SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Cost and Weight Analysis Teardown Study
- Notice Date
- 11/6/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541330
— Engineering Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration HQ, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- 2010-0002
- Archive Date
- 12/4/2009
- Point of Contact
- Lloyd S. Blackwell, Phone: 202-366-9564
- E-Mail Address
-
lloyd.blackwell@nhtsa.dot.gov
(lloyd.blackwell@nhtsa.dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This Sources Sought Notice is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The purpose of this Notice is to identify potential sources that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. The NHTSA welcomes Corporate Capability Statements from all individuals and organizations. The NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted or NHTSA’s use of such information. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of NHTSA’s evaluation of the information received. As a result of this Notice, the NHTSA may issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However, should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against the NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this Notice. Scope: The purpose of this procurement is to conduct cost studies of motor vehicle equipment and perform detailed engineering “teardown” analyses to provide definitive cost and weight estimates of this equipment. The results will serve as the basis for NHTSA’S evaluation of the costs, weights, and lead time impacts of proposed initiatives, and compliance with the performance requirements of existing regulations. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS The Contractor shall be required to dismantle the systems and subsystems of the motor vehicle equipment under study for cost and weight analysis. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS As general guidance, requirements shall include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: Conduct Initial Project Briefing. The Contractor shall be required to meet with the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) and other interested NHTSA personnel in Washington, DC at the Headquarters of the Department of Transportation/NHTSA within fourteen (14) calendar days. This meeting will ensure the Contractor and the COTR have a common understanding of the project. In addition, they will discuss the project’s objectives, planned course of action, milestones/deliverables and resolve any differences between the Government’s technical approach and the Contractor’s approach. Conduct Vehicle Systems Analysis. The Contractor shall be required to research and select the make-model vehicles that may be addressed in task orders could include passenger cars, light truck vehicles (pickup trucks, sports utility vehicles, and minivans) medium and heavy trucks, truck tractors, track trailers, motorcycles or low speed vehicles) that represent high volume models within each market class. Determine Sampling Plan for Teardown Cost Analysis. The Contractor shall be required to develop a sampling plan of motor vehicles that have equipment related to the motor vehicle regulation being studied in order to determine the cost and weight attributed to that regulation. The sample shall be developed based on task order specifications but will generally provide a variety of designs, manufacturers (both foreign and domestic), vehicle market classes, and vehicle sizes. In addition, instances may occur where a regulation affects more than one vehicle type; therefore, a separate sampling plan shall be developed for each vehicle type. Furthermore, where motor vehicle models have equipment in place before the establishment of a regulatory requirement and are then modified in subsequent model years to meet the requirements, the sampling plan shall be made up of matched pre- and post-regulation models. The sampling plan shall include also motor vehicle models that may be used as substitutes. The COTR shall review the recommended sample of motor vehicles and proposed substitutes and shall notify the Contractor in writing as to the sample selected for study. The sample must be approved by the COTR before the Contractor can proceed. The Contractor shall acquire the motor vehicle equipment from a variety of sources: vehicles being tested by NHTSA or one of its Contractors, motor vehicle dealers, OEM manufacturers, Tier-1, 2, and 3 level suppliers, testing labs, salvage yards, or other sources. In all instances, the equipment must be in the same condition as the original equipment at the time the motor vehicles were manufactured. Conduct Motor Vehicle Equipment Teardown Cost and Weight Analysis. The Contractor shall be required to acquire and perform a physical teardown of the motor vehicle equipment under study in the sampling plan into its most elemental parts. This is necessary so that the Contractor can identify the process operation by which each elemental part is made in terms of: •Labor minutes •Direct materials and scrap •Machine occupancy hours or stations times •Machinery, equipment, and tooling utilized. Using prevailing labor and material costs, the Contractor shall be required to determine the variable manufacturing costs and total manufacturing costs for each elemental part, component, subassembly, and complete assemblies that constitute each system under study. The Activity Based Costing methodology shall be used to assign variable and fixed burden costs to each unit of an end product. Specific cost elements that the Contractor shall be required to isolate and identify include the following: •Direct labor dollars per unit (rates, union shops) •Direct material costs and scrap allowance per unit •Variable burden cost per unit, including indirect labor and other costs that vary with production volume •Fixed burden per unit •Capital investments required at prevailing annual sales volumes – property, plant, equipment, and tooling •Depreciation schedules for property, plant, and equipment •Amortization schedules for special tooling The Contractor shall be required to accumulate and reconcile variable manufacturing costs, fixed burden, capital investment, and weight data on the motor vehicle equipment under study. For those components