Questions and Answers.pdf

Heat Mapping - FA481926Q0108

Questions

1. The Evaluation Factors section states that offers will be rated on "each of the two technical subfactors" in the solicitation, but only one subfactor (Technical Approach) is defined in either the Instructions or Evaluation addenda. Can you confirm whether a second technical subfactor exists, and if so, what it covers?

The two factors we will be evaluating are Price and Technical approach

2. PWS Section 3 notes that a government escort may be required for entry into individual resident rooms. Given the size of the six buildings (roughly 309,000 square feet total), how many escorts will be available at one time, and can multiple buildings be surveyed in parallel, or should we plan on sequential, escort gated access?

Depending on if any of the ADL staff is on leave. If all staff are in place two escorts are available. A lot of the rooms are vacant and entering those will not require an escort.

3. Are the six dormitory buildings, particularly Buildings A and B, currently occupied during the anticipated survey window? If so, is advance resident notice required before we enter individual rooms, and are there any access or screening requirements for our personnel and RF test equipment beyond the escort itself?

Roughly 60% of A and B will be occupied, and the Dorm staff will notify members of the survey when the date(s) and time is set.

No

4. Does the 30 calendar day period of performance include time for government review of draft deliverables (for example, a draft Remediation and Design Report) before final acceptance, or is review conducted only after final submission near day 30? If interim review is expected, what turnaround should we plan for on your comments?

The 30 days has been changed to 60 to allow more time.

5. The AP Placement and Cabling Plan deliverable calls for estimated cable run pathways and mounting hardware recommendations. Does this require access to existing IDF and

MDF network closets and knowledge of the existing cable plant and PoE switch capacity, or is a conceptual, estimated pathway sufficient? If as built network or cabling diagrams exist, would you be able to provide them?

Escorted access to existing IDF/MDF network closets will be provided during scheduled survey windows. Conceptual and estimated cable run pathways and mounting hardware recommendations are sufficient. Available network drawings or floor plans will be provided

6. Does the Bill of Materials required in the Remediation and Design Report need to be procurement ready, with specific vendor part numbers and current pricing, or is a generic list of recommended hardware types sufficient?

The Bill of Materials (BOM) in the final Remediation & Design Report must be procurement-ready. It shall include specific recommended manufacturer part numbers (or approved commercial equivalents), itemized quantities, component descriptions (e.g., APs, mounting brackets, patch cables, power injectors/switches), and estimated commercial market pricing to support follow-on Government acquisition.

7. PWS Section 2.1 states the survey cannot rely on passive or predictive software modeling, but Section 4 describes the RF Heat Map deliverable as showing "projected"

RSSI, SNR, and data rates. Can you confirm the heat maps should reflect the empirical

APoS survey measurements, not output from separate predictive modeling?

Confirmed. The heat maps must be generated using the empirical measurement data collected during the active AP-on-a-Stick (APoS) survey. The term “projected” in Section 4 refers to using the survey software’s propagation algorithms to interpolate coverage based on those real-world measured attenuation values (rather than relying strictly on unvalidated software-only predictive models).

8. PWS Section 4 lists .esx (Ekahau's native format) as an example format for the Raw

Survey Data deliverable, and Section 2 names both Ekahau and AirMagnet as acceptable tools. If we use AirMagnet or another approved tool, is its native file format acceptable in place of .esx?

Confirmed. Native project files from industry-standard survey platforms (e.g., AirMagnet, NetSpot, Hamina) are acceptable alongside standard export deliverables.

9. The attached Wage Determination (WD 2015-4559, Revision 34) does not appear to include a labor category that matches the specialized RF and WLAN survey and spectrum analysis work described in the PWS. Do you anticipate this work will require a post-award SF-1444 conformance action for an unlisted classification, or is it expected to fall outside SCA coverage?

Offerors are responsible for determining their proposed staffing mix and labor categories in accordance with the Service Contract Labor Standards (SCLS) and

FAR Part 22. To the extent offerors utilize bona fide professional/engineering personnel exempt under 29 CFR Part 541 and FAR 52.222-52/53, SCLS wage rates do not apply. For any non-exempt labor proposed subject to Wage Determination

2015-4559, offerors must identify appropriate labor categories and, if necessary, follow standard post-award SF-1444 conformance procedures.

10. The instructions require only unit price and extended price for CLIN 0001 in Volume

Since the evaluation states price will be reviewed for reasonableness, should we include a supporting price breakdown (labor, travel, equipment), or is the single line price sufficient?

The single line item is fine, if you would like to include where you’re getting your total from please do.

