THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT ON THE BASIS OF THIS RFI OR TO OTHERWISE PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITED. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S Government to form a binding contract. This request for information (RFI) does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this contemplated effort. This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as a request for proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this RFI or the Government's use of such information. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or in part, any contractor's input resulting from this RFI. Response to this RFI will not be returned. All information provided may be utilized by the U.S. Coast Guard in developing its acquisition strategy and it's Statement of Work. The information resulting from this RFI may be included/combined with other submissions in one or more options considered in the analysis of alternatives. Any proprietary information that is submitted may be used in establishing requirements but specific information will be safeguarded as proprietary. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this RFI. The purpose of this announcement is to obtain market research for planning purposes only. This announcement is for interested vendors/contractors who are capable of providing rigid, lightweight ballistic plate armor capable of defeating high velocity rifle threats in support of the mission of officers in the various components of the U. S. Coast Guard. Scope : The intent of the U.S. Coast Guard is to identify National Institute of Justice (NIJ) certified threat Level III ballistic plates. All armor make/models must be certified by the NIJ’s Compliance Testing Program and listed on the NIJ’s current Compliance Product List for NIJ Standard 0101.06. Front/Back ballistic plates and side plates must be included. All armor makes/models must have a manufacturer’s ballistic warranty of 10 years . Generic Ballistic Requirements: The standard(s) for testing and performance of ballistic plates submitted for this request must be those established by the NIJ Standard-0101.06. All ballistic plate make/models submitted for consideration must be certified by the NIJ to have met the NIJ Ballistic Resistance of Body Armor standard for Threat Level III, and be listed on the NIJ’s current Compliance Product List. The Government must require vendors to provide an NIJ “Notice of Compliance” certification letter for all packages submitted for evaluation. Ballistic plates must remain certified as compliant throughout the life of the contract (including the warranty period which may extend beyond the period of performance of the contract). The NIJ Standard-0101.06 must be the standard of record. The Government require vendors to provide complete NIJ Compliance Test Reports for each make. All additional ballistic testing for requirements described within this request for information, must take place at an independent NIJ approved laboratory, and must be at no cost to the Government. Data reports for this testing must be provided to the Government. All ballistic plates must be “stand alone”. “In conjunction with” plates are not acceptable. There are no separate requirements for front and back plates. They are interchangeable and herein must be referred to singularly as “front/back” ballistic plates. Front/Back ballistic plates must be available in the following nominal sizes: Small: 9.11” x 11.1” Medium: 9.92” x 11.6” Large: 9.92” x 12.1” X-Large: 10.6” x 12.6” Side ballistic plates must be available in the following nominal size: 5.5w” x 6.0h” Weight - Front and Back Plates must weigh less than 4.27lbs (S), 4.77lbs (M), 4.95lbs (Lg), or 5.44lbs (XLg) each; Sides Plates must weigh less than 1.6 lbs each. Ballistic plate thickness must not exceed .8 inches. Thickness must be calculated using the average of six (6) separate measurements, taken at each corner, 2” from each edge. Front/Back ballistic plates must have a multi-curve radius and be “Swimmer / Shooter Cut”. Single curve radius is not acceptable. Side plates must have a single curve radius. A multi curve radius is not acceptable. Ballistic plates must be sufficiently rugged to remain safe, operational, and effective following exposure to extreme environments such as high temperature, low temperature, sea water, chlorine, gasoline, motor oil, weapons lubricant, and UV light. The ballistic plates must be protected with a polyurethane exterior surface to provide a waterproof, abrasion resistant protective coating. Front and back ballistic plates must be able to defeat six (6) shots of each of the following additional rounds using a modified NIJ test protocol performed at 0.0° obliquity and ambient range temperature. NIJ back face deformation requirements must also apply. Minimum Shot-to-Shot and Shot-to-Edge separation must be in accordance with NIJ Standard 0101.06 (7.6.1. and 7.6.2.). Side Plates must only be required to defeat a single strike of 7.62x51mm M80 or one of the ‘special threat’ rounds. Ammunition - 7.62x55mm-M80 * Muzzle Reference Velocity - 2750-3010 ft/s Ammunition - 5.56x45mm – M193 Muzzle Reference Velocity - 3250-3300 ft/s Ammunition - 7.62x39mm – MSC Muzzle Reference Velocity - 2400-2450 ft/s Ammunition - 5.56x45mm – M855 Muzzle Reference Velocity - 3250-3300 ft/s Requested Information: Vendors/contractors, who respond to this Request for Information (RFI), are requested to provide all of the following information, in writing, in response to this announcement and in accordance with the directions below: 1. Company name. 2. Company mailing address. 3. Company Point of Contact (One person's name, telephone number and e-mail address). 4. A full description of the ballistic protection system. 6. A listing of other agencies currently using your ballistic protection system. 7. Provide contact information for any of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Department of Defense (DoD) customers who have used your product(s) along with contract or purchase order numbers if available. 8. Business Size in accordance with the North American Industry Classification (NAICS) System. The expression of interest should state whether the concern is a Large or Small Business, and identify if Small Business Disadvantaged Business, HUB-Zone Business, Women Owned Business, 8(a) certified small business, Veteran Owned Business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business and business size under the potential NAICS. The RFI response must also include whether the company is the manufacturer, and if not the name of the manufacturer. 9. Duns and Bradstreet number. 10. Any Government contracts held including General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule (include the GSA schedule number). 11. Please indicate with your submission whether your firm has recently submitted a proposal for a similar requirement, with DoD, DHS, or other U.S Federal Government agency. Please be sure to include the full agency name, RFI number, and Contracting Officers name and point of contact information. Additionally, all interested vendors/contractors must also include a product brochure/literature and a Rough Order of Magnitude for each ballistic plate including: 1. Unit cost* 2. Estimated product/production delivery lead time *Cost estimates should be based on existing/currently available prices. PROVIDE ANY OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION RELATING TO THIS RFI THAT WILL ASSIST THE GOVERNMENT IN ADJUSTING OR IMPROVING THE GENERIC REQUIREMENTS. Submittal of Information: The information requested by this RFI must be provided, in writing, by no later than close of business (2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 via email, attention: U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters Commandant (CG-9123) Office of Contract Operations Attn: Allen A. Tillman II, Contracting Officer 2703 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE Stop 7828 Washington, DC 20593-7828 Email:
[email protected] with a copy to
[email protected] At this time the USCG email system is unable to receive emails containing .zip files. Multiple RFI response emails may be sent if file size becomes to large (> 9 mb). If multiple emails are sent, the subject must be labeled to list how many emails were sent. Example – “RFI Reference Number, Company. ABC Email 1 of 3.”