provided by outside suppliers, the Contractor shall be required to determine the price paid by the manufacturer where possible. In the absence of supplier pricing data, the Contractor shall be required to determine the variable manufacturing cost for each purchased part by manufacturing process analysis and assume internal sourcing in the establishment of the manufacturer’s variable manufacturing costs. The Contractor shall be required to determine the markup on variable manufacturing costs to supplier selling price. The Contractor shall be required to provide detailed manufacturing process operation worksheets and/or computer printouts which clearly show how variable manufacturing costs, fixed burden, and weights are accumulated and reconciled from each part to its parts group and from parts group to the total system. The Contractor shall be required to weigh and tag each component after teardown. After determining material content and the manufacturing process and costs, the Contractor shall be required to appropriately identify and lay out the components and photograph them in such a manner that the component size in inches and/or centimeters can be determined from the photograph. Conduct Midterm Review. The Contractor shall be required to conduct a briefing for NHTSA personnel describing the progress of the project. The systems and subsystems dismantled for cost and weight analysis will be reviewed, along with the manufacturing processes developed for these units. In support of the briefing, the Contractor shall be required to provide visual aids such as photographs, transparencies, display boards, and videos. Therefore, the Contractor should have access to these capabilities, either in house or through a subcontractor/consultant. Prepare Monthly Progress Report. The Contractor shall be required to furnish monthly progress reports electronically to the NHTSA COTR and/or TOM. In addition, the Contractor shall be required to provide one original (hard copy) to the NHTSA Contract Specialist. The monthly progress report shall be in Microsoft word format and may be delivered by regular mail. At a minimum, the progress report shall include a narrative description of the following items: •Accomplishments made during the reporting period. •Funds status by major cost element, month’s obligations, cumulative obligations, estimated cost to complete, and percent of cost expended versus percent of completion. •Plans for accomplishments in next reporting period. •Preliminary or interim results, conclusions, trends or other items of information that the Contractor believes are of interest to NHTSA. •Problems or delays that the Contractor has experienced in the conduct of his/her services. •Specific action that the Contractor would like NHTSA to undertake to alleviate a problem. Submit Draft Final Report. The Contractor shall be required to submit a Draft Final Report to the NHTSA COTR for review and comment. The report shall be developed to document the findings, including appropriate photographs, drawings, tables, and other exhibits. The Contractor shall be required to provide definitive cost and weight data for the identified systems in the report in accordance with the following format: •The Abstract shall consist of a brief one-page description of the project and results. •The Summary of Findings shall present narrative and tables in summary form for each system. This means that costs and weight data shall be aggregated at the parts grouping level, e.g., hydraulic modulator, pump motor, sensors, etc. •The Engineering Analysis shall provide a detailed description of each system and how each subsystem (parts group) works. The objective here is to educate the decision maker as to the operating principles of each subsystem and the system as a whole. •The Cost and Weight Analysis shall provide a highly detailed analysis of the costs and weights required to manufacture and install each system in a high volume passenger vehicle (250,000 units per year). All tables shall be developed by the Contractor and approved by the COTR. •Appendices shall be provided as required. •Illustrations and photographs of the different components of each parts group to support the cost and weight analysis shall be included in the report. All costs and weights of each part must be traceable to an illustration of the applicable subsystem (parts group). Parts, components, subassemblies, and completed assemblies must be labeled by placing the variable manufacturing costs and weights, above, below, or alongside the specific item being illustrated. The NHTSA COTR and other NHTSA staff shall review the Draft Final Report, provide comments, and return it to the Contractor for correction. Submit Final Report. The Contractor shall be required to provide a Final Report which will discuss all significant outcomes under this contract and incorporate the NHTSA COTR comments under the Draft Final Report. The Contractor shall be required to provide the Final Report electronically to the NHTSA COTR, in addition to one original (hard copy) to the NHTSA Contract Specialist and one original (hard copy), two bound reproductions, and one CD-ROM to the NHTSA COTR via regular mail. Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: Any interested organizations should submit the Corporate Capability Statement which demonstrates the firm’s ability and interest in no more than 10 pages to perform the key requirements described above. All proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to indicate the type and size of their business organization, e.g., Large business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned-Business, 8(A), Historically Black College or University/Minority Institution (HBCU/MI), educational institution, profit/non-profit organization, in their response. Interested offerors shall respond to this Sources Sought Notice no later than 15 calendar days from date of posting. E-mail is the preferred method when receiving responses to this Notice.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/NHTSA/NHTSAHQ/2010-0002/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- Record
- SN01999711-W 20091108/091106235654-0461d69b2130f3eb759687095b919894 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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