Welding Personal Clothing and Equipment

This notice is for market research only. This is not a request for quotations. No solicitation document exists. The information received under this announcement may be used to purchase items for Government testing and procurement. You may email your questions for PdM SCIE to the points of contact listed below.

The U.S. Army Product Manager for Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment (PM-SCIE), located at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, is conducting market research to identify domestic products, suppliers, and manufacturers of individual welding Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). The goal of this notice is to identify firms with capability to provide welding PPE for use by metal workers/welding personnel (“Welders”) in Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) 88L/881A (Watercraft Engineer) and 91E/914A (Allied Trade Specialist).  The PPE will be worn to provide a physical protective barrier for skin protection to the eyes, face, head, torso, extremities, hands, and feet, from burns, sparks, radiation, and other hazards related to welding. PPE must be flame resistant (as indicated), washable, and durable.

Specific items of interest are as follows:

Auto-darkening welding helmet

Flame Resistant (FR) welding shop outer garment

FR oversized welding outer garment (to be worn over body armor)

FR welding cap

FR welding pants

FR boot spats

Tungsten inert Gas (TIG) gloves

Heavy duty welding gloves (gauntleted)

Spectacles with side protection

Spectacles (that fit over prescription eyewear)

Adaptor to connect a face shield to a combat helmet for tactical/combat use

Sweatband

Carry-all bag (to contain all above items)

Required technical capabilities for the FR welding shop outer garment, FR oversized welding outer garment, FR welding cap, FR welding pants, FR boot spats, TIG gloves, Heavy duty welding gloves are as follows:

1. FR Protection: Welding components shall not melt, drip, or undergo excessive thermal shrinkage in one or more dimensions of the material when exposed to heat or flame (T) and must self-extinguish when heat or flame is removed (O).
2. Thermal Protection: Welding components shall protect the Soldier from burns caused by sparks, spatter, molten metal, slag chips, and direct flame resulting from the high temperatures of liquid metals used during cutting and welding processes which can reach 1500° F (T) up to 3700° F (O).
3. Berry Amendment Compliant

Required technical capabilities for the Auto-Darkening welding helmet are as follows:

1. Radiant Energy Protection: The WIPS Ensemble shall protect the eyes from permanent (T) or temporary (O) blindness caused by exposure to visible, ultraviolet and other types radiant energy associated with welding and metal work.  The face shield shall be automatic darkening with a welding filter lens shade range of 4 through 13 and protect the face and eyes from infrared radiation (T) with objective (O) welding filter lens shade range of 4 through 14 and added ultra violet ray protection.
2. Buy American compliant (or if Manufactured in US, may contain non-domestic commercial off the shelf components.

Required technical capabilities for the Spectacles with side protection and the Spectacles (that fit over prescription eyewear) are as follows:

1. Eye Protection: The WIPS Ensemble shall include spectacles with side peripheral vision protection that shall be worn under the welding helmet to provide additional eye protection. 
2. Buy American compliant (or if Manufactured in US, may contain non-domestic commercial off the shelf components)

Required technical capabilities for the Sweatband and Carry-all bag

1. Berry Amendment Compliant

FAR 52.215-3 - Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes, applies herein.

Manufacturers of any of the above components which meet these requirements are encouraged to submit a response. Interested parties shall respond with information on their current product(s) and how they address the requirements listed above.

The information package shall contain the following:

1. General information to include name of firm, respondent's technical and administrative points of contact (including name, address, phone number, and email address), location, size, and special designations (e.g. 8(a), Women-owned small business, etc.), and RFI announcement name and notice ID.
2. Information regarding the firm's production capabilities for the submitted item(s), to include whether the item(s) can be domestically produced in compliance with the Berry Amendment (Section 2533a of Title 10 U.S. Code) or Buy American, as applicable.
3. Retail and/or wholesale pricing for currently available products.
4. A detailed description of the product, to include specs and material safety information.
5. Test data confirming performance claims, if available. Ability to meet applicable standards*
6. Name and location of production facility, production lead time, and monthly production capacity.
7. A product sample may be submitted if available. If a firm chooses to submit samples, no payment will be made by the government for such samples.
8. A material description including fiber blend percentages (if textile-based).
9. Any coatings/finishes added to component materials should be described in the response. If PFAS chemicals are used, note this in the response and provide any information in the intent to eliminate PFAS, if available

*ANSI Z49.1:2021 - Safety in Welding, Cutting, and Allied Processes

ANSI/ISEA Z87.1 Occupational and Educational Personal Eye and Face Protection Devices.

ASTM D6413 Standard Test Method for Flame Resistance of Textiles

Submission Instructions to Respondents:

Responses to this RFI are due no later than October 14, 2022, 5pm EST. All submissions must be electronically submitted to:

Donna.d.cox8.civ@army.mil and Debbie.d.williams.civ@army.mil

Product samples are to be sent to:

Donna D. Cox

Senior Engineer,

Pd.M. Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment

5981 13th Street, Bldg. 1155

Fort Belvoir, VA  22060