The US Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, has issued a sole source notice to find potential future manufacturers of the Army’s 7.62x51mm M240 general purpose machine guns. This is an exercise in market research as the Army try to identify potential sources for future M240 production.

The sole source synopsis explains that the result of the market research will “con contribute to determining the method of procurement, if a requirement materializes.” The government’s requirement calls for manufacturers to be capable of “fabrication, inspection testing, First Article Testing, and delivery of the weapon systems and spare parts.”

The Army are seeking vendors who can manufacture the full range of M240s including: the coax, B, C, D, H and L as well as spare parts production. The technical data packages for the M240 and its variants, however, will not be disclosed at this time.

Servicing an M240 at Anniston Army Depot (US Army)

The synopsis seeks manufacturers with capabilities and experience in manufacturing military small arms and belt fed, automatic weapons. As well as experience with various fabrication techniques including:

investment castings, steel forgings, machining from billet stock (steel) with tolerances as tight as 1/1000 of an inch (or higher), riveting parts to assembly dimensions as tight as 1/1000 of an inch (or higher), heat treating capabilities (including induction hardening, through hardening, stress relieving), and final protective finish capabilities (including chrome, phosphate).

Submitting vendors much be registered Federally licensed to manufacture destructive devices, be registered with the State Department under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and conform to International Standards Organization. Interested vendors had to submit their information by the 6th of July. Successful applicants will only be called upon if a requirement materialises.

This comes at the same time as the US Army issued a request for information for a new mounted machine gun optic suitable for both the M2 and the M240.

Source:

‘M240 Variants, Solicitation Number: W15QKN-18-X-02N7’ FedBizOps, (source)