Sources Sought for the Establishment of a Center of Excellence for Energetics

The Army Contracting Command-Rock Island (ACC-RI), on behalf of the Office of Project Lead Joint Services (PL JS), is seeking information and feedback from domestic industry sources on the potential for design, development, construction, commissioning, and operation of a comprehensive, modern, and efficient "Center of Excellence" (CoE) for scale-up and production of current and emerging explosives to be located at Blue Grass Army Depot, KY. The Army is interested in rapid acceleration of this capability with completion prior to 2031.

Refer to the Sources Sought Attachment 0001 for more details. 

Update 26 March 2026: The attachments section has been updated to include Attachment 0002 – BGAD Capabilities Brief.

The Government is offering a site survey visit at Blue Grass Army Depot on 8 April 2026 for interested vendors. The tentative schedule for the site survey is:

• 8:45 EDT: Arrival and sign in at security
• 9:15 EDT: Capabilities brief
• 10:00 EDT: BGAD Tour
• 11:30 EDT: Departure

To facilitate onsite visits, each individual attendee shall complete Attachment 0003 - BGAD National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Form attached to this announcement. Attendees shall note, the number of people per interested vendor is limited to a maximum of four attendees. The Government staff at BGAD will vet all attendees accessing the facility using the National Crime Information Center. Each individual attending must present a REAL ID-compliant state-issued identification or other acceptable ID to enter the federal facility. For this site survey, foreign nationals will not be able to attend due to limited time to vet attendees but there may be additional opportunities for site visits in the future.  

To request a site survey visit, contact Contract Specialist: Lindsey Arguello at lindsey.j.arguello.civ@army.mil, Contracting Officer: SFC Pramod Khanal at pramod.khanal.mil@army.mil, and BGAD Business Development Officer: Thomas Viney at thomas.m.viney.civ@army.mil. Requests must be submitted no later than 1 April 2026 at 5:00 PM CDT.  Please submit all completed NCIC Forms along with the request for a site survey visit.

Update 7 April 2026: Attachment 0001 has been updated to include the following:

• The deadline for responses to this Sources Sought Notice has been extended to 29 April 2026. All responses are due by 5:00 PM CDT on that date.
• The page limit has been updated to 40 pages. The Government requests that responses are focused on the key information requested within the SSN. The page limit is inclusive of all content.
• All questions regarding the Sources Sought Notice must be submitted by 10 April 2026 at 5:00 PM CDT. All questions must be submitted by electronic mail to Contracting Officer: SFC Pramod Khanal at pramod.khanal.mil@army.mil, Contract Specialist: Lindsey Arguello at email lindsey.j.arguello.civ@army.mil, and Contract Specialist: Rebecca Bernard at email rebecca.s.bernard2.civ@army.mil. 

Update 17 April 2026: The attachments section has been updated to include Attachment 0004-Q&A - Sources Sought W519TC-26-R-0019.

The U.S. Government (USG) is actively processing inquiries received in response to this Sources Sought Notice (SSN). Because many of these questions require additional research and/or internal coordination, the USG may not be able to provide answers to all inquiries prior to the SSN closing date. The USG will, however, continue to post answers as information becomes available.

To avoid delays in the development of the ECOE requirement and acquisition strategy, the USG strongly requests that industry partners continue to proceed with the preparation and submission of their SSN responses by the established deadline, utilizing the information currently provided, and any additional information that is posted prior to the SSN closing date.