M109A7 Extended Range Cannon Artillery

Project Manager - Self-Propelled Howitzer Systems M109A7 Extended Range Cannon Artillery 1. DESCRIPTION OF INTENT: THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this market survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market survey and any follow-on information requests. Data submitted in response to this market survey will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered. It is the responsibility of Industry, when providing any comments/responses, to properly mark such information that is considered proprietary or is otherwise restricted. 2. DISCLAIMER: The United States Government (USG) is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Nor is the Government 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, all such data will be reproduced with restrictive legends in place. Reference herein to any specific commercial company, product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or the Department of the Army (DA). The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or the DA, and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes. 3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST Responses to this request for information should be sent via e-mail to Angela Vendittelli at angela.a.vendittelli.civ@mail.mil. You are requested to put "M109A7 Self-Propelled Howitzer Extended Range Cannon Artillery (Engineering Change Proposal)" in the subject line of the e-mail, attachments shall be in MS Word or PDF format. Any request for clarifications shall also be addressed Angela Vendittelli at angela.a.vendittelli.civ@mail.mil. Responses to the RFI are due on 2 May 2017. Responses received after this, whether received by email or by mail, may not be considered. Please note that all questions and answers will be posted anonymously to this website. The cut-off date for questions is 11 April 2017. Questions that are received by this office after the deadline will be considered late and may not be answered. Any information that cannot be sent via email can be sent on two (2) identical compact disks (CDs) or Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) in MS Word or PDF format to the following address: U.S. Army Contracting Command - Warren ATTN: Angela Vendittelli TACOM/Mail Stop 501 6501 E 11 Mile Rd Warren, MI 48397 4. INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INDUSTRY: Company a. Name: _________________________________________________________________ b. Mailing Address: ________________________________________________________ c. Website: _______________________________________________________________ d. CAGE (commercial and government entity) Code (if any): _______________________ e. North America Industry Classification System (NAICS) number: __________________ f. Business size and eligibility under USG social-economic programs and preference: ________________________________________________________________________ Personnel Responding to RFI a. Name: ________________________________________________________________ b. Title: _________________________________________________________________ c. Company Responsibility/Position: ________________________________________________________________________ d. Telephone/Fax Numbers: ________________________________________________________________________ e. E-Mail Address: ________________________________________________________ 5. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this market survey questionnaire is to obtain information relative to industry capability to satisfy the Product Manager - Self Propelled Howitzer Systems' (PM-SPHS) requirement for integration of an Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) capability into the M109A7 Self Propelled Howitzer. Product Manager PM-SPHS is considering sources to provide Engineering design and integration for incorporating the ERCA into the M109A7 Self Propelled Howitzer, Logistics Support, Quality Support and Production. 6. GENERAL: The M109 family of vehicles (FOV) has been the primary Self-Propelled, Medium 155MM Howitzer fielded in the U.S. Army's arsenal inventory since the early 1960s. As the M109FOV has gone through its natural life cycle, additional performance capabilities have been added to adapt to evolving threats and requirements. The latest upgrade from the M109A6 to the M109A7 have addressed many of the reliability, mobility and survivability issues with the M109A6 platform. The Government intends to upgrade the current M109 canon with the ERCA. The ERCA is an on-going Science and Technology (S&T) program to develop a new larger caliber cannon with associated gun mount and support sub-systems to improve upon the lethality range over the current 39 caliber cannon assembly in the M109A6/A7SPHs. If the Government decides to proceed with a procurement, the new cannon technology would be provided as Government Furnished Property (GFP). Additional hardware such as an improved breech, gun mount, and M109A7 vehicle would be provided for the integration effort by the Government to the contractor as GFP. The Government would also provide the M109A7 vehicle and ERCA Technical Data Package (TDP) as Government Furnished Information (GFI). We are seeking a potential contractor who is capable of providing a proposed solution that demonstrates how the new cannon technology, as provided by the Government, will be integrated onto a current vehicle in both design and production phases using Government Furnished Information (TDP). Any additional information or hardware needed to provide a working Self Propelled Howitzer to the US Government will need to be identified and provided by the contractor. The potential contractor will need to support Government qualification testing, produce, and field the capability. The ERCA is expected to be a two phase program. Phase 1, will require the contractor to develop cab modification for the integration of the following Government furnished items into the M109A7 platform: XM907 cannon, XM208 Gun mount with the associated gun drive systems, rammer, and software upgrade (both functional and diagnostic). Following the successful completion of Phase 1, Phase 2 will require the contractor to develop cab modification for the integration of the Government furnished autoloader into the M109A7." 