11. Site Visit: Is attendance at the August 31 site visit mandatory for offer eligibility? If an interested offeror was unable to meet the August 28 base-access submission deadline, will the information discussed or provided during the site visit be made available to all offerors?

All of the questions asked during the site-visit have been added in this document to ensure fairness.

12. Floor Plans: Will electronic/scaled floor plans for all six buildings be provided for purposes of the survey and final heat-map/design deliverables?

Drawings have been provided.

13. Building/Unit Counts: Please provide the number of floors and approximate number of residential units in each building, if available.

Building A and B 240 rooms each 1050 48 rooms 1053 24 rooms 1054 48 rooms 1052 office and common area

14. Survey Coverage: Does the PWS require active measurements inside 100% of individual dormitory rooms, or is representative in-room sampling acceptable when combined with 100% coverage of corridors, stairwells, lounges, laundry areas, and other common spaces?

100% coverage will be needed indoors

15. Room Access: Will the Government coordinate access/escorts for occupied dormitory rooms during scheduled survey activities? If a required room is unavailable on the scheduled survey day, how should the contractor proceed?

Answered in question 27.

16. AP Platform: Is there a required or preferred access-point manufacturer/model that should be used for the AP placement, channel, transmit-power, and BOM recommendations? If not, may the contractor recommend an appropriate platform?

The solicitation is vendor-neutral. Offerors shall model an enterprise-grade, tri-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) Wi-Fi 6E/7 platform and propose specific hardware models and configurations in the final Remediation & Design Report.

17. Post-Award Base Access: What is the typical processing/lead time for base access for contractor personnel after award, and will that processing time count against the 30-calendar-day performance period?

Answered in question 38.

18. Technical Evaluation: The solicitation references two technical subfactors, but we identified only Technical Approach in the proposal instructions. Please confirm the second technical subfactor and any corresponding submission requirement

There is only one subfactor, technical approach. The reference to two technical subfactors stated in Sectional L should be one.

19. When will you need the survey completed by?

Covered in questions 4

20. Will you be able to provide scaled floorplans of the different types of buildings?

Drawings and floorplans have been provided.

21. Can you provide information on the composition of the interior walls, ceilings, and floors for each type of building?

22. Were any heat maps or estimated heat maps created prior to cabling and port installations of the new buildings?

To the best of our knowledge there were none.

23. Will the Government provide electronic floor plans for all six dormitory buildings, preferably in PDF and/or editable CAD format, for use in conducting the active RF survey and developing the required heat maps and AP Placement & Cabling Plan?

24. Is the contractor expected to furnish the test access point(s) used for AP-on-a-Stick validation, or will the Government provide AP hardware representative of the intended production WLAN? If contractor-furnished, is there a required manufacturer/model or technical specification that the test AP must meet?

The contractor is responsible for providing all necessary test equipment, including the test Access Point (AP), telescoping masts, battery power, and temporary mounting hardware. The test AP should be a high-density, tri-band (2.4 GHz, 5

GHz, 6 GHz) enterprise-grade AP capable of representing standard Wi-Fi 6E/7 propagation behaviors.

25. Will the Government accept NetSpot Pro/Enterprise, supplemented by appropriate Layer

1 spectrum-analysis instrumentation, provided the contractor demonstrates that the proposed toolset satisfies all measurements and deliverables required by the PWS?

Yes, the Government will accept equivalent industry-standard survey tools such as

NetSpot Pro/Enterprise, provided the contractor can successfully deliver all required metrics (RSSI, SNR, CCI/ACI, Uplink/Downlink throughput) and raw/native survey files alongside high-resolution visual reports.

26. Please confirm that the AP-on-a-Stick requirement involves temporary placement and movement of test AP equipment for survey purposes only, and that permanent relocation or installation of production access points and permanent cabling are not included within

CLIN 0001.

Please include all of the relevant cost within your CLIN 0001.

27. Will the contractor be provided access to all resident rooms necessary to perform the required empirical RF measurements, and will Government escorts be available throughout the scheduled field-survey period? Are there anticipated restrictions on working hours or occupied-room access that offerors should incorporate into their Firm-

Fixed Price?

Yes, depending on whether any of the ADL staff is on leave. If all staff are in place two escorts are available. A lot of the rooms are vacant and entering those will not require an escort. Escort office hours are 0800-1600 M-F. There is a possibility some rooms might have members that work off shifts that we might have to enter at different times to accommodate those members.

28. Please confirm that the reference to '.esx' under Raw Survey Data is an example only and that native survey files from another Government-accepted survey platform are acceptable.

Confirmed.

