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AFCAA Cost Estimating Modeling Support FA7014-16-R-5004 Industry Day Questions
| 1 |
| What type of contract vehicle will be established? |
| This will be solicited full and open on www.fbo.gov without a set-aside. The contract type will be a hybrid Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) and Firm Fixed Price (FFP). |
| 2 |
| Will the RFP include sample tasks, if so will they be awardable with the initial contract? |
| There are no sample tasks, as this is not a task order type contract (i.e., Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) and there will be no task orders issued under the terms of the contract. The Government has detailed all tasks in the Performance Work Statement (PWS). Only Task 7 is applicable to a specific period (i.e., Option Period 2), which is clearly described in the draft solicitation. |
| 3 |
| What is the anticipated funding level for the base period? A. Has funding already been allocated for this contract? B. What are the anticipated funding sources? |
| The Government will not provide a specific funding level or range of funding for the Base or any other period. Offerors are expected to propose appropriate costs and prices consistent with their unique technical and management approach. |
A. Yes B. This is an R&D contract utilizing Air Force 3600 type funding
| 4 |
| How do you plan to address OCI? |
a. Mitigation allowed
i. Within a company (firewalled employees)
ii. Within the team (firewalled companies and their employees)
b. Mitigation not consideration Offerors will be required to identify any known OCI concerns as part of their proposals. The Government will address any identified OCI issues in accordance with the terms of the solicitation.
| 5 |
| Will this be a single award or multiple awards? |
a. If multiple awards will it be at the Contract level or by commodity (e.g., each commodity is lot)?
The Government intends to make a single contract award for this requirement.
| 6 |
| Are the tasks in Section 3 expected to be completed in the sequence in which they are laid out? |
a. If not will the sequence be defined in each subsequent task order?
b. Or will the contractor be allowed to establish the sequence based on the unique requirements of the tasking?
The PWS reflects that Tasks 1 through 6 will be ongoing throughout the period of performance. Please see response above for Item 2 concerning the applicability of task orders.
| 7 |
| Have you already established the initial work plan for the Base Period? |
| A high level summary Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) will be included in the solicitation. Offerors shall use this document to develop a Draft POA&M that describes their proposed approach to meet all PWS and contract requirements. The offeror’s Draft POA&M will be evaluated by the Government as part of the offeror’s Technical Capability proposal volume. After contract award, the POA&M will then be a ‘living document’ that will be updated by the contractor based on the Government’s guidance and mission. |
| 8 |
| Section 8.0 stipulates security requirements and processes. Will work space in a classified environment (TS for Space Systems and SECRET for all others) be made available by AFCAA or will the work be required to be performed at the contractor’s facility? |
| See revised PWS and DD254 that outlines all security requirements. For the TS level requirements, the Government will provide TS space/equipment via Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with another Government Agency. |
All Secret data will be handled at the contractor’s facility.
| 9 |
| Do you anticipate requiring resumes for the Integrated Program/Technical Manager and/or commodity-specific task leaders demonstrate that the required knowledge skills and abilities (KSA) are resident on the proposed team? |
| Yes, resumes will be required for the Technical Manager (PWS revised to reflect the position Title change) proposed for the contract and for each of the weapon system commodity group task leaders |
| 10 |
| In section 3.3.1, does “non-AF programs” include programs outside of the DoD but relevant in terms of technology? |
| Yes. |
| 11 |
| Will the CEM commodity specific templates be included as CDRL on subsequent contracts? |
| Yes. The Government anticipates that the commodity-specific templates may be included as CDRLs on subsequent contracts. |
| 12 |
| Will the data collecting be done primarily by the Contractor Staff? |
| Yes, the Contractor has the responsibility of completing these tasks with minimal Government oversight. The Government will be hold open communication with the Contractor and will provide clarification or guidance through the Technical Direction Memorandums (TDM) that will be issued for travel or other tasks that are assigned within the scope of the contract. |
| 13 |
| Subject Matter Experts (SMES) noted in PWS 4.0 outlines the KSA per commodity – does the candidate must have experience in all areas listed? Example: 4.4.1 for the Software Engineer/Systems Analyst states the candidate must have at least five years of progressive systems engineering experience. Must have experience in the following subject areas: 1) Technical – AIS/DBMS system requirements analysis, systems analysis, software design, software analysis, computer programming, engineering, system design, management of information technology systems. 2) Cost – Knowledge of cost drivers that drive common cost estimating methodologies. Does the candidate have to have at least five years’ experience in all of these areas? |
| The SMEs, as well as any other individual, must fully meet or exceed the specific years and type of experience for the particular SME or commodity area. In this specific commodity area, Software Engineer/Systems Analyst, an individual with only computer programming experience would not meet the experience requirement. |
The minimum of five years of progressive engineering experience does not require that the individual have five years dedicated to each specific area (e.g., 8 separate subject areas x 5 years each = 40 total years of experience.), but the individual must demonstrate the progressive experience across each of the separate subject areas. For example, an individual would not be considered to meet the progressive experience requirement if four of the years were dedicated exclusively to computer programming, as the remaining year of experience would not represent a sufficient amount of progressive experience across the seven other subject areas.
