AFSIM FORGE FAQs (1).docx

AFSIM FORGE FAQs (Combines all questions from clarifications posted Part 1 and 2)

1. Can you share if there is an incumbent already in place?

Yes, there are incumbents in place.

2. I read your OCI language in the ARA solicitation document as well as the referenced DFFARS clause, however, the language is still somewhat ambiguous. Is there any way you could provide offerors more specific guidance?

A potential OCI exists due to the possibility that the AMMO prime contractor and subcontractor(s) may provide systems engineering and/or technical direction but will not have overall contractual responsibility for the system's (i.e., AFSIM’s) development, integration, assembly and checkout, or production.

The Government identified the following positions under AMMO as providing systems engineering and/or technical direction for AFSIM: Product Manager, Product Owner, Software Systems Engineer, Cybersecurity Engineer, Operations Research Analyst, Special Project Engineer, DevOps Engineer, and SysOps Engineer. Therefore, any AMMO prime contractor and subcontractor fulfilling these roles will be ineligible for AFSIM R&D contract awards, to include REBASE and AFSIM FORGE, during the duration of AMMO.

a. If an offeror is awarded AFSIM FORGE, is there any possibility that they can perform as a prime or subcontractor on AMMO?

If an offeror is awarded AFSIM FORGE, they cannot perform as a prime on AMMO, but they can perform as a subcontractor on AMMO to fulfill positions that do not provide systems engineering and/or technical direction.

b. Same question reversed: If an offeror is awarded AMMO, is there any possibility that they can perform as a prime or subcontractor on AFSIM FORGE?

If an offeror is awarded AMMO as a prime contractor, they cannot be a prime or subcontractor on AFSIM FORGE. If an offeror receives a subcontract award under AMMO to fulfill a position providing systems engineering and/or technical direction for AFSIM, they cannot be a prime or subcontractor on AFSIM FORGE. If an offeror receives a subcontract award under AMMO to fulfill a position that does not provide systems engineering and/or technical direction for AFSIM, they can be a prime or subcontractor on AFSIM FORGE.

c. Would the Government be willing to entertain any OCI mitigation plan to make either of the above possible or does the Government consider the OCI unmitigable?

At this time, the Government considers the OCI unmitigable.

3. For those offerors who are qualified and eligible to bid on both AMMO and AFSIM FORGE as a prime, has the Government considered the possibility of an offeror bidding on both? How would this situation be handled? Specifically:

a. Can an offeror submit bids for both AMMO and AFSIM FORGE?

Yes, they can.

b. If an offeror was allowed to submit a bid for both AMMO and AFSIM FORGE and did so, and then was selected as an apparent awardee on one solicitation, would they be required to withdraw their other bid to receive award on the first?

No, the offeror would not be required to withdraw their bid.

4. Regarding attachment 10 AFRL Privacy Act for Covered Individuals, does each person working on the contract need to sign this document or does the contractors contracting officer sign on behalf of the company?

Whoever is authorized to sign for the contractor would sign as the Institution's authorized rep. The Privacy statements are only required for Covered Individual. "An individual who contributes to a substantive, meaningful way to the scientific development or execution of a research and development project proposed to be carried out with a research and development award from a federal research agency; and is designated as a covered individual by the federal research agency concerned. See 42 U.S.C. § 6605, Definitions. (Note: For purposes of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation, “covered individuals” are all Senior/Key Personnel.)"

5. Does any organization we team with on this ARA need to reach out to you directly to receive the CUI documents?

Yes.

6. Reference: TO 0001 SOO p. 5 & p. 9 The technical proposal guidance tip on page 5 states “The MMO is requesting a single proposal from each offeror that covers all task order objectives and options.” Further, under the ‘Objectives’ heading it states “Offerors shall propose a disciplined approach to pursue the following objectives” which implies a requirement of covering ALL objectives. The page count limitations also message offerors that trade-offs are necessary since the max page count per objective is 5 and there are 6 objectives. 6*5 is 30 which is over the volume page count limit of 25. Is it specifically required that offerors cover all objectives to be found awardable, despite perceived strengths in specific objectives and critical weaknesses in other objectives?

