FA8684-20-S-C001 Call 0009.pdf

RSO Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) Call 0009

Federal Agency: Air Force Program Office: AFLCMC/RO “Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO)” Call Title: Advancing Additive Manufacturing Equivalencies NAICS: 541330 – Engineering Services Call Type: Two-Step, Closed Call Call Number: FA8684-20-S-C001, Amendment 01: Call 0009 Call Release Date: 03 August 2022 White Papers Due: 06 September 2022, at 5:00 PM ET

1.0 Introduction

The Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) seeks to leverage technology advances to further its mission to reduce Air Force sustainment and operational cost and/or improve mission readiness. The RSO seeks to work with companies who can deliver innovative sustainment and operational advances to Air Force end users.

This announcement is for a Technology Focus Area (TFA)/Area of Interest (AoI) under the RSO Commercial Solutions Opening FA8684-20-S-C001, as amended on May 27, 2022. Interested parties are highly encouraged to visit the Government Point of Entry (www.sam.gov) to review the RSO CSO special posting in its entirety to obtain more information on the process for submission and evaluation of the CSO solution white papers and proposals.

This Call seeks to solicit innovative solutions that meet the objectives detailed in Section 2.0. The term innovative is defined as any technology, process, or method, including research and development that is new as of the date of proposal submission; or any new application of an existing technology, process or method as of the proposal date.

The RSO is not obligated to extend a request for proposal or make an award as a result of this Call; all awards are subject to the availability of funds and successful negotiations. This Call is not an authorization to begin performance, and in no way obligates the Government for any costs incurred by the Offeror associated with developing a White Paper. Prior to commencement of any activities associated with performance under this Call, the Government will issue a written directive or contractual document signed by the Contracting Officer with appropriate consideration established.

The RSO reserves the right to modify the requirements of this Call.

The authority to issue this Two-Step, Closed Call is derived from AFLCMC/RO Commercial Solutions Opening, FA8684-20-S-C001, dated July 17, 2020, and the subsequent Amendment 01 dated May 27, 2022. The CSO authority is Section 879 of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2017, Public Law 114-328, and Class Deviation 2022-O0007.

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

2.0 Technology Focus Area (TFA)/Area of Interest (AoI):

Agile Manufacturing/ Advancing Additive Manufacturing Equivalencies

As defined in the RSO CSO, the RSO publishes calls that seek to fund innovative technologies that propose new solutions to expand Air Force capabilities as it relates to the RSO TFA. Each TFA identifies an area where prospective Contractors can bring substantial value to meet the RSO’s mission.

The Advanced Manufacturing (AM) TFA is described as: The RSO is working to identify, develop, transition, and scale AM technology for the advancement of the Sustainment enterprise. This will leverage mature, new, and emerging AM technology to reduce operation and sustainment costs and improve readiness.

The Department of the Air Force (DAF) established the Advanced Manufacturing Program Office (AMPO) within the RSO to scale Advanced Manufacturing capability across the DAF enterprise.

The AMPO is targeting cost-effective additive manufacturing processes to achieve machine equivalencies between DAF owned and approved metal L-PBF machines and associated data sets to address supply chain and mission readiness challenges. This solicitation seeks an innovative methodology to establish a machine and material agnostic posture by developing a process to prove equivalencies between assets and published data.

Objectives:

A. Research and identify Propulsion (2) and Armament (1) additive manufacturing candidate parts for government consideration and approval to be used as the foundational/baseline parts throughout this effort.

B. Reverse engineer, design, and optimize selected parts for AM for both GE Concept Laser M2 Series 5 and EOS M-290 printers. All technical data including process meta-data and component processing information derived from efforts shall be formatted to allow transition to and validation by the Government for future unlimited production. These two printers were selected because they are currently the only 2 metal printers for which the Government has approved material data and technical data packages. The use of any other printer would not yield results that would be useful for the Government to consider for scaling. However, the Government is working to produce approved material data and technical data packages for other metal printers, and the purpose of this acquisition is to produce a process that is ultimately agnostic to material or printer type and is intended to be used for future approved printers.

C. Manufacture quantities needed for each selected part, to include witness samples, on both GE Concept Laser and EOS M-290 for testing, evaluation, and determination of equivalency. The approach should consider published standards and best commercial practices to minimize the amount of print builds while also obtaining the required number of samples to establish equivalency determination.

D. Determine, document and deliver in detail, the steps and procedures needed to convert Government-furnished AM Technical Data Packages (TDPs) designed for use on GE Concept Laser M2 Series 5 to be used on EOS M-290 and vice versa.

