Questions and Answers Amendment 0001 Solicitation 12639521Q0015.pdf

Questions and Answers Solicitation 12639521Q0015 USDA/APHIS Helicopter Maintenance and Repair Services

Questions Received by November 4, 2020

Question 1:

1. 2.1 Scope of Work: a. Are there any other rotary wing aircraft other than the Bell 206B that are part of the solicitation?

Answer: No

Question 2:

b. Is the solicitation for five (5) Bell 206B aircraft spread through the mentioned states (Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi and possibly Iowa) or is it five (5) aircraft in each of the states?

Answer: There are a total of five aircraft that will fly between the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi. Currently the aircraft are not flying in Iowa, but that could be a possibility one day in the future but that is uncertain at this time.

Question 3:

2. 2.3 Contract Requirements:

Requirement: Maintenance must be performed at a Bell Helicopter factory approved service facility. Since becoming a Bell Approved facility is not standard due to the Bell service agreements, this will limit the competitiveness of the solicitation.

a. Will there be consideration if the Contractor is not an approved Bell Authorized facility however have the capability as a Part 145 certified repair station that is technically capable to provide the services as solicited.

Answer: This requirement to be a Bell factory approved service facility is being deleted from the solicitation changed in regards to this requirement.

Question 4:

Requirement: Contractor will have a facility located within one of the following states: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri (and maybe Iowa)

b. Will there be consideration if the Contractor is in an adjacent state that is equal distance to all the mentioned states?

Answer: As outlined in the solicitation, the USDA intends to establish a contract in a central location to efficiently service the helicopters flying missions in states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri.

All vendors are welcome to submit quotes but establishing a contract with a vendor in central proximity to where the helicopters are flown would be beneficial to the Government. When evaluating quotes the government will consider many things including the proximity of the contractor’s facility to where the aircraft are flown and a central location will be more favorable.

Question 5:

c. Is the cost of the engine and replacement part of the respective ordering CLIN (e) plug in number of $750,000?

Answer: Yes, the line item (e) includes the estimated pricing of all costs for parts for repairs.

Question 6:

Will there be a published operational route map where the helicopters operate in order to establish a centrally located service facility for the program?

Answer: The flying routes are not constant and there is no set route of operations so there is no published operational route map the government can provide you.

Question 7:

The solicitation states that insurance is required. But does not state types or limits. Can you clarify this for me?

Answer: The insurance required would be the type of coverage that is industry standard for this type of service being provided and for a business working on aircraft not owned by their company, as would be the case for the contractor awarded this contract. Coverage would include among other things general liability, property damage etc.

Question 8:

We’d like to request a waiver of that requirement so that we can provide a centrally located Part 145 location to service your aircraft. We have extensive experience working on 206B aircraft as well as all maintenance manuals and parts access necessary to achieve the stated maintenance requirements.

Answer: The requirement to be a Bell factory approved service facility is being deleted from the solicitation changed in regards to this requirement.

Question 9:

Would the Government revise the RFQ / solicitation to include FAR clause FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting (DEVIATION 2020-O0008) to allow a SB prime to pursue this opportunity, with a similar SB subcontractor, without the legacy 51% prime performance requirement? Further, this prime-sub relationship would facilitate additional competition for the Government as it 'seems' there are very few (if any) qualified, SB-certified Bell factory-approved service centers that meet the RFQ requirements in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri.

Answer: An amendment to the solicitation is not necessary to include clause 52.219-14 Limitations in Subcontracting (DEVIATION 2020-00008) as the clause 52.219-14 Limitations in Subcontracting is included in the solicitation as checked under FAR 52.212-5 Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Order Commercial Items (Oct 2020). This is the most recent version of the clause posted. Please reference page 14 of the solicitation showing the clause is included in this solicitation.

An amendment to the solicitation is going to be posted to make changes in the statement of work in reference to the Bell Repair Station requirement as well as a few other changes.

Question 10:

Will a submittal for the solicitation be automatically disqualified if we are not in one of the states mentioned in the RFQ?

Answer: The answer is no. We are amending the solicitation to change the required facility location to a preference, however as stated in the solicitation it remains a preference that the contractor facility is centrally located in the geographic region where the helicopters are flown. This is also one of the factors being considered in the evaluation of quotes as outlined in the section entitled Evaluation of Quotes.

Therefore, there are no geographical limits/requirements of the contractors facility, however please be aware proximity of the contractors service facility to where the USDA aircraft are flown will be taken into consideration when evaluating the technical capability and pricing, and a contractor facility that is centrally located in the geographic region where the USDA aircraft are performing service is more advantageous to the government.

Additionally, it’s advantageous from a technical standpoint as it generally would allow for the aircraft to be repaired sooner and would translate into less time to get the aircraft back into service. Additionally, sometimes the USDA personnel are on site for maintenance and repairs. It’s also more advantageous from a pricing standpoint because the farther away the contractor facility, the more costs the government would incur to transport the multiple aircraft to and from the contractor facility every time service is needed. The additional costs would be for fuel, travel costs such as possible lodging and per diem, and staff hours to transport the aircraft. This would also apply in the event the aircraft can’t be flown, because the farther away the contractor facility, the higher the travel costs the government would pay for a contractor to travel to the USDA facility for repairs.