Nose Plug and Support Cup

*The purpose of this amendment 2 to Sources Sought is to notify contractors of the following below:

PIEE Solicitation Module Notification

The Government intends to utilize the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) Solicitation Module for the posting, dissemination, and receipt of proposals for any subsequent solicitation resulting from this market research. To ensure your organization is prepared to access solicitation documents and submit responses, interested offerors are encouraged to review the PIEE Solicitation Module registration instructions provided as an attachment to this posting. Offerors are advised to complete the registration process prior to any potential solicitation release to avoid delays.

Please see the links to self-guided help for registration and training in the PIEE Solicitation Module below:

https://www.acq.osd.mil/asda/dpc/ce/cap/docs/piee/PIEE_Solicitation_Module_Vendor_Access_Instructions.pdf

https://pieetraining.eb.mil/wbt/xhtml/wbt/sol/index.xhtml

This amendment 2 is not to reopen the Sources Sought for submissions as it has already been closed as of 02 September, 2025.

**The purpose of this amendment 1 to Sources Sought is to revise the response date from 02 Sept 2025 to 22 Sept 2025.

The Army Contracting Command - Rock Island, on behalf of the Project Manager Closed Combat Systems, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, is issuing a sources sought notice to identify capable sources for the production and delivery of the following items.

Item                                          NSN:                                     Part Number

Nose Plug (G008)                    1325-00-124-1538                9211803

Support Cup (FW26)               1325-00-609-2344                1211676

ITEM DESCRIPTIONS: The following parts are used on various MK80 General Purpose bombs. 

Nose Plug (G008):

The nose closing plug is a forged solid piece of metal (cone shaped) with a 3.5-inch threaded area. It has two cutout areas in the cone which are used for wrenching purposes. Primary use of metal nose closing plug (when used with nose support cup) is to prevent fuze-well collapse on impact when nose fuzing is not utilized. If nose fuze well were to collapse on impact, a low order detonation may occur. In addition, metal nose closing plugs may be used in cement-filled bombs to prevent cement particles from being ingested into aircraft engines.  The Government anticipates a maximum quantity of 20,000-30,000 per year.

CRITICAL PROCESSES/SKILLS: The manufacture of this item requires skills, which include, but are not limited to:

Forging and Heat-Treating Equipment, Machining Equipment (Lathe)

Support Cup (FW26):

The support cup is used in the nose cavity to prevent collapse of the fuze cavity on heavy impact when the bomb is tail fuzed only. The metal nose support cup is a piece of 2.87-inch tubing wedged on one end to form a beveled area. There is a 1.62-inch hole beveled end to allow the support cup to slip over fuze well nut.  The Government anticipates a maximum quantity of 20,000-30,000 per year.

CRITICAL PROCESSES/SKILLS: The manufacture of this item requires skills, which include, but are not limited to:

Cleaning and Coating, Machining equipment (Lathe)

An acceptable vendor must be able to display the skills of its employees and established expertise in completing essential operations of manufacturing the Nose Plug and Support Cup. Respondents to this Sources Sought must have or have the ability to obtain the available skills required to perform all production and testing operations necessary to deliver conforming end items to the Government.  These skills must be available with sufficient experience and proficiency to produce these items in a timely and efficient manner.  A respondent must also have or have the ability to obtain the appropriate machinery, tooling, and manufacturing engineering skills required to support quality production limitations.  Any significant lead times with equipment or materials associated with production of these items should also be noted.

RESPONSES: Interested companies who consider themselves capable of manufacturing the Nose Plug and Support Cup, are invited to indicate their interest by providing the Government with the following information:

a.) A brief summary of the company’s capabilities (a description of the facilities, personnel experience, quality system, and past manufacturing experience) and capacity. If a respondent does not have adequate resources (facilities, technical, manufacturing, personnel, etc.) available, then it must be able to demonstrate its ability to obtain those resources without significant delay.

b.) Identify and include a brief summary of any potential key sub-tier vendors or subcontractors and identify key components or processes that would be subcontracted.

c.) Provide a rough order of magnitude (ROM) prices for an approximate yearly FY27-31 production quantity of 20,000 – 30,000 quantities for each part.

d.) Identify minimum and maximum monthly production quantities and identify the available capacity considering any other known production.

e.) Identify your company’s size status for the identified NAICS code in the response.

f.) Due to the current global supply chain and other factors, respondents are asked to identify any components or materials that may be subject to price volatility or scarcity and address what their firm is doing to mitigate risk related to obtaining materials, price impacts, and production stability.

Technical Data Packages: The Technical Data Packages (TDPs) associated with this requirement are classified as Distribution D – limited distribution authorized to the Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. DoD Contractors Only. These documents contain technical data whose export is restricted by the Arms Export Control Act (Title 22, U.S.C., SEC 2751, ET SEQ.) or the Export Administration Act of 1979 (Title 50, U.S.C., APP 2401 et seq.), as Amended. Violations of these export laws are subject to severe criminal penalties. Disseminate in accordance with provisions of DoD Directive 5230.25.

Interested vendors must be registered with the U.S./Canada Joint Certification Program (JCP) to gain access to the TDPs (see www.dlis.dla.mil/jcp/ for instruction and information). Each individual requiring access to the TDPs must have a SAM.gov account prior to accessing the TDPs. Access to the TDP will only be granted to those individuals who are listed as the Data Custodian (block 3) on the DD Form 2345, Military Critical Technical Data Requirement, which was required to be registered within the JCP. The Data Custodian is the sole representative identified to receive export controlled TDPs and drawings. To obtain the top-level drawings, interested vendors with the proper certification in JCP, may request explicit access through the “attachments/links” tab in SAM.gov under this posting. In addition to making the request by the JCP Data Custodian in SAM.gov, interested vendors should also send a copy of their approved DD2345 to the points of contact specified below. For the purpose of this Sources Sought, a top-level drawing will be provided for the Nose Plug and Support Cup. 

The NAICS code for these items is 332993 with a business size standard of 1,500 employees. As noted above, please indicate your business size and socio-economic status in your response. Also be sure to provide the company name, address, point of contact, phone number, e-mail address, taxpayer identification number, DUNS number, and CAGE Code. Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from a planned solicitation for these items. Contractors may obtain information on SAM registration by visiting: https://www.acquisition.gov.

This sources sought announcement is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a Request for Proposal or as an obligation on the part of the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this sources sought announcement or otherwise pay for information solicited. Industry responses to this sources sought will not represent binding offers, and the U.S. Government cannot accept an industry response to form a binding contract. The U.S. Government intends to use any information submitted in response to this request to develop an acquisition strategy for future requirements of this item.

To be eligible for contracts with the U.S. Government, Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of any contract resulting from a planned solicitation for these items. Contractors may obtain information on SAM registration by visiting: https://www.acquisition.gov. All interested companies are highly encouraged to get registered in SAM immediately.  The U.S. Government will hold all information submitted in a confidential status.

All submissions are requested electronically no later than 22 September 2025 in order to be considered in the development of the acquisition strategy for these items.  Send all responses to Ms. Liz Tressel at elizabeth.a.tressel.civ@army.mil, Ms. Kelly Clifton at kelly.k.clifton.civ@army.mil, and Mr. Nick Brown at nicholas.j.brown91.civ@army.mil.Responses to this sources sought announcement should reference in the subject:  Sources Sought Response for the Nose Plug and Support Cup.