Cornerstone CS-26-1601 JMTC Forging Equipment Annex & Weapons Quality Assurance/Calibration

U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC), Rock Island, IL, on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy via its Innovation Capability and Modernization Program (10 U.S.C. § 4817), in conjunction with Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI), manages the Cornerstone Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 4022. Cornerstone 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 DEVCOM CBC and Rock Island Arsenal Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (RIA-JMTC), intends to issue a competitive Cornerstone Initiative Request (CIR) for a JMTC Forging Equipment Annex & Weapons Quality Assurance(QA)/Calibration Facility on or after 13 March 2026, with an estimated closing date of 30 calendar days after issuance. The CIR for this effort is restricted to Cornerstone consortium members.

The CIR will solicit whitepaper proposals for one (1) Expenditure-based OTA with incremental payments made upon completion of specific milestones. Period of performance will be 27 months. A non-competitive follow-on production OT may be awarded following a successful prototype.

The objective of this effort is to design and construct two separate manufacturing/QA spaces to house a large-scale press forging manufacturing capability and recoil simulation testing for artillery systems, including all supporting operations needed for these missions.

A site visit will be offered and is anticipated to be held on 8 April 2026. Interested vendors must register in advance AND attend in order to submit a whitepaper for Government consideration. The CIR will contain specific instructions for registration.