DEPT OF AIR FORCE-Mentor Protege Open Call-Ask Me Anything QandA 31Dec24-FINAL.pdf

Department of the Air Force Mentor Protégé Program Ask-Me-Anything Questions and Answers

18 Dec 2024

1. Can you please provide an example of the Mentor Admin costs (slide 22) - and how that differs from the Business Development Assistance?

The Mentor Protégé Pilot Initiative (PPI) administrative fee is meant to offset some of the mentor’s expenses as it relates to handling the funds (finance, program management, purchasing system requirements, etc.) and facilitating the reporting on the usage of the funds. Example, as the funding will be put on the Mentor’s contract, there will be some time required from the mentor to process purchases (if applicable) or cut reimbursement checks to the Protégé.

2. How does one become a non-traditional mentor?

All potential mentors, whether traditional or non-traditional, must apply using the DoD Mentor Protégé Program Portal (https://mpp.acq.osd.mil/mpp/#/), managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of Small Business Programs

(OSD/OSBP).

3. What can the $500,000 be applied to for the mentor in cost?

The Mentor Protégé funding may be used for the reimbursement of developmental assistance (engineering and technical assistance (please refer to Attachment 8 of the Open Call for examples) or general business development assistance (please refer to attachment 9 of the Open Call for examples)) provided to a protégé.

4. Where is the transaction data for the reimbursement from the Government to the prime and the sub-posted? I see nothing on FPDS or at least anything obvious?

Contracts awarded under the Mentor Protégé are reported to FPDS-NG like any other contract. There is no selection in FPDS-NG to identify a contract as specifically Mentor Protégé. However, I recommend searching the two-word term “Mentor Protege” or “MPP” or “MPA” in the description field, without the Protégé accents, and 90+% of the agreements will pop up. Further, usually both the Mentor firm’s and Protégé firms were named in the Description field and the verb phrases “mentoring” or “is mentoring” were used.

5. If a protege needs assistance from a third party for say, developing a product, how much could they be reimbursed for that assistance?

There are no limitations on the amount a subcontractor may be reimbursed for a task. All costs will be evaluated for allowability, allocability and reasonableness.

6. Is there any way we can submit a proprietary technical addendum with standard proprietary markings? As a potential protege, this would help us https://mpp.acq.osd.mil/mpp/ show the differentiation of our new technology compared to incumbent technologies.

All Department of the Air Force Mentor Protégé program Open Call responses are evaluated only by Government employees, not contractors. Proprietary information, properly marked, may be included. A DoD SAFE link for responses and submittals to DAF may be requested to facilitate protected submission.

7. Would it be useful to get Letters of Support from DoD components, and can we add these to the proposal? If so, where do we add them?

We do not discourage the inclusion of letters of support in applications, however, the DAF Mentor Protégé program does not require them.

8. Are the areas evaluated shown in the needs assessment template up to the mentor and protege to define?

Yes, the areas shown in the template are for example only. The areas evaluated are unique to every Mentor Protégé effort and are to be determined between a mentor and protégé. It is expected that every capability assessed be documented, even if work will not be proposed in that area. This is to demonstrate thoroughness of the assessment activity.

9. Date TAP is due date to DAF?

All responses are currently due by 31 Jan 2025 at 3:00 PM EST (Washington DC time).

10. Date agreement will go to OSD OSBP MPP for funding? Date agreements will be funded? Begin date of developmental assistance?

Currently DAF is not able to provide an estimate for the above milestones, due to many unknown variables outside DAF control. Once the open call closes, and more information comes into focus, DAF may be able to release an estimated award schedule for the above milestones.

11. Can the MPP be used to get a protégé a clearance?

A mentor may use Mentor Protégé to assist a protégé in the clearance process, but there is no guarantee that the MPP agreement will result in a clearance or a clearance at a certain level, as that is controlled by a different office(s).

12. Are the only subcontractors allowed the ones on the authorized subcontractor list? Can a portion be subcontracted out to an agency/entity not on that list?

It depends on the dollar value of the subcontract (see FAR subpart 44.201-1 Consent requirements). Our practice has been to evaluate and then authorize in writing the subcontract if it exceeds the greater of the simplified acquisition threshold ($150,000) or 5 percent of the total estimated cost of the contract. A mentor is not limited to only those organizations on the authorized subcontractor(s) listed in the contract, if it is less than the simplified acquisition threshold or 5 percent of the total estimated cost of the contract. However, if a mentor has authorized subcontractor(s), a reasonable effort should be made by the mentor to investigate if there is capability resident within the authorized subcontractor’s organization to accomplish the task, or class offering. If after a reasonable investigation, no qualified authorized subcontractor is identified as being able to perform the needed task, or class offering, the Mentor may identify a party not on the list, either in their initial proposal or later via contract modification request. The original plan needs to be detailed in Attachment 1 – DAF MPP Proposed Agreement Information Template.

Please note, it is not the Government’s expectation to use the authorized subcontractor organizations as pass through entities. If their participation is identified, their participation must be value added.

13. Need to provide supplier assistance in standing up a secure facility, would this be an acceptable project?

This is an acceptable assistance activity.

