ATS_Industry_Day_Q A.docx

AFOTEC Test Services (ATS) Industry Day Questions and Answers As of 15 June 2016

1. Q: Regarding 10USC 2399, if previous support was solely to a government entity, is it permissible to participate in Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E)?

A: For OCI questions, please contact AFOTEC’s legal counsel, Jo Ann Stringfield.

2. Q: Will this Request for Proposal (RFP) be set aside 100% for small business?

A: Yes.

3. Q: Is the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code subject to change?

A: No, the NAICS code 541712 with the exception of aircraft; size standard 1500 employees. The NAICS code has been determined and will not be changed.

4. Q: How many awards will be made on this multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract?

A: Two or more awards will be made on this IDIQ contract.

5. Q: Will there be small business subcontracting goals?

A: No, there will not be subcontracting goals.

6. Q: Regarding paragraph 3.2.10, what is an example of “foreign material expendables” used in an operational test?

A: AFOTEC cannot be specific because of classified information but “foreign material expendables” are used as targets, threats, etc.

7. Q: Would it be a problem to propose as a team entirely comprised of small businesses?

A: The only requirement is that the prime is small, the makeup of the rest of the team is the contractor’s business decision.

8. Q: Is risk a concern in the Request for Proposal?

A: The technical approach is paramount; technical risk will also be evaluated.

9. Q: Will the Request for Proposal (RFP) be evaluated on the best value or Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)?

A: Proposals will be evaluated considering the best value to the government, not LPTA.

10. Q: Are some core competencies more important than others?

A: No. Three task orders (TO) will be released initially with the basic Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract - Nukedew, C2ISR, and Cybersecurity Assessment Program (CAP). Future TOs may rely on different sets of core competencies.

11. Q: Regarding the Request for Proposal (RFP), what is of the most concern to the government?

A: Technical approach, expertise of personnel, and management are the areas the Government is most concerned.

12. Q: What will the resume requirements be?

A: Unnamed resumes only for key personnel and management will be required.

13. Q: Will the size of this contract be the same as the Operational Test and Evaluation Services (OTES) contract ($77M)?

A: The ceiling has been approved at $93.5M.

14. Q: Will there be a bidder’s library when the Request for Proposal (RFP) is released?

A: Yes, a bidder’s library will be posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website at www.fbo.gov.

15. Q: Is there anything on the Operational Test and Evaluation Services (OTES) contract that is not working or needs to be changed?

A: Operational Test and Evaluation Services (OTES) is working very well.

16. Q: In the next five years, what will AFOTEC need on the AFOTEC Test Services (ATS) contract?

A: Core competencies will be listed in ATS Request for Proposal (RFP), draft and final and have the potential to be required during the period of performance of the contract.

17. Q: Is there an estimate of contractor support required at Detachment 2?

A: At this time, there is no definitive estimate; however, minimal contractor support may be required at Detachment 2 during the performance of the contract.

18. Q: Is there an estimate of contractor support required at Detachment 5?

A: The C2ISR task order will be awarded at initial contract award. Additional task orders are expected to be developed to support other Detachment 5 efforts after initial contract award. Final requirements for Detachment 5 are still being determined.

19. Q: Could highly specialized capabilities be provided remotely or do contractor personnel have to be physically present at AFOTEC Headquarters, Detachments, and Operating Locations?

A: It is difficult to have a test team that is not physically together.

20. Q: Will there be “live” task orders or sample task orders with the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

A: AFOTEC anticipates three task orders being awarded along with the basic contract. No sample task orders will be included.

21. Q: What will be the turnaround time on proposals after issuance of the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

A: Proposals will be required within 45 days of issuance of the Request for Proposal (RFP).

22. Q: How do you validate or verify the size of Small Businesses?

A: Generally, business size is a self-certification in the System for Award Management (SAM).

23. Q: Is there a Source Selection Authority (SSA) identified for ATS?

A: Yes, AFOTEC’s Executive Director, Mr. Redmond will be the SSA. As a reminder, all correspondence regarding ATS should come through the contracting office, never directly to the SSA or the Source Selection Evaluation Team (SSET).