E. Demonstrate the ability to meet government approved material data specifications and parameters for nickel alloy 718 (NA-718) on both the GE Concept Laser M2 Series 5 and EOS M-290. This objective will include providing any associated test plans, conducting mechanical, metallurgical and physical testing and reporting results for review to demonstrate minimum criteria and equivalencies have been achieved between the offeror generated data and government approved data.

F. Establish NA-718 material equivalency between test samples and components created on GE

Concept Laser M2 Series 5 and EOS M-290. This approach should also include documentation of the process taken to achieve equivalencies and generation of associated reports.

G. Team with the Government to provide live and/or virtual presentations of the innovative solution and its related data. Create a data-sharing approach that positions the Air Force to recommend application of the solution to Airworthiness Panels and cognizant Air Force program office engineers. This approach will also provide a plan for transitioning the innovative process and procedures developed under this effort to the Air Force via training and demonstrations.

Refer to Sections 3.0 through 9.0 for detailed instructions as to White Paper submission(s).

3.0 Call Timeline and General Information

Milestone Due Date Two-Step, Closed Call Published 03 Aug 22

White Papers Due (Step-One) 06 Sep 22 Request for Proposal (RFP) Issued or Non-Select Letter Issued 07 Oct 22

Proposals Due (Step-Two) 07 Nov 22 Target Selection Date/Contract Award 20 Jan 23

*The RSO reserves the right to alter or change any of the due dates listed above.

Two-Step, Closed Call Published: RSO publishes a Two-Step, Closed Call.

White Papers Due (Step-One): White Papers addressing the Area of Interest (AoI) defined in Section 2.0 are due no later than the RSO deadline listed in the table above. All White Papers submitted must adhere to instructions listed in Section 4.0 and Section 5.0 of this Call.

Request for Proposal (RFP) Issued: Offerors who submitted White Papers by the required due date and who have been favorably evaluated will be issued a Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFP will detail the requirements (e.g. required content and evaluation criteria) that prospective companies should tailor their proposal towards.

Proposals Due (Step-Two): Offerors who have received a RFP from the RSO are required to submit their proposals by the stated due date. More details and requirements that companies shall adhere to will be contained in the RFP.

Contract Award: The Government anticipates making one award, but reserves the right to award zero, one, or more Contracts for all, some, or none of the solicited effort. Details as to the negotiation and award process will be contained in the RFP.

4.0 White Paper Format Instructions

Each White Paper submitted shall be created using 8.5 x 11 inch portrait format pages with single spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font with 1” margins. White Papers shall not exceed the 5 pages, not including the cover page. The cover page shall be limited to and shall include the following:

Contractor Name, CAGE Code, Name of the Call and the Area of Interest, and date.

All text, including text in tables and charts, must adhere to all font sizes and line spacing requirements listed herein. Pages submitted in excess of these limits will not be read or considered in the Government’s evaluation of the White Paper.

5.0 White Paper Contents

White Papers shall be valid for 180 days. All White Papers should include the following content:

• The White Paper shall address how the Offeror plans to provide an innovative approach to meet the objectives listed in Section 2.0.

• The White Paper shall address each of the listed objectives and should provide a brief description of how the Offeror will address the objectives.

• The White Paper shall include a rough-order-of-magnitude (ROM) price for a proposal.

Inclusion of the ROM does not imply or guarantee an RFP will be issued to the Offeror.

• The contents will be evaluated against the factors listed in Section 6.0. Offerors should strive to make clear connections between the proposed technical content and the evaluation factors.

6.0 White Paper Evaluation

Each White Paper shall be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation factors listed in the CSO.

The factors are as follows:

• Technical o The soundness and technical merit of the proposed solution to adequately address the AoI objectives in Section 2.0; and o The demonstrated feasibility of the proposed solution to address the AoI is mid-maturity.

Mid-maturity is defined as a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of at least 5 or greater and a Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) of at least 5 or greater. The Government is the final decision authority as to a technology’s stated TRL and MRL.

TRL assessment of at least five (5) or higher as detailed at:

https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/703694.pdf MRL assessment of at least five (5) or higher as detailed at:

www.dodmrl.com

• Importance to Agency Programs/Commercial Innovation: The degree to which the proposed concept provides an innovative, unique and/or previously under-utilized capability for government application.

https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/703694.pdf http://www.dodmrl.com/

• Availability of Funds: Any award shall be subject to the availability of funds.

• Price: Price shall be considered to the extent appropriate, but at a minimum to determine the price is fair and reasonable. For the purposes of the White Paper, the ROM shall be used to inform the availability of funds.

