FINAL_NGZR_Solicitation_.pdf

FA8616-18-S-0001 Page 1 of 13

SOLICIATION

SUMMARY

FA8616-18-S-0001

FIGHTER BOMBER DIRECTORATE/ B-2 DIVISION

05 JULY 2018

NAICS CODE: 334511 – Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical

System and Instrument Manufacturing. The NAICS small business size standard is 1,000 employees (1,250 employees for space vehicles and guided missiles, their propulsion units, propulsion unit parts, and auxiliary equipment and parts). Please refer to www.sba.gov for any changes.

FEDERAL AGENCY NAME: Air Force Life Cycle Management Command (AFLCMC), Fighter

Bomber Directorate, B-2 Division

SOLICITATION TITLE: Next Generation Zonal Radar (NGZR)

SOLICITATION TYPE: Initial Solicitation

PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND TIME: Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are due no later than 05 September 2018. Proposals must be submitted in accordance with any modifications or amendments to the solicitation, if applicable. Proposals received after the due date may not be considered for evaluation or award. The Agreements Officer will make a determination regarding late submissions. It should be noted that this installation observes strict security procedures to enter the facility. These security procedures are NOT considered an interruption of normal Government processes, and proposals received after the above stated date as a result of security delays will be considered “late.”

Note: If offerors use commercial carriers for delivery of proposals, carriers may not honor time-of-day delivery guarantees on military installations. Early proposal submission is encouraged.

BRIEF PROGRAM SUMMARY: The Next Generation Zonal Radar (NGZR) provides a diagnostic radar capability intended to identify defects, verify repairs, and assess signature confidence of the B-2.

The NGZR is support equipment that is critical to the maintenance of low observable (LO) radio frequency (RF) signature performance of the aircraft. The NGZR will provide Air Force Global Strike

Command with continued Tier II RF diagnostic capability.

GENERAL INFORMATION: This solicitation is issued pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2371b – Authority of the Department of Defense to carry out certain prototype projects, which authorizes Department of

Defense (DoD) agencies to carry out prototype projects using a legal instrument other than a procurement contract, grant, or cooperative agreement.

Prototype projects awarded under this authority must be directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of military personnel and the supporting platforms, systems, components, or materials proposed to be acquired or developed by the Department of Defense, or to improvement of platforms, systems, components, or materials in use by the armed forces.

FA8616-18-S-0001 Page 2 of 13

Appropriate use of the 10 U.S.C. 2371b authority requires certain conditions to be met. See

Solicitation paragraph III.1. “Eligible Offeror/Applicants” for specific information regarding the conditions for this solicitation. Ineligible offerors/applicants will not be considered.

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation and selected for award are considered to be the result of competitive procedures under 10 U.S.C. 2371b.

Offerors MUST monitor http://www.fbo.gov in the event this solicitation is amended.

TYPE OF AWARDS/INSTRUMENTS: The Government anticipates awarding multiple Other

Transaction (OT) Agreements as a result of this solicitation. Note: Due to this unique approach, the

NGZR competition is not held to requirements identified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) or its Supplements. These potential agreements will likewise not be contracts under the purview of the

FAR. FAR rules may influence but will not govern this action.

The Government reserves the right to award the instrument best suited to the nature of the prototype project proposed. A mix of award types may be used throughout the life of the NGZR program;

however, it is anticipated that awards made as a result of this solicitation will be Firm-Fixed Price.

Cost type awards will require awardees to have an accounting system deemed adequate by the Defense

Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) for tracking costs under the agreement. If an offeror does NOT have a

DCAA-approved accounting system prior to award, a Cost-Reimbursement awards will not be awarded.

ANTICIPATED NUMBER OF AWARDS: The Government intends to award up to five (5) agreements for the NGZR Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) Program Prototype

Demonstration effort. After the TMRR Prototype Demonstration effort, awardees will be considered for the exercise of the Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option effort. The Government intends to exercise up to two (2) options for the NGZR Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design

Option effort. However, the Government does reserve the right to make more or fewer awards, or no awards pursuant to this solicitation.

AGENCY CONTACTS: Any correspondence must reference the solicitation title and number.

Technical Points of Contact: Questions of a technical nature shall be directed to the following technical point of contact:

Program Manager: Maj Marc Honrath; AFLCMC/WWZ Wright-Patterson AFB, OH; Phone:

(937) 255-6884; Email: Marc.Honrath.1@us.af.mil.

