USPDS_OSEE_Draft_RFP-QA.docx

United States Prompt Diagnostic System (USPDS) Operational System Employment & Execution (OSEE)

USPDS OSEE

USPDS OSEE Draft RFP Responses **NOTE: The RFP/Solicitation number FA7022-17-R-0011 has changed to FA7022-18-R-0002 for this acquisition. All postings to FedBizOpps will use the new RFP/Solicitation number FA7022-18-R-0002.

1. Q: Would the Government consider a different North American Industry Classification System NAICS codes or Exceptions?

· A: The Government reviewed the requirement and determined that the 541330, Engineering Services, was still the most appropriate for the effort. However, Exception A will be utilized to identify that Military and Aerospace Equipment and Military Weapons applies.

2. Q: Would the Government consider different contract types, such as Firm Fixed Price (FFP) or Time and Materials (T&M) for this effort.

· A: The Government reviewed the requirement and determined that contract type Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) was appropriate for the effort.

3. Q: Does any of the work lend itself to Research and Development (R&D)? If so, will an R&D CLIN be part of the acquisition?

A: This contract is strictly Operations and Maintenance (O&M). There are no plans for R&D to be part of the effort. R&D of this system is the responsibility of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

4. Q: Does the Government intend to make available current USPDS sensor documentation to Contractors as part of the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

· A: The Government does not intend to provide current USPDS sensor documentation to Contractors as part of the Request for Proposal (RFP). The system was developed and fielded as a prototype system by the Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and detailed sensor documentation was not developed. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) is the Government agency responsible for total life cycle management and is currently developing detailed program and sensor documentation, but it will not be available until FY19. The Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), and this contractual effort, are responsible for maintaining the prototype system, which has not been declared operational.

5. Q: Has the Government considered an Industry Day or Reading Room for this proposal?

· A: The Government does not intend to host an Industry Day or Reading Room.

6. Q: Are there any Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) between this USPDS OSEE contract and other AFTAC contracts?

· A: There are no OCI’s for the USPDS OSEE effort. Contractors should submit letters to the Contracting Officer(s) of existing AFTAC contracts and USPDS OSEE, identifying the potential or real Organization Conflict of Interest concerns. Include actions the Contractor will take to avoid, neutralize or mitigate the concerns. Request approval/direction with each submittal.

7. Q: The solicitation notice Sections 2.1 & 2.2 indicate this is a new requirement with no contract background however, the PWS Sections 2.1.1 &.2 discuss a Phase-In and Transition meeting indicating there is an incumbent Contractor. Can you clarify if there is an incumbent Contractor?

· A: The prototype system was developed by the Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). DTRA currently owns and is responsible for the USPDS system. This is a new Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Program of Record for AFTAC. With the award of this contract, DTRA will be transitioning the system to AFTAC for transition to O&M. The Phase-In and Transition are for system familiarization and training provided by the Government.

8. Q: Section 2.1.1 states that in-coming Contractor has 30 days to hire, train and familiarize personnel with USPDS system; will training material be made available as part of the RFP?

· A: Training material will not be made available as part of the RFP. The RFP and Performance Work Statement (PWS) state the type of skills, tasks, education and experience required to perform the O&M responsibilities. The intent of Section 2.1.1 is to allow 30 Days from the date the award notice is provided, until the day performance begins, thus allowing the Contractor 30 days to hire personnel with the skill sets, education and experience as described in the RFP and PWS. The Government will provide system specific training and familiarization after this 30 day period for qualified and appropriately security cleared Contract personnel.

9. Q: Please clarify if warehousing space will be provided by the Government or is it the responsibility of the Contractor to provide the warehouse space?

· A: Warehouse space located at the AFTAC Facility, 10989 South Patrick Drive, Patrick AFB, FL 32925, will be provided by the Government and not the responsibility of the Contractor.

10. Q: Does the Government intend to make current USPDS software documentation available to Contractors as part of the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

· A: The Government does not intend to make current USPDS software documentation available to Contractors as part of the RFP. All software documentation and source code are maintained at the AFTAC facility and will be provided for on-site use at AFTAC in performance of the tasks outlined in the PWS, after contract award. The skill set, education and experience outlined in the RFP and PWS describe what is required to perform software tasks required for this effort.

11. Q: Will the Contractor be responsible for the initial USPDS Information System Security (ISS) system accreditation or for maintaining the existing ISS accreditation?

· A: The Government is responsible for the initial USPDS Information System Security (ISS) system accreditation. The Contractor will perform the tasks required for maintaining the ISS system accreditation.

