The Department of State (DOS) has a requirement for brand name firearms replacement parts; specifically: Daniel Defense, FN, Glock, Knight’s Armament, Colt, and Remington.  The U.S. Department of State (DOS) Office of Acquisitions Management (AQM) intends to award sole source Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) requirements contracts to the above manufacturers for the procurement of replacement weapons parts for Diplomatic Security (DS) Service.

The Department requires timely access to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) weapons parts (lists attached) in order to repair existing DS-owned weapons which have become worn, or been damaged in the course of normal or extraordinary field use in order to restore functionality and extend their useful life.  As such, the parts must conform to the following specifications:

·         Manufactured and shipped by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM)

·         Shall not negate OEM warranty or guarantees

·         Must be available for short turnaround orders in the event of urgent need.

The Contracting Officer, Katherine Vultaggio, may be reached at [email protected] no later than 2:00PM EST, Monday, May 6, 2019 with inquiries.   

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION STATES THE FOLLOWING:

Due to the sensitive nature of the parts being sourced, all parts must be OEM-original to avoid weapons malfunction or damage.  While there are some after-market resellers available who can provide OEM replacement gun parts, as discussed below, based on lack of reseller response to Request for Information (RFI), the Contracting Officer does not have a reasonable expectation that 2 or more resellers are available for competition to provide all of the parts required from a (single distribution) source. 

Under the Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986, DS has a broad range of responsibilities including the protection of Department of State personnel and facilities both domestically and overseas.  The parts being sourced meet the current standard for DS. Without the parts referenced, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) will be unable to provide adequate protection for Department of State personnel and facilities, both foreign and domestic by DS Agents, MSG and/or contractors. Safety is paramount, and sourcing weapons parts that are not produced or directly sourced by the OEM increases risk of weapons malfunction and unacceptable delivery delays which would directly impact personnel safety and cause irreparable damage to the DS mission.

Furthermore, DS armorers are factory certified to repair DS weapons.  The procurement of any other weapons parts would result in additional unacceptable costs and time delays due to an entirely new maintenance requirement and parts support package, factory training of State Department and Worldwide Protective Services (WPS) armorers, training for all DS agents on an additional weapon system, and additional firearms qualification requirements for all Agents, Marines and embassy security guards.