SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE CSO Amendment A00001 .pdf

SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE

Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) Solicitation Number FA3020‐20‐S‐C001

Date: 22 APRIL 2020

Amendment A00001, dated 11 May 2020: The purpose of this amendment is to:

1. Add AoI 002 – AMA Teleconference Details – 18 May 2020 (Attachment 1)

All other terms and conditions remain unchanged.

SECTION A: Introduction

Sheppard Air Force Base (SAFB) is conducting a Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) authorized by Department of Defense Class Deviation 2018‐O00016. Under a CSO, the Air Force may competitively award proposals received in response to a general solicitation, similar to a broad agency announcement, to acquire innovative commercial items, technologies, and services based on a review of proposals by scientific, technological, or other subject‐matter experts within the Air Force. Under this CSO, all items, technologies, and services shall be treated as commercial items.

The Air Force intends to obtain “innovative” solutions or potential new capabilities that fulfill requirements, close capability gaps, or provide potential technology advancements. Solutions may include existing technologies or procedures that are not currently in use by units on or supported by Sheppard Air Force Base, that would enhance or streamline their mission capabilities. Based on available funding, this CSO is targeting solutions priced less than $250K.

However, the Government may evaluate proposed solutions greater than $250K.

“Innovative” is defined as any new technology, process or method that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal. It may include an application of an existing technology, method, or process that is not currently in use at Sheppard Air Force Base or its supported units.

This CSO contains broadly defined Areas of Interest (AOIs) and interests in more specific requirements. While these areas of interest are geared toward meeting requirements at locations listed in each AOI, the Government reserves the right to award contracts from this CSO to meet Air Force requirements at other locations with similar AOIs and mission requirements.

Sheppard AFB may utilize one of the following processes for evaluation and award:

A. A one‐spiral CSO evaluation process which consists of offerors whose proposed solutions clearly meet the Government’s needs expressed in the AOIs, or more specific interest areas receiving an immediate notice that they have been selected for award or selected to provide more information that may subsequently lead to an award; or

B. A two‐spiral process where offerors are invited to make a virtual or in‐person pitch of their proposal to an evaluation panel which will then select the proposals that best meet the Government’s desire for solutions in its stated AOIs or more specific interest areas for award(s).

Further details of how awards are made can be found in section C: of this document titled:

Procedures and Criteria for Selecting Proposals.

In order to expedite payment, the Government intends to pay contracts resulting from this announcement with the Government Purchase Card (GPC). This will require the ability to accept a credit card payment at time of award. Dollar value may, in some instances, preclude the use of the GPC as a payment method. In those instances, payment instructions will be included in the resulting contract.

SECTION B: Instructions for Preparation and Submission of Proposals

All contracts will be firm‐fixed price. All supplies or services obtained via this CSO are considered commercial items. Sheppard AFB is conducting this CSO as a total Small Business Set‐aside. In order to be considered a small business and be considered for award, the offeror must be a small business based on the SBA’s current published small business sizes standards in the NAICS code of the proposed solution. Because all awards made under this CSO are considered commercial, the Air Force intends to award FAR part 12 contracts but reserves the right to award other agreements (e.g. Other Transactional Agreements (OTAs)), if deemed in its best interest. As with any award, price is always a factor and will be evaluated for fairness and reasonableness so offers are reminded to provide solutions at competitive prices.

Proposal Contents: (Note: The Government reserves the right to not consider a proposal for award if it omits any of the required information below.)

Proposal Volume/Section Requirements/Limitations

COVER LETTER

Must Include:

i. AOI for which proposal is submitted (number and title)

ii. Company Name, physical address, mailing address, and website URL

iii. Proposal valid till date

Shall not exceed 3 pages total

iv. Authorized representative or point(s) of contact

v. Brief introduction to company and history/expertise with proposed AOI

vi. CAGE code, DUNS number

vii. SAM.gov screenshot to confirm current registration

viii. Relevant NAICS code and description for AOI proposal to confirm small business size status

VOLUME I‐ TECHNICAL

Must include:

i. White paper describing technical solution

May include:

ii. May include slide presentation

iii. May include link to video demonstration or presentation

Shall not exceed 5 single sided pages total

Shall not exceed 15 slides total Shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration

VOLUME II: PRICE

Must Include:

i. Proposed price(s)

ii. Delivery date or period of performance

Shall not exceed 3 single sided pages total

Flexible quantities or pricing options are encouraged to allow the Air Force to maximize use of available and limited funding.

Prices for supplies shall be expressed as inclusive of all shipping charges and Free on Board (FOB) destination

**NOTE: Submitted documents shall not contain classified data or sensitive information and proprietary information shall be clearly marked**

To limit confusion, all proposal volumes must include the number and title of the AOI that the proposal applies to using the following naming conventions

• FA3020‐20‐S‐C001‐coverletter‐companyname

• FA3020‐20‐S‐C001‐volume I‐whitepaper‐companyname

• FA3020‐20‐S‐C001‐volume I‐slidedeck‐companyname

• FA3020‐20‐S‐C001‐volume II‐price‐companyname

Suggestions for a Successful Technical Volume

The goal of the technical volume is to communicate to the government how the proposed solution is innovative and helps the unit solve the challenge(s) described in the AOI.

