Sources Sought
Export Variant (XV) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (2GF) Thermal Receiver Units (TRUs) and Imager Assemblies Repair
Department of Defense · Department of the Army
AI summarySources sought (market research, not a solicitation): the Army wants to find firms that can build up to 29 Export Variant (XV) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (2GF) Thermal Receiver Units (TRUs) and repair up to 100 Imager Assemblies per year over 3 years. Responses are due November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern. Responding firms must be able to store and work on SECRET-level (classified) information, and foreign participation is excluded. More in the summary
Market research, not a bid. Replying is free and tells Department of the Army who could do this work. Send a short reply to the contracting contact; no price is needed. See the contact
AI summary Beta
Sources sought (market research, not a solicitation): the Army wants to find firms that can build up to 29 Export Variant (XV) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (2GF) Thermal Receiver Units (TRUs) and repair up to 100 Imager Assemblies per year over 3 years. Responses are due November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern. Responding firms must be able to store and work on SECRET-level (classified) information, and foreign participation is excluded.
Who can bid
- Means to store and work on information classified at the SECRET level (a SECRET facility or access to one)
- Foreign participation is excluded
- Meet the listed performance specifications and interface control documents to be considered fully qualified
How to submit: Email to Brian K. Petchel (Contract Specialist, brian.k.petchel.civ@army.mil), Rosetta Wisdom-Russell (Contracting Officer, rosetta.wisdom-russell.civ@army.mil) and Vincent E. Ramirez (PM GS 2GF Systems Engineer, vincent.e.ramirez4.civ@army.mil). What to include is under Full summary below. Check the solicitation's instructions on SAM.gov.
Things to watch (7)
From the version posted Oct 23, 2026.
- Serious: SECRET-level facility required to respond. Every responder must be able to store and work on classified information at the SECRET level, which most small businesses cannot do without a cleared facility.
- Serious: Government does not own the full technical data. The Army lacks the complete technical data package, yet new TRUs must be compatible with parts already delivered, so a new maker may have to reverse-engineer and qualify its own design.
- Worth checking: Foreign participation excluded. Foreign firms cannot take part, which also matters for any foreign teaming partner or supplier.
Show all 7Show fewer
- Worth checking: Page limit conflicts: 15 pages and 20 pages. The notice asks for a white paper of not more than 15 pages but later refers to a 20-page limitation; ask the contracting specialist which applies.
- Worth checking: No funding for development and test. A firm that does not already make the TRU would pay for its own development and testing before delivering.
- Minor: Response due date moved to November 6, 2026. The notice says the closing date was extended.
- Minor: Specifications must be requested within 14 days after the notice. The Army will provide only the interface control and performance specifications, on written request within the stated window.
Read from the notice text only.
Full summary
What they want
- Manufacture and deliver up to 29 Export Variant (XV) Second Generation Forward Looking Infrared (2GF) Thermal Receiver Units (TRUs), Government Part Number 12991302-2
- Repair or refurbish 2GF Imager Assemblies, up to 100 per year over 3 years, Government Part Number A3271798-1
- Build TRUs that work with all previously delivered 2GF Block 1 and Block 1R TRUs, TRU components and B-Kit components
- Meet the listed performance specifications (MIL-PRF documents) and interface control documents (ICDs: the documents that define how parts connect)
- Deliver new TRUs no later than 24 months after receipt of award
- Period of performance
- Repairs: up to 100 Imager Assemblies per year over 3 years. New TRUs: delivery no later than 24 months after receipt of award
- Place of performance
- Fort Belvoir, VA, USA (as listed in the SAM.gov fields; the notice text does not state it)
- Estimated value
- Not stated
- How they'll choose
- No award evaluation yet: the Army will use responses to decide its acquisition strategy, including whether to set the work aside for small business
- Offers due
- November 6, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern
- How to submit
- Email to Brian K. Petchel (Contract Specialist, brian.k.petchel.civ@army.mil), Rosetta Wisdom-Russell (Contracting Officer, rosetta.wisdom-russell.civ@army.mil) and Vincent E. Ramirez (PM GS 2GF Systems Engineer, vincent.e.ramirez4.civ@army.mil)
- Page limits
- White paper: not more than 15 pages (the notice also refers to a 20-page limitation); answers to Small Business Questions 12 through 15 do not count toward the limit
What to include when you submit
- Send a white paper in 12-point Times New Roman with one-inch margins on 8.5 x 11 paper; email responses should not exceed 5 megabytes
- Include company history (years in business), name, address, website, CAGE Code, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), phone, email and representative
- State your business size (number of employees) and socio-economic status under NAICS 334511
- Say whether you would respond as prime, joint venture or teaming partner, or subcontractor, and whether you can do at least 50 percent of the work in house
- Describe your thermal imaging and infrared qualifications and whether you have the technical data and capability to make the TRU and its components, with monthly capacity
- Give details on up to five projects from the past five years, including agency, contract numbers, dollar values, period of performance, percent of work done and clearance requirements
- Describe teaming plans, sources of supply, production capacity and lead times, and whether you have a SECRET facility and cleared employees
- Say whether you have a Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) approved accounting system
- Small businesses also answer Questions 12 through 15: how you meet the limitations on subcontracting (FAR 52.219-14), interest in being prime, staying small for the next three years, and surviving 90 calendar days without payment
- Mark proprietary information clearly; include company name, CAGE Code and classified mailing information in the first request
- Written or emailed requests for the performance specifications and ICDs must be made within 14 days after the notice; no telephone requests are honored
Current contractor
No incumbent is named. The notice refers to previously delivered 2GF Block 1 and Block 1R TRUs and to the original equipment manufacturer's TRUs, without naming the maker.
Not in the notice text
- The performance specifications and interface control documents are available only on request, so the technical requirements are not in the notice
- Contract type, estimated value and whether the work will be set aside for small business are not stated
- Unit of issue for the up to 29 TRUs is not stated
- The notice text does not state where the work would be done; SAM.gov lists Fort Belvoir, VA
- The notice gives no date for the 14-day window to request specifications
Eligibility and how to respond
- No set-aside. Any business can reply, and no bid is being taken yet, but the notice names requirements for the work:
- The notice mentions a security clearance. Check who needs one, and whether you must hold it by the time offers are due.
- To respond, send a short reply to the contracting contact near the top of this page. No price is needed.
Notice details
- Posted
- Oct 23, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Office
- W6QK ACC-Apg Cont CT Wash Ofc, Alexandria, VA
- Product/service code
- 1240 · Optical Sighting and Ranging Equipment
- Business type
- Electronic parts & equipment (supplies) (FedReady's grouping, from NAICS 334511)
- Versions
2 versions have been posted, newest first.
- Oct 23, 2026 · Amendment 0001 (this version)Due Nov 6, 2026 (changed)
- Oct 7, 2026 · Sources SoughtDue Oct 22, 2026
- Attachments
Past awards and competition
Who has won work like this before, the likely incumbent, and what similar contracts paid, from USAspending.gov.
Before you respond
Terms on this notice: Sources sought notice
Full notice text from SAM.gov
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