60 CONS CSO Solicitation Instructions 2023.pdf

TRAVIS AFB

Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO)

Solicitation Number FA4427-23-S-C001 Date: 4 April 2023

SECTION A: Introduction

Travis AFB is conducting a commercial solutions opening (CSO) authorized by Department of Defense Class Deviation 2022-O0007. Under a CSO, the Air Force may competitively award proposals received in response to a general solicitation, similar to a broad agency announcement, to acquire innovative commercial items, technologies, and services, based on a review of proposals by scientific, technological, or other subject-matter expert peers within the Air Force. Under this CSO, all items, technologies, and services shall be treated as commercial items.

The Air Force intends to obtain “innovative” solutions or potential new capabilities that fulfill requirements, close capability gaps, or provide potential technology advancements. Solutions may include existing technologies or procedures that are not currently in use by units at various locations that would enhance or streamline their mission capabilities. Based on available funding, this CSO is targeting solutions priced less than $50,000. However, the Government may evaluate proposed solutions priced greater than $50,000.

“Innovative” is defined as any technology, process or method that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal. It also includes any new application of an existing technology, process, or method.

This CSO contains broadly defined areas of interest and interest in more specific requirements. While these areas of interest are geared toward meeting requirements at locations listed in each area of interest, the Government reserves the right to award contracts from this CSO to meet Air Force requirements at other locations with similar areas of interest and mission requirements.

Travis AFB will utilize an open Three Step CSO evaluation process. Under the three-step evaluation process, offerors that receive an invitation to make a Virtual Pitch or an In-Person Pitch to the Travis AFB team will be notified of the date and time for the pitch in their invitation. Offerors invited will pitch their solution to evaluators and will be notified if they were selected for an award no later than 1 week after the pitch . For further details, review Section C of this document for Procedures and Criteria for Selecting Proposals.

SECTION B: Instructions for Preparation and Submission of Proposals

The following section outlines the proposal requirements. It also includes timelines for submissions and information about the pitch day.

All contracts will be firm-fixed price. All supplies or services procured via this CSO are treated as commercial. The Air Force must determine the price fair and reasonable prior to award. Travis AFB is conducting this CSO as a Total Small Business Set-Aside. The Air Force intends to evaluate the Small Business status of each offeror based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) of the proposed solution. The Air Force intends to award FAR Part 12 contracts as a result of this CSO, but reserves the right to award agreements (e.g. Other Transaction Agreements), if deemed in its best interest.

Proposal Contents (Note: The Government reserves the right to not consider a proposal for award if it omits any of the required information below.)

Proposal Volume/Section Requirements/Limitations

COVER LETTER

Must Include:

i. Area of Interest for which proposal is submitted. Example: FA4427- 23SC001-001AO001 – TITLE: Air Base Wing

ii. Proposed Team Member Names

iii. Proposal “Validity” Date

iv. Authorized Offeror Representative or

Point of contact(s)

v. An overview of the company, as it relates to the Area of Interest under which the proposed solution is submitted

vi. CAGE Code, DUNS Number

vii. SAM Screen shot from SAM.gov

viii. Relevant NAICS code and desciption

• Maximum of 2 pages. Page limitation does not include screenshot.

• Offerors shall include a screenshot

VOLUME I – TECHNICAL • White paper shall not exceed 5 pages

• Pitch/Slide deck shall not exceed 15 slides

• Investor Deck

• OPTIONAL: Up to five-minute video clip to narrate or illustrate the proposed solution

VOLUME II – Price Must Include:

i. Proposed Price(s)

ii. Delivery or Period of Performance

• No page limit.

• Flexible quantities or pricing options should be provided to maximize the Air Force’s ability to award with available funding.

• Awards for supplies will be delivered Freight on Board (FOB) Destination.

**NOTE: Submitted documents shall not contain classified data or sensitive information and proprietary information shall be clearly marked**

To limit confusion, all proposal volumes must include the title of the area of interest on which the offeror is proposing a solution, and use the following naming convention:

• Proposal-FA442723SC001-CoverLetter-<Company Name>.doc

• Proposal-FA442723SC001-White Paper-<Company Name>.doc

• Proposal-FA442723SC001-Investor Deck-<Company Name>.doc

• Proposal-FA442723SC001-Pitch Deck-<Company Name>.ppt

• Proposal-FA442723SC001-Price-<Company Name>.doc

Technical Volume

The technical volume shall include a white paper, a pitch/slide deck and/or an OPTIONAL video clip to narrate or illustrate the proposed solution that is no longer than 5 minutes in length. The technical volume will be reviewed holistically and there is no set format requirements for these documents. It is recommended (but not required) that more detailed information is included in the white paper and higher level information is included in the pitch deck.