24. Q: How important is cyber security assessment in the ATS contract?

A: Cyber Security is directed by the Department of Defense (DoD) and must be accomplished on all requirements.

25. Q: Will you use One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) or a similar contract vehicle for the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

A: No, AFOTEC considered OASIS as well as other contract vehicles and determined they are not appropriate for this action. This will be a stand-alone AFOTEC IDIQ contract.

26. Q: Will you issue a Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) and accept industry comments?

A: Yes, the Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) will be posted for 30 days with time for industry comments.

27. Q: How does AFOTEC plan to handle the transition to the new contract?

A: There will be a phase-in/phase-out period of 30 days at the beginning and ending of each task order.

28. Q: How long will the transition (phase-in period) last?

A: The transition will last 30 days.

29. Q: Will the bidder’s library posted with the Request for Proposal (RFP) be restricted and require Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA)?

A: The bidder’s library will be restricted and the NDA requirement has not been determined at this time.

30. Q: How many task orders are on the Operational Test and Evaluation Services (OTES) contract?

A: At this time, five active task orders (Nuclear Weapons, Directed Energy Weapons, and Natural Space Environment Survivability Services (NukDEW), Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR), Cybersecurity Assessment Program (CAP), Bomber) have been awarded under OTES. Two new task orders (Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR), Mobility Test Operations (MTO)) are being worked at this time.

31. Q: Would it be fair to say, at the current time, 25% of the ceiling has been expended on the Operational Test and Evaluation Services (OTES) contract?

A: Currently the OTES contract has expended 38% of its total ceiling of $77M.

32. Q: Do you receive two proposals on each TO on OTES?

A: Yes, a proposal is received from each incumbent.

33. Q: Will any more task orders be issued on the current OTES contract?

A: Yes, two more task orders will be issued before the contract is completed (see question 30 above).

34. Q: How does AFOTEC decide to create a new task order?

A: The creation of a new task order is based on AFOTEC requirements.

35. Q: Does AFOTEC divide responsibility for ATS between Detachments?

A: AFOTEC Detachments are functionally aligned and ATS is for Headquarters, Detachments 2, 4 and 5 and their associated Operating Locations only. Support by all of AFOTEC is available to any program.

36. Q: Of the 165 contractor personnel authorized by AFOTEC, how many would be allowed to work on ATS?

A: The ATS Requirements Authorization Document (RAD) has been approved for a total of 85 contractor personnel.

37. Q: Is 165 contractor personnel the maximum that will be authorized?

A: See question 36 above.

38. Q: Does AFOTEC have any projection of specific TOs or OT&E events over the ATS period of performance?

A: Other than what has been previously identified, there are no additional projections at this time.

39. Q: With the available ceiling left on OTES, why does AFOTEC choose to re-compete and not extend the current contract?

A: OTES is a service contract and is limited to five years; therefore, it must be re-competed.

40. Q: Will TOs be issued with the base IDIQ contract for ATS?

A: Yes, three task orders will be awarded along with the basic IDIQ contract.

41. Q: What is AFOTEC looking for on the new contract? Anything new or different?

A: Contractors should follow the instructions in the RFP and submit proposals that are easy to understand and show an understanding of the requirement.

42. Q: What will be the past performance cut-off on the Request for Proposal (RFP)?

A: Past performance evaluation will cover the previous three years.

43. Q: What is the percentage of work the prime must perform in order to be considered in the small business set-aside?

A: The prime must perform at least 50% of the work per FAR 52.219-14(c)(1). For ATS, this applies to the entire contract, not each individual task order.

44. Q: Will a small business subcontracting plan be required?

A: No, only a small business participation plan will be required.

45. Q: What are the goals for subcategories of Small Business?

A: There will be no set small business goals; however, a Small Business Participation Plan is applicable to all offerors. The Small Business Participation Plan needs to address the extent to which the offeror will utilize small business (SB), small disadvantaged business (SDB), women-owned small business (WOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB), and Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and the level of commitment to use such firms.

