Combined Synopsis / Solicitation for a potential Supply Chain Management Contract for F108 Engine Support – Mission Analysis

This notice serves as DLA Weapon Support’s combined synopsis/solicitation as described in FAR 12.603, in accordance with FAR 5.201, and the approved J&A under authority of FAR 6.103-1 and 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), for addition of KC/RC/WC135 Mission Analysis for the CFM56-2 Engine, F108 Model Updates, and an F108 Self-Locking Borescope Plug set certification. This effort is anticipated to be made as an addition to sole source Long Term Contract SPE4AX-25-D-9406 to CFM International Inc. (CFM), Contractor and Government Entity (CAGE) code 58828.

This is a FAR part 12 effort being added to the current contract SPE4AX-25-D-9406.

KC/RC/WC135 Mission Analysis, F108 Model Updates, and Borescope certification support services for the United States Air Force (USAF) are being solicited to be added to contract SPE4AX-25-D-9406, awarded to CFM International Inc. CAGE 58828. Actual requirements for the additional scope will be negotiated and added to the basic contract. Individual requirements are certified as sole source to CFM and synopsized in accordance with FAR 5.201.

DLA Weapons Support will issue a letter solicitation (RFP) to the sole source Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). If any non-OEM source is interested in providing the entire support for this effort, please notify the Contracting Officer prior to the combined synopsis/solicitation closing date. A copy of the letter of interest should be forwarded to the Contracting Officer identified herein. The Government may alter the acquisition strategy if it is in the best interest of the Government. In order to receive an award, the contractor must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). SAM registration is at https://www.sam.gov.

It is anticipated that this requirement will be added as a separate line item to the current sole source CFM COI contract SPE4AX-25-D-9406.  The data required to perform the necessary services is CFM’s proprietary and confidential commercial intellectual data and cannot be shared or provided by the Government. Only sources with access to the F108 series of engines performance information will be considered as a qualified source.

The scope of work is as follows:

1. KC/RC/WC135 Mission Analysis for the CFM56-2 Engine – The contractor shall define the mission characteristics and all variants that the KC135, RC135 and WC135 aircraft fly. The contractor shall assess the validity of engine usage assumptions made during engine certification and, by extension, the Life Limited Part (LLP) Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) limitations and maintenance intervals published by CFMI.

Since 1985, the KC135, RC135 and WC135 have been operating with the CFM56-2 engines as powerplants. In that time there have been several efforts accomplished by CFMI to verify the flight characteristics of the mission established for these weapon systems. The last assessment was accomplished in 2015, for high pressure system components and drove some changes to LLP lives. Since it has been a significant amount of time since the last assessment, another mission analysis is recommended to determine if the flight characteristics have changed significantly to impact life limits and maintenance intervals.

The contractor shall perform all necessary tasks required to complete an assessment as described above. Using flight data provided by the Air Force and pilot interviews taken by CFMI, analysis will be conducted to establish the mission characteristics and possible impact to cycle definition, LLP limits and maintenance intervals.

Once the contractor has completed the needed analysis and evaluation of the current KC/RC/WC135 missions, they will submit findings and results through their internal review process. Successful review will then drive a report for the Air Force that defines the mission characteristics along with a comparative review of the Air Force’s current mission versus previous mission. These results will be provided in a report to the USAF for USAF review and assessment.

2. F108 Model Updates – The contractor shall update thermal, CAD and stress F108 part models to prepare for future use during lifing analysis, field investigations, design tasks or other program needs.

Thermal and stress analyses may be required to support lifing analysis following mission analysis updates; thermal and stress analyses may also be required in the future to support new field investigations or hardware redesign tasks.  Multiple variants may need to be analyzed. Current models were constructed utilizing legacy tools (Patran, PThermal, Flow Network Solver).  These models need to be transitioned to the current production tool set by passing them through the model conversion and upgrade process.  This will convert them to Next-Gen Thermal & Flow Simulator.  Modifications may be necessary to facilitate this process and ensure that converted model results align with legacy results within acceptable tolerances.  Once this process is deemed successful, then additional model variants may be constructed. Upon completion of this, thermal and stress analyses can be performed. The contractor shall provide a memorandum confirming successful model updates to the USAF for USAF review and assessment.

3. F108 Self-Locking Borescope Plug set certification – The contractor shall provide a full self-locking borescope plug certification with a service bulletin release that approves the self-locking borescope plug set with a new auto-locking feature, eliminating the need for safety wire. The service bulletin will approve this new design, for us on the CFM56-2B engine configuration (USAF ref F108).

The US Air Force F108 engine fleet has experienced breakages of the borescope plugs which can lead to FOD damage and presents a challenging effort to remove the broken pieces. These breakages are manifested in the 3 borescope plugs located at the stage 7, stage 8 and stage 9 positions of the high pressure compressor. Along with the breakages of these 3 plugs, all borescope plugs require safety wire as a redundant feature to ensure the plugs are locked in place. This results in extensive and unnecessary mission downtime as well as maintenance time to complete the laborious task of applying safety wire to all the plugs. The new self-locking borescope plug set consists of 15 new borescope plug assemblies that incorporate a new self-locking feature, which eliminates the requirement for safety wire. The new plug design also employs a more robust design for the compressor plugs at stage 7, stage 8 and stage 9 which eliminates the cause of breakages.

So, the new borescope plug set reduces maintenance time as it eliminates the need for safety wire and reduces failures with a stronger plug at the vulnerable areas. The contractor shall perform all necessary tasks required to achieve certification of the Self Locking borescope plug set used on the CFM56-2 engines (USAF F108) and release a service bulletin documenting the approved application of this borescope plug set for use on the CFM56-2 engine configuration. Both the Original Engine Manufacturer (OEM) and the Air Force have experience with this type of self-locking design. However, the experience is on engines that have a different mission profile and the parts in use are not borescope plugs. It is necessary to have the engine manufacturer perform all necessary reviews and analysis to verify and validate the application of the borescope plug set on the CFM56-2 engine fleet. The contractor will perform all necessary analysis on the proposed design as well as develop any testing identified as needed for validation of functional capability in the CFM56-2 engine configuration. Analysis tasks can include but are not limited to review of usage history on other engine fleets with similar parts, modeling, comparative assessment between the existing borescope plugs and the proposed new plugs as well as review of certification efforts on other OEM engine fleets.

The contractor will evaluate to determine if any validation test plans are necessary and develop those plans as necessary based on validation needs of the contractor. Included in this effort are any tasks necessary to evaluate and establish industrialization of the borescope plug set with the OEM. Once the contractor has completed the needed analysis and evaluation of the proposed new borescope plug set, they will submit findings and results through their review process. Successful review will then drive a service bulletin draft and release to the FAA and the US Air Force allowing use of the new borescope plug set on F108/CFM56-2 engines.