29. The PWS requires an active APoS survey across six buildings totaling approximately

308,943 sq. ft. Must measurement data be collected inside every individual dormitory room or suite, or is a representative sample of room types per floor acceptable? If a sample is acceptable, what minimum percentage or sampling methodology does the

Government require?

Covered in question 15

30. Please confirm the number of floors in each of the six buildings (1045 M, 1695 M, 1050, 1052, 1053, 1054). The RF Heat Maps deliverable is specified per floor, per building, per band, and total floor count directly determines the deliverable volume.

1045 M and 1695 M are 5 stories.

1050, 1053, 1054 All 3 story.

1052 1 story

31. Does the survey scope include common and amenity spaces (atrium, lounges, theater/meeting rooms, laundry, rooftop or exterior patios, breezeways, stairwells, and parking areas), or is coverage limited to interior residential and corridor spaces?

All interior spaces.

32. Will the Government furnish scaled floor plans for all six buildings in CAD (.dwg) or scaled PDF format for import into the survey software? If floor plans will not be furnished, offerors must price manual floor plan creation, which is a significant cost driver.

33. Heat maps and AP placement recommendations are specific to the access point model being modeled. Has the Government established a standard AP make and model for this installation that the survey must model, or shall the contractor propose the model used?

The solicitation is vendor-neutral. Offerors shall model an enterprise-grade, tri-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) Wi-Fi 6E/7 platform and propose specific hardware models and configurations in the final Remediation & Design Report.

34. Will the Government furnish the test access point for the AP-on-a-Stick survey, or shall the contractor supply the test AP, telescoping mast, battery power, and temporary mounting hardware?

The contractor is responsible for providing all required survey equipment and testing materials, including the test Access Point (AP), telescoping mast/tripod, portable battery power, and temporary mounting hardware. The Government will not furnish survey test equipment.

35. Do the six buildings contain existing WLAN infrastructure, structured cabling, and

IDF/telecommunications rooms? Is this survey intended to support a greenfield design or a refresh/overlay of an existing system? If existing infrastructure documentation, prior surveys, or as-built cabling records exist, will they be made available?

The six dormitory buildings contain varying degrees of existing telecommunications infrastructure and legacy cabling. This survey is intended to produce an optimized, modern WLAN design (refresh/overlay where viable, or new pathway recommendations where legacy infrastructure is insufficient). Existing as-built cabling documentation, where available, will be shared

36. How many Government escorts will be available to support survey personnel, and during what days and hours? Will after-hours or weekend access be permitted? Escort availability in occupied dormitories is the primary constraint on schedule feasibility.

Answered in question 27.

37. What is the process and typical lead time for obtaining base access credentials for contractor personnel who do not hold a CAC? Does this lead time run concurrently with, or in addition to, the 30-calendar-day performance period?

Typically an hour assuming they have a gov card holding sponsor. If there is no card holding sponsor I am unsure of the time and requirements needed by Security

Forces.

38. The delivery schedule states 30 calendar days from date of award receipt. Does this period run to completion of field survey work, or to Government acceptance of all four deliverables in §4? If escort or resident access constraints extend the field effort, will the

Government consider a schedule adjustment?

This is for government acceptance, an adjusted schedule will be considered as needed.

39. For the Bill of Materials in the Remediation & Design Report, does the Government require specific manufacturer part numbers and quantities, or a vendor-neutral BOM by device type and quantity? Is the BOM expected to align to an existing base standard or an established contract vehicle?

The Bill of Materials (BOM) in the final Remediation & Design Report must be procurement-ready. It shall include specific recommended manufacturer part numbers (or approved commercial equivalents), itemized quantities, component descriptions (e.g., APs, mounting brackets, patch cables, power injectors/switches), and estimated commercial market pricing to support follow-on Government acquisition.

40. The solicitation incorporates the Service Contract Labor Standards and attaches Wage

Determination 2015-4559, Revision 34 (Bay County, Florida), while also incorporating the exemption provisions at FAR 52.222-52 and 52.222-53. The Statement of Equivalent

Rates for Federal Hires at 52.222-42 is blank. Does the Government consider this requirement exempt as a professional/technical services effort, or shall offerors price to

SCA wage determination categories? If SCA applies, which occupation codes does the

Government consider applicable to RF survey engineering labor?

FAR Part 22. To the extent offerors utilize bona fide professional/engineering personnel exempt under 29 CFR Part 541 and FAR 52.222-52/53, SCLS wage rates do not apply. For any non-exempt labor proposed subject to Wage Determination

41. To which email address(es) shall quotes be submitted, and are there file format, file size, or encryption requirements? Please confirm which Points of Contact are to be copied on the submission.