Contracting Points of Contact: Questions of a contractual/business nature shall be directed to the following contracting points of contact:

Agreements Officer: Mr. Cale Reedy; AFLCMC/WWZ, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH; Phone: 937-713-

9499; Email: Cale.Reedy@us.af.mil.

Buyer: Ms. Tiffany Amlin; AFLCMC/WWZ, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH; Phone: 937-713-6025;

Email: Tiffany.Amlin@us.af.mil.

http://www.fbo.gov/ mailto:Marc.Honrath.1@us.af.mil mailto:Cale.Reedy@us.af.mil mailto:Tiffany.Amlin@us.af.mil

SOLICITATION

FA8616-18-S-0001

FIGHTER BOMBER DIRECTORATE / B-2 PROGRAM

FULL TEXT ANNOUNCEMENT

I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1. Program Background

The Next Generation Zonal Radar (NGZR) provides a diagnostic radar capability intended to identify defects, verify repairs, and assess signature confidence of the B-2. The NGZR is support equipment that is critical to the maintenance of low observable (LO) radio frequency (RF) signature performance of the aircraft.

The supplier of the current Tier II diagnostic radar system (DRS), the SCi-2K, has notified the B-2 program office that it will provide only partial support of the system after December 2021, and will not support the system after December 2023. The SCi-2K is dependent upon continued contract logistics support from the current supplier for system repair and annual calibration.

Requirement Description

The purpose of this effort is to provide Air Force Global Strike Command with continued Tier II RF diagnostic capability. This system is crucial to fleet RF diagnostics and must be replaced to preclude a gap in RF diagnostic capability. To achieve this, the program office will field a full complement of new systems prior to December 2023. Prototypes will be competitively developed in the Technology

Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) Phase, which will take place in two parts. The agreements resulting from this solicitation will encompass this phase.

Each agreement will consist of a Prototype Demonstration effort and an Advanced Prototyping and Initial

Design Option effort. The Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option effort will be an option under each agreement which may be unilaterally exercised, at the Government’s discretion, based on the results of the technical evaluation and the demonstration event.

The first part of TMRR comprises of a demonstration event including up to five (5) agreements to demonstrate early prototypes. Awardees will maintain prototype ownership during the TMRR demonstration effort. The program may subsequently exercise the Advanced Prototyping and Initial

Design Option on one (1) or two (2) of the awards, which will then require the delivery of a high fidelity prototype, support of the prototype in the field, and completion of preliminary engineering design.

The TMRR phase will culminate in a Preliminary Design Review. Prior to the end of the TMRR phase, the program office may request additional proposals for a follow-on Production Contract or Transaction.

2. Deliverable Items: A list of deliverable items, their correlated events, acceptance/approval requirements, and distribution information is provided as an attachment to the Draft Award document.

3. Schedule: The Government anticipates agreement award and commencement of the Prototype

Demonstration effort to occur in the 1st Quarter of FY 2019. The exercise of the Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option is expected to occur in the 2nd Quarter of FY 2019.

4. Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI): OCI, if applicable, will be determined and addressed by the

Agreements Officer.

5. System for Award Management (SAM): Unless exempted by 2 CFR 25.110 all offerors must: (1) be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to submitting a proposal; (2) maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active Federal award or proposal under consideration by the Government; and (3) provide its DUNS number and CAGE code in each proposal it submits to the agency. On-line registration instructions can be accessed from the SAM home page at www.sam.gov.

Potential Offerors that are notified as eligible for an award must submit annual Electronic

Representations and Certifications via the System for Award Management (SAM) website at www.sam.gov. Before submitting the Electronic Representations and Certifications, Offerors must be registered in the Systems for Award Management (SAM) Database.

II. AWARD INFORMATION

1. Anticipated Funding: The anticipated funding for each award is:

Effort FY19 FY20 Total

Demonstration $0.065M - $0.065M

Advanced Prototype Option $0.800M $1.3M $2.1M

This funding profile is an estimate only and will not be an obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. All potential offerors should be aware that funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice due to unanticipated budget fluctuations.

2. Anticipated Number of Awards: The Government intends to award up to five (5) agreements for the

Next Generation Zonal Radar TMRR Program Demonstration effort. The program may subsequently exercise the Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option on one (1) or two (2) of the awards, which will then require the delivery of a high fidelity prototype, support of the prototype in the field, and completion of preliminary engineering design.

