Manufacture the product itself; or

[  ] Supply a product manufactured by another small business if it is a nonmanufacturer; or

[  ] Supply the product of any sized manufacturer if the Small Business Administration has granted a waiver to the nonmanufacturer rule.

B)  Requirement-specific Information. Please complete the questions below:

1. What experience does your company have with gap crossing systems or similar technologies? Please describe your company's relevant products or services.

2. Provide a list of your major customers to include company name and a point of contact with phone numbers within the company.

3. Have you provided gap crossing systems and their prime mover vehicles, or similar technologies to the U.S. Government? If yes, please respond with a) the type and quantity of the gap crossing system / vehicle system or technology provided, b) the receiving Government agency, and c) the applicable contract number(s).

4. Describe your company’s experience developing autonomous military systems.

5. What is your technology readiness level (TRL) for autonomous systems that communicate with: Continuous Line of Sight-controlled operations? GPS-directed remote or preprogrammed operations?

Line of Sight-Controlled Operations

For systems requiring a continuous link of communication:

6. What communication frequencies, protocols, or encryption methods are used?

7. What is the maximum operational range with Line of Sight?

8. How do you mitigate signal degradation or jamming?

9. Provide examples of how your system has maintained reliable Line of Sight in contested environments.

GPS-Directed Remote Deployment

10. Describe any autonomous bridging/ gap crossing solutions you have developed or are developing that use GPS waypoint navigation or similar methods to operate without continuous operator control.

11. What is your system’s accuracy in bridge or gap crossing placement when operating solely from GPS and onboard sensors?

12. How does your system handle: GPS loss or spoofing. Navigation in complex terrain without Line of Sight

13. How does your system integrate with Army tactical C2 networks and engineer operations?

14. Describe any low-signature features that reduce detectability during deployment.

15. Provide results of testing or demonstrations showing performance under LINE OF SIGHT-limited or GPS-degraded conditions.

16. What experience does your company have with partnering or teaming arrangements? How do you see these arrangements benefiting the government in the context of bridging or gap crossing system modernization and sustainment?

17. Are there any terms and conditions unique to this industry that are not normally part of standard Government contracts?

18. Please make any suggestions on how the government can structure the acquisition to encourage innovation and competition in the bridging or gap crossing system market.

19. What are your company's standard warranty terms and conditions for bridging, gap crossing or vehicle systems? Please attach a sample warranty from your company.

20. How would your company approach the modernization and sustainment of the HSB? Please include any experience with obsolescence management and technology insertion.

21. Do you have direct experience with providing Army Logistics? What were these efforts?

22. If awarded a contract for bridging or gap crossing system modernization and sustainment, would you perform the logistics effort in-house, or would you subcontract logistics? If you are subcontracting the logistics effort, who might be the prospective subcontractor?

23. Please list your company’s experience, to include a) types and quantities of services provided, b) receiving Government agency, and c) the applicable contract numbers, for the following efforts:

• Field Service Representatives (FSR) support
• New Equipment Training (NET)
• Technical Manual (TM) updates
• Fielding Support Services

GENERAL INFORMATION

The U.S. Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this survey. The U.S. Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. §1905 to protect information qualifying as “confidential” under this statute. [To avoid possible confusion with the meaning of the term “confidential” in the context of Classified Information,” we will use the term “PROPRIETARY.”] Pursuant to this statute, the U.S. Government is willing to accept any trade secret or PROPRIETARY restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following:

1.  Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data with the restrictive legend (all caps) “PROPRIETARY” with any explanatory text, so that the U.S. Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately protected.

2.  In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly confidential (over breadth in marking inappropriate data as “PROPRIETARY” may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are to be protected.

3.  The U.S. Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the U.S. Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the U.S. Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the U.S. Government will be protected in accordance with the U.S. Government's rights in the data.

4.  Confidential data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the U.S. Government, shall contain the “PROPRIETARY” legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate for only portions of an electronic file, use the restrictive legends ‘PROPRIETARY PORTION BEGINS:” and “PROPRIETARY PORTION ENDS.”

5.  In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the U.S. Government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text.

6.  The U.S. Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain confidential information may receive only limited or no consideration since the Respondent’s marking of data as “PROPRIETARY” will preclude disclosure of same outside the U.S. Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort. The U.S. Government will use its best efforts to evaluate those responses that contain confidential information without using support contractors consistent with the resources available.