DESCRIPTION OF INTENT: THIS IS A MARKET SURVEY REQUESTING INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING POTENTIAL REQUIREMENT. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcomin g solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market surv ey 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. POTENTIAL REQUIREMENT: TARDEC is conducting a market survey to identify advanced capabilities for a Mobile Over Snow Transport (MOST). This system is intended to enhance mission capability by providing a mobility platform to meet both tactical and logistic al functions while operating in areas that are covered with snow. The MOST will be employed for transportation in an artic/snow-covered environment in support of both tactical and direct action missions. The MOST will be used to infiltrate/exfiltrate are as and navigate over extremely long distances from the insertion point to the target area. TARDEC is interested in utilizing a Modified Commercial Off-The-Shelf (M-COTS) vehicle that can be further developed with a limited and short term effort to meet the described tactical and logistical functions. It is the intent of this survey to gain info rmation which may be utilized to facilitate the finalization of a requirement which will maximize, to the greatest extent possible, COTS vehicles that can be readily adapted to meet the Proposed Performance Objectives (PPO) described in Appendix A of this market survey. Type of system desired: The MOST is envisioned as a commercially based vehicle with peculiar modifications, modular storage racks for equipment, companion sled and MOST transport trailer. MOST operations will include around-the-clock, all weather use in cold climates at varying altitudes up to 12,500 ft. Operational temperature may vary between -50F and +40F. The following specific aspects of the MOST are of interest: 1) Mobility, 2) Artic climate and geographical operation capability, including snow covered areas, tundra grasslands, forest, urban areas, and mountains, 3) Operation at varying altitudes with min imal configuration changes, 4) Ability to transport two operators, 5) Capable of supporting worldwide deployment in all terrains and climates, 6) 100 mile minimum range capability, 7) Ability to tow a companion sled (un-powered.) RESPONSES DUE: Responses to the Market Survey are requested no later than April, 17, 2006 and shall not exceed 50 pages of text. RESPONSE FORMAT(S): ELECTRONIC: Electronic responses are preferred and strongly encouraged. It is requested that electronic responses be provided in any of the following formats: Microsoft word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Power Point. The maximum size of each e-mail sh ould be not more than three and one-half (3.5) megabytes. You may use multiple e-mail messages. The subject line must include message 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3 etc., as well as [Organization Name]. All interested entities *e.g. companies, non-profit organi zations, and academic institutes), regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this request for information. Please submit electronic responses and any questions prior to full response to Walter Baker via email at
contact@example.gov. Please forma t the subject line of the response email as follows; [Organization Name] response to NAC-2006-02(15618) . A questionnaire for the Proposed Performance Objectives (PPO) will be posted to PROC-NET (http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/ssn/sources.htm). GENERAL INFORMATION: The Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this survey. The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. - 1905 to protect information qualifying as CONFIDENTIAL under this statute. 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 (all caps) CONFIDENTIAL with any explanatory text, so that the 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 trade secret or confidential (over breadth in marking inappropriate data as CONFIDENTIAL may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your respo nse - 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 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 possession of the Government will be protected in accordance with the Government's rights in the data, 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 begin ning 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 Respondents marking of data as Confidential will preclude disclosure of same outside the Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort.