3. Anticipated Period of Performance: The Government anticipates the period of performance to be two

(2) to four (4) months for the Demonstration effort and eighteen (18) months for the Advanced Prototype option. However, the Government has a desire to expedite the project to preclude a gap in capability;

therefore, if a proposed approach can expedite the project, offerors are encouraged to propose a more appropriate schedule and corresponding schedule of milestone payments.

4. Funding Restrictions: The cost of preparing proposals in response to this solicitation is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting award. In the event that no award is made, no cost incurred shall be reimbursable.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Eligible Offeror/Applicants: Appropriate use of the 10 U.S.C. 2371b authority (identified at 10 U.S.C.

2371b(d)) requires certain conditions to be met. For NGZR, the Government anticipates that all significant participants in the transaction, other than the Federal Government, will be small businesses or nontraditional defense contractors. The term “nontraditional defense contractor” has the meaning given the term under 10 U.S.C. §2302(9). The term “small business” has the meaning given to a small business concern under Section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). Meeting the conditions at

10 U.S.C. 2371b(d) is a threshold requirement to obtain an Other Transaction (OT) award under NGZR and this solicitation. Any proposal submitted by an offeror that is not a small business or nontraditional defense contractor MUST clearly demonstrate the significant involvement of nontraditional defense contractor(s) and provide rationale as to the merit provided by the offeror itself.

Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Woman-Owned Businesses, and Service-Disabled Veteran-

Owned Businesses are encouraged to submit proposals.

http://www.sam.gov/ http://www.sam.gov/

2. Security Classification: Offerors must have a valid U.S. Facility Clearance of Secret in order to be eligible for award. Offerors lacking such a clearance may submit a proposal and be considered for award;

however, they will not be eligible for award unless they hold a valid U.S. Secret Facility Clearance at time of the agreement award. The Government will not sponsor any offeror to obtain a facility clearance on this award. The Government shall not be liable if the requested clearance is not obtained in a timely manner to allow for award of an OT agreement.

Depending on the work to be performed, the offeror may require a classified facility clearance and safeguarding capability; therefore, personnel identified must be cleared for access to information at the equivalent level of security at the time of award. In addition, the offeror may be required to have, or have access to a certified and Government-approved facility to support work under the effort. Offerors must verify their Cognizant Security Office information is current with Defense Security Service (DSS) at www.dss.mil.

Awardees will be required to comply with the Department of Defense Contract Security Classification

Specification (DD Form 254) provided as an attachment to the Draft Award document.

3. Foreign Participation:

a. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors are advised their participation is subject to foreign disclosure review procedures. Foreign or foreign-owned offerors should immediately contact the contracting office focal point identified in this solicitation for information if they contemplate responding. Foreign Offerors will not be permitted to participate at the prime offeror level if it is determined the acquisition requires access to classified information.

b. Awardee employees requiring access to USAF bases, Government facilities, and/or access to

U.S. Government Information Technology networks in connection with the work on this award must be U.S. citizens. Possession of a permanent resident card (“Green Card”) does not equate to U.S. citizenship. This requirement does not apply to foreign nationals approved by the U.S.

Department of Defense or U.S. State Department under international personnel exchange agreements with foreign governments. Any waivers to this requirement must be granted in writing by the Agreements Officer prior to providing access.

c. This acquisition involves data that is subject to export control laws and regulations. Only

Offerors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Services Center (DLSC) and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. Contact the Defense

Logistics Services Center, 74 Washington Avenue N., Battle Creek, Michigan 40937-3084 (1-

877-352-2255) for further information on the certification process. You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Militarily Critical Technical Data Agreement, with your proposal.

4. Export Control: Information involved in this requirement effort will be subject to Export Control

(International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) 22 CFR 120-130 or Export Administration

Regulations (EAR) 15 CFR 730- 774).

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. The Government reserves the right to select all, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this solicitation, subject to the availability of funds and without negotiation/discussion. However, the

Government reserves the right to negotiate with those offeror(s) whose proposal is selected for potential award.

2. Monitoring Government-wide Point of Entry: Offerors should monitor www.fbo.gov regularly for any Other Transaction amendments that may permit extensions to the proposal submission date or make other changes. Offerors are advised that only Contracting or Agreements Officers are legally authorized to http://www.dss.mil./ http://www.fbo.gov/ contractually bind or otherwise commit the Government. In the case of an OT agreement, only an

Agreements Officer can bind the Government.