12. Q: Will the Government provide a list of the 80 sensor and DOE Laboratory locations for estimating travel purposes?

· A: The list of CONUS sensor locations will be provided after contract award. The Government provided the travel estimate as part of the RFP. The travel is cost reimbursement (no fee) and the Government will only require the Contractor to support travel requirements within those estimated fund limits.

13. Q: Section 5.7.1 states that any overtime, holiday, or other hours shall be approved by COR with 30 day prior notification however, Section 3, Services Summary SS #4, indicates that the Contractor must resolve all local network and sensor command and control state of health (SOH) alerts within 96 hours, in this case 30 days’ notice may not be feasible. Please clarify.

· A: These are local command and control issues with no travel required that can normally be addressed during normal business hours. The Services Summary SS#4 states that if the issue cannot be resolved within the 96 hour time frame, that it should be reported to the COR. The COR just needs notification of why it could not be resolved within the normal acceptable time for mitigation.

14. Q: Section L 1.1 states the contract will be awarded as a Cost-Plus Fixed-Fee (CPFF) type contract. Please clarify if Contractors should use an average labor rate when filling out the Labor Rate Tables in Attachment 5 & 6?

A: No. Contractors should use the actual and proposed labor rates for each labor category and position. If there are 2 different labor rates for the same position, each rate shall be identified separately along with the hours for that rate. Attachment’s 5 & 6 have tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet to show all contract years.

15. Q: Estimating Workload Data/Labor Hours. Some tasks show staffing that increases across the effort from one (1) personnel that grows to eight (8) personnel across the contract for a specific task. How was this determined?

· A: The Government will be transitioning a set number of locations each year from the R&D provider, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and will have varying Initial Operating Capability (IOC) requirements per site. It will not transition all site locations on day one of the contract and IOC occurs over many years. The workload data, and growth of labor required each year, is based on AFTAC’s assumption of ownership and Initial Operating Capability (IOC) projection dates, over multiple years. Not all contract personnel are required on day one of this effort, which is reflected in the PWS paragraphs 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.10 and 2.11.

16. Q: Will the Contractor be installing sensor suites?

· A: No. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is responsible for all sensor suite installations. AFTAC and the Contractors for the USPDS OSEE effort are responsible for operating and maintaining those installed prototype systems.

17. Q: What is the reliability (Ai, MTBF, MTTR) of each sensor configuration?

· A: These systems are prototypes in the field and the Government is currently collecting reliability data for analysis. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) will produce reliability requirements for the system based on that data, but it does not currently exist.

18. Q: Does a Contractor require specific National Technical Nuclear Forensics (NTNF) or United States Prompt Diagnostic System (USPDS) to properly bid on this task.

· A: No. The Government provided Personnel Qualifications, outlining the descriptions of the experience and educational characteristics that the Government would typically identify with each labor category (See Appendix F of the PWS).

19. Q: Is there Government Furnished Property (GFP) for this contract?

· A: There is not currently GFP for this contract. When the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) transitions the sites to AFTAC it will transfer the GFP (sensors & communications systems) located at those sites to AFTAC ownership and is anticipated to occur in calendar year 2019 and 2020. This will not happen until after contract award. The GFP will be located at the sensor locations and at the AFTAC facility. The Contractor will not physically have the GFP, but will perform tasks associated with managing the GFP and equipment at those locations.

20. Q: Are there sensor suites already built?

· A: Yes, all prototype sensor suites are built and fielded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Any future engineering changes or re-designs will be conducted by DTRA.

21. Q: Are there design drawing packages?

· A: Level III engineering drawing are currently being developed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) for the system, but are not currently available. The contractor will not be responsible for re-engineering or re-design of the system. They will maintain the prototype system in the field. The skills, education, and experience required to maintain the system are outlined in the PWS and RFP.

22. Q: Who is responsible for the design, documentation, fabrication, testing and delivery of the Sensor Suites? When will they be provided to OSEE for fielding?

· A: The Department of Defense (DOD), Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) are the responsible Government agencies. The design, fabrication, and delivery of the system are complete and installed. The documentation of the system is currently being conducted by AFLCMC and will not be complete until FY19.

23. Q: Does the OSEE effort have any material procurement?

· A: Most of the USPDS system material procurement will be conducted by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC). AFTAC Government personnel will procure general maintenance equipment, tools and consumables for the OSEE contract. The Contractor will not procure material.

24. Q: What is the maturity of the current baseline, design drawings/parts lists?

· A: The prototype sensors vary in Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) between six (6) and nine (9). The communication and Information technology (IT) systems are mature and commercially available. The contractor is not responsible for maturing any of the sensor TRL’s. Advancement of the TRL levels is the responsibility of the Government agencies, AFLCMC and DTRA.

25. Q: It is not clear what work the Government expects to be performed at AFTAC and what will be performed at the Contractor site. Would you please clarify your intent?

