FA557019RA004_Q&A.pdf

Solicitation FA557019RA004 Aerospace Ground Equipment Support, Fuels Management, and Transient Alert

Question and Answers

A solicitation amendment will be issued shortly to incorporate below revisions to FAR clauses 52.212-1 and 52.212-2 as well as the solicitation attachments.

1. Will the Government please confirm proposals are due 1100 EDT, which we compute to be 1600 (4PM) BST on Monday afternoon, 21st October 2019?

• This is correct.

2. Please confirm solicitation number shown in FBO FA557019R0005 is incorrect and should read FA557019RA004.

• The correct solicitation number is FA557019RA004 as shown on the SF 1449.

3. Does the Government desire the proposal pricing to be in US Dollars or GBP?

• There is not a preference on currency. Please see provision 52.225-17, Evaluation of

Foreign Currency Offers, in the solicitation for information regarding how pricing will be handled for offers submitted in currencies other than US Dollars.

4. Will the contract award and payments by DFAS be made in US Dollars or GBP to avoid the risk associated with currency translation?

• The currency the contract is awarded with is dependent on the currency which is proposed. Please contact DFAS for questions regarding disbursements.

5. Will the Government clarify the title for the technical section they prefer in the written proposal?

• Please entitle the Technical proposal in such a way that it is not confused with the Price or

Past Performance submissions. Offerors should please note that 52.212-1/Section L includes the Instructions to Offerors and 52.212-2/Section M includes the Evaluation information.

6. Will the Government please clarify if the 45-page limit applies to the five subfactors?

• Per paragraph 4.(e) on page 60 of the solicitation, “The technical proposal is limited to no more than 45 pages (this excludes the contract document and the PPQs).” The page limit applies to everything submitted other than the 65 page SF 1449 Solicitation/Contract and the PPQs.

7. Would FAR 52.228-4 – Workers’ Compensation and War-Hazard Insurance Overseas (Apr 1984) or 52.228-5 – Insurance – Work on a Government Installation (Jan 1997) apply to this contract?

• Due to the type of work and the location of the requirement, neither of these clauses are applicable.

8. Was paragraph D.3.(c) in the Pricing Instructions omitted on purpose?

• Addendum to 52.212-1 paragraph D.3.(c). was accidentally omitted and numbering will be corrected in an amendment to the solicitation.

Question and Answers

9. Should PWS 1.7 sub paragraphs, and all references to said sub paragraphs, be 1.7.1, 1.7.2,

1.7.3 instead of 1.8.1, 1.8.2, 1.8.3?

• Yes, numbering will be corrected in an amendment to the solicitation.

10. PWS paragraph 15.3 and Solicitation Attachment 2 Mission Essential Contractor Services reference paragraph 10.6 which does not exist in the PWS and there are two 12.7 references, should these reference different paragraphs?

• An amendment to the solicitation will update PWS paragraph 15.3 and Attachment 2

Mission Essential Contractor Services to reflect the following references:

1.4.4, 1.8.1, 1.15, 1.16, 3.4.7, 4.3, 4.5, 5.1, 5.4, 5.5, 6.15, 8.2, 8.4, 8.6, 12.4, 12.7 and 12.8.

11. The solicitation page 61, item 1, states “The offeror agrees to hold the prices in its offer firm until 1 Jan 2019.” Should the date read 1 Jan 2020?

• Yes, date will be updated in an amendment to the solicitation.

12. Will the USG add the contractor to the NISS account to initiate the Facilities Clearance?

• The Government will provide any required inputs; however, the contractor is responsible for obtaining its own clearances including any costs involved.

13. The existing SOFA agreement in place with the United Kingdom will this allow the contractor to not pay local taxes to the British Government?

• The US Government cannot advise offerors on any UK tax requirements.

14. Are Fuels and AGE currently in one combined contract? If so can you provide the award amount & current value? If they are separate can you provide the same information for each?