3. Submitting Classified Information: DO NOT SUBMIT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN THE

PROPOSAL. IF NECESSARY, CLASSIFIED MATERIAL SHALL BE SUBMITTED AS A

SEPARATE ADDENDUM. SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING A CLASSIFIED

ADDENDUM, UP TO SECRET, WILL NEED TO BE COORDINATED AND ARRANGED WITH

THE TECHNICAL POCS PRIOR TO SUBMISSION.

4. Full Proposal Submissions: The paragraphs below identify proposal format and content. Proposals must be addressed and delivered as follows:

a. General Instructions Proposals:

Each offeror shall submit one (1) proposal package that includes a cover letter, an original, three

(3) paper copies, and one (1) electronic copy of the technical proposal and the cost/business proposal. The original and paper copies of technical and cost/business proposals must be in separate volumes. The electronic copy must be submitted on a compact disk (CD-R) in a PC compatible file format and must be readable by Microsoft Office. The electronic copy of the cost proposal worksheets must be in Microsoft Office Excel 2003 or later version and must contain all cell formulas.

The offeror shall prepare the proposal as set forth in the Proposal Organization Table (Table 1 below). The titles and contents of the volumes shall be as defined in this table, all of which shall be within the required page limits and with the number of copies as specified in Table 1. The attachments identified in the table shall be separately bound in three-ring, loose-leaf binders, as necessary. The contents of each proposal volume are described in the paragraph as noted in the table below:

Table 1: Proposal Organization

VOLUME Paragraph

Number

VOLUME TITLE COPIES

(Paper/

Electronic)

PAGE LIMIT

I IV.4.c. – IV.4.e Technical/Management 3/1

IV.4.c. Executive Summary

5 Maximum

IV.4.d. Technical

30 Maximum

- Prototype

Demonstration

- Advanced

Prototype and

Initial Design

Option

IV.4.e. Past Experience

5 Maximum

II IV.4.f. Cost/Business 3/1 50 Maximum

- Prototype

Demonstration

- Advanced

Prototype and

Initial Design

Option

Offerors including data in their proposals they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the Government should mark restriction on disclosure and use of data. Technical and cost/business volumes should be submitted in separate volumes, and must be valid for 180 days.

Proposals must reference the solicitation number and title.

b. Proposal Format:

i. The technical proposal shall be limited to 40 pages and shall be prepared and submitted in

Microsoft Word format. The Statement of Work (SOW), limited to twenty (20) pages, does not count against the page limit.

ii. Cost/Business proposals have no page limitations; however, offerors are requested to keep cost proposals under 50 pages as a goal (Cost break-outs should be submitted in Microsoft

Excel with the formulas, all other information should be provided in Microsoft Word).

iii. Cover Letter: a cover letter shall accompany each proposal. The cover letter should identify the solicitation number, a statement that the proposal is valid for 180 days from the due date specified in the solicitation, technical and contracting points of contact, CAGE code, and an identification of the offeror’s nontraditional defense contractor and/or small business

(disabled veteran-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a) or women-owned small business) status, as applicable. If the offeror is other than a nontraditional defense contractor or small business, the cover letter must clearly identify the offeror’s “other than” status. The proposal must be signed and dated by an authored official of the organization.

iv. Page Limitations: Page limitations shall be treated as maximums. If exceeded, the excess pages will not be read or considered in the evaluation of the proposal and excess paper copies will be returned to the offeror as soon as practicable.

v. Paper Size: 8.5 inch x 11 inch, not including foldouts.

vi. Margins: one-inch on each side

vii. Font - Text size shall be no less than 12-point. These limitations shall apply to both hard copy and electronic proposals. Any other information (e.g. captions, restrictive markings) shall not be smaller than Calibri 10 point font or equivalent.

viii. Pages shall be single-spaced and double-sided (each side counts as one page)

ix. Legible tables, charts, graphs and figures shall be used wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall not exceed 11 inch x 17 inch in size. Foldout pages shall fold entirely within the volume, and count as a single page. Foldout pages may only be used for large tables, charts, graphs, diagrams and schematics not for pages of text.

For tables, charts, graphs and figures, the text shall be no smaller than 10-point.

