Atch 2 - FA8634-26-R-B011 Instructions to Offerors.pdf

FA8634-26-R-B011

Attachment #2

Fair Opportunity Proposal Request (FOPR) Instructions to Offerors/Basis of Award

1. Instructions to Offerors:

A. This is a competitive fair opportunity selection conducted in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 16.505(b)(1). Orders placed under FAR 16.505 Indefinite- Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contracts are not source selections and are not subject to FAR

15.3 procedures. Accordingly, issuance of an order under this Fair Opportunity Proposal Request (FOPR), should an award be made, shall follow the ordering procedures outlined in FAR 16.505, as supplemented.

B. The proposal submitted in response to this FOPR must be in compliance with the terms and conditions of the Enterprise-Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC) multiple award Indefinite- Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract, requirements as stated in the FOPR and attachments, and the Statement of Work (SOW). All claimed capabilities to meet the requirements shall be realistic and are subject to verification by the Government. Non-conformance with these instructions may result in rejection of the proposal or an unfavorable proposal evaluation, or being deemed ineligible for award. The Contracting Officer (CO) will select the best submission which conforms to the FOPR requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the submission instructions), and is judged, based off of the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA), price and other factors considered, to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the Offeror who is best suited to fulfill the Air Force requirements. Award will be made to the responsible Offeror whose proposal, conforming to the solicitation, is most advantageous to the Government on the basis of the lowest evaluated price of proposals meeting or exceeding the acceptability standards for non-cost factors. Tradeoffs are permitted. To be eligible for award, a proposal must be rated 'Acceptable' in every non-price factor.

Award will be made to the lowest-priced of all 'Acceptable' proposals.

C. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to FOPR terms and conditions and must provide complete supporting rationale. The Government reserves the right to determine any such exceptions are unacceptable. Any exception determined unacceptable by the Government may result in the Offeror’s proposal being determined unacceptable and ineligible for award. This information shall be provided in the format and content of the table below within the Offerors proposal cover letter. If no exceptions are taken, include a statement stating so within the proposal cover letter.

FOPR Exceptions

FOPR Document Page/ Paragraph Requirement/ Portion Rationale

PWS, ITO, Evaluation Factor, etc.

Applicable Page and Paragraph Numbers

Identify the requirement or portion to which exception is taken

Describe why the requirement can/will not be met

D. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and for substantiating the validity of stated claims. The proposal should not simply rephrase or restate the Government's requirements but, rather, shall provide convincing rationale to address how the Offeror intends to meet these requirements. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their facilities or experience and will base its evaluation on the information presented in the Offeror's proposal.

Attachment #2

E. Discrepancies. If an Offeror believes that the requirements in these instructions contain an error, omission, or are otherwise unsound, the Offeror shall immediately notify the CO in writing with supporting rationale as well as the remedies the Offeror is asking the CO to consider as related to the omission or error.

F Submit electronically via email in a format readable by Microsoft (MS) Word, Adobe Acrobat, MS Excel, and MS-Power Point or another format approved by the Contracting Officer.

The Offeror shall submit proposals for consideration no later than 12:00pm (Eastern Standard Time), 11 May 2026. Only one (1) proposal shall be submitted, per company, in response to this requirement.

Proposals received after the date/time specified will not be evaluated. Proposals shall be posted on System for Award Management (SAM.gov) as well as emailed to the Contract Specialist, Ms. Antwonett Richie at Antwonett.Richie@us.af.mil, and the Contracting Officer, Ms. Lena Hakim at Lena.Hakim@us.af.mil

Questions and Answers / Assumptions and Exceptions: Contractors are cautioned that all communications are to be channeled through the Contracting Officer. Any questions whether technical or contractual in nature shall be submitted in writing. Questions may be submitted in writing to the Contract Specialist (CS) at Antwonett.Richie@us.af.mil AND CO at Lena.Hakim@us.af.mil by 12:00pm (Eastern Standard Time), Friday, 01 May 2026. Questions will be consolidated and responses will be forwarded to all Contractors. No further questions will be addressed on this project after this date. Contractors shall address any assumptions and proposed exceptions to the Contracting Officer (CO) in their proposal.

G. Each Offeror shall submit proposals in three volumes. Volume One – Cover Letter and Technical, Volume Two – Price, Volume Three – Past Performance.

