This is a Request for Information (RFI) (hereinafter Notice). This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, request for bids or quotations, nor a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. The purpose of this RFI is to obtain knowledge and information for project planning purposes only. Respondents are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this Notice. All costs associated with responding to this Notice are solely at the responding parties' expense. Respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any trade secrets and commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential contained within their response. The U.S. Government will neither be liable for nor suffer any consequential damages resulting from any commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential not properly marked and clearly identified. Information received in response to this Notice will be safeguarded and handled in accordance with applicable statutes, including the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) policy.

The U.S. Department of Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) has interest in and is seeking to identify suppliers of heat-sealable printed currency strap rolls and heat-sealable unprinted currency bundle band rolls that will work on our Large Examining Printing Equipment (LEPE), non-sequential-LEPE (nsLEPE), Single Note Inspection (SNI), Inspection Finishing System (IFS), and Banknote Purchasing System (BPS3000 or M8) machines.

Part of the currency production process is to place a heat-sealable printed paper band around one hundred (100) Federal Reserve Notes (FRN) to indicate denomination; the heat-sealable printed paper bands are referred to as currency straps. Every 10 straps of FRN get wrapped with an unprinted heat-sealable paper band known as a bundle band. These currency heat-sealable strap bands and/or bundle bands come in roll form of differing run lengths, widths, inner and outer diameter, roll direction (straps only), total number of straps, artwork (straps only), grammage, and caliper depending on the type of machine it is to be run on. They all, however, share a thin coating of polyethylene (PE) on one side of the paper that serves as the heat-seal adhesive, sealing after wrapping around a strap or bundle with a heating iron controlled by each machine. The polyethylene (PE) coating is applied evenly with a uniform thickness and a coating weight of twenty (20) grams/square meter (g/m^2) on the paper substrate forming the strap/bundle bands. The heat temperature settings of the heating iron are variable across all machine types but are generally set above 120 C (248 F) and can be adjusted depending on machine settings and/or environmental conditions.

The BEP is looking to procure machine, heat-sealable currency strap and bundle band rolls. The vendor shall submit a Safety Data Sheet of the PE used. The heat-sealable polyethylene (PE) coating should comply with environmental regulations in Fort Worth, Texas, and Washington DC.  In addition, information on the combined PE coating and paper is being requested.

SUBMISSIONS: Responses to this notice should include the following:

1. A Safety Data Sheet (SDS) for the PE
2. Melt temperature of PE and/or PE blend/resin.  
3. Grammage for combined PE coating and paper (target: 100 +/- 5 g/m^2, and 85 +/- 5 g/m^2).
4. Caliper of combined PE and paper. (target: 140 +/- 6 µm, and 117.5 +/- 7.5 µm).
5. Minimum order quantity in rolls. (i.e. 525 m (l) x 39 mm (w) for nsLEPE strap bands and 525 m (l) x 58 mm (width) for nsLEPE/IFS bundle bands). nsLEPE strap and bundle band rolls have an inner core diameter of 76 +/- 2 mm, a core thickness of 6 +/- 1 mm and are not to exceed 325 mm in outer diameter.
6. Vendor’s technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses.

A current SDS should be included for review by the BEP to determine if the PE coating can be used at BEP facilities.  In addition, vendors may be contacted if clarification is needed.

The BEP reserves the right to request additional information as well as to request material samples from companies responding to this Notice. Any material samples requested by the BEP and submitted by the company will be reviewed and evaluated for inherent and relative effectiveness as production materials in terms of meeting BEP requirements for such materials and may be further assessed by the BEP for compatibility with design and production factors, durability, environmental acceptability, and other production/processing requirements. However, in these cases companies are cautioned that any such review evaluation, assessment