Yes, the offeror must propose to all objectives and follow the page count limitations.

7. For the Personnel Quals section of the TO technical proposal, see screenshot below:

Assuming we bid to all objectives and all options, there are 16 combined principal and coordinating roles. We are limited to 16 pages, but are we allowed to fit personnel qualifications summaries for more than 16 individuals into the section? For instance, if we want to propose all 16 principal and coordinating roles and include the resume of our PM or other key performers, is that allowed, if we are able to maintain the maximum of 16 pages?

Yes, the intent is to allow up to 16 pages for personnel qualifications with no more than one page for a single individual. Offerors can provide details on more than one team member per page assuming all formatting requirements are followed.

8. For the TO technical proposal, should the cover page be numbered page “1” in accordance with the instructions for the IDIQ?

IDIQ

TO

Yes, the TO proposal page numbering shall start with the cover page as page 1. The table in TO 0001 SOO Section 9.14 should have stated “1 page” for the cover page instead of “NC”.

9. For the cost proposal, is there any guidance on how the time for current performers, anticipated to support REBASE through the end of December 2025 should be deconflicted with proposed performance on AFSIM FORGE from Sep 15-Dec 31, 2025?

Offerors should plan on AFSIM FORGE awards on 15 SEP 2025. Offerors should plan on AFSIM FORGE startup from 15 SEP 2025 through 31 DEC 2025 consisting of program planning and coordination. Offerors should plan for development to begin under AFSIM FORGE on 2 JAN 2026.

10. What is the minimum SPRS score for an offeror to receive the AFSIM FORGE SOO and SOW?

To be eligible to receive the AFSIM FORGE SOO and SOW an offeror must have a minimum SPRS score of 100 if the score is a self-assessment score. If offeror has performed an assessment through a Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) then a minimum score of 88 is acceptable. At time of award, it is expected that all performers have a minimum SPRS score of 110 if score is a result from a self-assessment or a minimum of 88 if assessed through a C3PAO.

11. Does the SPRS requirements apply to subcontractors?

Yes, all subcontractors on an offeror’s proposal must also meet the minimum SPRS requirement to be eligible for award under AFSIM FORGE. If offerors proposal includes work to be done by a subcontractor team that does not meet the minimum SPRS requirement then those sections of the proposal will not be considered as part of the evaluation process.

12. In the solicitation, there is this paragraph:

including the statement: "Additional information on prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, use of base support (if desired), data and facilities and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal."

Is this information intended to go in the TO technical/management proposal, or is it supposed to be included in an attached document? Specifically for resumes/personnel qualifications, are we supposed to include personnel qualifications in the TO proposal and then ALSO include staff resumes in an attachment?

The information is intended to go in the TO technical/management proposal to include the optional appendices. Offerors shall follow the page limit constraints for the TO technical/management proposal provided in Section 9.14 of the TO 0001 SOO.

13. What is the current vision by AFSIM FORGE leadership for the composition of the "team-of-teams" that will be working AFSIM FORGE? Given the anticipation of 2-4 awards, is the intention for multiple contractors to be directly contracted to provide specialized support in specific areas, or is the expectation that a smaller number of prime contractors will be awarded, with more limited or specialized support being subcontracted through those primes?

The Government envisions making 2-4 partial Task Order 0001 awards. These partial TO awards would be made by objective meaning that an objective will be awarded to a single offeror and not split among two or more offerors. The Government does not envision making more than one award for any objective. As a result, a partial TO award would consist of at least one objective but may include multiple objectives. The “team-of-teams” describes the offerors that receive partial TO awards. Collectively, these awards are envisioned to cover all objectives outlined in the TO 0001 SOO.

14. Are there any limitations regarding a prime proposing to AFSIM FORGE? I wasn’t sure if this was a small business focused effort, or open to all.

It is open to all offerors that meet the stated criteria.

15. The SOO provides Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) estimates for each objective and option. Are these FTE estimates intended to represent the total anticipated effort across all contractors participating in AFSIM FORGE, or are they representative of the effort expected from a single contractor?

The FTE estimates provide an estimate of the level of effort associated with each objective and option. The Government anticipates making a single award for each objective, so the FTE estimate represents the total effort associated with an objective or option.

