NOVASTAR Q_A 26 June 2020.docx

NOVASTAR SOURCES SOUGHT

Industry Questions and Answers

1. Question: Is NOVASTAR expected to consolidate all of these programs under one roof? Or are various requirements, currently scattered across the different programs, just expected to roll up under NOVASTAR, but leaving the current programs intact? Or is it expected to be a mix, where say ATEP continues as a stand-alone program, and other efforts get rolled up under NOVASTAR?

a. Answer: The Government’s intent for this requirement is the NOVASTAR basic IDIQ scope will encompass all NASIC mission support requirements (with the exception of A&AS, Enterprise IT support, and facility support.) The other contracts (IDIQs/BPAs) listed in the sources sought will remain viable options for the Government to solicit for contracted support within the terms of their individual ordering periods (note: some of those ordering periods have expired.) Existing task orders on these legacy contracts/IDIQs/BPAs will be viable should the Government choose to exercise any remaining options. The results of the sources sought, RFIs, and market research will guide the Government to producing an Acquisition Strategy for NOVASTAR.

2. Question: Given that the Air Force awarded 10 MEGASTAR contracts at the end of fiscal 2019, would NOVASTAR replace those contracts? Would some MEGASTAR requirements be folded into NOVASTAR, without replacing MEGASTAR entirely? Any clarification you’re able to provide would be much appreciated.

a. See Answer to Q1

3. Question: Will there be any OCI requirement that a successful candidate must not perform (i.e. not be a “performer”) on significant work for the defense and intelligence community?

a. Answer: Please, provide any potential OCI issues to the government for evaluation with the capabilities statement. However, a potential OCI issue should not preclude your company from proposing.

4. Question: Will Contractors be precluded from participating in the Pre-Solicitation Conference if they do not respond to the RFI?

a. Answer: No

5. Question: Will Contractors be precluded from submitting a proposal if an RFI response is not submitted.

a. Answer: No

6. With regard to the NASIC NOVASTAR contract, after reading it we were seeking clarity about the scope. It references many different existing contracts and it is difficult to understand whether these contracts were referenced as part of each or all of these would be included in NOVASTAR. One specific example would be with regard to AVIPSS, it would appear that based on the NOVASTAR write up that NOVASTAR would include only the OSINT portion of the AVIPSS contract on the new NOVASTAR contract. NOVASTAR appears to be addressing the NASIC single-INTs, such as OSINT, GEOINT, MASINT and SIGINT requirements as a consolidated contract. That would mean for example that AVIPSS follow on would be re-scoped to remove the OSINT requirement that would now be on NOVASTAR. Our question to understand scope is that we are small and probably well suited to be a prime for the smaller scope AVIPSS but would not likely be positioned to take on NOVASTAR as it is potentially massive in scope. I appreciate any clarity that could be provided on this.

a. Answer: If you are capable of managing any piece of the NOVASTAR scope of work please provide that capability information to the government. While the acquisition strategy has not been determined, the intent of the NOVASTAR scope is to be all inclusive for NASIC capability development, sustainment, and intelligence production activities. Based on industry capabilities and responses, the acquisition strategy may include teaming or pools of vendors. Therefore, knowing small business’s capability in this area will be helpful and informative.

7. Question: What are the anticipated Contract types/types included in IDIQ?

a. Answer: The government is anticipating the potential for the following contract types Firm Fixed Price, Fixed Price Incentive Firm, Cost Plus Incentive Fee, Cost Plus Fixed Fee, and Time & Material. This will be determined based on the Government’s continued market research

8. Question: Please clarify how the Government wishes Industry to advise our preference for attending a one-on-one. Does the Government wish us to include our preference in our Sources Sought response or in a separate email?

a. Answer: Please, email your preference to contacts provided in the sources sought.

9. Question: PWS Page 9, #3.12.8 defines a Man-year as 1920 labor hours. Government’s standard man-year and man-year under ATEPII was 1820 hours. Please confirm.

a. Answer: The team is exploring and researching this further. If you have additional information you can provide to show this as the Government standard, please let us know. Currently these man hours are for 1920 = (full time) – (10 federal holidays) – (2 weeks’ vacation);

10. Question: PWS Page 12, 6.4 Facilities and Services. Last two lines are the same. Is something missing or just a duplicate?

a. Answer: It is a duplicate, the Government will remove in the next PWS revision.

