35--TRICO REM Machine, Tri-component Pilot Filament Machine

Under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13.5, Test Program for Certain Commercial Acquisitions, Section 4202 of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 procedures, the U.S. Army RDECOM - Natick Contracting Division, Kansas Street, Nati ck, MA on behalf of the United States Army - Soldier System Center, Natick, MA intends to negotiate and award a purchase order on a sole source basis with Hills, Inc., 7785 Ellis Road, West Melbourne, FL 32904. This effort is to provide the Government wit h 1 TRICO REM Machine, Tri-component Pilot Filament Machine for spinning fiber. This equipment will support multiple research efforts throughout the U.S. Army Natick Soldier System Center, other military installations, academia, and industry under the Fiber Center of Excellence (FCoE) Program being developed at the United States Army Research, Development & Engineering Command (RDECOM) Natick Soldier Center, Natick, Massachusetts. Hills exclusively patented multi-component spin beam with independent temperature controls for each polymer system is critical for the tri-component fiber eq uipment to be successful. Customarily, the multi-component spin packs are purchased from a spin pack manufacturer, and the spin beam is supplied by a separate company. Hills has patented proprietary technology and is the only company capable of designing and building both the multi-component spin pack and spin beam at their facility which is an essential part of the design and development of the tri-component machine. Questions concerning this acquisition may be addressed to the above address, Attention: Mr. Christopher Heim (AMSRD-ACC-NS) or by E-mail at [email protected]. This announcement expires at 12:00 p.m. local time on Monday, June 12, 200 6.