All quotes shall be submitted to A1C Cristopher Santana and TSgt Lawrence

Scroggins cristopher.santana_castro@us.af.mil & lawrence.scroggins@us.af.mil

42. Volume 2 (Technical) is limited to 7 pages exclusive of cover page and table of contents.

Please confirm whether a compliance matrix, personnel résumés, past performance information, or appendices count against the 7-page limit.

Your technical approach is limited to 7 pages.

mailto:cristopher.santana_castro@us.af.mil

43. Please confirm the required quote-submission method and email recipients. Should quotes be emailed to both contracting contacts, and should the price and technical volumes be submitted as two separate PDF attachments?

The quotes do not need to be submitted in two forms, however it is preferred. Your quotes should be emailed to both POC’s, you can send it to cristopher.santana_castro@us.af.mil and CC lawrence.scroggins@us.af.mil

44. Besides the separate price and technical volumes, must the offeror submit a signed Standard Form 1449, completed representations, amendment acknowledgements, or any additional forms with its quote?

No we only require the price and technical portions be submitted when quoting.

45. Since the August 31 site visit has concluded, will the Government publish site-visit questions, answers, photographs, floor plans, briefing materials, or other information for firms that could not attend? Would an additional walkthrough be permitted before performance?

All questions asked during the site visit have been included in this document. You may do a walkthrough if/when you are awarded the contract.

46. What wireless AP manufacturer, model, antenna configuration, mounting height, controller, and software environment should be used for the AP-on-a-Stick testing and proposed design?

The solicitation is vendor-neutral. Offerors are not required to use a specific manufacturer or model for testing; however, testing must be conducted using an enterprise-grade, tri-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) Access Point with integrated/omnidirectional antennas representative of modern enterprise deployments (e.g., Wi-Fi 6E/7). For survey and modeling purposes, assume standard ceiling-mounting heights of approximately 8–10 feet. Offerors are expected to recommend specific hardware models, antenna configurations, and architecture in the final Remediation & Design Report.

47. Will the Government provide current floor plans in CAD, Visio, PDF, or compatible survey-software format showing room layouts, wall construction, telecommunications rooms, existing cabling pathways, and proposed AP mounting areas?

48. What minimum acceptance thresholds should the survey and recommended design satisfy for

RSSI, SNR, uplink and downlink throughput, channel utilization, co-channel interference, and supported concurrent-device density across the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands?

mailto:cristopher.santana_castro@us.af.mil mailto:lawrence.scroggins@us.af.mil

The current FCC minimum for fixed broadband at the time of this policy is 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload speeds.

49. Must the contractor enter and test every dormitory room, or may an approved representative sampling methodology be used? Approximately what percentage of rooms will be available, and what hours and escort limitations should be assumed?

Answered in questions 14 and 27.

50. Will the Government provide escorts, lifts, temporary mounting equipment, electrical access, test APs, or other Government-furnished resources? Alternatively, should all such equipment and labor be included in the firm-fixed price?

Escorts will be provided. All other equipment falls on the contractor.

51. Does the 30-calendar-day performance period include base-access processing, onsite data collection, Government review, corrections, and delivery of final accepted files? What anticipated award and notice-to-proceed dates should offerors use for scheduling?

30-calendar days is from notice award to performance completion.

52. Will the floor plans, raw survey files, RF data, network design information, or final reports be classified as Controlled Unclassified Information? If so, please identify the applicable safeguarding, CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, storage, transmission, and equipment requirements.

Deliverables containing building floor plans, network layouts, and vulnerability/gap analyses shall be marked and handled as Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) in accordance with DoD and Air Force guidelines.

53. Please confirm which Service Contract Labor Standards classifications from the wage determination should be applied to onsite wireless survey engineers and technicians.

FAR Part 22. To the extent offerors utilize bona fide professional/engineering personnel exempt under 29 CFR Part 541 and FAR 52.222-52/53, SCLS wage rates do not apply. For any non-exempt labor proposed subject to Wage Determination

54. Should the seven-page technical volume include personnel qualifications, relevant certifications, equipment descriptions, schedule, and prior experience, or should it address only the proposed technical approach?

We can only evaluate based off of what was stated in the evaluation factors which is price and technical approach.

55. Are travel, lodging, transportation, escort-related waiting time, revisions, and all required survey equipment expected to be included in the single firm-fixed price for CLIN 0001?

Yes those should be included

56. Have any amendments or consolidated site-visit answers been issued that are not included in the original solicitation package?

No.