1st and 2nd Round of QA.pdf

1st Round and 2nd Round of Questions and Answers

22 Jul 2021

EAFB-001

This topic has been removed from the solicitation. Insufficient funding is available to procure this requirement. It will possibly be resolicited next fiscal year.

EAFB-002

1. I have reviewed the bid, and unfortunately, we can not provide 24/7 service. We are also not a listed vendor, so I’m concerned about our ability to meet the requirements to participate.

Answer: Please see the revised topic description for EAFB-002 concerning technical support.

2. I’m also concerned about the ability to use a wireless protocol within the naval base. We have had prior projects rejected by the military because our system uses the 802.15.4 protocol.

Answer: Information on the current wifi protocol is not available at this time.

EAFB-003

1. We are able to provide the autonomous floor scrubbers in the proposal. Will you accept a bid just for the autonomous floor scrubber?

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

2. Will we have access to wifi in the building? If not, will you provide a SIM card or will you require us to provide one? If we are providing, do you have a preference of carrier (Best cellular signal in warehouse)

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

3. Does your warehouse consist of racking only or does it include bulk areas? If both, what % is racking and what % is bulk?

Answer: 90% of the warehouse is racking and 10% is bulk.

4. If your warehouse has bulk storage - is it consistently full or are there days where they are empty?

Answer: The bulk is never empty, but there is not much in the area.

5. What are the aisle widths between racking? This will allow us to determine the correct size/configuration of the scrubber.

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

6. Do you plan to scrub floors during business hours or after? As in, will there be personnel working in the area that is being cleaned or is the warehouse empty?

Answer: The scrubber will be used during after-hours. We do have a night shift that consists of 4 personnel.

7. Do you currently perform a walk thru/pre-sweep to remove debris (big wood chunks, plastic wrap). If not, will you be able to perform a pre-sweep to prep the floors for scrubbing?

Answer: Yes - walk thru/pre-sweep performed.

8. Are you guys bidding the industrial cylindrical scrubber autonomous machine or all different types. We could also submit a bid for the model T7AMR if you like which is less money.

Answer: We will make our selection based on the best solution. Please evaluation criteria in the submittal instructions.

9. We were initially asked to price the proposal for 5 years - the instructions states up to 3 years. At the 5 year price, we are still well within the maximum budget allowance. Should we adhere to the original request from USAFB or propose per the RFP

Answer: Offerors may price up to four years of service support after delivery, but minimum of 1 year of sustainment support is required after delivery

10. We were initially asked by the US AFB to include a 2nd set of batteries so that one can charge while one runs to eliminate any downtime. Including a 2nd set of batteries, we will still be within the maximum budget allowance. However, based on RFP specs of current cleaning time of 3-4 hours and 100K sqft, we believe the 2nd battery set is not necessary. Each battery set allows between 4-6 hours of run time depending on the cleaning settings (deep, medium or light cleaning). Do we include the 2nd battery set or remove it? Or list it as optional?

Answer: Vendors will be evaluated based on providing the best technical solution to the

Government so providing a more comprehensive technical solution is in the best interest of all offerors. However, the technical solution to be provided is ultimately the offeror’s decision.

11. Shipping specified FOB. We offer DAP (Destination) – Is this acceptable?

Answer: The shipping terms and conditions are FOB Destination. Thus, the contractor will bear all risks during transit to Eglin AFB.

12. Payment terms for ongoing subscription is listed as a quarterly payment. We offer a 5% discount for prepaying these fees upfront for the term. The total price for 5 years upfront is still within the maximum budgeted allowance. Would you like us to price it for upfront payment?

Answer: Payments will be made according the submittal instruction’s payment terms and conditions.

13. Aisle widths were listed as 4-12ft. Our robot requires a minimum aisle width of 5 ft for autonomous cleaning mode with the ability to turn outside of the aisle, assuming aisle does not dead end into a wall. If it dead ends, we require a minimum of 10ft for turning radius within the aisle. 4ft Aisles can be cleaned in manual mode. How many aisles are less than 5ft and how many aisles that dead end into a wall are less than 10ft? Is it acceptable to only allow cleaning in manual mode in these tight spaces?

Answer: We do not need robot to turn around in the 4ft aisles. It is acceptable to allow cleaning in manual mode. We anticipate posting a diagram of the facility on 22 Jul 2021 as long as we receive a timely operational security review.

14. The robot requires a one-time manual mapping that is part of the deployment service. Future updates to can be done remotely. Is this a deal breaker?

Answer: As part of the sustainment options, it is expected that the robot might need to be reprogrammed periodiclly adjust to new warehouse layouts.

15. Squeegees and brush heads are considered consumables and need replacement based on wear and tear and life span varies based on individual customer usage. Are you referring to consumables as spare and replacement parts? If so, how many would you like us to include pricing for?

Answer: Vendors will be evaluated based on providing the best technical solution to the

Government so providing a more comprehensive technical solution is in the best interest of all offerors. However, the technical solution to be provided is ultimately the offeror’s decision. You can provide a consumables package as part of the total price for the machine if you believe it will make your solution more competitive based on the evaluation criteria in submittal instructions.

Be sure to identify what CLINs the consumables are priced under such as with delivery of the machine under CLIN 0001 and/or as part of sustainment under CLINs 0002 through 3002.

16. The robot does not require wifi connectivity in order to clean. As long as the area does not undergo a lot of change, it will remember its path from the initial mapping process and clean.