· A: Work is not performed at the contractor facility, other than general contract management, cost accounting, and administrative contract actions. The majority of work is conducted at the AFTAC facility with sensor/system maintenance being performed routinely at the CONUS sensor locations.

26. Q: PWS paragraph 2.1.1 – When will the Government provided work areas, phones, networks, etc. be available to the contractor?

· A: On day one of contract’s base period of performance, for those tasks identified as being required on day one of the contract’s base period of performance.

27. Q: PWS paragraph 2.2.1 – What is on the AFTAC Change Request (CR) form.

· A: The change request captures the following traditional change request information:

i. Change Type (New/Add Requirement, Modify Requirement, Delete Requirement, Documentation, Design, Hardware, Software, Firmware, Other)

ii. Change Reason (Legal/Legislation, Policy, Operations-Better Understanding, Improve Operations, Performance Tuning, Defect, Other)

iii. Priority (High - Emergency/Critical to mission, Medium - Urgent/Needed but not critical to mission, Low - Routine)

iv. Change Description, Impact Analysis (User, Software, Interfaces, Operations, Site, Hardware, Data, Documentation, Training, Security, Schedule, Cost, Budget), Level of Effort and Technical Recommendation

28. Q: PWS paragraph 2.2.1 – Can the Government be more specific as to the quantity and size of effort associated with documenting standard operating procedures and checklists for the analyst capability?

· A: The Contractor will refine the day to day operational task checklists and SOP’s for those analyst tasks, to confirm that they are current and make changes as needed when tasks change or are refined.

29. Q: PWS paragraph 2.3 – Understanding the Estimated Workload Data – What is the level of Subject Matter Expertise (SME) support required?

· A: One SME in the area of Speed of Light (SOL) technologies and data, and one SME in the area of Speed of Sound (SOS) technologies and data, as described in paragraphs 2.3 – 2.3.2, are required to perform tasks daily during normal operating hours, as described in PWS paragraph 5.7.1.

30. Q: PWS paragraph 2.4.1 – What is the Property Management Tool and Software? Is the space for storage of this property provided by the Government or the contractor?

· A: AFTAC will utilize Maximo Asset Management Solutions and comply with elements of the Defense Property Accountability System (DPAS), which is a Department of Defense (DOD) property management system. The space for storage of property is provided by the Government, not the Contractor.

31. Q: PWS paragraph 2.7 – Are the software development and test environments/tools provided by the Government or contractor?

· A: Provided by the Government.

32. Q: PWS paragraph 2.9 - What Configuration Management (CM) tool is the Government planning? Is this tool provided by the Government or the contractor?

· A: Maximo. The Government will provide all Configuration Management tools to the Contractor for on-site AFTAC facility use.

33. Q: In Attachment 2 - The DD-254 Block 9 says this will be an IDIQ contract type – please clarify.

· A: This is a planning DD-254 and will be updated with release of the final RFP. The contract is not an IDIQ.

34. Q: Attachments 5 and 6 – are the “FY” listed the contractors fiscal year or the Government FY? If Government, can the tables be split to indicate situations where the contractor FY and the Government FY do not align?

· A: The FY's provided in attachments 5 and 6 are based on the contract FY or period of performance. The contractor shall not split these columns for the purpose of completing the attachments. However, the contractor may provide additional tables/charts as part of their cost proposal, showing the breakouts to the best of their ability.

35. Q: Attachment 6 – We are confused as to the Governments intent with regard to billings. The instructions says these rates will be incorporated into any resulting contract. Is it the Governments intent to limit the contractor billing in any resulting contract to only the labor rates listed in Attachment 6? Doesn’t that make the contract FFP-LOE? If billing is limited to only these labor categories/rates, can the contractor propose additional labor categories? For example Contracts Administrator, Clerical support, Program Financial Administrator, subcontracts manager, etc.

· A: It is the Governments intent to limit the contractor billing to the proposed and negotiated rates. Attachment 6 is a template for the contractor to provide the proposed labor categories and burdened rates. Proposals are not limited to the labor categories listed in the Attachment 6 template as provided by the Government.

36. Q: Attachment 6 – The instruction tab asks for unburdened rates where the other 2 tabs ask for fully burdened rates – please clarify?

· A: This should read “Fully Burdened Rates”. The instruction tab will be updated to reflect this.

37. Q: Exhibit A does not list any required financial reporting CDRL’s. Will there be any?

· A: CDRL A001, Monthly Status Report will require a funds status report, to include man-hour expenditures, which will be reflected in PWS paragraph 5.15.

38. Q: Solicitation section L.2.2 – If the Prime teams with another company, please specify which portions of Table 2.2 the Government will require delivered as a “sealed package” directly from the subs?