16. How do models developed under AFSIM FORGE (SOW Section 4.2.3.1) relate to similar products developed by other organizations?

There are no established dependencies between AFSIM FORGE and other organizations’ plans or products. The focus is on the ability to collaborate.

17. Can the offerors provide a table of contents/figures and an acronym list? Does this count against page count, or is it NC similar to the Cover Sheet?

Yes, offerors can provide a table of contents and an acronym list. If provided, they will count towards the page limits.

18. Personnel Qualifications references that 1 additional page per team member. Does this reference refer to 1 page per person or 1 page per prime/subcontractor team member (company)?

“Team member” was intended to represent individual people on the team. The individuals covered can be prime contractors or subcontractors. Additionally, more than one individual can be covered per page.

19. The solicitation states that the Principal Investigator must have at minimum an Engineering degree. Does this include Computer Science?

The inclusion of the Principal Investigator in Attachment 8 was an error and was corrected. Please see the updated Attachment 8.

20. In Attachment 8 SOW Supplemental, the Government identifies a Principal Investigator as the only required key position for this effort. As the SOW is applicable to the IDIQ, we also assume the SOW Supplemental is applicable at the IDIQ level. However, the contractor is only requested to provide pricing for the TO. Further in the SOO, on page 5 under Section 1.5 Design Intent, the government states "It is in the best interest of the offerors to structure technical and cost proposals in a modular fashion to support partial awards by objective and option." What does the Government anticipate as the overall level of effort for the PI, and their interaction with the objective/option teams? AND Should this position be costed at the TO level or should some portion thereof be assigned to each objective and option?

The inclusion of the Principal Investigator in Attachment 8 was an error and was corrected. Please see the updated Attachment 8 for the three key positions and their associated objectives.

21. Could you please clarify if the requirements outlined in Attachment 2 TO 0001 Sections 9.7 (Team), 9.8 (Portfolio), and 9.9 (Resources) are included within the ten-page limit specified for Section 9.6 (Staffing Approach and Qualifications) as if they are subsections of 9.6, or do these sections have separate page limitations?

Sections 9.7 (Team), 9.8 (Portfolio), and 9.9 (Resources) are included within the ten-page limit specified for Section 9.6 (Staffing Approach and Qualifications) as if they are subsections of 9.6.

22. How will the Government count pages for objectives and options if a section does not begin at the top of a page?

When an objective or option begins within a page, the Government will use general inspection to ensure that an objective or option technical approach does not obviously exceed the per objective or per option page limit (i.e., the Government will not count lines to ensure that individual approaches do not exceed per objective/option guidance by a minor amount). The overall objective and option sections shall start on a new page and be no longer than the page limits outlined in TO 0001 Section 9.

23. Paragraph IV.2.c.ii of the ARA indicates that "The Technical/Management proposal(s) for the Basic IDIQ, T.O. 0001 shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information on prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, use of base support (if desired), data and facilities and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal." Is this “additional information” to be repeated in both the IDIQ and the TO 0001 proposals? If so, are the resumes included in the 20 pages for the IDIQ proposal? Or is it like for TO-0001 where it’s a separate appendix?

The Basic IDIQ proposal is limited to 20 pages and does not include appendices like the TO 0001 technical proposal. Offerors can reference the TO 0001 technical proposal appendices in their Basic IDIQ technical proposals to cover additional information on prior work, descriptions of available equipment, use of base support (if desired), data and facilities, and resumes of personnel who will be participating in the effort.

24. Are we supposed to provide SF424 (Attch 6) filed for the proposed key personnel as part of the business volume?

Yes, the SF424 will be a part of the business volume.

25. Is the filled security questionnaire (Attch 9) to be delivered with the proposal, or is this a contract item?

Please deliver the Security Program Questionnaire as part of the proposal.

26. If a subcontractor needs to submit additional pricing information, should they request their own DoD SAFE link for direct delivery to the government?

Please attempt to deliver all subcontractor pricing information with the Prime’s proposal. However, if necessary, the subcontractor can submit a DOD SAFE drop off.

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