CAStLE_IndustryDays_QA_Responses.pdf

FA700020R002 - CAStLE Industry Days Question Submission

USAF Academy Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) Industry Day 19 February 2020 Questions and Government Responses

Question# Topic Document Comment/Suggested Change Rationale Government Response 1 Draft RFP Draft RFP Does the government anticipate issuing a draft RFP? Industry involvement is encouraged when drafting solicitations (FAR 7.00 Acquisition Planning).

The government does not anticipate issuing a draft RFP.

2 Market Research Draft RFP The contracting officer stated a second round of market research might be used instead of draft RFP. Will it have enough information in it to create a good Q&A?

More so than having a draft RFP, are we going to have a good Q&A so we don’t eat up our 30 days to respond.

A draft RFP is one method to allow industry participation prior to issuing an RFP in order to develop and tailor contract requirements. The intent is to develop a solicitation that supports solid proposal submissions.

3 Collaborative Contracting

Proposal How do you build a collaborative contracting team? How is that team built?

Clarification as to what stage in the acquisition does the contracting officer want to utilize collaborative contracting.

Prior to issuing an RFP for a task order, the government would work collaboratively with the contractor to refine the work statement. The notional process would be:

Requirement comes from CAStLE>Send it out to Contractor> Pre-proposal team meeting>Refine worked statement>Issue task order.

4 Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM)

Task Order (TO) Will the government issue a task order based on Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM)?

Clarification needed on statement made by contracting officer regarding the use of a ROM.

The government will not issue a task order based on a ROM.

5 Funding TO Does an R&D contract imply only 3600 funding? Understanding of funding types anticipated to be used on the contract.

The government uses several types of money, including 3600 and 3400 on the current CAStLE contract.

Contract Type

IDIQ What type of IDIQ is being considered? Single or multiple award?

Clarification as to contract type being considered. The government anticipates utilizing a single award IDIQ for this requirement.

7 Competition Type RFP Will the source selection be a small business set aside or full and open competition?

Understanding of whether the acquisition will be set aside for small business or if it will be full and open competition.

The competition type, set a side or full and open, will be determined by market research results.

8 Source Selection RFP If the government decides to go full and open under FAR 35, are there small business subcontracting requirements?

Clarification on subcontracting requirements. The use of FAR Part 35 does not eliminate subcontracting requirements.

9 Solicitation RFP Will the next round of Market Research help identify capabilities and then you will decide who to issue the

RFP?

IAW FAR 35.007(b): Solicit only apparently qualified sources.

Proposals generally shall be solicited from technically qualified sources, including sources that become known as a result of synopses or other means of publicizing requirements.

The government has not made a decision, however FAR Part 35 gives us that option.

10 Past Performance Contracting Briefing, slide 20 Charts on Past Performance (PP), slide 20; the Past Performance Volume was crossed out. Are you not using Past Performance? Has a decision been made on how to evaluate past performance?

None Stated FAR 15.304(c)(3)(iii) states that past performance shall be evaluated in all source selections for negotiated competitive acquisitions expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. However, past performance alternatives to the use of a past performance volume are available and are being considered by the government to include: Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), information from government agencies - DCMA, DCAA and end users , customer surveys, interviews or questionnaires.

Past performance acceptability can also be used with Technical Risk evaluation factor.

11 Source Selection RFP What do you hope to learn in the second round of Market Research?

None Stated The intent would be for the government to gain industry input on contract type, CLIN structure, and ordering process options to reduce time and administrative burden for issuance of task orders.

12 Source Selection RFP Would Total Evaluated (TEP price be under specific TO for the Source Selection?

None Stated The government has not determined what will be included in TEP and is considering the use of scenarios instead of likely awardable task orders as was used in the previous source selection. The notional approach would be to use Government provided numbers for transportation and shipping (using historical data): those would not be evaluated for TEP.

13 Source Selection RFP Previous source selection, evaluation factors were past fail and some were graded. Have you considered this?

None Stated The government has not made a final decision; however may consider using Pass/Fail for past performance evaluation criteria utilizing.

14 Key Milestones Contracting Briefing, slide 25 Are you comfortable with that schedule? 30 days is pretty tight.

None Stated The government is anticipating 30- 45 days for proposal submission.

15 Source Selection RFP If one-on-ones are conducted, will you post answers? None Stated If the government conducts one-on-ones, questions and answers will be posted to beta.SAM, however the company name will not be included.

16 Source Selection RFP Is part of Market Research involve touring other facilities?

None Stated The government has considered conducting contractor facility visits by the CAStLE team (reference Sources Sought, par 6. d.).

17 Source Selection RFP Is the intent to award without discussions? None Stated The government always intents to award without discussions; however that decision has not been made.

18 Sources Sought List of Interested Parties Will a List of Interested Parties be posted from the Sources Sought responses?

Question 2 in the Sources Sought stated, "Indicate if the company point of contact information is to be released in a future posting to promote dissemination of information for subcontracting purposes."

The government will post a list of interested parties from the Sources Sought responses on beta.SAM.

