Introduction: Pursuant to FAR Subpart 6.302-2, the U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division, on behalf of SFAE-SDR-SCIE, intends to award a firm fixed price purchase order on a sole source basis to: American Power Source, Inc., a small business located in Fall River, Massachusetts 02724. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. No solicitation document is available. Nature and description of services or supplies required to meet agency needs: The Government requires 650 pairs of prototype Physical Fitness Uniform (PFU) trunks which will be issued to soldiers to be worn in a User Evaluation. This effort will evaluate the draft patterns, and purchase description and ensure that the new design encompasses all the required/necessary features needed for the trunks. It will also validate the manufacturing processes to develop a cost estimate for future procurement actions and ensure that the final design is producible in production quantities. A demonstration that the proposed contractor is the only responsible source available to provide these services or supplies: This source developed the patterns, maintains the only copies, and has knowledge of all process and procedures required to produce this item. Evaluating the trunks in a field environment carries unique challenges to ensure the accuracy of data received the government would like to limit potential quality issues. This will be accomplished by using the current vendor who has working knowledge of the current system. This effort will help us verify the drawings, construction requirements and patterns to ensure they can be used in future procurements by DSCP without any issue (pattern verification). They will verify that the designs can be produced in a full-rate production environment. The final comments/changes from the manufacturer will be used as part of the final purchase description to be used by the procurement agency for future buys. A description of the market research that was conducted and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted: This one time research and development effort utilizes a current manufacturer utilizing their unique understanding of the current system. The government performed an on-line search and contacted other government entities and members of industry. No other viable option was found. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required: This one time effort will be used only to obtain samples for a future user evaluation. Based on the feedback from Soldiers, conducting this one time study will help us to determine what our performance requirements should be for an approved item, which will be cited in a final purchase description and will open competition on all future procurements. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement to the U.S. Army RDECOM Contracting Center, Natick Contracting Division via e-mail to:
[email protected] no later than Noon (EST) 23 December 2009. Contracting Office Address: RDECOM Contracting Center - Natick CCRD-NA-SU, Natick Contracting Division Building 1, Kansas Street Natick, MA 01760-5011 Point of Contact: Steven Streeter, Contract Specialist (508) 233-5704