U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center (CCDC CBC), Rock Island, IL, on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy via its Manufacturing Resiliency and Assurance Office, and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program (10 U.S.C. § 2508), in conjunction with Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), manages the Cornerstone Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 2371b. Cornerstone was architected to create a broad-based, flexible and enduring public-private consortium focused on strategic strengthening of the U.S. Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and provide a strong complement to the mandates in Presidential Executive Order 13806. ACC-RI, on behalf of CCDC CBC and the Naval Research Laboratory, intends to issue a competitive Cornerstone Initiative Request (CIR) for High Hardness Alumina Ceramic Plates on or after 21 February 2020, with an estimated closing date of 10 business days after issuance. The CIR for High Hardness Alumina Ceramic Plates is restricted to Cornerstone consortium members. The CIR will solicit proposals for one (1) firm-fixed-price OTA with incremental payments made upon completion of specific milestones. Period of performance will be 24 months. A non-competitive follow-on production OT may be awarded following a successful prototype. Recent and projected developments of small-arms threats points to the need for advanced ceramic armor with improved properties including enhanced hardness, strength, and toughness while maintaining current areal densities. Ceramics with ultra-refined microstructures provides an avenue to achieve dramatic improvements in these areas. Advanced sintering approaches which minimize grain growth are required to produce such ceramic components from ceramic nanopowders. The requirement is development of a process to produce and the production of prototype alpha-alumina ceramic plates with a nanocrystalline grain structure with relative densities greater than 99% and grain sizes smaller than 100 nanometers. The CIR for High Hardness Alumina Ceramic Plates will be communicated to the Cornerstone consortium and companies with pending applications via email. Entities are required to have begun the membership process for their proposal to be reviewed. Entities must be members of the Cornerstone consortium, with a signed Cornerstone Consortium Management Agreement, to be awarded this OTA task. Contractors may obtain Cornerstone registration information by visiting the Cornerstone website: http://ibasp-public.ria.army.mil/cornerstone/ Interested parties should stay alert for any changes that may be published to this posting. Please email all questions and responses to the following mailbox:
[email protected] This Special Notice is for planning purposes only and does not constitute a CIR or an obligation on behalf of the U.S. Government. Issuance of this Special Notice is not a guarantee of a future CIR or an award and is not a commitment of any kind by the Government.