14. Can a protege be a non-profit or an academic institution?

A protégé must meet the definition of “disadvantaged small business concern” as defined in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Appendix I, Policy and Procedures for the DoD Mentor-Protege Program, Section I-102 (b).

15. Regarding funding, you mentioned the current CR and the incoming new administration. What about "Move America"? Does the AF plan to start using that contracting vehicle?

No, currently, the Department does not anticipate using the “Move America” contracting vehicle.

16. Is the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) supposed to include the base (1st year) and options (2 years) as one total or broken down into cost per year?

The ROM should be broken down by contract year. Please refer to Attachment 1 – DAF MPP Proposed Agreement Information Template Section C for specific information.

17. Is the $500,000 funding level a hard ceiling? If an Mentor Protégé Agreement

Application shows justification, can the funding be higher?

The $500,000 per year funding value is not a hard ceiling. If the value of any year of the proposed developmental assistance effort exceeds the $500,000 per year threshold, the supporting documentation must appropriately detail why there is a need to and the benefits of exceeding the threshold, in order to be approved by the Department.

18. On Mentor Eligibility requirements – If a firm has $25 million in revenues, is a prime contractor, that graduated from the 8(a) Business Development Program, and demonstrates capability to assist in Protege development, is approving of this entity totally at the discretion of the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Office of Small Business Programs (OSD/OSBP)? These are OR, not AND bullet points - if we meet any of the 4, we should be eligible, correct?

The OSD/OSBP, per DFARS, Appendix I, has the sole authority to approve mentors.

19. How many MPA applications are typically received yearly? What is the percentage approval rate historically?

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) has enjoyed a steady increase of applications, resulting from every announcement since 2015. For the FY23 Open Call Announcement, the DAF received 23 applications.

Since 2015, DAF Mentor Protégé has been able to award all acceptable applications due to availability of funds. For the FY23 Open Call, the DAF made 16 awards.

20. Please expound on Mentors submitting Indirect Cost Rate Agreements in Step 1?

For Step 1, indirect cost rate agreements are not required. The note is meant as a preparatory statement for potential Step 2 activity.

21. Attachment 2 Needs Assessment and Attachment 3 Developmental Assistance Approach: These were previously submitted with Step 2. Confirm that the DAF wants to see these in Step 1 submissions?

Yes, these documents are now required in Step 1.

22. A comprehensive Needs Assessment and Developmental Approach with full WBS seems to create "unnecessary proposal development costs…" if the tentative agreement is not selected.

This decision was made based on historical analysis that over 90% of past Step 1 applications already included this information. Additionally, this change now has all technical information provided under one step providing better insight into the proposed developmental assistance activities.

23. For the Step 1 Protégé Cost Spreadsheet: Should we submit the full cost breakdown for protégé, or just a ROM based on the corresponding Mentor ROM? It would be difficult to provide these values based on a tentative (draft) agreement/ developmental approach.

Step 1 only requires a ROM estimate for the developmental assistance efforts. In Step 2 a full cost reimbursable type cost proposal is required that can be evaluated for allowability, allocability and reasonableness.

For the Protégé Pilot Initiative (PPI), a full cost breakdown is required for all proposed contract years.

24. Step 1 does not require a Mentor to be approved by OSBP by January 31, 2025?

Step 1 does not require a Mentor to already be an approved mentor before applying.

A mentor may either 1) provide a statement (be sure to include the date of approval) that the Mentor Firm has been previously approved under the DoD Mentor-Protégé Program (provide a copy of approval letter, if available) and is still eligible to participate as a Mentor Firm per the requirements set by DFARS Appendix I-102 or

2) identify anticipated schedule to submit a Mentor Application to OSD/OSBP.

25. But PPI is limited to 25% of the core agreement costs.

Correct. A protege firm may receive up to 25 percent of the reimbursement for which the mentor firm of such protege firm is eligible under the core Mentor Protege Agreement.

26. Is the PPI available each year of the agreement or only the first year of the

MPA?

The Protégé Pilot Initiative (PPI) is available for every proposed contract year of the Mentor Protégé agreement.

27. Do those additional options - (4th and 5th year) need to be proposed at Stage

1?

No, these options years are not to be proposed at Stage 1.

28. Let’s say the 25% was $125,000, and the protégé has a pilot initiative buy list equal to $200,000 for all equipment needed for their pilot project. Should they only list the items that are within the $125K, or list all items knowing they will only get the funds for the $125K? For example, if the purchase list is: Item 1 ($50K), Item 2 ($100K), and Item 3 ($25K), should they only list Items 1 and 2 since those are either fully or partially contained within the $125k? Or should they list all items to show the entire scope of the pilot project knowing they will only get reimbursed for the $125K?

Only the items that will be fully or partially funded by the Protégé Pilot Initiative should be listed.

29. The protégé should fill out the PPI documents for all 3 years (Base and 2

Option years) but they will only receive the funding for each year when that year arrives, correct?

Information for all proposed contract years should be completed and submitted in Step 1, and yes, the base year would be the first PPI available, if approved.

30. They will not receive it as a lump sum payment of the collective 25% for the entire MPP lifecycle?

Protégé Pilot Initiative (PPI) funding will be awarded by contract year, not as a lump sum for the whole agreement.