Format of proposal: Text shall be single-spaced, on an 8 ½ x 11 sheet with a minimum one-inch margin all around. Font shall be no less than Times New Roman 10 pt. Pages shall be numbered consecutively within each volume. The page limits prescribed are maximum page limits for each volume. When both sides of a sheet display printed material, it shall be counted as two (2) pages. Cover pages, tables of contents, cross-reference matrix, tabs, and glossaries shall not be counted against prescribed page limits.

Pages submitted in excess of these limits will not be read or considered in the Government’s evaluation of the proposal. All proposal information shall be submitted in either MS Word or PDF format except for Pricing information (Volume II). Pricing information shall be submitted in MS Excel format. Each volume shall be submitted as a separately-labeled electronic file.

All unit and extended prices provided shall be rounded to the nearest dollar. Extended prices must be divisible by the number of units proposed. All loaded labor rates shall be rounded to the nearest penny.

Submit your proposal electronically in accordance with the table below. All electronic submissions shall reference the complete FOPR number in the subject line.

VOLUME REFERENCE TITLE

MAXIMUM

NUMBER OF PAGES

I Cover Letter No page limit

Factor 1 Technical Approach See below

Sub-factor 1.1 Management/Technical Plan No page limit

II Factor 2 Price Attachment 6

Attachment #2

III Factor 3 Past Performance Attachment 7

(1) Volume I:

Cover Letter shall include Offerors’ contract number, small business status/categories, company primary and alternate points of contact with email/phone and who is authorized to contractually obligate the company, CAGE Code, DUNS number, a statement that the company understands the requirements specified and will meet the performance standards and requirements therein, a statement that the company does or does not take exception to any of the requirements of this order, acknowledges use of non-Government advisors (if applicable) and/or specific information if proposing a teaming arrangement.

FACTOR 1: Technical Approach The Technical Proposal should be specific and complete. Legibility, clarity, and coherence are very important. Your responses will be evaluated against the Technical subfactors. Provide as specifically as possible the actual methodology you would use for accomplishing SOW paragraph 4.1 through 4.3.

Address your technical capability solution for meeting or exceeding the Government’s minimum performance or capability requirements of each listed SOW requirement. All the requirements specified in the solicitation are mandatory. By your proposal submission, you are representing that your firm will perform all the requirements specified in the solicitation. Do not merely reiterate the objectives or reformulate the requirements specified in the FOPR.

(2) Volume II:

FACTOR 2: Price The offeror shall submit pricing information to support the completeness and reasonableness of their proposed prices for all CLINs with the exception of the cost CLINs. The pricing information submitted should fully support the PWS requirements for each major functional element specified in the SOW. A breakdown should be provided which shows the skill mix, labor categories, labor rates and position descriptions. Information shall be segregated by the performance periods, individual performance locations, and the total price for each CLIN as specified in the solicitation. Information shall also show the consolidated total price for performance. Price/Cost shall be submitted via Attachment 6 CLIN Pricing Schedule.

(3) Volume III:

FACTOR 3: Past Performance The Offeror shall complete a Past Performance Questionnaire (Attachment 7 PPQ) showing at least one

(1) but no more than three (3) examples where the offeror performed a recent and relevant effort (performed for Federal agencies and/or commercial customers). The submittal shall include in Section I

(2) Description of Service, and Section 4.a – Evaluation, rationale supporting your assertion of relevance and how it was determined that the work performed was the same or similar in nature, size, and complexity to the work specified by this solicitation. The Offeror will have the customer/agency complete the questionnaire and the customer/agency will return to the completed questionnaire to the contracting officer by 01 May 2026. COMPLETED QUESTIONNAIRE SHOULD NOT COME

FROM THE OFFEROR.

Attachment #2

2. Basis of Award:

A. Award will be made in accordance with the basic contract ordering procedures and the procedures specified in the FOPR, to the Offeror whose proposal results in the best value to the Government. An order may be awarded to the offeror who is deemed responsible IAW FAR 9.1, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the FOPR’s requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the FOPR instructions) and is judged, based on the evaluation factors and subfactors, to represent the best value to the Government.

