Amendment 3--CC DROIDS Call-QA--24 Aug 2023.pdf

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA):

FA2391-23-S-2403

Pioneering Aerospace Capabilities, Engineering, and Research (PACER)

CALL Name:

Collaborative Center for the Design and Research Of InterDisciplinary Systems

(CC DROIDS)

AMENDMENT 3

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT TITLE: Broad Agency Announcement FA8650-23- S-2403, “Collaborative Center for the Design and Research Of InterDisciplinary Systems (CC

DROIDS)”

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Air Force Research Laboratory, AFRL/RQ Aerospace Systems Directorate

GRANTS POCs:

Chris DeLaet Grants Specialist E-mail address: Christopher.DeLaet.3@us.af.mil

Susan Lee Grants Officer E-mail address: Susan.Lee.1@us.af.mil

The Broad Agency Announcement FA2391-23-S-2403, Pioneering Aerospace Capabilities, Engineering, and Research (PACER), CALL Name Collaborative Center for the Design and Research Of InterDisciplinary Systems (CC DROIDS), is hereby amended to make the following clarifications:

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS (continued numbering from Amendment 2)

9. QUESTION: Do references count within the 25 page limit?

ANSWER: Pages shall be numbered starting with the cover page being Page 1, and the last page being no greater than Page 25. The page limitation covers all information including indices, photographs, foldouts (counted as 1 page for each 8.5 by 11 portion) tables, charts, appendices, attachments, resumes, table of contents, references, etc.

10. QUESTION: Also, what about a page for Table of Contents? Does that count toward the 25 page limit?

ANSWER: Pages shall be numbered starting with the cover page being Page 1, and the last page being no greater than Page 25. The page limitation covers all information including indices, photographs, foldouts (counted as 1 page for each 8.5 by 11 portion) tables, charts, appendices, attachments, resumes, table of contents, references, etc.

11. QUESTION: Page 5 of the BAA FA2391-23-S-2403 (filename "Call for CC DROIDS— 27 July 2023.pdf"), shows the attached breakdown for the budget. Should we strictly adhere to this distribution over the years? One potential difficulty is the amount on FY24 ($210k), which is about one third of the subsequent years. Is this because you anticipate that not all projects start until FY25, or is there another reason?

ANSWER: The funding profile is based on likely realities of the executability of funding, allowing for the evolution from detailed discussions/development of tasks and expectations primarily with faculty, to initial student recruitment, before realizing the full burn rate.

CLARIFICATIONS:

Reference Paragraph IV a. of the Call: Proposal Submission Information, Cooperative Agreement Proposals. The following General Instructions are added to that Paragraph.

4) General Instructions for Content and Form of Proposal Submission for this Call are as follows:

(a) Technical/Management and Cost/Business volumes should be submitted in separate volumes and must be valid for at least 180 days. Offerors must state this on the cover page of each volume of their proposal.

(b) Proposals must reference the announcement number FA2391-23-S-2403 and the Call Name (Collaborative Center for the Design and Research Of InterDisciplinary Systems (CC DROIDS)).

(c) Offerors are advised that only Grant Officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the Government.

(d) No classified Technical/Management Proposals or Cost/Business Proposals/Volumes are expected. Offerors are encouraged to keep all elements of the proposal package unclassified.

(e) The Government will not consider pages in excess of the stated limitations.

In addition to the above general instructions, specific instructions for the Technical/Management and Cost/Business Proposal, paragraph IV, a. 1) of the Call, is expanded to include:

(a) Technical/Management Proposals and Statements of Work (SOW):

1. Font shall be standard 10-point business font Arial.

2. Character spacing must be “normal,” not condensed in any manner.

3. Must be provided in Microsoft Word. Signed pages may be submitted in Adobe.

4. Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW.

5. Pages shall be double-spaced (must use standard double-space function in

Microsoft Word), 8.5 by 11 inches, with at least one-inch margins on both sides, top and bottom.

6. All text, including text in tables and charts, must adhere to all font size and line spacing requirements listed herein. Font and line spacing requirements do not have to be followed for illustrations, flowcharts, drawings, diagrams, cover page, table of contents, and restrictive/proprietary markings (in header or footer). These exceptions shall not be used to circumvent formatting requirements and page count limitations by including lengthy narratives in such items.

(b) Cost/Business Proposals/Volumes have no formatting limitations. Separate the Cost/Business Proposals/Volumes into a Cost section and Business section.

1. The Business section should contain all business aspects to the proposed agreement, such as any exceptions to terms and conditions of the announcement, including the Cooperative Agreement Articles (Attachment 3 from Call Announcement), any information not technically related, etc.

Provide rationale for exceptions.

i. If an offeror takes exceptions to the terms and conditions called out in the announcement the exceptions should be clearly stated in the Cost/Business Proposal/Volume.

ii. Identify any technical data that will be delivered with less than unlimited rights.

2. For the Cost Volume, the cost file(s) spreadsheets must be in Microsoft Excel and include the formulas for calculating cost element bases (i.e., G&A, O/H, etc.). Offerors should include a project funding profile by Government Fiscal Year (GFY) (1 Oct through 30 Sept) for budgetary purposes.

The Cost Element Breakdown should include the following, if applicable:

i. Direct Labor. Direct labor should be detailed by number of labor hours by category of labor with their applicable rates.

ii. Labor and Overhead Rates. The source of labor and overhead rates and all pricing factors should be identified. For instance, if a Forward Pricing Rate Agreement (FPRA) is in existence, that should be provided, along with the Administrative Contracting Officer’s (ACO's) name and telephone number. If the rates are based on current experience in your organization, provide the historical base used and clearly identify all escalation, by year, applied to derive the proposed rates. If computer usage is determined by a rate, identify the basis used and rationale used to derive the rate.

iii. Material/Equipment and/or Special Tooling or Test Equipment. List all material/equipment items by type and kind with associated costs and advise if the costs are based on vendor quotes, data and/or engineering estimates; provide copies of vendor quotes and/or catalog pricing data.

iv. Subrecipient Costs. Submit all subrecipient analyses with the Cost Proposal. If the subrecipient will not submit cost and pricing information to the offeror, this information must be submitted directly to the Government for analysis.

v. Consultants. When consultants are proposed to be used in the performance of the agreement, identify each consultant, number of hours or days to be used and the consultant's rate per hour or day.

vi. Travel. Travel costs must be justified and related to the needs of the project. Identify the number of trips, the destination and purpose.

Travel costs should be broken out by trip with number of travelers, airfare, per diem, lodging, etc.

vii. Computer Use. Detail the amount and kind of computer usage, the cost, and how the costs were derived.

viii. Any/all other costs and detailed breakdown.

Reference Page 1 of the Call, Paragraph entitled: PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND TIME.

The following instructions are added to that Paragraph.

If your proposal contains Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) or if your proposal package is greater than 20 MB, you must submit your proposal using DoD SAFE, https://safe.apps.mil/, to the following 2 addresses:

Susan.Lee.1@us.af.mil and Christopher.DeLaet.3@us.af.mil

If the University needs a DoD SAFE drop-off invite from the AF, please send that request to Christopher.DeLaet.3@us.af.mil and Susan.Lee.1@us.af.mil and No Later Than 7 days prior to the due date of proposals to ensure a drop off code is provided in a timely manner.

Hard copy proposals will not be accepted.