• Yes, contract FA557015C0001 has a total current value of GBP 3,163,409.74

($4,386,224.81)

15. How many of the current employees of the AGE/TA portion of this contract covered by the TUPE requirement?

• Per page 59 of the solicitation, Please contact the incumbent contractor for TUPE-related information. Contact information for the incumbent’s TUPE POC is available from the Government POCs listed in the synopsis and solicitation.

16. Will the government make available the listing of the current, incumbent contractor(s) with associated points of contact?

• Per page 59 of the solicitation, Please contact the incumbent contractor for TUPE-related

Question and Answers

17. What are the current wage rates for AGE and Fuels personnel?

• Per page 59 of the solicitation, Please contact the incumbent contractor for TUPE-related

18. Are UK employees direct hire of the Prime – Trailboss or subcontracted?

• Please contact Trailboss for this information.

19. Are incumbent contractors currently being paid in GBP?

• Please contact Trailboss for this information.

20. Can the Contracting Office confirm that if any employees are US citizens?

• Yes, there are US Citizens currently employed on the contract. Please see the PWS for employee requirements for this solicitation.

21. Do the personnel have to be US citizens?

• Please see the PWS for employee requirements for this solicitation.

22. Will US citizens employed on this effort receive SOFA status, privileges?

• No.

23. Will the Letter of Authorization have DFAC, APO, and unlimited exchange/commissary?

• No Logistical Support for any of these privileges has been approved for this solicitation.

24. Entering the United Kingdom on a Common Access card, will that acceptable to the British Government?

• Please contact the British Government for entry requirements.

25. Is there a requirement to have personnel permanently assigned to Welford?

26. May the AGE Lead and Fuels Officer possess an equivalent U.K security clearance for the U.S. Secret clearance?

27. Is AGE and Fuels augmented during exercises and contingencies by associated TDY personnel?

• Yes; however TDY personnel will only be responsible for their unit’s assigned aircrafts after localized training has been conducted.

Question and Answers

28. Is the Government asserting that the Contractor must provide 3 separate qualified/certified inspectors for each of the functional areas – AGE, Fuels Management and TA Management?

Or may a single inspector oversee one or more of the functional areas if qualified/certified accordingly?

• No, the Government is not requiring a set number of inspectors per functional area.

Please see PWS paragraph 11.2.1 for requirements of Quality Control Inspectors.

Offerors should ensure that they reference the final version of the PWS that was posted with the solicitation and not the PWS from the DRAFT solicitation when preparing proposals.

29. Of the 5 or so customary hot pit operations’ positions, would the Government please identify which positions the contractor is responsible for staffing?

• One member is required for the certification team, on a hot pit refuel/Defuel 3 fuels qualified personnel will be needed to conduct this task as stated in AFI 21-101 paragraph 11.25.

30. The reference given in PWS 1.13 AGE Lead Responsibilities was paragraph 2.10 of AFI 21-

101 - Flight Commander/Flight Chief (Flight CC/Chief) or Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) Officer in Charge (OIC)/Chief. Is this correct?

• Yes, the AGE Lead is responsible for the duties of a Flight Commander/Flight Chief

(Flight CC/Chief) or Aircraft Maintenance Unit (AMU) Officer in Charge (OIC)/Chief but does not carry the titles or any associated military authority.

31. What exactly are the duties and responsibilities of the Fuels officer? The only duty description listed in PWS 3.3.1 was “Make decisions concerning this contract.” By “Contract” does the government mean the totality of the Aerospace Ground Equipment Support, Fuels Management and Transient Alert contract? What decisions concerning the contract is their responsibility? We could not find a reference in AFI 23-201 and do not have access to DLA Energy-P-7.

• The Fuels Officer is responsible for the fuels section alone and is covered under AFI 23-

201 chapter 5 where it is referred to as the Fuels Manager. The difference in terminology is to delineate areas of responsibility.

32. Will the personal also have to be AFSC qualified similar to the AFCAP contract. AFCAP requires the contractor to have a certain AFSC/MOS or any branch identifier? Contracting Officer Representative reviews all new hires.

