REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) - Berry Compliant Athletic Footwear

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - Berry Compliant Athletic Footwear DLA Troop Support is issuing this Request for Information to assist in formulating an acquisition strategy to acquire domestically manufactured athletic footwear that is fully compliant with the Berry Amendment in accordance with DFARS clause 252.225-7012 Preference for Certain Domestic Commodities. For planning purposes, a preliminary estimation of agency needs indicates a potential annual demand for approximately 200,000 to 250,000 pairs of athletic shoes to be delivered at the rate of approximately 27,500 pairs per month. Two DRAFT Purchase Descriptions Including: "GL-PD-16-06", Shoe Athletic, dated 18 Nov 2016" and "AF PD-17xxxx undated, Shoe Lightweight Athletic", are included as part of this RFI and they are intended to provide competitive descriptions of the military service's athletic shoe requirements. These documents are subject to change. Industry comment and feedback on each of these technical requirements is requested and encouraged to ensure that these are competitive purchase descriptions that will adequately enable the government to discern differences among product offerings and that they contain relevant and meaningful product descriptions, evaluation and testing criteria that ensure that high quality athletic shoes are procured and that a consistent level of quality is maintained throughout any potential resultant contract. In order to assess the marketplace, we request interested providers identify their athletic footwear that are currently being sold in the commercial marketplace, or those that can be made available to the DoD that would meet the requirements in the attached DRAFT PDs. Of those athletic shoes that meet the DoD draft requirements, DoD also needs to understand which of those athletic shoes are currently, or will be, Berry Amendment compliant by DoD's anticipated need date. In order to assist the industry in framing their responses/comments on the attached DRAFT PDs and the availability of athletic footwear, please provide specific responses to the questions listed below: (1) Provide comments on each of the attached DRAFT PDs including: (a) Fit - Identify currently available sizes, widths and last used and identify how much time would be needed to match those identified in the PDs. (b) Durability of the item and any specific testing or evaluation criteria. (c) Slip resistance (ie ASTM F2913 or similar) of the item and any specific testing or evaluation criteria. (d) Breathability of the item and any specific testing or evaluation criteria. (e) Weight of the item and recommended parameters (f) Impact attenuations (ie ASTM F1976 or similar) and any specific recommended testing or evaluation criteria and performance parameters (g) Stability and any recommended testing and evaluation criteria and/or performance parameters. (h) Test methods or evaluation criteria used to insure adequate protection from soft tissue damage as well as overuse injuries in lower limbs. (i) Any other recommendations for testing or evaluation on item performance. (2) Identify the volume of commercial sales for each product for the past 1 to 3 years, that meet DoD requirements. If none, please state so and identify steps to be taken with a timeline needed to be able to supply an item that meets DoD requirements. (3) Provide your current selling price for items currently available to meet DoD requirements or best estimate for any development item along with clarification of steps to be taken with timeline for being able to finalize an estimated price and provide responses to any official solicitation. Please be sure to identify linkage between your commercial item and the specific Type identified in the Purchase description(s) (ie AF Shoe, Type I - Cushion or Neutral, Type II - Stability or Type III - Motion) (4) Provide your manufacturing capacity for athletic footwear to include: (a) any minimum order quantities, (b) economic production quantities, (c) as well as your monthly and annual maximum production capabilities. Be sure to quantify whether reported numbers are for a particularly type or any combination of all 4 types. (5) Provide your Initial Production Lead (number of days from when you receive an award or order to when you can make your first monthly shipment) and maximum number of pairs that could be delivered in that first increment. (6) What additional amount of time is needed to produce your stated monthly maximums listed under number (4). (7) Does your firm currently carry an inventory of athletic footwear? If so, how many pairs do you generally carry and what is the maximum number of pairs you are willing or capable of carrying in inventory? Would your current business model support weekly "just in time" (JIT) deliveries to 9 different recruit centers (RTC) listed in the attachment labeled ("RTC"). The RTC first time fill rate is 100%, so your firm would need to have the capacity to ensure the proper quantity by size and by type is available to reach RTC on a weekly basis. If able to support, what is your estimated unit price per RTC location for each type of shoe listed in the PD(s). Discuss the parameters and considerations you have that would impact your willingness and ability to maintain a rotating inventory to support just in time delivery to the RTCs. In your response, please identify the production capacity and/or inventory you believe you would be able to dedicate to support JIT delivery to the 9 RTCs. For planning purposes, your firm would be receiving multiple delivery orders each month for a cumulative monthly total of 15,000 to 27,500 pairs per month while potentially maintaining an 80,000 to 100,000 pairs in inventory to support multiple orders per month for weekly deliveries to each RTC. Alternatively, please identify your estimated price per pair for each shoe type listed in the PD(s) based on your receiving quarterly delivery orders of 45,000 to 