B. Following receipt of responses to this FOPR, the Government will perform a comparative analysis (comparing Offeror proposals to one another) in order to select the offeror that is best suited to fulfill the requirements of the FOPR. Proposals found to be technically acceptable under Technical Subfactor 1 will then be evaluated and given a Past Performance Confidence Rating. Any tradeoffs will occur between Factor 1 (Technical) and Factor 3 (Past Performance). Failure to meet a requirement may result in a proposal being determined technically unacceptable.

C. Interchanges are fluid interaction(s) between the Contracting Officer (CO) and the Offerors that may address any aspect of the proposal and may or may not be documented in real time. The Government intends to make award based on the initial proposal submissions without conducting interchanges.

Therefore, each offer should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint.

However, the Government reserves the right to hold interchanges using Interchange Notices (INs) if, during the evaluation, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government. Offeror responses to INs will be considered in making the order selection decision. Interchanges may be conducted with one, some, or all offerors as the Government is not required to conduct interchanges with any or all Offerors responding to this FOPR.

Once the Government determines the Offeror that is best-suited to meet stated requirements, the Government reserves the right to communicate with only that Offeror to address any issues, if necessary, and finalize an order with that Offeror. If the parties cannot successfully resolve outstanding issues, as determined pertinent at the sole discretion of the Government, the Government may communicate with the next best-suited Offeror, based on the original analysis and address any necessary issues with that Offeror. If the government begins communication with the next best-suited Offeror, no further communication with the previous Offeror will be entertained until after order award.

This process will continue until an agreement is successfully reached and an order is awarded.

D. Evaluation Factors. IAW FAR 16.505, Ordering, regarding the relative importance of each factor:

Tradeoff is based upon an integrated assessment of the following three (3) factors, listed in order of importance: (1) Technical -- Subfactor 1.1 - Management Plan/Technical Approach; (2) Past Performance; (3) Price. Technical and Past Performance are more important than Price.

Responses to this FOPR will be evaluated against the following factors and subfactors:

(i) Factor 1: Technical Approach Subfactor 1.1: Management Plan/Technical: The proposal is technically acceptable when the proposed management and technical approach demonstrates an effective approach to assemble a team to meet or exceed the identified SOW requirements. The proposed plan demonstrates a clear approach to periodic and timely updates to the DEWS MDF to address emerging operational needs, Attachment #2 and interfaces between multiple software systems (A2PATS, SUTs, GUI etc) , how staff will respond to changing priorities and enhancing customer service while ensuring adequate levels of performance are being maintained. The Offeror shall provide a technical plan to meet these requirements.

The ratings for these sub-factors are as follows:

TECHNICAL CAPABILITY AND RATINGS

Rating Description

Acceptable Proposal meets requirements and demonstrates a complete understanding of the requirements

Unacceptable Proposal does not meet requirements of the solicitation, and thus, contains one or more deficiencies. Proposal is unawardable.

(ii) FACTOR 2: Cost/Price.

A. The Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by analysis of the total evaluated price (TEP). The TEP will be calculated as the sum of the Offeror’s proposed prices for all CPFF CLINs. For example, sum of the CLIN unit or extended prices, including the base period and all option periods.

B. Travel and ODCs are anticipated under this TO. A Cost Reimbursable Travel CLIN will be established/funded separately and will included in the pricing evaluation. ODCs will be covered under the primary labor CLIN. Pricing will receive an adjectival rating and will be evaluated for completeness, reasonableness and unbalanced pricing.

C. Completeness. The proposal will be reviewed to determine the extent to which all the price elements have been addressed. The Offeror’s proposed price and other information will be evaluated to ensure continuity and traceability of prices to the technical volume and between the initial proposal and any revisions thereto. The review will determine the adequacy of the Offeror’s proposal in addressing and fulfilling the FOPR requirements.

D. Reasonableness. For a price to be reasonable, it must represent a price to the Government that a prudent person would pay in the conduct of competitive business. The Government will determine prices fair and reasonable through the use of one or more of the price analysis techniques at FAR 15.404-1(b)(2).

E. Unbalanced pricing. Offerors are cautioned against submitting an offer that contains unbalanced pricing. Unbalanced pricing may increase performance risk and could result in payment of unreasonably high prices. Unbalanced pricing exists when, despite an acceptable

Attachment #2 total evaluated price, the price of one (1) or more contract line items is significantly over or understated. The Government shall analyze offers to determine whether they are unbalanced with respect to separately priced line items or sub-line items. An offer that is determined to be unbalanced may be rejected if the Contracting Officer determines that the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

(iii) FACTOR 3: Past Performance

Past Performance evaluation will be accomplished by reviewing aspects of the offeror’s recent and relevant past performance, focusing on and targeting performance which is relevant in terms of scope, complexity, and magnitude as it directly relates to the work being procured under this solicitation.