However, if the area changes more than 40% from the original layout, the robot may struggle to navigate, and for safety it will not continue because it does not recognize its surroundings. In those events, our remote assistance team would remote in and help move it along.Without wifi, it cannot communicate with our team and they will be unable to assist. In addition, we will be unable to send alerts to the operator to inform them of robot events such as Clean Complete, Emergency Stop Occurred, Low Battery, or Water Change Needed. Not having wifi will put a greater burden on the onsite staff to monitor the robot and could compromise the user experience.

Wifi is also required to upload cleaning reports into the command center as well to download software updates.The RFP document states there are areas where there is wifi coverage and there are areas where there is no wifi. Could you please clarify what portion of the cleanable space will not have access to wifi. For those areas, we would highly recommend a SIM card so that the robot is successful and that your user experience is not compromised. If SIM card is an option, please specify if you would like us to include in quote or if you will supply.

Answer: We do not mind having a SIM. However, vendors are expected to include price of the sustainment of the SIM in CLINs 0002 through 3002.

17. I have reviewed the bid, and unfortunately, we can not provide 24/7 service. We are also not a listed vendor, so I’m concerned about our ability to meet the requirements to participate.

Answer: Please see the revised topic description.

18. However we would like to enter our robot. Are we eligible as a Dutch Start up?

Answer: Foreign participation is permitted for U.S. subsidaries of foreign companies registered in SAM.

19. Are we required to have a CAGE# to bid?

Answer: Your company is required to be registered in the System for Award Management and have a CAGE code NLT the due date for the proposal. Please review the submittal instructions for registration. Do not hesistate to contact the Contracting Officer, Craig O’Neill, at craig.oneill.2@us.af.mil if you have any questions or concerns.

20. DD Form 2345 – I am unable to confirm if we have this in place. Is this mandatory?

Answer: It is not required and has been deleted from the submittal instructions.

EAFB-004

1. Are there specific server hosting requirements, can the servers be hosted on a vendor-controlled cloud account?

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

2. Will the system be expected to facilitate a dispatch process? Example: Route creation, pilot review/acceptance, flight plan review and approval.

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

3. Would it be possible to amend this requirement to offer phone support during standard business hours at Eglin AFB?

Answer: See revised Topic Description.

4. Are there any 3rd party software integrations or APIs needed?

Answer: Having a web application that is accessible via NIPR may drive some 3rd party software integration. Other than that, the initial effort will not require any further 3rd party integration.

5. Can you provide example reporting needs?

Answer: The test cards themselves will provide the prompts and information cues that will drive reporting needs. For this initial effort, no explicit reports will be generated via

DEXTER.

6. What is your implementation timeline?

Answer: There are no specific events on our end that are driving implementation. With that said, we'd like to get a working product as soon as possible so we can start iterating.

7. Will the system be expected to utilize flight-following and mission tracking?

Answer: No. The initial implementation will focus on the process leading up to flight test execution and is not expected to be utilized during the testing itself.

8. Will the software be tracking any pilot data - duty time, currency info, mission data?

Answer: No, the software will not track any pilot data.

9. Will the software be tracking any aircraft data - engine times, maintenance items, total flight time?

Answer: No, the software will not track any aircraft data.

10. Can you further explain the terminology “Test Card”. Does Test Card refer to a digital log of a mission / flight request / dispatch process?

Answer: The business comparison for a test card is a form. Each business, or in our case squadron, formats the form differently. Nearly all formats have items such as title, card number, risk level, POC, classification level, etc. However formats differ on test specific information

(flight conditions, switch settings, etc.) required and formating for procedures. Finally there will often be tables, graphs, or white space to record data. As an example, flight test cards generally contain the following minimum information contained in Section 2.2 of the Edwards Air Force

Base Instruction 99-105:

https://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/edwardsafb/publication/edwardsafbi99-

105/edwardsafbi99-105.pdf

However, these fields are not necessarily applicable for every mission, and the pilots frequently need to add new fields as required.

11. Attachment 4 states "the 413th Flight Test Squadron is pursuing a solution that the submittal firm substantiates a present ability to, among other things, provide 24/7 phone support for a minimum of one year." It doesn't seem feasible to submit a proposal with the above requirement if the maximum price for EAFB-004 is $85,000. To provide 24/7 coverage for one year, $85,000 would equate to $9.70/hr and assume that the entire proposal price was dedicated to this requirement alone.

Answer: Please see the revised topic concerning sustainment requirements.

12. If software solution meets the needs of 413 FLTS, will it be considered for use outside of the

FLTS base?

Answer: The intent is to use this beyond the 413th - hopefully coming up with something that is useful across AFTC.

13. Does the 1 year software license begin upon contract approval?

Answer: The software license terms begins from the proposed delivery date on CLIN 0001.

14. Can training support be facilitated through online / telecom services?

Answer: Offerors may propose and deliver training support how they deem fit.

15. Can we see an example of the Microsoft Office test card prior to developing?

Answer: An example might be provided prior to the due date for proposals. We are still waiting on an operational security review.

16. Will the quoted price reflect the software license fee exclusively? Will other costs such as custom development and incidentals be quoted separately?

Answer: The intent is to come up with a Minimum Viable Product (to include all necessary development and incidental costs) for $85K. All costs associated with non-reoccurring engineering to provide a deliverable product shall be priced under CLIN 0001.

17. Does the dispatch process facilitate scheduling and approving test mission decks? If not, can more detail of the required dispatch process be provided?

Answer: The focus will just be on the review/approval process. Scheduling will be achieved outside of DEXTER.

18. Am I required to submit proposals for all topics?

Answer: No, offerors are expected to submit separate proposals for each topic using the file naming convention in Section B. Thus, every topic will have its own cover letter (including

Section K), own technical proposal (White paper/Statement of Work conforming to organization guidelines in Attachment 6) and own price proposal.