82,500 pairs with monthly delivery requirements of approximately 15,000 to 27,500 pairs being shipped cumulatively to 3 separate 3PL locations included on attachment below labeled ("3PL"). (8) Provide the manufacturing location (City, State and Country) where the shoe is manufactured and/or assembled and identify the origin of all major shoe components (City, State and Country). The following list of questions are intended to assess industry capability to respond to potential solicitation(s) for athletic footwear. Questions 9 to 13 below presume expedited solicitation and award of a one year fixed quantity contract to cover approximately a 1 (one) year requirement. Questions 14 to 18 below are for a presumed solicitation and award of long term contracting arrangement with a base year term and multiple option year terms. (9) Do you anticipate being able to offer Berry Amendment compliant athletic footwear if a solicitation were issued in January 2017 and the government required either Certification Samples or Product Demonstration Models (PDMs)? If not, when would you be able to offer on a solicitation for Berry Amendment compliant athletic footwear? (10) What is the minimum number of days the solicitation would need to be open for you to be able to provide a response to a solicitation if the government relied solely upon the DRAFT PD, contractor submission of passing test results and either first article or first lot examination; and, there were no pre-approved Certification Samples nor PDM submission requirement? What would it be if PDMs or Certification Samples were required? (11) What would your initial production lead-time be if an award decision was made in February 2017; and how many pairs could be produced for that first delivery increment? How much additional time would be needed to begin producing at your monthly maximum and what would that quantity be? Be sure to specify which type from the PD(s) you are discussing in your response. (12) Please provide your price estimate for a potential order of approximately 200,000 to 250,000 pairs per year based on an award in Feb 2017? What would your price estimate be for delivery of approximately 27,500 pairs per month? If you require different minimum or maximum quantities, please identify those quantities and your estimated prices for those alternate quantities? Please be sure to discuss which specific type from the PD(s) you are discussing in your response. (13) Please identify any critical factors impacting both response time and initial production lead-times. For a potential long term acquisition (base year and multiple option years) provide responses to the following questions. (14) Do you anticipate being able to offer Berry Amendment compliant athletic footwear if a solicitation was issued in June 2017 and the government required either Certification Samples or PDMs? What is the minimum number of days the solicitation would need to be open if the solicitation required PDMs or Certification Samples? (15) What would your initial production lead-time be if an award decision was made by December 2017; and how many pairs could be produced for the first delivery increment? How much additional time would be needed to begin producing at your monthly maximum and what would that quantity be? Please be sure to discuss which specific type from the PD(s) you are discussing in your response. (16) Please provide your estimated price for a potential order of approximately 200,000 to 250,000 pairs per year? What would your price estimate be for delivery of 27,500 pairs per month? If you require different minimum or maximum quantities, please identify those quantities and your estimated prices for those alternate quantities? Please be sure to discuss which specific type from the PD(s) you are discussing in your response. (17) How many option years could reasonably be priced without an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) provision (1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 4 years)? In addition to base year pricing requested under number 15 above, please provide estimated pricing for each additional option term for the same annual quantity estimates. (18) Please identify any critical factors impacting both response time and initial production lead-time. General Information Requested: (19) Please discuss any critical factors influencing current selling prices or estimated selling prices. Explain how the salient features in terms of quality, comfort and style are impacted by changes in selling price or at various price ranges. Two draft purchase descriptions are included as follows. The first draft purchase description is intended to represent the needs of Army, Marine Corp, Navy and Coast Guard. Their total estimated annual demand is approximately 165,000 to 208,000 pairs. The second draft purchase description is intended to represent the needs of the Air Force. Their total estimated annual demand is approximately 34,000 to 42,000 pairs per year. 1) DRAFT PD (GL-PD-16-06 dated 18 Nov 16, Shoe, Athletic) - SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT 2) DRAFT PD (PD 17-XXXX Air Force, Shoe, Lightweight, Athletic) - SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT The following two attachments include the shipping addresses for the nine Recruit Training Center locations and the three 3PL warehouse locations discussed in paragraph 7 above. 3) RTC Addresses - SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT 4) 3PL Addresses - SEE ATTACHED DOCUMENT There are no current contracts for these items. This inquiry is for market research only. There is no guarantee that a solicitation is or will be forthcoming. Responses are requested to be submitted no later than 22 Dec 2016. Responses should be sent to: DLA Troop Support ATTN: Directorate of C&T BLDG 3 - Stephanie Gallagher 700 Robbins Ave Philadelphia, PA 19111 Or via email: contact@example.gov Any questions can be directed to Stephanie Gallagher +1 (555) 000-0000 or Tom Darcy +1 (555) 000-0000 or Kevin Peoples +1 (555) 000-0000.