The Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, in collaboration with the Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment (IBAS) Program (10 U.S.C. § 2508) office within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy (ODASD(IndPol)), and supported by the Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center (CCDC – CBC), proposes executing a prototype project directly relevant to enhancing mission effectiveness, and enhance industrial base technologies and capabilities pursuant to 10 United States Code (U.S.C.) § 2371b through an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). Cornerstone Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 2371b 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, intends to issue a competitive Cornerstone Initiative Request (CIR) for Critical Minerals from Coal Ash on or after 20 August 2020, with an estimated closing date of 30 calendar days after issuance. The CIR for Critical Minerals from Coal Ash 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 36 months. A non-competitive follow-on production OT may be awarded following a successful prototype.

The objective of this effort is to design, develop and test a prototype technology to economically and environmentally produce critical mineral concentrate from coal ash. The concentrate produced should be suitable for downstream separation and purification of individual critical minerals by the current US and NATO facilities.

The CIR for Critical Minerals from Coal Ash 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/ or emailing Cornerstone at [email protected]

Interested parties should stay alert for any changes that may be published to this beta.sam.gov 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.

All Congressional and Media Inquiries regarding this Initiative should be directed to Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy (ODASD(IndPol)).