Demonstrating existing applications of the proposed solution in the commercial market place or other government agencies as it relates to solving the problems expressed in the AOI is encouraged.

Video submissions should be posted on Youtube.com so you can ensure that the government can access your video presentation without interruption or blockage. The video may be marked as private but a direct link and password if needed to access the video must be provided for it to be considered. The government will not share access to your video outside the government.

The technical volume shall demonstrate in sufficient detail to the Government that the solution they are providing is feasible and supportable for the AOI. A successful technical volume may include:

• Authentic company URL weblinks that establish credibility and professional image

• Unique aspects of the solution as they relate to the AOI

• Convincing Evidence that the solution will meet the need/solve the problem stated in the AOI with pictures/diagrams/models/video of product in use in commercial or government marketplace

SAM Registration

It is critical that all offerors are registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at SAM.gov. YOU WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR AN AWARD IF YOU ARE NOT REGISTERED IN SAM. You should verify that your registration is complete and that you are registered to receive awards (check yes to “wish to bid on contracts” question) and that your address on your proposal cover letter matches your address on your SAM registration or you won’t receive an award. Our intent is to move fast so please double check your CAGE code and DUNS number to make sure they are correct and correspond with your SAM registration. If they don’t, you won’t receive an award.

Questions

Please send all questions to 82CONS.RAPiDx.workflow@us.af.mil and/or the POC specified in the AOI. Be sure to include the AOI and/or solicitation section in the subject line to which your question pertains.

The members of the CSO team will do our best to post answers to questions we receive in response to this CSO as we obtain them, but may consolidate answers to a regularly scheduled post to avoid many answers being posted in a single day or to limit the need for many separate amendments.

This CSO will remain open and active until 30 September 2022 with periodic amendments to add or delete AOIs. Vendors are encouraged to subscribe to receive email updates when amendments or changes are posted to the CSO, which may include proposal deadlines or submission instructions unique to a specific AOI. Offerors are responsible for reviewing all amendments to ensure their proposal conforms to the latest CSO/AOI terms and instructions.

Proposal Submission

All proposals under this CSO will be accepted by email only to the address above and no proposal will be accepted if received after the due date specified for any particular AOI. Under no circumstances will an award be made to a proposal received after the CSO closing date of 30 September 2022 at 3:00 PM Central Standard Time.

SECTION C: Procedures and Criteria for selection Proposals

As stated above, Sheppard AFB may use either a one or two spiral process for evaluation proposals for award.

ONE‐SPIRAL CSO Evaluation Process‐ Direct Award (No Pitch)

Evaluation of proposal

Factor 1: Technical

• Is the solution innovative?

• Will it feasible solve some or all of the AOI’s stated problem(s)?

• Will it improve the unit’s mission effectiveness?

Factor 2: Price

• Is it affordable? (does the unit have the funds)

• Is the price reasonable for the solution proposed? (Contracting Officer

Determination) In some cases this may require a request for additional pricing information from the offeror to help support this determination.

After conducting the above evaluations, the Air Force may select proposals for direct award and an immediate award notification will be sent to the successful offeror(s). In some cases this also may occur after further requests for information from the contracting officer to clarify any elements of the proposal the evaluation team may not understand. Prior to final award being made, the notification shall require additional documents be provided to finalize award of a commercial contract. These documents may include but are not necessarily limited to:

• contractor developed performance work statement (similar to service level agreement)

• detailed delivery schedule or performance milestones

In the event that the Government deems it necessary or in our best interest to conduct virtual or in‐person pitches we will use the two‐spiral process described as follows:

TWO‐SPIRAL CSO Evaluation Process‐ (Pitch if applicable)

Spiral One: evaluation in accordance with factors the same as described in the one spiral process above:

Spiral Two: Offerors are invited by email to conduct a Virtual or In‐Person pitch (specified by the Government) with details on pitch content, additional information requested and date, time and location (if in‐person) of pitch. Pitches are evaluated using the same factors as above and are simply considered like they are part of the technical volume for evaluation purposes.

Offerors are reminded that in order to expedite payment they must be set up to accept up to a 15% payment by credit card at time of award.

**Note: The Air Force reserves the right to cancel a pitch and immediately make awards or not make a specific award or any awards if it deemed in its best interest.

Pitches may be made in a public forum so contracts shall not include classified, sensitive or proprietary or trade secret information in their pitches.

If a cleared contractor wishes to make a classified or sensitive pitch those will be handled on a case by case basis.

Site visits may be conducted as part of this CSO and the details for how/when/where to attend the site visit and base access requirements will be posted with specific AOIs.

Attendance at a site visit does not guarantee an award and the government is not responsible for costs incurred to pitch or to attend a site visit.

During any step of this CSO process, the Government may correspond with offerors by email to request more information or provide feedback to offerors.

SECTION D: Areas of Interest

See attached areas of Interest/topics for this CSO > AoI 001: SAFB Rideshare Program Prototype > AoI 002: Career Development Program Prototype > AoI 003: Security Forces Squadron Innovative Solution

Note: The Areas of Interest/Topics listed above are subject to change at any time during the CSO open period. Changes will be accomplished via amendment and offerors are again encouraged to subscribe to this posting and ensure they review the latest versions prior to submitting a proposal.

Thank You.

Sincerely, The Sheppard CSO Team