The Naval Air Systems Command intends to procure, on a competitive basis, the qualification and production of a new parachute canopy release assembly to be known as the Joint Water Activated Release System (JWARS). The JWARS should include features that allow its use on either Navy or Air Force escape systems, allow ease of manual operation while under tension loads, include an automatic release capability that activates upon immersion in salt water, and have reduced size and weight to minimize the potential affects of helmet slap during an ejection. The automatic release feature of JWARS should be integral to the canopy release and shall include a maintainer-only system test capability. The Government does not intend to pay for the research and development of JWARS, and anticipates a Commercial-Off-The Shelf or Non-Developmental Item to meet the Government’s requirement. The competitive procurement will include requirements for a firm fixed price contract with a fiscal year (FY) 2004 base year and FY05-08 one-year production options. The base year is the effort for first article qualification. All proposals will be evaluated using the Best Value award process and include oral presentations. The Level of Confidence Rating Assessment (LOCAR) may be utilized as well. All responsible sources shall submit a written request to be added to the Solicitation Mailing List to the NAVAIR POC: Karen Collier, via email at
[email protected]. The request shall include an email address, a point of contact, a telephone number, a fax number, and a mailing address. Responses without an email address, mailing address and telephone number will not be recognized. TELEPHONE RESPONSES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED OR RETURNED. Responses should reference solicitation number N00019-03-R-3147. Interested parties are invited to review the draft Statement of Work (SOW), draft System Requirements Document (SRD), draft Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) and an example of the LOCAR process available via the NAVAIR homepage at http://contracts.navair.navy.mil/solicitations.cfm. Interested parties included on the Solicitation Mailing List will be notified via electronic mail when the draft solicitation will be available for review and comment, which should be on or about 1 November 2003. Interested parties included on the Solicitation Mailing List must submit comments/recommendations no later than 30 days after release of the draft solicitation documents in order for the comments to be considered by the agency. A final solicitation will be issued on or about mid-December 2003 and will close approximately 30 days after issuance. The solicitation will only be made available on the NAVAIR homepage shown above. Notification of the solicitation release will only be provided to the interested parties on the Solicitation Mailing List via electronic mail. Offerors are responsible for monitoring the NAVAIR homepage for all solicitation documents, amendments, and questions and answers. Responses to questions will NOT be sent to each email address. All responsible sources may submit a proposal, which will be considered by the agency. See note 9. Registration in the DOD Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database will be a prerequisite for receiving an award. For more information on the CCR, contact the CCR Assistance Center at 1-888-227-2423 or http://ccr.edi.disa.mil.