BidLink Defense Industry News

DLA Aviation has issued a solicitation for parachute deployment bags (NSN 1670-00-039-5073).  These bags are 36″ x 24″ x 10″ made from plastic polyamide.

They were last sold to the U.S. Military by Butler Parachute for $574 in quantity of 146.  Aerial Machine & Tool sold them for $1,096 EA for 340 units just a year prior.  One possible explanation is that Butler sold the first article test item for $4,156 while Aerial machine sold them for $1,500. It’s hard to predict the final price based on this data but the contract value should be somewhere between $43,800 and $328,800.  DLA has not published annual demand but over the past few years DLA has purchased around 350 units yearly.

Drawings are available for this item.  All responses due by September 16, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE4A7-25-Q-1428 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Land and Maritime has issued a solicitation which will result in a five year contract for several different types of antenna. Technical data is available for these items and the government has provided 31 days for potential offerers to submit proposals.

NSN	Yearly demand	Past price / qty	Total Price
5985-00-217-0457	45	$540 / 27	$24,300
5985-01-306-4622	1086	$93 / 289	$100,998
5985-01-306-8110	797	$105 / 145	$83,685
5985-01-376-8012	182	$405 / 6	$73,710
Total for 1 year			$282,693
Total for 5 years			$1,413,465

All offers are due by September 15, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE7MX-25-R-0072 into Search for Anything at the top.

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We were speaking with someone from a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)  that wanted to look at contracts set-aside for companies that qualify.  This started a discussion about how common the various set-aside types are in open solicitations.  To provide some clarity we looked at all open solicitations (29,267 at the time of this article) and pulled a tally of the various set-aside types including small business, Service Disabled Veteran, HubZone, and others.

As we can see below, Service Disabled Veteran Small Businesses are receiving the most set-aside contracts.

Set-aside type	Solicitations	Percentage
Small business set-aside	5,094	17.41%
Service Disabled Veteran (SDVOSB)	803	2.74%
Woman Owned Small bus sole-source	155	0.53%
Hubzone Set-Aside	85	0.29%
Indian Small Bus	91	0.31%
8a program	27	0.09%
Indian Economic Enterprise	23	0.08%
Small Bus partial set-aside	12	0.04%
Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned	9	0.03%
Very small business	7	0.02%

Small business set-asides are defined in FAR 19.5.  Hubzones are economically disadvantaged geographic areas as define by FAR 19.13.

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DLA Land and Maritime has issued a solicitation for supply of A/C Motor overload relays.  These relays are used on Virginia Class submarines.  The OEM is DRS Naval Power Systems (CAGE 27192) with part number 6957ED104-A1ATN.   This company is a large business with over 1,500 employees.  If two or more small businesses are likely to bid this item could be set-aside for small business (FAR 19.502-2).

This motor overload relay, NSN 5945-01-473-5426 was last sold to the military by Jo-kell, Inc. (CAGE 5V049) which sold them for $4,963 in quantity of 86 units.  The price almost doubled from $2,070 in early 2023.  Jo-Kell has been the only supplier of this item since 2015 when Revere Electric Supply (CAGE 0YM16) sold them.

This solicitation requires 71 units, which is the estimated annual demand over the next 24 months. Based on an analysis of past procurement history pricing we estimate the value of this contract at $350,000.  Contractors have 195 days after award to deliver the goods.

All offers are due by August 6, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE7M2-25-Q-0947 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Troop Support has issued two solicitations for flags.  These items are relatively easy to produce and present an opportunity for new contractors to start selling to the government.

The first solicitation is for Pennant, Signal Flag NSN 8345-00-914-6085.  The solicitation requests 925 units.  The last company to sell these to the military was Dawn’s Early Lights flags which sold them for $29.85 each in quantity of 1500.  Estimated contract value $26,611.

The second one (from the same buyer) is for an Individual Flag NSN 8345-00-245-3640.  The solicitation quantity is 200 units.  Last vendor was Supply Room, Inc. which sold them for $185 in quantity of 100.  Estimated value $37,000.

Technical data is available for both items via mil-spec MIL-F-2692.  Both solicitations close July 29, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE1C1-25-Q-0422 or SPE1C1-25-Q-0423 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Aviation has issued a pre-solicitation for aircraft fairing assemblies for the F/A-18 aircraft. The government issues pre-solicitations when they are doing market research to see if other companies can produce an item.  Currently the only Boeing and Northrop Grumman are approved suppliers.  Pre-solicitations give prospective contractors the opportunity to determine if they can produce an item and inform the government if they can.  This could result in a solicitation being set-aside for small businesses.

There is no procurement history on this item.  The government has an estimated cost of $439,876.  There is also a “net” price of $62,483.  NSN 1560-01-646-6025 is described as “Aircraft Fairing Assembly Nozzle – Aft Fuselage”.  The Northrop part number is 74A343000-1013.  According the government data there are drawings available for this item.

Often when source controlled items like this are solicited there is not enough time for new contractors to obtain drawings and source approval.  Pre-solicitations are not commitments by the government but indicate that DOD is planning to purchase this item in the near future.  This allows additional time for companies to see if they can compete.

All responses are due by July 29, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE4A5-25-R-0273 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Aviation has issued a solicitation for air conditioning duct assemblies. There is no mention in DOD data as to which system this belongs to, but technical data is available so new companies can participate.  This part was manufactured by Boeing (p/n 212T3140).  Suppliers have 344 days to deliver; surplus dealers and small businesses are also invited to submit quotes.