This announcement serves to provide questions and answers from the industry day event and questions submitted by industry following that event. Questions and answers from industry day have been written to provide clarity rather than to provide meeting minutes of that event. Questions submitted by industry have been included as submitted

FA700020R002 - CAStLE Industry Days Question Submission

USAF Academy Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) Industry Day 19 February 2020 Questions and Government Responses

Question# Topic Document Comment/Suggested Change Rationale Government Response

This announcement serves to provide questions and answers from the industry day event and questions submitted by industry following that event. Questions and answers from industry day have been written to provide clarity rather than to provide meeting minutes of that event. Questions submitted by industry have been included as submitted

19 Key Milestones Contracting Briefing, slide 25 If a formal Draft RFP will not be released, can you release drafts of the key elements, such as evaluation criteria, scenarios (formerly called potentially awardable task orders), section L Proposal Instructions and section M Evaluation Criteria?

With the short source selection timeline, it would be very helpful to have at least draft information early on to begin determining labor hours, labor categories, and pricing;

collecting quotes; and drafting the technical volume and other volumes based on the Section L & M requirements.

The government will release the RFP in its entirety.

20 Past Performance Contracting Briefing, slides 19-

How will past performance be evaluated? Will relevancy and recentness criteria be included?

The 2015 RFP emphasized relevancy and recentness. The government is considering alternatives to the use of a past performance volume (see response to number 10) and will include relevancy and recentness as appropriate and IAW DoD Source Selection Procedures.

21 Past Performance Contracting Briefing, slide 20 If a company does not have a lot of CPARS from prior contracts, how will that be accounted for?

Slide 20 shows CPARS as an input to the government's Past Performance evaluation team.

The government is required to evaluate Past Performance, however methods have not yet been determined. CPAR is one alternative method.

22 Past Performance Contracting Briefing, slide 20 What types of "Customer Surveys, Questionnaires and Interviews" do you envision? Will sample documents be in the RFP?

A Past Performance Information tool with very specific format and content requirements has been used previously and provides an even playing field.

The government is required to evaluate Past Performance, however methods have not yet been determined.

23 FAR 35 Solicitations Contracting Briefing, slide 15 How will you determine if a vendor is a "technically qualified source"?

Per slide 15, this is a key element of solicitations. The government would Solicit only apparently qualified sources. Proposals generally shall be solicited from technically qualified sources, including sources that become known as a result of synopses or other means of publicizing requirements.

24 Key Milestones Contracting Briefing, slide 25 Do you think the proposed Key Milestone timeframe is realistic?

The Key Milestone timeframe is much shorter than a typical, government source selection timeline.

The government recognizes this timeline is atypical for a source selection timeline for a new acquisition under a traditional FAR Part 37 Service Acquisition. The timeline included in the Industry Day Briefing was developed with consideration of the DoD Source Selection procedure and guidance found in FAR Part 35.

25 Key Milestones Contracting Briefing, slide 25 If a draft RFP is not released, will there be a Q&A period after a final RFP is issued?

A Q&A period after RFP release can improve understanding of Government requirements.

The government agrees that communications with industry after RFP release and before submission of proposals utilizing pre-proposal conferences improves an understanding of requirements and the quality of proposals.

26 Contracting Strategy FARs Under what scenarios is Full and Open competition a possibility for this CAStLE effort? Under what scenarios would a Small Business Set-Aside scenario for this effort be required?

Contracting Officer discussed possible Full and Open competition after Market Research.

The competition type, set a side or full and open, will be determined by market research results.

27 Past Performance Contracting Briefing, slide 20 On the slide 20 diagram, the "Offeror Past Performance Volume" has been crossed out. Has it been decided to not have a Past Performance Volume?

None Stated FAR 15.304(c)(3)(iii) states that past performance shall be evaluated in all source selections for negotiated competitive acquisitions expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold. However, past performance alternatives to the use of a past performance volume are available and are being considered by the government to include: Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), information from government agencies - DCMA, DCAA and end users , customer surveys, interviews or questionnaires.

Past performance acceptability can also be used with Technical Risk evaluation factor.

28 Past Performance Past Performance Volume Can a Past Performance volume without a questionnaire be considered? Or can recent Past Performance examples of relevancy be a Subfactor in the technical for evaluation?

Very relevant past performance experience as opposed to somewhat or no relevancy could be an evaluation factor under a Best Value award as opposed to technically qualified low bidder wins approach.

The Past performance evaluation factor assesses the degree of confidence the Government has in an offeror’s ability to supply products and services. As is stated in the response to question number 10, the government is considering alternative approaches.

29 Evaluation Criteria Contracting Briefing, slide 15 The 2015 RFP had certain pass/fail criteria and other rated criteria. Have you thought about what the criteria will be for this source selection? Would a FAR 35 RFP differ from a FAR 37 RFP?

None Stated The government has not made a final decision; however may consider using Pass/Fail for past performance evaluation criteria utilizing past performance acceptability with Technical Risk evaluation factor.

30 Award Contracting Briefing, slide 25 Is the intent to award without discussion? None Stated The government always intents to award without discussions; however that decision has not been made.

31 TEP RFP What will be the basis for the Total Evaluated Price?

Specific scenarios or task orders? Will a rate table with labor categories for FFP and LOE be evaluated?

None Stated The government has not determined what will be included in TEP and is considering the use of scenarios instead of likely awardable task orders as was used in the previous source selection. Notional approach would be to use Government provided numbers for transportation and shipping (using historical data): those would not be evaluated for TEP.

32 Contract Term RFP Will the Government consider a long term award? Seven to 10 years?

None Stated IAW DFARS 217.204(e) the ordering period of a task order or delivery order may be up to five years and would require a determination in writing by the head of the agency that exceptional circumstances required a longer period. As such, it is anticipated that the PoP would not exceed a five-year ordering period.

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