This sources sought announcement is for information and planning purposes only; it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. A contract may not be awarded as a result of this sources sought announcement. The US Army Contracting Command, Contracting Center of Excellence (CCE) at Hoffman II, on behalf of the Department of the Army, Human Resources Command, Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center (C&MAOC), intends to procure Heirloom Personal Effects Chests (HPECs) for the Families of fallen service members in support of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO). The HPECs are custom built wooden chests designed for holding a fallen service members personal effects. The Contractor shall build a HPEC prototype in accordance with the Government performance-based specifications prior to acceptance for manufacturing in lots of 50 each per month using 100% HUBZone small business set-aside or using small business set-aside procedures in accordance with FAR Part 19 or under full and open competitive procedures. All capability packages are due 25 September 2009 at 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) NO EXCEPTIONS. If at least two qualified HUBZone small business concerns are determined by the Government to be capable of performing this requirement based on the evaluation of the capability packages, the requirement will be solicited as a 100% set-aside for qualified HUBZone small business concerns. If two or more qualified HUBZone small business concerns are not found capable, this requirement will be solicited as a 100% set-aside for small business concerns in accordance with FAR Part 19. If capability packages are not received from at least two responsible small business concerns in accordance with FAR Part 19 by the response date or if the Government determines that no small business concerns in accordance with FAR Part 19 are capable of performing this requirement based upon an evaluation of the capability packages submitted; this requirement will be solicited under full and open competitive procedures. Only small businesses are to submit capability packages. Interested small business concerns that are qualified as a HUBZone, or small business concern in NAICS code 321920 with a size standard of 500 are encouraged to submit their capability packages. The capability packages for this sources sought market survey are not expected to be proposals, but rather statements regarding the companys existing experience in relation to the areas specified in the PWS. Capability packages must not exceed 10 pages and must be submitted electronically. All contractor questions must be submitted no later than 10:00 AM (EST) and 25 September 2009. Small business concerns are to outline their experiences in the following: Carpentry and building custom furniture. Areas or tasks where a contractor does not have prior experience should be annotated as such. In addition, the following questions must be answered and elaborated on as part of the package: (1) Financial Capability-Does your firm have the financial capability to withstand a negative cash flow of $1,583.00 per month?; (2) Past Performance-Does your firm have the relevant past performance within the last three years? (include contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement, point of contracts, and brief description of the work performed); (3) Corporate Experience-Does your firm have the work experience in custom furniture building that is similar in nature, scope, complexity, and difficulty of work in the PWS? To assist us in maintaining a list of interested small business concerns for this potential procurement, please provide your companys name, point of contact (POC), address, phone number, and business size under the above NAICS code to Regina Daniels at (703) 428-0665 for this procurement. A Firm Fixed Price contract is anticipated. The anticipated period of performance will be a Base year plus four (4) Option year periods. The place of performance will be Joint Personal Effects Depot (JPED), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. Contractor personnel will not require a current secret clearance. A written Request for Proposal (RFP) will be posted on or about 9 October 2009. The RFP must be retrieved and downloaded from CCEs homepage at: http://cce.hqda.pentagon.mil/rfp/rfp_1.asp. Select the desired RFP and click on the Process button. No hard copies of the RFP will be issued. All amendments will be posted and must be retrieved from this website. Responses to the RFP must be submitted by email to the POC identified below. No solicitation mailing list will be compiled. Contractors are responsible for all costs for submitting their capability packages. POC is Regina Daniels, at (703) 428-0665 or
[email protected] or Danny Golden, at (703) 428-0159 or
[email protected].