This duct assembly, NSN 1660-01-708-3136 has been supplied exclusively by Boeing until last year when VC Displays won two contracts.  The most recent order was for 15 units at $14,533 each.   This current solicitation is for 22 units.  Based on past procurement history pricing we estimate the value of this contract at $320,936.

All goods will be going to Tinker AFB.  Drawing number: QAP 13873 CDRL-FAACERTCOM-25015; DTD 01/14/2025.  It’s worth mentioning that there was an unanswered solicitation for this item in 2023.  Source approval is required.

All offers are due by August 21, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE4A5-25-R-0230 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Aviation has issued a solicitation which will result in a five year contract for supply of cable assemblies that include an inline GFCI.  Technical data is available on this item and the response date is a month from today.  This gives new contractors time to acquire the drawings and decide if they can produce it.

The cable assembly, NSN 6150-01-598-9748 is part of a utility receipt NSN 6150-01-208-9751. DLA anticipates annual demand at 1,190 with a total estimated quantity of 5,950 units.  The last company to sell this cable to the military is Aero-tel wire which sold them for $162 in quantity of 254. They were also supplied by Black Bay Aerospace and Premier aviation.  Based on past procurement history we estimate the value of this contract at just under $1M.

This solicitation is set-aside for disabled veterans. If you qualify you have the advantage of a smaller pool of potential competitors than open competition.  The last awardee is a disabled veteran. It’s worth mentioning that sometimes a solicitation is set-aside for a group that doesn’t submit any quotes, later making that bid available to open competition.  Always check the incumbent contractor to make sure they qualify for the set-aside.

All offers are due by August 18, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE4A6-25-R-0362 into Search for Anything at the top.

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DLA Troop Support has issued a solicitation which will result in a four (4) year contract for supply of OTTO Fuel II protective clothing.  This clothing is designed to protect against propylene glycol dinitrate (PGDN) which is commonly used in torpedoes.

The government will be issuing periodic delivery orders on sets of pants and shirts against this contract.  DOD anticipates it will need 12,800 units each year for a total of 51,200 sets of protective gear.

The last company to supply these to the military was Richochet Mfg (1MBM2) which sold them for $47.47 per set. The NSNs that were supplied are:

NSN	Description	Quantity	Price
8415-01-560-1960	Otto fuel shirts	3,360	$26.41
8415-01-560-1706	Otto fuel pants	4,320	$21.06

Based on this pricing we anticipate this contract is worth approximately $2.4 Million dollars.

All offers are due by August 5, 2025.

To learn more, log into BidLink and put SPE1C1-25-R-0037 into Search for Anything at the top.

Tired of DIBBS / SAM and bid services that don’t understand defense contracting?  Try BidLink for free at www.bidlink.net.

 

 

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Hot summer days are a good time to sit in the A/C and mine some data.  Last week we wrote about the Federal Supply Classes where DLA is spending the most money.  Over the next few weeks we’re going to analyze some of these vertical markets to see what items are making the most money.

Below are the top 20 line items in FSC 1560 for all of 2024. Number of offers data lags a few months so we couldn’t do the first 6 months of 2025.

NSN	item_name	company	total 1
1560-01-143-5631	DRAG BRACE ASSEMBLY	BELL TEXTRON INC	$3,813,966
1560-01-502-6111	WINDOW PANEL,AIRCRA	LLAMAS PLASTICS INC	$3,434,350
1560-01-714-4390	TANK ASSEMBLY,FUEL,	KAMPI COMPONENTS CO	$3,091,493
1560-01-481-3078	PISTON,CYLINDER ASS	WOODWARD HRT INC	$3,083,261
1560-01-451-2323	SEAL,GUNMOUNT	AAR SUPPLY CHAIN, IN	$2,864,124
1560-01-473-1286	SILL PLATE,CARGO DO	THE BOEING COMPANY	$2,401,737
1560-01-562-6867	FITTING,STRUCTURAL	SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CO	$2,230,278
1560-01-421-0999	FAIRING,AIRCRAFT	D-J ENGINEERING INC	$1,960,000
1560-01-469-2772	COVER,ACCESS,AIRCRA	NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYS	$1,745,910
1560-01-649-9469	TRANSPARENCY,CANOPY	LLAMAS PLASTICS INC	$1,473,970
1560-00-862-6365	DUCT ASSEMBLY,AIR	G. S. E. DYNAMICS, I	$1,315,990
1560-01-656-7514	BALANCE WEIGHT,ELEV	KIT PACK CO., INC.	$1,247,545
1560-01-649-9437	TRANSPARENCY,CANOPY	LLAMAS PLASTICS INC	$1,247,122
1560-01-495-9254	FAIRING,AIRCRAFT	NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYS	$1,236,686
1560-01-699-1194	CORE MATERIAL,CELLU	NORTHROP GRUMMAN SYS	$1,228,332
1560-00-175-3930	LOCK ASSEMBLY,DOOR	COORDINATED DEFENSE	$1,228,094
1560-01-502-6111	WINDOW PANEL,AIRCRA	A. J. ASSOCIATES MAN	$1,084,152
1560-01-642-0824	PANEL,STRUCTURAL,AI	LBZ, L.L.C	$1,056,240
1560-01-340-6319	FASTENER KIT,STRUCT	STANDARD AERO PARTS,	$1,040,140

The full list of 400 top 1560 NSNs is available here.

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