The technical volume should address the technical and importance to agency program factors: how the proposed solution is innovative and the feasibility of the solution solving the unit’s challenge(s), including examples demonstrating possible application of the proposed innovation or existing use of the solution in the commercial marketplace.

The Investor Deck shall include any and all investors of the company. Please include all received foreign investment.

The quality of the video submissions will not factor into the government’s feedback. The government encourages low-cost video production, such as cell phone videos.

Video Submission Instructions – Video submissions must be posted to Youtube.com or other video hosting website for the government to access. Videos may be marked public or private. The vendor must provide a link and password (if marked private) in order for the government to access the video submission. The government will not provide access to the vendor’s video outside of the government evaluation team without the permission of the vendor. Do not provide a shortened URL, such as youtube.

Technology Concept and Company Capability

Offerors shall provide the following information in sufficient detail to allow the Government to make an assessment of their capability to support the proposed solution.

• Offerors shall describe the unique aspects of their proposed solution as it “relates” to the Area of Interest.

• The proposed solution shall not repeat the Areas of Interest/Topics or contain the contents of the white paper pasted into slides, but rather provide convincing evidence that the proposed solution will meet the Government’s need.

The following examples of convincing evidence are strongly encouraged –

a. Authentic company URL or web address.

Note: The Government may elect to use the information provided as part of its continuous market research. However, the government is not obligated to use the URL or web address as part of its evaluation process to determine the Selectee or Awardee.

b. Summary of product commercialization currently used in the open market.

c. Pictures, diagrams, models or figures to depict the essence of the proposed solution.

SAM Registration

It is critical offerors are registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), https://www.sam.gov/, you will not be eligible for an award if not registered in SAM at the time your proposal is submitted.

Additionally, verify that you are registered to receive contracts (not just grants) and that your address matches your proposal and SAM.

• When registering in SAM.gov, be sure to select ‘YES’ to the question ‘Do you wish to bid on contracts?’ in order to be able to compete for CSO. If you are only registered to compete for grants, you will be ineligible for award

• The Air Force is working to move fast, please double check your CAGE codes and DUNS numbers to be sure they line up, fi they are not correct at the time of submission, you will be ineligible for award.

Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Due to the large amount of expected interest in this CSO, and in order to maintain a written record of questions, the Air Force will be accepting individual questions through e-mail. The questions and answers will be published via sam.gov to ALL offerors on a bi-weekly recurring basis, except in rare cases when the issue needs to be addressed immediately.

All emails for questions, solicitation clarifications, or possible amendments shall be emailed to:

60CONS.CSO.TEAM@us.af.mil. To avoid any confusion, the subject line of the email shall include the following (depending on the section of the solicitation or Area of Interest you have question(s) on:

• AMA – Area of Interest

• AMA – Solicitation Sections (A, B, C or D)

Proposal Submission

In order for your proposal to be evaluated for a possible contract award, it must be submitted via email to 60CONS.CSO.TEAM@us.af.mil at any time through 5 May 2023. A hardcopy will not be accepted. No proposal will be accepted after 3:00 PM Pacific Time on 5 May 2023 as the authority to enter into a contract under the CSO program expires at this time.

Offerors may submit proposal amendments any time prior to the proposal evaluation deadline. Evaluation shall be within 10 days of the submission. However, the Government will ONLY review the final amended proposal that is submitted.

To avoid any ‘lost in transit’ situation, offerors shall contact the Contracting Office to confirm receipt of an email or proposal electronic delivery immediately after submission. Please ensure that your e-mail address listed in your proposal is current and accurate. Travis AFB is not responsible for ensuring notifications are received by firms changing mailing address/e-mail address/company points of contact http://www.sam.gov/ mailto:60CONS.CSO.TEAM@us.af.mil mailto:60CONS.CSO.TEAM@us.af.mil after proposal submission without proper notification to Travis AFB. Changes of this nature shall be annotated in the beta.sam.gov submittal or amendments.

**Notes: Offerors are responsible for ensuring that ALL Amendments to this solicitation are reviewed carefully prior to submitting a proposal.

SECTION C: Procedures and Criteria for Selecting Proposals

Travis AFB will utilize a three-step evaluation process.