These limitations shall apply to both hard copy and electronic proposals. All text, including text in tables and charts, must adhere to all font size and line spacing requirements listed herein

x. Technical/Management and Cost/Business Volumes should be submitted in separate volumes, and shall be valid for 180 days. The Executive summary, Technical, and Past

Experience Volumes should be submitted within the Technical/Management Volume

(Volume I). Proposals must reference the solicitation number and include a unique offeror generated proposal identification number. Unnecessarily elaborate brochures or presentations beyond that sufficient to present a complete and effective proposal are not desired. The Technical proposal page limit does not include the offeror’s proposed SOW;

however, the same formatting rules apply to the SOW, which is limited to twenty (20) pages.

c. Executive Summary Volume:

Describe the proposed program, objectives, and approach. A description of the innovation and benefits of the proposed approach should be discussed. It should summarize the technical issues addressed by the offeror’s proposal without repeating the requirements. This should provide a vision of what will ultimately be achieved and what solution this effort will produce.

d. Technical Volume:

The proposal shall describe the proposed approach for the prototype demonstration effort, to include a discussion of the applicable SOW paragraphs, System Requirements Document (SRD) requirements, and deliverables.

In addition to the prototype demonstration effort, the proposal shall include a discussion of the technical approach and preliminary design solution the offeror envisions to meet requirements and deliver as an advanced prototype, should the Government exercise the Advanced

Prototyping and Initial Design Option effort.

The technical proposal must convey an understanding of the problems or limitations of the operational problem and the intended use cases. The technical proposal shall include the following items:

i. Operational Concept Description: The offeror shall submit an operational concept description that details the intended use of the system to identify defects, verify repairs, and assess signature confidence.

ii. System Performance Specification: The offeror shall submit a system performance specification that includes top-level radar performance parameters and mitigations to error sources that will ensure achievement of the technical performance requirements for reparable defect identification and traceability to the far-field as detailed in the SRD.

iii. Performance Related Documentation. The offeror shall submit performance related documentation that substantiates assumptions or performance achievement described in or inherent to the submitted system concept description and system performance specification.

This can include but is not limited to:

a. Test Results

b. Published commercial system specifications

c. Independent certification of system performance

iv. Offeror’s Statement of Work (OSOW): The OSOW, a stand- alone document, should detail the tasks to be accomplished under the performance of the effort and should be suitable for incorporation into the awarded document. The proposed OSOW should summarize the technical methodology and the task description, but not to the extent to make the awarded instrument inflexible. The OSOW should conform to the greatest extent to the Government-provided SOW in the solicitation. Do not include any proprietary or company-sensitive information in the OSOW. The OSOW should include the anticipated deliverables

(hardware, software, reports, etc.).

v. Integrated Master Schedule (IMS): The offeror shall submit an IMS that details the key tasks and durations to support achievement of the technical performance requirements in the

SRD and the Government-provided Integrated Master Plan (IMP). If the offeror feels the

Government’s IMP requires improvement or change, then an updated IMP should be provided.

vi. Facilities and Equipment description: Describe the facilities that can be used to achieve the goals of the program, in terms of manufacturing capability, testing facilities, and/or any relevant specialized equipment.

vii. Management Plan: Offerors should provide an approach that demonstrates the ability to effectively and efficiently manage and administer the research program to a successful conclusion.

viii. Resumes of Key Individuals: Include resumes representative of personnel who will perform this effort, including any consultants or subawards that might be proposed.

e. Past Experience Volume:

Description of Relevant Experience: Provide a list of related previous or current Government, commercial, or internally funded work during the past five (5) years. For each such effort, provide the principal investigator, title of effort, contract number, brief summary of results, dollar value, and a technical and contracting points of contact, including phone numbers, for the funding organizations.

f. Cost/Business Volume:

The Cost/Business Volume shall be built with the understanding that the Government will not require delivery of a prototype during the Prototype Demonstration effort. The Government will require delivery of advanced prototypes for those agreements where the Advanced Prototype and

Initial Design Option is exercised. Proposal prices must reflect these requirements and each proposal must contain clear and separately identified prices for both the Prototype

Demonstration effort and the Advanced Prototype and Initial Design Option.

The offeror shall submit pricing data as follows:

i. Separate the volume into a cost section and business section. The business section should contain all business aspects of the proposed award such as: resumes representative of personnel who will perform this effort; award instrument type; proposed schedule of milestone payments if different than identified in the draft award document; any exceptions to terms and conditions of the solicitation and/or draft award document; and any information not related to the technical volume. Offerors must provide rationale for any exceptions taken.