In conducting the past performance evaluation, the Government reserves the right to use both the information provided in the Offeror’s Past Performance Volume and information obtained from other sources, such as the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), the Contract Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) or similar systems, and commercial sources. Offerors are reminded that both independent data and data provided by Offerors in their proposals may be used by the Government to evaluate Offeror past performance. However, the burden of providing thorough, complete, and current past performance information as requested in this paragraph remains with the Offerors.

Proposals that do not contain the information requested, risk rejection. Past Performance will be evaluated using the following ratings:

Table 1. Performance Confidence Assessments Rating Description Substantial Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a high expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Satisfactory Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a reasonable expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

Limited Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has a low expectation that the offeror will successfully perform the required effort.

No Confidence Based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record, the Government has no expectation that the offeror will be able to successfully perform the required effort.

Unknown Confidence (Neutral)

No recent/relevant performance record is available or the offeror’s performance record is so sparse that no meaningful confidence assessment rating can be reasonably assigned.

Attachment #2

All past performance comments received will be taken into account and could affect the overall rating. The overall past performance evaluation is a subjective decision based on the whole of all data received. In the case of an Offeror without a record of relevant past performance or for whom information on past performance is not available, or so sparse that no meaningful past performance rating can be reasonably assigned; the Offeror may not be evaluated favorably or unfavorably on past performance (see FAR 15.305 (a)(2)(iv)). Therefore, the Offeror shall be determined to have unknown past performance and be deemed “neutral.”

In the event an Offeror is not able to provide any documentation regarding relevant past performance, then the Offeror shall provide a statement to that effect. In your selection of recent and relevant projects/programs, consider the following:

Recency: For the purposes of evaluation under this solicitation, recency is past performance within the last three (3) years from the date of issuance of this solicitation and is limited to no more than 4 pages per relevant contract reference (Attch 7 PPQ).

Relevancy, as it pertains to past performance information, is a measure of the extent of similarity between the service/support effort, complexity, dollar value, contract type, and the Offeror’s role as a subcontractor and/or teaming partner or other comparable attributes of past performance examples and a measure of the likelihood that the past performance is an indicator of future performance.

Relevancy will be evaluated using the following ratings:

Table 2. Past Performance Relevancy Ratings Rating Definition Relevant Present/past performance effort involved similar discipline of work and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Not Relevant Present/past performance effort involved little or none of the scope and magnitude of effort and complexities this solicitation requires.

Submission Requirements. The offeror shall submit a Past Performance Volume containing the following:

• Past Performance Questionnaire – see Attachment 7: The Offeror shall forward a copy of the past performance questionnaire to the points of contact responsible for monitoring performance under such contracts. The points of contact shall return the questionnaires not later than 01 May 2026 via email to: Antwonett.Richie@us.af.mil and Lena.Hakim@us.af.mil

The e-mail Subject line shall state the following:

Past Performance for F-15QA DEWS MDF Eglin

Autotest

Attachment #2

Any questionnaires not returned directly to this Government email address will not be reviewed and evaluated.

The information contained in the questionnaires will be used to evaluate the Offeror’s past performance.

E. Responsibility Determination. Information obtained from other sources available to the Government such as the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) will be used as part of the responsibility determination made IAW FAR 9.104-1.

If an Organizational Conflict of Interest Mitigation Plan is needed add that requirement to the contract documentation. It will be assessed with Responsibility.

3. Point of contact (POC): The POC for this acquisition is: Contracting Officer, Ms. Lena Hakim, can be reached by email at Lena.Hakim@us.af.mil and Contract Specialist, Ms. Antwonett Richie, can be reached by email at Antwonett.Richie@us.af.mil

4. Ombudsman. In accordance with AFFARS 5352.201-9101, Ombudsman (JUL 2023), an Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from Offerors, potential Offerors, and others for this acquisition. If resolution cannot be made by the CO, concerned parties may contact the following agency:

Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS)(Contracting), SAF/AQC 1060 Air Force Pentagon Washington, DC 20330-1060 Phone: (571) 256-2395