• Per the PWS, contractor personnel must possess qualifications equivalent to the AFSC or have the AFSC. Certain sections do require the exact AFSC but classes can be provide through the Air Force as stated in the PWS.

33. Do you happen to have the historical traffic for transient alert as well as POL data we can use to build out our pricing structure for manning?

• All workload data is provided in PWS Appendix F.

Question and Answers

34. Please clarify if GOV will reimburse for parts, supplies, materials needed to perform fuels maintenance.

• See PWS Paragraph 3.5. Offerors should ensure that they reference the final version of the PWS that was posted with the solicitation and not the PWS from the DRAFT solicitation when preparing proposals.

35. Could you please describe the TA responsibilities? Is any of the TA requirement unique to

RAF Fairford? Is there workload data available?

• See PWS Section 2 for TA responsibilities. None of the TA work is unique to RAF

Fairford. Workload data is in PWS Appendix F.

36. Who is responsible for maintenance of the pantographs and high reach fuel equipment?

• Base Civil Engineering are responsible for all maintenance. Please see PWS Paragraph

3.5

37. What is the size of the fuel tanks? Are they standard NATO sizes?

• North East Tank #1- 1.3m gallons

• North East Tank #2- 1.3m gallons

• South East Tank #1- 1.3m gallons

• South East Tank #2- 700K gallons

• Central Tank #1- 1.3m gallons

• Central Tank #2- 700K gallons

• South West Tank #1- 1.3m gallons

• South West Tank #2- 1.3m gallons

38. How often must fuel be moved?

• Fuel should be moved and sampled IAW PWS section 3.4 and T.O 42B-1-1. Currently this is every 30 days.

39. How often is fuel issued? Is there workload data available?

• Fuel issuance is mission driven. All workload data is in PWS Appendix F.

40. Who will incur the cost of Fire bottles dispatched to Flameskill for maintenance and servicing prior to the beginning of the performance period?

• Prior to the beginning of the performance period is between the incumbent and the government. At the start of the performance period of the new contract this will be covered under the section 9.1 Contractor Procured Items and services.

Question and Answers

41. How frequently does the contractor normally visit the other bases with automated fuel pumps or are most associated task performed remotely from RAF Fairford?

• The contractor will only visit RAF Welford and this must be completed daily (Mon-Fri).

The other bases are manned and information is emailed or downloaded through the DLA system.

42. Who performs maintenance of refueling vehicles and other GOVs assigned to the contract?

• This is stated in PWS section 7.1

43. Are any contractor furnished vehicles required to accomplish PWS requirements?

• See PWS paragraph 7.3.

44. Is the contractor responsible for providing any equipment, tools, or fuel?

• All Government provided tools and equipment are listed in PWS Appendix E. The Government will furnish all fuel for government furnished vehicles to perform work listed. If any additional pieces of equipment are required for shared use they will be purchased by the Government. Anything else is the responsibility of the contractor.

45. How many hot pit lanes are there? Please provide workload data for simultaneous support of hot pits. How many will be supported during RIAT?

• Only two pits are allocated for hot pit refuels, no work load data is available as this is a new requirement. RIAT will not conduct or require hot pit refueling due to safety reasons.

46. Will the Government provide radios for the contractor?

• See PWS paragraph 6.7 and Solicitation Attachment 3 GFP Module.

47. Please explain the disproportion in JP-8 fuel issues and receipts for both the Total Quantities over 4 years and the Annual numbers provided.

• The disproportion between JP-8 issues and receipts is due to when TDY or RIAT personnel conduct the refuels not the contractor.

48. Please provide the historical fuel consumption during RIAT.

• This fuel consumption is incorporated within the JP-8 issued and received. This is divided between aircraft refuels and RIAT truck bulks.

i. RIAT FY 15 188,955 gallons

ii. RIAT FY 16 350,404 gallons

iii. RIAT FY 17 389,146 gallons

iv. RIAT FY 18 393,445 gallons

v. RIAT FY 19 296,621 gallons