46. Q: What is the timeframe for submitting comments on the Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP)?

A: The timeframe will be at least two weeks.

47. Q: Will the Detachments and Operating Locations (OL) not mentioned today be left out of active task orders?

A: All AFOTEC locations may have work except Detachment 1 and Detachment 6 under ATS.

48. Q: Will AFOTEC provide historical manning levels?

A: AFOTEC will provide approved Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) across the entire contract.

49. Q: Is Risk Management Framework (RMF) of vendor systems within the mission responsibilities for ATS?

A: No. AFOTEC is not a Security Control Assessor (per DoDI 8510.01 – RMF). As the AF Operational Test Agency, AFOTEC will review RMF controls and the accreditation artifacts as supporting elements of the Cyber Resiliency Assessment (non-technical), but AFOTEC tests all programs, regardless of how they were accredited and authorized (DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP), Risk Management Framework (RMF), Joint Special Access Program Implementation Guide (JSIG)).

50. Q: Does AFOTEC have Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Security Control Assessors (SCA) assigned?

A: Reference the answer to question #49. AFOTEC works with the Security Control Assessors, but does not perform SCA functions.

51. Q: Does AFOTEC have equipment and networks associated with RMF?

A: AFOTEC does not have dedicated networks for testing. The requirements are met with infrastructure from bases where tests are performed. The only need for accreditation is related to modeling and simulation. Accreditation and authorization of AFOTEC’s internal information systems and infrastructure is outside the scope of this contract.

52. A: What is the highest class of data ATS will contain?

Q: Top Secret (TS) Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) (Special Access Programs (SAP)) is the highest class of data.

53. Q: What are the Full Time Equivalents (FTE) at each location?

A: For the three task orders that will be awarded with ATS IDIQ basic contract, the current FTEs are: Cybersecurity Assessment Program (OL-KT) is 15, Nuclear Weapons, Directed Energy Weapons, and Natural Space Environment Survivability Services (NukDEW, HQ) is one, Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C2ISR) (Detachment 5) is two.

54. Q: What is the evaluation criteria for ATS?

A: The evaluation criteria will be provided in the Request for Proposal (RFP) draft and final.

55. Q: What percentage of the work on ATS is instrumentation?

A: Instrumentation is a very small percentage of the work.

56. Q: Who are the incumbents on the OTES contract?

A: Qualis Corporation and Spectrum Comm Incorporated are the incumbents.

57. Q: Does AFOTEC desire to retain key personnel working on the current contract when transitioning to the new contract?

A: Recruitment policies are a contractor business decision. AFOTEC only requires qualified personnel.

58. Q: What percentage of the overall work performed by AFOTEC uses Core Competency (CC) #11, Electronic Warfare (EW)?

A: Detachment 2: Currently, the only necessary EW work is completing a Miniature Air Launched Decoy – Jammer (MALD-J) Modeling and Simulation effort and assisting Detachment 5 on KC-46 EW testing. Overall it's a low percentage of the total AFOTEC test work. There are no other projected EW programs.

Detachment 5: Fifty to 75%, of the work from Detachment 5 will utilize CC#11 (EW, radar...etc. from a smaller part of the test (KC-46), all the way up to the primary focus of a test (B-2 Defensive Management System (B-2 DMS)). That is one of the most important Core Competencies for the Bomber TO.

59. Q: Does AFOTEC perform its own electronic warfare testing or does AFOTEC use other government agencies for this work?

A: AFOTEC plans, executes and reports its own tests. However, since there are no resources other than personnel and funds, support comes from external agencies to facilitate our test efforts. This support includes but is not limited to aircraft, crew, and flight hours from flying units; airspace, threats, and equipment at various ranges; modeling and simulation support from groups such as 772 Test Squadron, Digital Integrated Air Defense System (DIADS) at Edwards AFB, California and the Simulation and Analysis Facility (SIMAF) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. But these groups are directed by AFOTEC, executing our test plans. AFOTEC then analyzes the data and writes the final independent report.