Cost proposals have no page limitations; however, offerors are requested to keep cost proposals under 50 pages as a goal. The proposal shall be furnished with supporting schedules and shall contain a labor hour breakdown per task.

ii. All direct costs (labor, material, travel, computer, etc.) as well as labor and overhead rates should be provided by Offeror Fiscal Year (OFY). A separate breakout by Government

Fiscal Year (GFY) is not required.

iii. Submit fully-disclosed electronic cost model with formulas. Include rate table for all direct and indirect rates that feed into the cost element summaries. The electronic cost model shall include build-up by year of cost, in total, and by effort (Prototype Demonstration effort and

Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option), consistent with the yearly breakout required by paragraph ii of these instructions. The electronic cost model shall roll up to an annual and total program summary by cost element. All information supporting each effort should be visible and verifiable in the electronic cost model. The formulas included in the electronic cost model shall not be locked, and the model shall be editable by the Government

iv. Indicate whether Government approval of respective accounting, estimating, and purchasing systems has been obtained. If so, provide evidence of such approval.

g. Proposal Content Summary:

Offerors may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this solicitation are not met on the proposal due date. Reference Section VIII for a checklist of proposal requirements.

5. Proposal Submission Dates and Times: Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are due no later than 05 September 2018. Proposals must be submitted in accordance with any modifications or amendments to the solicitation, if applicable. Proposals received after the due date may not be considered for evaluation or award. The Agreements Officer will make a determination regarding late submissions. It should be noted that this installation observes strict security procedures to enter the facility. These security procedures are NOT considered an interruption of normal Government processes, and proposals received after the above stated date as a result of security delays will be considered “late.”

Note: If offerors use commercial carriers for delivery of proposals, carriers may not honor time-of-day delivery guarantees on military installations. Early proposal submission is encouraged.

6. Intellectual Property Rights: Intellectual property rights are of significant concern to the Government under this program. Throughout the course of the NGZR program, the Government must have insight into all aspects of the data collection efforts to ensure the data is not incorrectly manipulated. This includes insight into the raw I/Q data, the methods/algorithms used to convert raw data, and any code used to transform the data to its final output form. Therefore, the Government will carefully consider any restrictions on the ability to verify the validity of output data.

7. Other Submission Requirements: Proposals must be submitted to the Contracting Points of

Contact identified in this solicitation.

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are exempt from disclosure requirements of 5

U.S.C. 552, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for a period of five (5) years from the date the proposals are received by the Government. Proposals should mark information that is to be protected from FOIA with a legend identifying the documents as being submitted on a confidential basis.

V. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

1. General Information: Evaluations of proposals will be conducted by a peer or scientific review process using the criteria described below.

2. Proposal Evaluation Criteria: The following criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance, will be used to determine whether one or more sources should be recommended for award.

a. Technical Merit: Technical Merit is first in order of priority and shall be evaluated based on the following criteria that are of equal importance.

Area 1: Technical concept planned to meet the requirements in the SRD:

The evaluation team will review and evaluate each proposal regarding the technical concept identified to meet the NGZR requirements. Technical concept includes architectures, key technologies, scanning methods, concept maturity, required software routines, any operator use cases, or other information relevant to how the NGZR will operate and be used in the field.

Area 2: The degree to which raw I/Q data will be provided:

The evaluation team will review and evaluate each proposal to determine the degree to which I/Q data will be provided to meet NGZR requirements.

Area 3: Past experience of the offeror with similar projects and technologies:

The evaluation team will review and evaluate each proposal to determine the significance of each offeror’s past experience with projects and technologies similar to the NGZR.

Area 4: Overall Schedule:

The evaluation team will review and evaluate each proposal with respect to overall schedule. The evaluation team will evaluate the number of months to complete the

Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option (if exercised) as well as the number of months from initial award of the agreement to the delivery of the advanced prototype.

The evaluation team will evaluation the reasonableness of the schedule proposed.

b. Price: Price is a substantial factor, but second in order of priority. Overall Price and price per effort (Prototype Demonstration effort and Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option) will be evaluated for reasonableness and balanced pricing. Reasonableness and balanced pricing will be evaluated as acceptable or not acceptable. If either is not acceptable, then the proposal will be determined to be unacceptable overall. The Price evaluation will include an evaluation of all costs associated with the Prototype Demonstration effort and the Advanced Prototyping and Initial

Design Option.