· A: No part of the of the sub's response would be sealed unless the sub feels the contents are proprietary in nature. Most of what the sub submits should be evaluated by the prime.

39. Q: What is the expected Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) of the currently fielded 25 sensors and if that maturity will increase with the remaining sensors to create the 80 sensor suite?

· A: The prototype sensors vary in Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) between six (6) and nine (9) and no changes in TRL will occur with the current sensor suite. The communication and Information technology (IT) systems are mature and commercially available. The contractor is not responsible for maturing any of the sensor TRL’s, just maintaining the current sensors. Advancement of the TRL levels and fielding of the sensors is the responsibility of the Government agencies, AFLCMC and DTRA.

40. Q: Is the contractor expected to do the analysis and engineering to bring all sensors to a TRL 6-9 maturity level or will that continue to be the responsibility of the current sensor developer?

· A: The contractor is not responsible for maturing any of the sensor TRL’s, just maintaining the current sensors. Advancement of the TRL levels is the responsibility of the Government agencies, AFLCMC and DTRA.

41. Q: Is the current approved USPDS CONOPS available for review?

· A: No, it is not.

42. Q: The draft RFP requests cost plus fixed fee (CPFF) pricing, which is inconsistent with the provided table of Time & Materials (T&M) labor hours. Will this be addressed in the final RFP?

· A: A Time & Materials (T&M) Table was not provided. Estimated workload data was provided for CPFF pricing.

43. Q: The draft RFP lists a 1 year performance period with optional extensions out to 5.5 years. Is the PWS intended for the first year only or for the entire optional contract period?

· A: It is intended for the entire contract, not just the base contract year.

44. Q: What hardware and software will the contract receive on day 1?

· A: No hardware will be provided on day one. The sensors and communications system at the sensor sites and IT systems at AFTAC will be available on day 1 for operations and maintenance tasks for security cleared and trained Contract personnel. The system source code, executables and software will be available on day 1 of the contract for use at the AFTAC facility.

45. Q: Will AFTAC provide an assessment of current system maintenance requirements / schedule?

· A: The maintenance task analysis (MTA) and Level of Repair Analysis (LORA) are currently being developed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), but do not currently exist. An estimated workload data was provided in Appendix B based on some of their preliminary data.

46. Q: Will AFTAC provide demonstration and test hardware to support setup of an integration lab (for the purpose of troubleshooting and pre-deployment checkouts)?

· A: AFTAC will provide training and demonstration of the fielded system and test hardware after contract award. The creation of an integration lab is the responsibility of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) and not the USPDS OSEE Contractors.

47. Q: Will AFTAC provide detailed documentation on currently deployed hardware, including installation and integration impediments and mitigation?

· A: The system is installed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). Level III engineering drawing are currently being developed by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) for the system, but are not currently available. Any documentation on installation, hardware, and integration will be available after contract award.

48. Q: Will AFTAC provide detailed documentation on the system architecture, including detailed descriptions of concept, hardware, characterization, and data handling for each deployed instrument?

· A: Detailed technical documentation does not exist for the system as it was deployed as a prototype. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) is currently developing detailed technical documentation for this system, but it is not available.

49. Q: What is the current state of system data acquisition and analysis tools (e.g., TRL level) and what is the desired end state?

· A: The system data acquisition and analysis tools range from TRL 7-9. The desired end state is TRL 9, but advancement in tools and data fidelity is a continuous process and will be performed by DTRA and AFLCMC.

50. Q: Will AFTAC provide applicable documentation or demonstrations for the current/prototype system:

· A: Detailed technical documentation does not exist for the system as it was deployed as a prototype. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) is currently developing detailed technical documentation for this system, but it is not available. Demonstration, training and any completed documents will be made available after contract award.

51. Q: Most contractors annualizing less than $15M in revenue do not have an approved DCAA cost and accounting system, and therefore cannot perform CPFF type contracts. Will you accept other FAR-compliant contract cost accounting system that have been validated?

· A: Yes the Government will accept FAR compliant contract cost accounting systems. Additionally, note the NAICS code with remain 541330 but Exception A will be added which changes the size standard to $38.5M.

52. Q: Would the Government consider a different NAICS code?

· A: The Government reviewed the requirement and determined that the 541330, Engineering Services, was still the most appropriate for the effort. Additionally, Exception A, Military and Aerospace Equipment and Military Weapons applies.

53. Q: In reference to 4.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY AND SERVICES, paragraph 4.1 Services. In addition to NIPRNet and SIPRNet, does the Government need to provide JWICS and .GOV access to administrate and maintain the USPDS network?

· A: Yes, the PWS will be updated to reflect this change.