Wire Rope Abrasion Testing

The Navy uses steel wire rope, herein referred to as purchase cable, as the means of transferring energy from a landing aircraft to the arresting engine aboard aircraft carriers. The purchase cable is reeved through an arresting engine below the aircraft carrier deck which converts the arresting aircraft's kinetic energy into stored energy. At the end of an arrestment, the purchase cable is subject to abrasion on the carrier flight deck as the arresting engine is reset to battery position. This is a Request for Information/Sources Sought (RFI) notice to solicit comments, questions and feedback from industry regarding a service contract to develop a test fixture and conduct abrasion testing on this purchase cable under repeatable conditions. The Navy is expecting that the detailed and final test fixture design will be used to baseline the abrasion characteristics of the current purchase cable, and used at a future date to evaluate alternate purchase cable constructions. Eligible and interested parties may submit multiple candidate designs that may meet or exceed the requested salient characteristics of the enclosed attachment. THIS RFI IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. It is a market research tool being used to determine potential and eligible vendors capable of providing the overall services described herein prior to determining the method of acquisition and issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP). The Navy is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of this notice. SUBMITTAL INFORMATION: It is requested that interested businesses submit a capabilities statement package to the contracting office and demonstrate their ability to meet the outlined requirements contained herein. This documentation must address, at a minimum, the following: Company Contact Information to include: Company Name, Company Address, Company Business Size, and Point-of-Contact (POC) name, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Company Profile to include: Number of employees, DUNS number, and Cage Code Company Description Company brochure Company Website Provide wire rope testing capabilities, including relevant history of designing wire rope test fixtures and testing of wire rope. If providing specific test fixture design(s), please include its specific application and discuss if it has ever been offered as a commercial service. Provide details on the quality assurance system in place If you are a small business, provide an explanation of your company's ability to perform at least 50% of the tasking described in the specifications. All interested parties must submit written responses, preferably via electronic mail. The Navy does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. While the Navy intends to use this information for future acquisition planning purposes, it will not release any information about your approach that might in any way compromise your competitive posture or proprietary information. The Navy will not use any information provided to level your company's approach relative to another competitor. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked PROPRIETARY will be handled accordingly. The Navy will not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Navy regulations. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. Failure to respond to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future associated RFP/RFQ that may be issued. Information provided in no way binds the Navy to solicit or award a contract. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website: www.fbo.gov. It is the potential vendor's responsibility to monitor this site for the release.