Three-Step CSO Evaluation Process (Evaluation – Initiation – Deliberation/Award)- : Offerors invited to participate in a three-step CSO Evaluation Process (Pitch Day) will receive an invitation which shall provide all of the details for the pitch session, request for additional information, as well as the time and date that the pitch will be conducted. Offerors selected for Pitch Day will have an opportunity to pitch (Virtually or In-Person) their solution to evaluators.

Step One Evaluation of offerors’ proposed solutions/packages: The Air Force will conduct its evaluation based on three factors: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability to determine Pitch Day Invitations.

• The technical factor will assess how innovative the solution is (as defined in this announcement) and the feasibility of the solution solving the unit’s challenges.

• The importance to agency programs factor will assess the solution’s potential to enhance the mission effectiveness of the unit.

• The funds availability factor will assess the availability of funding to purchase the solution.

NOTE: PWS shall not contain classified data or sensitive information. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

Step Two: Virtual Pitch or an In-Person Pitch (Pitch Day): Offerors invited to participate in Step Two (Pitch Day) will receive an invitation which shall provide all of the details for the pitch session, request for additional information, as well as the time and date that the pitch will be conducted. Offerors selected for Pitch Day will have an opportunity to pitch (Virtually or In-Person) their solution to evaluators. The pitches will be evaluated using the same factors as the initial evaluation: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability.

Step Three: Evaluation/Award Selection After offerors pitch their solution to evaluators, to the greatest extent practicable, offerors will be notified if they were selected for an award no later than 1 week following their pitch. Offerors proposing service-based solutions will be required to provide a contractor self-developed PWS prior to award.

Site Visits/Product Demonstration Site visits may be conducted at the discretion of the contracting officer throughout the solicitation and proposal submittal/evaluation process. The purpose of the site visit is to:

i. Allow contractors and government to discuss their concerns while observing the product demonstration.

ii. Allow the government to judge whether the products can satisfy its needs as identified in the Area of Interest/Solicitation;

The site visit shall not be construed as guarantee for award, and the government shall not bear the contractor’s cost expended for the site visit.

Note: During any step of the CSO, the Air Force may send questions or comments for the offerors to address via email or during Pitch Day.

Evaluation of offerors’ proposed solutions/packages: The Air Force will conduct its evaluation based on three factors: technical, importance to agency programs, and funds availability.

• The technical factor will assess how innovative the solution is (as defined in this announcement) and the feasibility of the solution solving the unit’s challenges.

• The importance to agency programs factor will assess the solution’s potential to enhance the mission effectiveness of the unit.

• The funds availability factor will assess the availability of funding to purchase the solution.

Price Reasonableness Determination: Price shall be considered to the extent appropriate, but at a minimum, the contracting officer will use market research as the primary method to determine that the price is fair and reasonable. The Government may elect to use external market research in the evaluation of the proposal. The Air Force must determine the price fair and reasonable prior to award using the procedures at DFARS subpart 212.209. In some circumstances, the contracting officer may request information from the offeror regarding recent purchase prices paid by the Government and/or commercial customers for the same or similar commercial items.

At the conclusion of proposal evaluation and based on the results of the evaluations, the Air Force may select offerors for direct award. An award notification will be sent out, which shall include a request for further details or documents prior to award (i.e. contractor self-developed Performance Work Statement (PWS), delivery details…etc.) A PWS is similar to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) used in the commercial marketplace. The PWS shall detail the proposed work to be completed during the period of performance.

NOTE: PWS shall not contain classified data or sensitive information. Proprietary information shall be clearly marked.

SECTION D: Areas of Interest See attached Areas of Interest/Topics for this CSO (Attachment 1 - CSO 23 Solicitation AOIs).

• AOI 001 – Logistics Support for Remote Operations - 60th Air Mobility Wing

• AOI 002 – Multi-Functional Training and Support for Airmen - 60th AMW

• AOI 003 – Automation and Robotics for Logistics - 60th AMW

• AOI 004 – Scalable Security Solutions for Perimeter Protection– 60th AMW

• AOI 005 – Medical Evacuation and Care in Flight – 60th AMW

• AOI 006 – Secure Communications in Contested and Austere Island Environments–

60th AMW

Note: The Areas of Interest/Topics listed above are subject to change at any time during this procurement process. More Areas of Interest/Topics may be added/revised on a monthly or quarterly basis. An amendment will be issued once such a change occurs. Offerors are encouraged to review all the Amendments to this solicitation prior to submitting a proposal.