(U) DRAFT Call - Project Marine Duck Cover Letter.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

13 November 2024

COVER LETTER FOR PROJECT MARINE DUCK:

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: DRAFT CSO CALL 5, AFLCMC Data Operation Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), Solicitation No. FA8600-23-S-C056-0005(1) – PROJECT MARINE DUCK

1. You are invited to review and comment on the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

(AFLCMC) Data Operation Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) Call 5 – “Project Marine Duck” solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to allow AFLCMC to obtain access to, and continuously utilize, a Defense Information Services Agency (DISA) accredited cloud environment to perform modern software development, with a specific focus on C++ development supporting up to 10,000 users, at maximum, between various DoD entities and contractor counterparts. There is specific interest in environments that have undergone recent positive blue teaming or penetrative assessment results that are releasable to the USG.

2. Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, evaluation approaches, and/or any other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work. Potential offerors should identify any unnecessary or inefficient requirements and are also encouraged to comment on the solicitation, any unique terms and conditions, the clarity of the user story requirements, and the evaluation criteria.

3. Any comments regarding the Draft Call and Attachment 1, Technical Requirements, should be submitted electronically in writing to Ms. Marina Schemmel, Contracting Officer, at AFLCMC.AFLCMC.DataOpsCSO@us.af.mil within 14 calendar days after the posting of this Call (No Later Than Wednesday 27 November 2024 at 1159 ET). If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a government response.

4. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final Call. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final Call. Some Draft Call questions and comments may receive a posted response to the Call posting if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government may also respond via a post to the Call to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Call.

5. This Draft Call is not a solicitation and AFLCMC is NOT currently requesting proposals. This Draft Call does not commit AFLCMC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate AFLCMC to procure or contract for this requirement. This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

6. Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the Call and any attachments, any amendments and links to online references will be attainable electronically through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates. AFLCMC reserves the right to modify the solicitation requirements of this CSO call at its sole discretion.

7. The current planned final Call release date is on or about 1 January 2025, with proposals being due 14 days after the Call is posted. This date is subject to change due to AFLCMC funding and organizational priorities.

8. The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding this acquisition:

a. AFLCMC anticipates awarding either a FAR Part 12 contract or an Other Transaction Agreement for Prototype (OTP) Project pursuant to 10 USC 4022 to multiple vendors. An anticipated awarded contract may be structured as an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the ability to issue Firm Fixed Price (FFP) task orders for a period of five (5) years from the contract effective date. An anticipated awarded OTP may be structured as a base Agreement with the ability to issue Project Orders for a period of five (5) years from the agreement award date. The initial award will utilize a two “Phase” structure in the first Task/Project Order, which will allow for award to multiple vendors, and the potential for additional scalable work through subsequent Task/Project Orders.

b. Generally, the anticipated Phases are as follows:

i. Phase I: In Phase I, the awarded vendor(s) will develop an environment in accordance with (IAW) the Phase I requirements in Attachment 1, “DRAFT Technical Requirements” of the Call. Phase I is anticipated to have a period of performance (PoP) of two (2) months. The deliverables from Phase I include a presentation or demonstration of the established environment, a prototype environment in accordance with the Phase I requirements in Attachment 1 of this Call, and a Phase II draft proposal. The Phase II draft proposal must include: (1) a cost model of the anticipated costs to scale the developed environment and (2) a detailed scaling strategy white paper to include major findings in the V&V presentation/demonstration.

At the conclusion of Phase I, the awarded vendor(s) shall attend a Verification and Validation (V&V) event, hosted by AFLCMC. At the V&V event, the awarded vendor(s) shall give either a presentation or demonstration to AFLCMC on the environment the vendor(s) have created during Phase I. Following the presentation and/or demonstration, AFLCMC will test the vendor(s) created environment’s abilities and usability by incorporating up to 10 AFLCMC user accounts. AFLCMC will evaluate the awarded vendor(s) environment’s ability to https://www.sam.gov/ perform the requirements listed in the Call with the objective grading criteria located in Section 8.0.

ii. Phase II: Following the V&V event, AFLCMC will select up to two (2) vendors for Phase II. Phase II is anticipated to have a PoP of 2 months. During Phase II, up to two (2) vendors will expand the developed environment from Phase I to scale to up to 50 AFLCMC internal and external users. The vendor(s) will also be required to implement any comments given by AFLCMC on the vendor’s environment during the V&V event. AFLCMC will also request Phase III proposals from the Phase II vendor(s), which must be negotiated prior to the beginning of Phase III.

Prior to successful award of Phase III, the Phase II vendor(s) must successfully:

(1) scale the developed environment to up to 50 AFLCMC internal and external users; (2) develop environment dashboards for continuous resource utilization and statusing; (3) negotiate a Phase III award; and (4) allow AFLCMC or an AFLCMC-appointed third party to perform a penetrative assessment of its environment. If a third-party is used for the penetrative assessment, the third-party entity will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) prior to beginning the assessment.

iii. Subsequent Phases: AFLCMC reserves the right to pursue any potential subsequent Phase to allow for scaling to meet AFLCMC’s needs with one or more of the successful Phase II vendor(s). AFLCMC also reserves the right not to award any potential subsequent Phases to any vendor.

c. In the Project Marine Duck Call, AFLCMC is requesting proposals for Phase I and a priced option for Phase II ONLY. Proposals for subsequent Phases will NOT be considered.

d. The Phase I and Phase II requirements will be located in Attachment 1, “DRAFT Technical Requirements” to this posting.

Marina Schemmel Contracting Officer

AFLCMC

Enclosure:

Attachment 1 – DRAFT Technical Requirements