1.0 Description 1.1 US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center (NSRDEC) is seeking information for a modular airdrop platform or system that provides a soft landing capability for mobility vehicles and bulk cargo items. The intent is to increase the roll-on/roll-off capacity and increase payload survivability upon airdrop ground impact. 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. A solicitation is not available at this time. Request for a solicitation will not receive a response. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the United Stated Government to contract for any supply or service. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the United Stated Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the United States Government. 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 on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The purpose of this RFI is to determine the capabilities of the existing marketplace. The Government intends to use white papers provided solely for internal government purposes to further develop or refine the statement of requirement, not as a basis for making an award determination. 2.0 Requested Information 2.1 NSRDEC seeks information on any system or components that support a soft landing capability for mobility vehicles and bulk cargo items. Respondents may provide information on an entire system or on individual components or subsystems that could support this overall capability. Airdrop of this system is anticipated to be from low altitude. 2.2 Payload capacity. The system should be capable of airdropping payloads weighing the range of current Low Velocity Airdrop System (LVADS) capabilities (2,520 to 42,000 lbs). 2.3 Compatibility with the US Air Force aircraft cargo airdrop systems. All systems, subsystems, or components must be compatible with US Air Force C-17 and C-130E/H/J (threshold). As an objective, components should be compatible with other non-USAF aircraft. 3.0 Responses 3.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to the RFI with a white paper. 3.2 White papers in Microsoft Word for Office 2013 compatible format or Adobe Portable Document (pdf) format are due no later than 30 days after the posting of this RFI. Responses shall be limited to 20 pages and can be submitted via email only to Marc Tardiff at
[email protected]. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Proprietary information will not be disclosed outside of the US Government. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 3.3 The white paper shall address some or all of the requirements or areas in Section 2 and include the following information: Name, company name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and email of designated point of contact. 4.0 Industry Discussions. Army 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. 5.0 Summary. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide technologies to support a modular airdrop platform or system that provides a soft landing capability for mobility vehicles and bulk cargo items. The information provide in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The Army 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.