7. CAPABILITIES: 7.1 Capability: Management and Engineering 7.1.1 Describe your company's experience with tracked combat vehicle systems. 7.1.2 Identify any industry partner(s), if applicable. 7.1.3 Provide a brief company and partner(s) background description. 7.1.4 Describe your experience with developing and managing the integration, qualification, production and fielding of a complex army vehicle system(s). 7.1.5 Provide your management/engineering organizational structure for supporting this effort. 7.1.6 Describe your experience with Earned Value Management (EVM), to include your EVM process and state if your EVM System is approved by Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). 7.1.7 When was the date of the last time that your company reported earned value on a United States Government program and for what program was it submitted? 7.1.8 Describe your management and engineering experience in handling an Army Acquisition Category (ACAT) 1 program or special interest programs. 7.1.9 What is the highest level of ACAT program has your company managed? 7.1.10 Describe your understanding and experience in supporting reporting requirements to the (Milestone Decision Authority (MDA) for ACAT 1 and or special interest program. 7.1.11 Describe your company's engineering experience in design, integration, and testing of an indirect-fire combat vehicle system(s). 7.1.12 Describe your company's experience in supporting the execution of system level testing at a Government proving ground or Government installation located within the Contiguous United States (CONUS) or Outside the Contiguous United States (OCONUS). 7.1.13 Describe your company's experience with Army Interoperability Certification. 7.1.14 Describe your company's experience with cybersecurity measures in hardware and software design. 7.1.15 Describe your company's experience with high voltage applications on military or commercial vehicle(s). 7.1.16 Describe your company's experience with software system integration for various Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) used on a combat vehicle system(s). 7.1.17 Is your company certified for Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)? If so, what is the level? 7.1.18 Describe your systems engineering experience and process with combat vehicle system(s) development. 7.1.19 Describe your capabilities with Finite Element Analysis modeling as it pertains to structural analysis and accounting for gun shock loads. 7.1.20 Describe your experience and capability with 3-D Technical Data Package (TDP). 7.1.21 Does you company use Microsoft (MS) Project (scheduling software)? If your company does not use MS Project, is your company's scheduling software capable of exporting the data into MS Project? 7.1.22 Does your company have trained, full-time schedulers to work the program? 7.1.23 Describe your capability in the design and integration of a ventilation system and protection against toxic fumes and Nuclear Biological and Chemical contamination on an indirect fire combat vehicle." 7.1.24 Describe your experience in the design and integration of an Automated Fire Extinguisher System (AFES) and propellant fire mitigation on an indirect fire combat vehicle. 7.1.25 Describe your company's experience with reverse engineering. 7.2 Capability: Quality Assurance 7.2.1. Describe your company's Quality Management System (QMS). Is your company 3rd party certified to an internationally recognized QMS (ex., ISO 9001-2008, AS9100, TS16949)? If so, what QMS are you certified to? If certified to ISO 9001-2008 or TS16949, do you plan for ISO 9001-2015 3rd party certification prior to deadline? 7.2.2. Describe your company's experience and integrated methodologies for performing failure analysis, root cause and corrective action. 7.2.3. Describe your company's Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA) program to include a description of how you perform product and process verification throughout the supply chain. 7.3 Capability: Manufacturing 7.3.1. Describe your firm's current production capacity expressed in number of combat vehicle system(s) produced and delivered per month. 7.3.2. Describe your firm's current vehicle upgrade capacity expressed in number of combat vehicle system(s) per year upgraded with new equipment, components and any other significant modifications. 7.3.3. Provide past experience with tracked combat vehicle system(s) in the 80,000 + pound gross vehicle weight category that were produced and delivered by your firm. 7.3.4. Provide information related to any other applicable vehicle production, integration, modification and/or retrofit experience your firm has with regards to commercial or non-commercial applications. 7.4 Capability: Logistics 7.4.1. Describe your organization's experience and capability in planning, establishing and managing an Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) Program, in accordance with Army Regulation 700-127, which incorporates the following ILS Elements. This includes identifying computer-based tools/systems utilized: (a) Computer Resources (b) Design Interface (c) Facilities & Infrastructure (d) Maintenance Planning & Management (e) Manpower & Personnel (f) Packaging, Handling, Storage & Transportation (PHS&T) (g) Product Support Management (h) Supply Support (i) Support Equipment (j) Sustaining Engineering (k) Technical Data Management (l) Training & Training Support (m) Material Fielding 7.4.2. Describe your organization's experience, skill, and capability with developing: (a) Logistics Product Data, (b) Logistics Product Data Summaries (c) Logistics Management Information (LMI) using Department of Defense (DoD) adopted industry standard GEIA-STD-0007 (Logistic Product Data). Identify computer based tools/systems utilized to manage and generate these product data items.