3. Proposal Review and Selection Process: The technical and cost/business proposals satisfying both technical merit and price evaluation criteria will be categorized based on the following:

a. Highly Recommended: Well-conceived and technically sound proposal pertinent to accomplish

NGZR requirements. Proposals are recommended for award and are displaced only by other

Highly Recommended proposals.

b. Selectable: Technically sound proposals that may need additional development. Proposals are recommended for award if sufficient funding is available, but at a lower priority than Highly

Recommended proposals. A Selectable proposal may be prioritized over a Highly Recommended proposal if the Selectable proposal presents a unique approach unlike any of the Highly

Recommended proposals.

c. Not Selectable: Proposal is not technically sound or does not meet NGZR requirements. Even if sufficient funding existed, the proposal will not be selected for award.

VI. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

Award Notices: Offerors will be notified, in writing, whether their proposal is recommended for award.

The notification of recommendation for award is not to be construed to mean the award of an agreement is assured as availability of funds and successful negotiations are prerequisites to any award.

VII. OTHER INFORMATION

1. Use of Non-Government Advisors/Support Contractors:

Non-government advisors (assistance and administrative support (A&AS) contractor personnel) will be used during the NGZR program, to include during the evaluation period. Offerors are hereby provided the opportunity to object to the release of proposal information. Non-Government advisors may be asked to make technical judgments, and they are permitted access to portions of an offeror’s proposal for which the advisor’s expertise is required in the evaluation.

Offerors shall provide any objections, in writing, to the Agreements Officer within 10 days of solicitation issuance, and shall include a detailed statement of the basis for the objection.

2. Communication: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives is encouraged until submission of proposals. Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort. Only

Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

3. Wide Area Work Flow Notice: Any resulting award from this announcement will require the electronic submission of all payment requests. The Department of Defense adopted Wide Area Work Flow

(WAWF) as the electronic format for submission of electronic payment requests, so any award resulting from this announcement will establish a requirement to use WAWF for invoicing and receipt/acceptance.

Awards will provide applicable coding instructions. Offerors are encouraged to take advantage of available training (both web-based and through cognizant DCMA offices) and to register in the WAWF system. Information regarding WAWF, including the web-based training and registration, can be found at https://wawf.eb.mil/.

4. Forward Pricing Rate Agreements: Offerors who have forward pricing rate agreements (FPRAs) and forward pricing rate recommendations (FPRRs) should identify them in their proposal.

5. Comptroller General Access: Although agreements awarded as a result of this solicitation are expected to be below $5,000,000, offerors are hereby notified that any agreement that provides for payments in a total amount in excess of $5,000,000 shall include a clause that provides for the

Comptroller General, in the discretion of the Comptroller General, to examine the records of any party to the agreement or any entity that participates in the performance of the agreement.

6. Follow-On Production Contracts or Transactions: In accordance with 10 U.S.C 2371b, agreements awarded as a result of this solicitation may transition to the award of a follow-on production contract or transaction without the use of competitive procedures provided the following conditions are met: (1)

Competitive procedures were used in the selection of parties for participation in the initial agreement;

and (2) Participants successfully completed the prototype project provided for in the agreement.

7. Proposal Content Checklist: You may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this solicitation are not met on the proposal due date.

a. Proposal clearly reflects technical approach for both the Prototype Demonstration effort and the

Advanced Prototyping and Initial Design Option.

b. Proposal clearly identifies the insight provided to the Government on all aspects of the data collection efforts with respect to intellectual property.

c. If alternate schedule is proposed, proposal clearly reflects the schedule and proposed schedule of milestone payments.

d. Proposals are due to the specified point of contact.

e. Proposals are due no later than the due date and time specified in this announcement.

f. Proposal page limits are strictly enforced. See Section IV of the solicitation for page limits.

g. The Cost/Business Proposal must contain all information described in the Content and Form of

Proposal Section.

h. Proposals must be submitted in the format specified in Section IV.

https://wawf.eb.mil/

i. Offerors who have Forward Pricing Rate Agreements (FPRAs) and Forward Pricing Rate

Recommendations (FPRRs) should submit them with their proposal.

j. Offerors must verify their Cognizant Security Office information is current with Defense Security

Service (DSS) at www.dss.mil.

//End// http://www.dss.mil/