11. Question: PWS Page 12, 6.7 IT. This section refers to “IT solutions developed…” Please define IT solutions.

a. Answer: IT is any s/w, h/w, or firmware developed, procured, modified, installed, managed, or sustained under these contracts.

12. Question: Can you please confirm what the timezone is for the 2pm due date time?

a. The time zone for the 2:00pm due date is the Easter Time Zone.

13. Question: Within the Sources Sought, Part I mentions the “Aircraft exception size standard of 1,500 employees” under the NAICS section. Could you please confirm that this exception was intentionally included, and that the size standard is 1,500 employees?

a. Answer: Yes, that exception was intentionally included and the size standards remains at 1,500 employees. There is OHA precedent for use of this NAICS Code and size standard for this effort. Much research went into supporting the arguments for use of this NAICS Code, which ultimately proved successful in front of the SBA Court of Hearings and Appeals on the previous ATEP II effort.

14. Question: Please provide any additional information on format for submissions, any web link to where they should be posted and POC to submit input to, and the absolute final date for any submission? Additionally I know this is just a request for information and does mean the Government will establish any future contracts, but is there any kind of Industry Day or open information that can be of value to interested firms?

a. Answer: At this time there is no required format, just ensure all requested information is included in the response and that the requested page number is not exceeded. When you submit your response please submit to myself or Ms. Joelynn Laux as you did with these questions. The absolute date to submit Sources Sought responses is 30 June 2020 at 2:00pm EST. However, if you need an extension please notify us as soon as possible explaining why the extension is needed and the extension date. At that point the Contracting Officer will make a determination to grant the extension or not. The Industry Day is still being planned for this effort as a result of the Social Distancing requirements. Please continue to monitor the posting online for updates and details on the Industry Day. For your planning purposes, the timeline should be somewhere between mid-summer/late-summer or early fall.

15. Question: #13 of the Sources Sought states: “Describe your company’s ability to obtain/maintain a Top Secret/SCI level facility in accordance with Industrial Security Manual (DoD 5220.22M).” #14 of the Sources Sought states: “Describe your company’s ability to access a Top Secret/SCI level facilities, other than NASIC, in accordance with Industrial Security Manual (DoD 5220.22M).” - Is this statement referring to a TS Facility Clearance or our ability to obtain/maintain our own SCIF? The reference to DoD 5220.22M leads us to believe this is a reference to obtaining/maintaining a TS Facility Clearance.

Similarly, is this statement asking for information about a SCIF maintained by the contractor or is it asking if we have access to other Government maintained SCIFs (i.e. we have access to a SCIF at Offutt AFB where we could gain access to information about NOVASTAR TOs and other classified information but could not perform work for any NOVASTAR TOs at that facility)? Another inference is that if a team member maintains a SCIF, then other contractors on the team would have access to use that facility. However, this very heavily limits small business teams that do not have a large business on their team.

a. Answer: Yes, this is referencing the Facility Clearance IAW DoD 5220.22M. There is no inference from the Government that a contractor SCIF is required for NOVASTAR.

b. This is for the Government to assess any current SCIF facilities a company MAY HAVE access to or maintains and that COULD BE used for the performance of classified work under NOVASTAR. A negative response will NOT exclude a company from and aspect of the NOVASTAR Source Selection or award. There is no inference from the Government that other contractors on the team would have access to use that facility. Additionally, based on industries responses the government intends to develop a strategy for clearance requirements.

16. Question: Regarding the sources sought notice, does the government intend to determine if there will be a small business track for this opportunity (in this case there is a chance it could come out large)? Or does the government plan to use the sources sought to determine which set-aside(s) would be used to procure the work?

a. Answer: Yes, the government’s market research from this Sources Sought will help in determining the Government's Acquisition Strategy for the NOVASTAR requirements.

17. Question: In response to the subject sources sought notice is it acceptable to use 10 pt font for figures and tables?

18. Answer: Per the Sources Sought, the response to Part I. Business Information should be single spaced, 12pt font. The response to Part II. Capabilities should be limited to no more than 20 pages (8.5x11 inches), single spaced, 12pt font. Any font size other than 12pt will not be accepted.

19. Question: The RFI response states our submission must be UNCLASSIFIED. However, the Sources Sought release was FOUO. Can you tell me if an UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO submission is acceptable?

a. Answer: UNCLASS/FOUO would be appropriate.