Q A_2.pdf

Question:

Can the government technical team discuss technical approaches on how to deal with this unexpected funding profile (heavily loaded in years 3 and 4)?

Answer:

No. The technical team understands how the funding profile may shape important technical questions, however, the acquisition process at this stage would not allow for discussions of this nature. The best advice for a competitive BAA at this stage would be for each offeror to propose what it views as the best technical approach based on the information in the published BAA and Call 2. The proposal should explain and justify why the company believes that this is the best technical approach, accounting for all aspects including a defined funding profile.

Does the Air Force consider it acceptable to consider technology insertion opportunities for the technologies used on MAST 2 beyond the 2016 timeframe?

Answer:

Relevant BAA Section: Call 2 I-1.4 (page 6 of 34) - Development and transition of technologies or methodologies throughout the entire time period of the proposed program would be acceptable as long as the work is done in direct support of RP21 2017 A&S goal attainment. The proposal would need to defend how these technology insertion opportunities directly contribute to the RP21 goal attainment.

This application of technology throughout the five year program is realistic based on the nature of varying types of technology applied to the A&S development over the past decades (i.e., beyond hardware, the community has worked on physics-based models, chemical investigations, NDE analysis, sensor technology application, etc.) that could be developed outside of hardware and applied to the overall effort of demonstration of RP21 A&S goal attainment. The government is interested in a comprehensive program (Call 2 III-1.4.3, III-1.4.7).

In addition to motor instrumentation, data acquisition methodologies and implementation also are expected to improve beyond the 2016 timeframe. Does the Air Force expect TRL-5 in these areas also?

Answer:

Relevant BAA Section: Call 2 I-1.5.12 (page 7 of 34) - The government expects that all methodologies and technologies utilized to demonstrate RP21 2017 A&S goal attainment would be matured to a TRL 5 by the end of the project (2021). Because this long effort is focused on the demonstration of the goal attainment, there is no requirement for a starting TRL.

Can offerors be relieved of the font requirement on the proposal if using the Aerial Font size 11 in figures and graphs causes distortion?

Answer:

No. The requirements set forth in Call 2 can be found on page 13, Section III-1.2.1:

III-1.2.1. The text shall be 11-point Arial single space with 10pt spacing between paragraphs, with no text or line compression, for all text body, figures, tables or attachments, unless otherwise directly specified in the proposal structure below or BAA templates. If another font, font size, or paragraph spacing is utilized, the incorrectly formatted sections will be reformatted in the electronic version and any overflow beyond limits will be removed. The remaining document would then be evaluated as is.

Graphs, charts and text shall be evaluated using the hard copy proposals and must be legible in order to evaluate them thoroughly.