The knowledge of cost drivers does not require experience as a dedicated cost estimator or analyst, but the individual in this example must have at least five years of that cost knowledge within the applicable technical area. Knowledge of cost drivers in design of packaging and handling equipment would not satisfy the requirement under Software Engineer/Systems Analyst.
It is the offeror’s responsibility to ensure the qualification documents (i.e., resumes) clearly demonstrate the individual fully meets the requirements for the subject area(s) they will perform under during the contract.
| 14 |
| Will this requirement be a joint effort with other organizations such as CADE or other AFCAA divisions or organizations? |
| No. While the contractor will be required to cooperate with other organizations, this is not a joint effort. The contractor will be responsible for performing all PWS requirements itself, and may at times include performing in either a lead or support role when required to interface with other CEM related organizations. It is anticipated that the contractor’s personnel will meet with the CADE team or other organizations on a regular basis to fully support this effort. |
| 15 |
| Has the NAICS code been posted? |
| Posted under the FBO.gov Special Notice: 541712 -- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology) |
| 16 |
| Does the Government plan to release a draft Section L and Section M? |
| Yes, tentatively the Government is finalizing these sections and will post them on the FBO Special Notice. |
| 17 |
| Does the Government envision requiring past performance questionnaires as part of the review of past performance? |
| Yes. The use of Past Performance Questionnaires is anticipated. The RFP will explain the past performance requirements in detail. |
| 18 |
| How will the Government evaluate the relevancy of past performance? |
| The Government will evaluate the past performance, to include relevancy, per Section M of the solicitation. |
| 19 |
| How does the Government plan to evaluate the qualifications of personnel as reflected in the PWS? |
| Qualifications of Personnel, will evaluate the qualifications and experience of the offeror's proposed key personnel for the following positions: Integrated Program/Technical Manager; Weapon System Commodity Task Leaders; and Subject Matter Experts. The offeror will also be evaluated on its extent and level of commitment to ensure the availability and assignment of its proposed key personnel to the contract for a minimum of twelve (12) months after contract award, as well as its proposed approach to replace any key personnel during contract performance with individuals of comparable qualifications and experience to those originally proposed by the offeror. |
| 20 |
| Will the Government require resumes for all proposed personnel, is it required to propose staff in each labor category? |
| Yes for the Key Personnel as follows: Integrated Program/Technical Manager; Weapon System Commodity Task Leaders; and Subject Matter Experts. |
| 21 |
| Are bidders required to have seniors, journeymen, and juniors for every commodity type? |
| The Government will evaluate the reasonableness and completeness of the offeror's proposed approach to plan, staff, monitor, and manage the effective and efficient performance for all requirements called for under the solicitation. The evaluation will include the offeror's proposed approach for staffing, to include recruitment and retention and the experience and education levels of the proposed personnel. |
| 22 |
| Has a goal been established for small and/or disadvantaged business subcontracting (ref. Industry Day event for AFCAA R&D for ‘Cost Estimating Modeling (CEM) briefing, slide #16)? |
| The small business subcontracting goals will be detailed in the RFP. |
| 23 |
| Would the Government consider requiring Compensation Plans to augment the cost realism analysis (ref. Industry Day event for AFCAA R&D for ‘Cost Estimating Modeling (CEM) briefing, slide #19)? |
| The solicitation will address the specific content requirements for an offeror’s proposal, as well as how that content will be incorporated into the evaluation of proposals. FAR Provision 52.222-46, Evaluation of Compensation for Professional Employees will be included in the solicitation, and plans indicating unrealistically low professional employee compensation may be assessed adversely as one of the factors considered in making an award. |
| 24 |
| What is the Government’s judgment on an acceptable level of uncompensated overtime (ref. Industry Day event for AFCAA R&D for ‘Cost Estimating Modeling (CEM) briefing, slide #19)? |
