ACT_2_Industry_Day_QA_v4.docx

ACT 2 Industry Day Q&A

TOPIC: Cyber Defense and Mission Assurance (2 areas)

Question: What type of funding is anticipated?

Answer: Research Development Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) funds for other than Basic and Applied Research, and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) funding. There may also be a small amount of Procurement funds incidental to the overall contract.

Question: Attendee asked for discrete examples relating to ACT 1 during the briefings of the specific technical areas.

Answer: ArcSign (Situational Awareness) Assured and Dynamic Configuration (Mission Assurance)

Question: How does the kill chain apply?

Answer: The kill chain is usually applied on an operational basis. This contract is focused as developing technologies that can be used for a broad set of operations under differing circumstances and authorities.

Question: Is there a certain approach for Risk Management Framework (RMF)? How does certification and accreditation apply?

Answer: This will be dictated by individual requirements throughout the life of the contract. Differing levels of effort for accreditation will apply based upon several factors to include: the urgency of the requirement, the probable impact of the solution on other systems, how active or passive the solution is, as well as many other factors.

Question: Would work occur under task area 8?

Answer: Yes, work is expected to occur under all eight of the technical areas.

TOPIC: Cyber Network Exploitation

Question: Do you see this area increasing from a Cyber Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) standpoint of identifying threats and enabling efforts?

Answer: Yes, this area will expand as time passes.

Question: Will this vehicle allow industry to bring new technologies to the table? Will the Statement of Objectives (SOO) process be used?

Answer: At this time, the Government does not intend on using the SOO process, however there was some success with it during ACT 1, and if necessary will be taken into consideration during the life of the contract.

Question: (Internet of Things (IOT) Devices) Do you imagine collaborations with other organizations (example –National Security Agency (NSA))?

Answer: The Government intends to work with other groups and organizations.

TOPIC: Cyber Command & Control and Situational Awareness (2 areas)

Question: Will we be provided representative or actual data for developmental purposes?

Answer: That is dictated by circumstance. The Government has done both in the past.

TOPIC: Cyber Infrastructure (Assured by Design)

Question: (Secure operating system) Are the components for non-US? Can they be integrated?

Answer: It depends upon circumstance of the individual requirement.

TOPIC: Acquisition Strategy

Question: What are the evaluation factors for the proposal?

Answer: The Acquisition Strategy has not been approved yet, once the strategy has been approved the Draft Request for Proposal (RFP) will be posted with this information.

Question: When is the Acquisition Strategy Panel making a determination?

Answer: The Acquisition Strategy Panel is currently scheduled for early December 2016.

Question: Do you plan on sponsoring for clearances?

Answer: No, we do not plan on sponsoring personnel for security clearances, however we will work with currently cleared companies to provide the proper paperwork for them to author a classified proposal.

Question: Will the proposals need to be classified? Is it possible for the proposals to be unclassified? Will the Draft RFP be classified?

Answer: The intention is to accept proposals up to the TS-SCI level. The Government is not restricting any classification level. It is also the Government’s intention to release the Draft RFP and RFP documents as unclassified.

Question: If a customer is funding a Task Order (TO) and requests a large businesses as their preferred vendor, would that large business be capped at 50%?

Answer: Throughout the Governments one-on-one meetings with Industry post Industry Day, this question has been raised multiple times. The Government is going to request approval for the 50% Small Business requirement be kept at the basic contract level as opposed to the TO level.

Question: Is the cost volume to be based on the sample orders? Will one of the sample orders be the real first order?

Answer: Yes, the cost volume will be needed to assess realism. The Government intends to issue two sample orders with the RFP. The sample orders are necessary to assess cost reasonableness, realism, and balance against efforts that are representative of the overall effort. The sample orders will not be the first order. The first order will be the systems engineering management plan.

Question: Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Delivery (IDIQ) contracts for Small Businesses (SB) usually have reduced problem-sets as they do not have the resources to do multiple problem-sets. How should SB address this?

Answer: The Government is anticipating a high level of teaming under this contract in order to have all eight (8) areas addressed. Successful prime contractors should be able to show their ability to quickly reach out to industry to put together a team. This was evidenced under ACT 1 by all six (6) of the prime contractors, three (3) of which were SBs.

Question: Are awardees able to add teammates after award?

Answer: Yes – teaming can be rearranged on an order by order basis. There will be no restrictions on the Government’s end.

Question: Just looking at the parameters for ACT 2 laid out in the slides, the ceiling is doubled but the number of prime contractors you are aiming to award to is the same. Is there a reason for that?

Answer: AFRL/RI has the resources to manage 4-6 awardees under this effort. Because average task orders for ACT 2 are anticipated to be higher dollar value, it is feasible to raise the maximum ordering amount for ACT 2 and have approximately the same number of task orders that were worked ACT 1.

Question: Will any overseas work be included?

Answer: No overseas work is anticipated at this time, but will be determined on an order by order basis.

Question: Do you anticipate the way you handle materials the same way as for ACT 1?

Answer: The way materials will be handled is dependent on the proposal (i.e. consumed during performance, part of end item).

Question: How will you be handling intellectual property rights?

Answer: Intellectual property will be handled on a task order basis. Anything asserted must be incorporated into the end item deliverable.

Question: Will Joint Ventures be allowed to propose?

Answer: Companies who form a Joint Venture, and are considered a Small Business (SB) under NAICS 541712, and meet all other requirements needed to be considered responsible will be able to propose.