BQM-34S Engine Repair, Overhaul and Conversion

1.0 Description

1.1 The United States Navy (USN), in support of the Subsonic Aerial Target, BQM-34S, is seeking information from interested companies with the capability to (1) repair, overhaul, and test General Electric (GE) J85-GE-100 turbojet engines and (2) convert J85-GE-5 turbojet engines into the J85-GE-100 configuration.  The engines are in support of the BQM-34S program.

1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the USN is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized in the System For Award Management (SAM) website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

2.0 Background

The USN is committed to advancing combat readiness by delivering next-generation threat representative targets like the BQM-34S that replicates the capabilities and behaviors of potential adversarial weapons ensuring that fleet training and testing takes place in realistic scenarios, both over land and sea.  

The BQM-34S is a jet powered, high subsonic speed aerial target, capable of accommodating high performance payloads for threat emulation.  The size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the BQM-34S fulfills the rising demand to test new weapon systems against increasingly complex payloads designed to emulate airborne threat radars and jammers and electronic attack and electronic protection payload presentations.

The USN took final BQM-34S production deliveries in 1998, moving the program into the Operations and Sustainment life-cycle phase. The J85 engine inventory is limited and as such the program requires all the engines to be in Ready for Issue status. Keeping the inventory in a Ready for Issue state also requires converting engines to the J85-GE-100 configuration.

2.1 US-Only Manufacturing: Buy American Act provisions will apply for this program.

3.0 Requested Information

3.1 The USN is Seeking information from interested companies with the capability to (1) repair, overhaul, and test J85-GE-5 and J85-GE-100 turbojet engines and (2) convert provided J85-GE-5 turbojet engines into the J85-GE-100 configuration.  The engines are in support of the BQM-34S program.

The BQM-34S program requires an established engine repair and overhaul capability by 2026 to support BQM-34S target operations.  

Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a Statement of Capabilities addressing the following questions:

3.1.1 Prospective Engine repair and overhaul organizations would receive Governmentowned J85-GE-5 and J85-GE-100 engines in various conditions. The engines would require inspection, repair/refurbished to a Ready for Issue status, and postrepair acceptance test.  Would your organization be able to support such activities?

3.1.2 Do repair and overhaul capable facilities exist within your organization today?  Where are they located?  What type-model-series engines are worked on at these locations?  What are the minimum and maximum scopes of work performed, i.e. minor parts replacements, complete engine teardowns and rebuilds, part sourcing, engine acceptance test, etc.?

3.1.3 What are your current and projected repair and overhaul capabilities and throughput rates? Is there a minimum cycle rate (quantity per year) that you would need to realize to consider competing for this requirement? If yes, what is it?  What is the average cost to repair and overhaul engines similar to a J85-GE-100?

3.1.4 Does your facility currently repair General Electric J85 series engines, or has your facility in the past repaired J85-GE engines?  If so, what configurations were worked on? Can your facility source parts for a J85 engine? 

3.1.5 Does your facility have, or can it obtain J85 repair manuals and procedures?

3.1.6 How long will it take to stand up a J85-GE-5 and J85-GE-100 repair, overhaul, or conversion capability? How soon can the facility repair and overhaul our current inventory of engines? 

3.1.7 Are you capable of converting J85-GE-5 engines into J85-GE-100 engines?  Would you be able to support J85-GE-5 to J85-GE-100 conversions based on the government Power Plant Change-50 (PPC-50) document, which is available upon request?  

3.1.8 Does your organization have access to J85-GE-5 spare parts and spares as documented in the PPC-50 for a conversion?

3.1.9 If you do have experience/capability of J85 engine conversions, what would the throughput look like?

3.1.10  Do you have established Acceptance Test Procedures (ATP) in place for after repairs, overhauls, and conversions?

3.1.11 Will there be a need for government-furnished property or government-furnished information to support the conversion over and beyond the provided GFP J85 engines and PPC-50?

3.1.12 Will the engine repair, overhaul, or conversion require any government-provided special tooling or any support equipment? 

3.1.13 Does your organization have the special tooling and support equipment available to repair, overhaul, or convert the engines or will there be a requirement to develop and procure them? Will the government be granted access to technical data packages for any support equipment or tooling that will be developed?

3.1.14 Do you have relationships with sub-contractors, suppliers, and/or vendors that can support special tooling or support equipment requirements? What is the timeline and cost for development and validation of special tooling and support equipment? What facilities are there for maintenance and overhaul of special tooling and support equipment?  Will there be any field support required for support equipment?  

3.1.15 How would your organization plan to take on this repair, overhaul, and conversion workload?  Would facility expansion be required?  Would additional technician talent need to be hired?  How would relationships with part suppliers be established?  Is engineering support available to assist with technical issues?

3.2 Security Requirements: Is your facility able to handle and store classified information up to and including Secret material?

4.0 Responses

4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper.  

4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word or .pdf compatible format are due no later than 08 May 2026, 17:00 EDT. Responses shall be submitted via e-mail only to marianne.g.wild.civ@us.navy.mil.  Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. If any responder does not currently have a Proprietary Data Protection Agreement (PDPA) that would permit the support contractors listed below to review and evaluate white papers submitted in response to this RFI, the responder is requested to sign PDPAs with these USN support contractors for this purpose. Results will be reviewed and retained by the government and Government support contractors. Solicitation does not obligate the government to issue an RFP or award a contract. Responses must be at the responder’s expense. The following is a list of support contractor companies who will review the responses:

• Tekla  

4.3 Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum:

4.3.1 Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact.

4.3.2 Recommended contracting strategy.

4.3.3 Either 1) copies of executed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the contractors supporting USN and USN supported PEOs and PMs in technical evaluations (listed in 4.2 above), or 2) a statement that the responder will not allow the Government to release its proprietary data to the Government support contractors. In the absence of either of the foregoing, the Government will assume that the responder does NOT agree to the release of its submission to Government support contractors.

4.3.4 Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)- certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 336419 Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing. “Small business concern” means a concern, including its affiliates, which is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts and qualified as a small business under the criteria and size standards in 13 CFR part 121. Please refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 19 for detailed information on Small Business Size Standards. The FAR is available at http://www.acquisition.gov. 

4.4 The number of pages in Section 1 of the white paper shall not be included in the 50-page limitation, which applies only to Section 2 of the white paper.

4.5 Section 2 of the white paper shall answer the issues addressed in Section 3 of this RFI and shall be limited to 50 pages of text (excluding pictures and graphs).

5.0 Industry Discussions

PMA-208, BQM-34S Program Office representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

6.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer marianne.g.wild.civ@us.navy.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the www.sam.gov website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received will be answered. To access the website, go to www.sam.gov. Interested parties are invited to subscribe to the website to ensure they receive any important information updates connected with this RFI.

7.0 Summary

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide maintenance capability for turbojet engines for the BQM-34S. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The USN has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.