| The Government will not specify a particular level that is acceptable, as uncompensated overtime may be offset by other compensation or employment conditions. The Government intends to use the uncompensated overtime information provided by the offeror to consider the risks to contract performance associated with proposed uncompensated overtime. |
| 25 |
| As a clarification, are bidders expected to provide a version of their Price/Cost Proposal with blank spaces to replace the values in their primary submission (ref. Industry Day event for AFCAA R&D for ‘Cost Estimating Modeling (CEM) briefing, slide #20)? |
| Two versions of the offeror’s Cost/Price proposal volume shall be submitted. One version shall be marked “Redacted,” which must be identical to the full Cost/Price proposal volume, with the exception of all price or cost information being redacted. |
The Government intends to include an Excel spreadsheet as part of the RFP to be completed by offerors for submission with their Cost/Price proposal. The technique for redactions in the spreadsheet will be specified in the RFP. However, the RFP will also explain that the narrative portion of the offeror’s Cost/Price proposal shall use the redaction feature of Adobe Acrobat to obscure the applicable text or graphics, rather than using blank spaces, which would cause unacceptable discrepancies in page count and page layout between the full and redacted versions of the narrative. Regardless of the redaction methodology, the redacted version of the offeror’s proposal shall NOT include any cost or price information, to include, but not be limited to direct labor rates, indirect rates, fee, or any salary information for individuals not yet employed by the offeror, but with whom a formal Letter of Intent signed by both parties is in place.
| 26 |
| In the draft RFP (FA7014-16-R-5004), section 4.1.1 (page 17) indicates "... and possess at least a "Masters of Science/Masters of Arts" is required for the Overall Program/Technical Manager. Is there any substitutions (i.e. additional years of experience) for the Masters of Science/Masters of Arts requirement? Please also clarify if a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) and/or a Master's degree in Engineering Management (MEM) satisfy the requirement for a Master’s of Science/Masters of Art education level. |
| The RFP will clarify that the Masters of Science/Masters of Art requirement for the Overall Program/Technical Manager may be satisfied with a comparable Masters type degree. Similar clarification will be included for other personnel requirements. There will be no substitution of experience for any degree requirements, nor substitution of education for any experience requirements. |
| 27 |
| In the draft RFP (FA7014-16-R-5004), section 8.2 (page 31), is a TOP SECRET (TS) clearance required by any other commodity group other than Space and Launch Systems weapon system commodity area? |
| No. This is the only commodity area that will need the Top Secret clearance. This is also defined in the DD254 and PWS. |
The Government does not anticipate requiring access at the TS/SCI level.
| 28 |
| How will the contractor transmit classified data back to government at the end of the contract? |
| The Government anticipates this will be accomplished by delivery of the classified data using either removable media and/or removable hardware certified for the applicable security level. |
| 29 |
| Will the RFP Include language on Indexing and Data Warehousing? |
| Yes. The Government will provide the applicable language in the formal solicitation. |
| 30 |
| Will the Government provide guidance on protecting unclassified data, to include business data? |
| Yes. The Government will provide the applicable language in the formal solicitation. The contractor will be expected to abide by the specific terms of each Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) it enters with Government and commercial data providers. Due to the sensitive nature of the unclassified data that will be stored and handled by the contractor in performance of the contract, the Government will include evaluation of an offeror’s methods and processes to protect that data from unauthorized access and/or disclosure will be considered |
| 31 |
| How should the contractor address the possibility of aggregate data becoming classified? |
| The Government recognizes the possibility of aggregate data becoming classified, and the contractor will be responsible for compliance with DD 254 and NISPOM requirements. |
| 32 |
| Will the Government sponsor the Contractor personnel assigned to the project to be issued a CAC? |
| Yes, the Government intends to sponsor issuance of a CAC for contractor personnel assigned to the project, and this language will be included in the PWS. |