AMA_Q and As_16Apr24.pdf

Question Answer

Is production competed?

Production allows for non - competitive or competitive, this depends on notice of potential follow on be given in the specific prototype spiral instructions. The Competition in Contract Act (CICA) does not apply

2 Production language in the CSO? Follow on OT production is allowed and will be spiral specific 3 What is the immediate delivery for the posting? Delivery depends on spiral, the first spiral is anticpated in early June

How will this be posted in the future to make sure we can participate?

The CSO will be posted on SAM.gov and all spirals will be posted as amendments to the

CSO

Do you have value targets for the areas of interest and when do you expect to begin awarding Ots? Spiral oriented on target values, ceiling max would be $997.25M

Is your intent to work with a specific consortium to issue your Spirals or would those be managed by yourselves in house?

Current intent is to manage this in house; not to say it absolutely not be outsourced to a consortium in the future but that is not the current intent

Do you have a list of short term planned Spirals? This would aid industry in solution generation and budget allocation early?

No current Spirals planned as of today; the AOIs within the CSO are what is capturing the scope that any future Spiral will fall under

Marketplace for software procurement? Via BOA like process?

Not ruling out an option of a BOA but that is not the current intent, AFLCMC would review any white paper on the subject matter.

Specific value targets interest items of the customer? – very specific to the customer These will be very specific to the customer and published in each spiral

Begin awarding to Ots?

Looking to have the CSO finalized and posted with the first spiral at the end of May or early June

Can you go into a little more detail on what qualifies as non-traditional company?

§3014. Nontraditional defense contractor In this part, the term "nontraditional defense contractor", with respect to a procurement or with respect to a transaction authorized under section 4021(a) or 4022 of this title, means an entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one– §3014. Nontraditional defense contractor In this part, the term "nontraditional defense contractor", with respect to a procurement or with respect to a transaction authorized under section 4021(a) or 4022 of this title, means an entity that is not currently performing and has not performed, for at least the one-year period preceding the solicitation of sources by the Department of Defense for the procurement or transaction, any contract or subcontract for the Department of Defense that is subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards prescribed pursuant to section 1502 of title 41 and the regulations implementing such section

With the spirals being open for 15-30 days, can you provide more detail on the submission requirements. For example, page-count limitations.

Timelines and requirements are very specific to the customer and will be outlined in each Spiral. Customers are aware of the agile intent of this vehicle and that should be reflected in the ask from contractors (e.g. page limits, white papers, asking only for what is truly needed)

Is funding coming from each individual office for their particular requirements, or is their a higher-level source of funding (i.e. AFLCMC umbrella or higher) for this prototyping effort? Are all funds RDTE?

Intent is that individual customers/offices will be funding these spirals as they send in their requirements. That is not to say that an enterprise EB requirement is not possible but will likely be the outlier

Will the eventual vehicle be able to support other agencies funding as well? – never say never but not currently structured that way; currently only using DoD funding depending on the spiral where that funding comes from.

Has to be accepted within the spiral

This is currently structured to support Eglin EB and SOCOM (so only DoD agencies that are identified as part of the current acquisition strategy). Not entirely out of the realm of posibility to expand user list but would have to be identified within the Spiral.

Classification, is this intended to be held at unclassified level? Higher classficiation levels? – because commercial intended to be unclass but could be higher depending on spiral, 254 would be submitted with the spiral

This is intended to be unclassified as it is for commercial items. The CSO is structured that a Spiral could be at a higher classification level and that would be included in the Spiral to include attaching the appropriate draft DD254

Is there any plan to break out the interest items by customers or will the list remain at a high level

Each Spiral will call out specifically which AOI it is getting after with more specifics about exactly what the "problem statement" is and what we are looking for from the contractor

Do you anticipate any requirements with regard to the % of NTDCs on a given spiral? – No; unlike regular kts we are flexible so we are looking for the technology; no requirements for percentage

No; this is a super flexible behicle and we are looking to get after specific technology/innocation not a percentage requirement

CSO Q&As from the AMA on 16 Apr 24

To accept other agency funding do have to do an interagency agreement?

At this time we are not intending to utilize interagency agreements for accepting other agency funding; if that is deteremined to be necessary the process will be detailed in the specific spiral.

Do you have any guidance on how "significant extent" will be defined when we look at least one non-traditional defense contractor participating in the categories of Who Can Participate? –

It is anticipated that this will be defined at the Spiral level. Additional information may be included in the final CSO posting as well.

For the April 19th response, it is not technical at all, only review of the CSO strategy and recommendations/questions/commentary: is this assessment correct?

Primarily looking for feedback and interest at this time. Would accept statement of capability or idea but not actual white papers or proposals as there is no published problem statement for a Spiral

Comment: It would be helpful to have Technical Points of Contact assigned for spirals who can answer/post technical Q&A from industry and clarify requirements (beyond contracting/admin POCs).

POCs and specifics of the requirement will be published in the Spiral. You will get all of the information that you need from Spiral at the time it is posted

With this being an OT, will there be an opportunity during the spiral to engage with the customer?

Yes; The CSO is the basic. Each Spiral will be specific to a customer with the appropriate contact info, time for Q&As etc.

For Traditional Contractors - What will the requirement be for cost share - can previous investment be included against the cost share - or is the work scope identified what can only be applied for the cost share?

The law requirers participants to share at least a third of the total cost as a condition for award if other conditions for the "appropriate use" of OTA authority were not met.

Namely, one nontraditional defense contractor had to participate in the prototype project to a significant extent or an exceptional circumstance justified the transaction.