White Papers will be evaluated on the basis of the merit of the proposed concept in addressing the AoI and not against other White Papers submitted in response to the AoI.

7.0 White Paper Submission Instructions

Each White Paper shall be delivered electronically by the deadline stated in Section 3.0 of this Call to both the Contracting Officer and the Contracting Specialist listed in Section 9.0. Offerors may request the use of the DoD SAFE website to deliver each White Paper by notifying the Contracting Specialist and Contracting Officer no later than 24 hours before the deadline. If such a request is made the Contracting Specialist or Contracting Officer will provide a link for electronic delivery via DoD

SAFE.

LATE WHITE PAPER SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. The RSO will not be responsible for any White Papers that are late due to issues with either the Offeror or Air Force email systems or the DoD SAFE. It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure the Air Force receives the email with all attachment(s) at the designated email address or the DoD SAFE website (if requested) by the specific due date and time.

A confirmation email will be provided by the Contracting Specialist promptly upon receipt; therefore, Offeror’s are urged to submit as early as practicable in order to receive confirmation of timely submission.

Only one White Paper submission per Offeror per AoI shall be accepted. If an Offeror submits more than one White Paper for any AoI, only the first submission shall be considered. The determination of first-received shall be based upon the electronic time/date stamp on the electronic submission.

8.0 Projected Acquisition Particulars

As previously stated, the submission of a White Paper does not imply or guarantee that an Offeror will receive an RFP after the White Paper is evaluated. The information contained in this solicitation is provided to allow Offerors the opportunity to make an informed business decision in determining whether to respond to this call. The Government reserves the right to change, add, remove, or modify this information in the RFP.

The expected period of performance for the awarded contract(s) is 18 months after award. The period of performance ultimately requested in the RFP may be adjusted based upon information received during step-one.

A. The resulting contract(s) may be a FAR Part 12, Fixed-Price effort or an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA). Should an OTA for prototype be utilized in the resulting RFP for this Call, the Government reserves the right to issue the solicitation and resulting agreement in a manner that allows for a future production follow-on agreement, without competition, with an Offeror whose initial solution demonstrates a successful prototype as defined in the agreement.

B. The successful Offeror(s) shall be an American entity with all work performed in the United States.

C. Should an award(s) be made, the resulting contract will include FAR 52-204-21. For this effort, an authorized user for the purposes of FAR 52.204-21 Basic Safeguarding of Covered Contractor Information Systems (Jun 2016) is limited to U.S. Citizens. Non-U.S. Citizens shall not be considered an authorized user for the purposes of this effort and under no circumstances will be considered authorized, without written permission from the Contracting Officer before the Non-U.S. Citizen begins work or receives any information related to this contract.

D. Additionally, the Offeror shall comply with Air Force standards for storing, processing, marking, and handling unclassified and/or Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and systems (see FAR 52.204-21 and DFARS 252.204-7012). The Offeror shall comply with DoDI 5200.48, Controlled Unclassified Information, AFI 16-1404 Air Force Information Security Program, Air Force Guidance Memorandum 2020-16-01, Air Force Guidance Memorandum for CUI, 23 July 2020, and DoDM 5400.07-Air Force Manual 33-302, DoD Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program. The Offeror shall monitor CUI aggregation and compilation based on the potential to generate classified information pursuant to security classification guidance addressing the accumulation of unclassified data or information.

E. Use of Non-Government Advisors: Offerors are advised that technical and cost/price data submitted to the Government in response to this Call may be released to non-Government advisors for white paper review and analysis. All non-Government advisors have appropriate signed non-disclosure statements.

F. Deliverables expected under the contract may include equipment, site prep and installation plan/instructions, training materials, commercial manuals (installation, operation, and maintenance), software, support equipment, test plans/reports, third party material test data/reports, representative additively manufactured parts, additive manufacturing test samples, Quarterly and Final Reports, and Integrated Master Schedule.

G. The data rights for deliverables under the contract are expected to be provided in a manner that at a minimum allow for Government Purpose Rights. Refer to Section 9.8.1 of the Commercial Solutions Opening FA8684-20-S-C001 for additional FAR Part 12 data rights considerations.

9.0 Contact Information

The Point of Contact for this effort is the Contracting Specialist, Mr. Ethan Dale, or the Contracting Officer, Ms. Valerie Inman. The Offeror shall not contact any other Government personnel or offices regarding this Call.

Position: Name: Email:

Contracting Officer: Ms. Valerie Inman valerie.inman@us.af.mil

Contracting Specialist: Mr. Ethan Dale ethan.dale@us.af.mil mailto:valerie.inman@us.af.mil