CSO_CommonServices_09Jan.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE BUSINESS AND

ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS DIRECTORATE MAXWELL AIR

FORCE BASE GUNTER ANNEX ALABAMA

ERP Common Services

FA8771-20-S-C001

COMMERCIAL SOLUTIONS OPENING

09 January 2020

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The United States Air Force (USAF) Program Executive Office (PEO) Business and Enterprise Systems

(BES) is establishing this broad solicitation in order to accelerate development, prototyping, procurement, and integration of commercially‐derived technologies to address current and future capability gaps.

1.2 The USAF PEO BES seeks to utilize this Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) to award either:

1.2.1 Contracts and agreements for innovative commercial items, technologies, and services pursuant to section 879 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 “Defense Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program”; and/or

1.2.2 Other transactions for prototype projects, and follow-on production contracts or transactions awarded pursuant to 10 U.S. Code § 2371b “Authority of The Department of Defense to Carry Out Certain Prototype Projects”.

1.3 This CSO, through issuance of the attached Area of Interest (AOI) (reference Attachment 1), is the mechanism for inviting the submission of proposed solutions and is considered to satisfy the competitive requirements of innovative, commercial items, technologies, services, and prototypes under both authorities (reference para 1.2.1 and 1.2.2) through a multi‐phased, competitive process. Participation in the CSO to include Phases I, II, and III will be entirely at the company’s expense.

2. GUIDELINES

2.1 The purpose of the commercial solutions opening is to identify innovative solutions and preclude effort on the part of the Company whose proposed work may not be of interest to the Government.

The Government aims to provide an evaluation response 30 days after receipt of a proposed solution against the AOI (reference Attachment 1).

2.2 The original of each submission received will be retained by PEO BES and all other non‐required copies destroyed.

2.3 Guidelines for Proposed Solutions:

2.3.1 If the concept submitted under this CSO is in a research and development state, it is generally desired that active Research and Development (R&D) is underway for concepts submitted under this CSO. Active R&D includes but is not limited to analytical studies to physically validate the analytical predictions of separate elements of the technology, as well as software engineering and development.

2.3.2 Costs of preparing and submitting solutions are at the Company’s expense.

2.3.3 Unnecessarily elaborate brochures or proposals are not desired.

2.3.4 Use of a diagram(s) or figure(s) to depict the proposed solution is strongly encouraged.

2.3.5 Each company may only propose a single solution that should address the entire AOI.

2.3.6 Technical data with military application may require appropriate approval, authorization, or license for lawful exportation.

2.3.7 All proposed solutions shall be unclassified. Solutions containing data that is not to be disclosed to the public for any purpose or used by the Government except for evaluation purposes shall include the following sentences on the cover page:

FORCE BASE GUNTER ANNEX ALABAMA

“This solution brief includes data that shall not be disclosed outside the Government, except to contractor support services personnel for evaluation purposes, and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed ‐‐ in whole or in part ‐‐ for any purpose other than to evaluate this submission. If, however, an agreement is awarded to this Company as a result of ‐‐ or in connection with ‐‐ the submission of this data, the Government shall have the right to duplicate, use, or disclose the data to the extent agreed upon by both parties in the resulting agreement. This restriction does not limit the Government's right to use information contained in this data if it is obtained from another source without restriction. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets [insert numbers or other identification of sheets]”

And each restricted data sheet should be marked as follows:

“Use or disclosure of data contained on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this proposal.”

2.4 Foreign‐Owned businesses may be a submitter alone or through some form of teaming arrangement with one or more United States‐owned businesses. However, the ability to obtain an agreement based upon a submission may depend upon the ability of the Foreign- Owned business to obtain necessary export clearances and approvals.

2.5 Non‐Government advisors will be used in the evaluation of solutions and proposals and will have signed non‐disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the Government. The Government understands that information provided in response to this CSO is presented in confidence and may contain trade secrets or commercial or financial information, and it agrees to protect such information from unauthorized disclosure to the maximum extent permitted and as required by Law.

2.6 While solutions addressing the entire AOI are required to be considered for award, the government reserves the right to award a contract or agreement for performance related to only a portion of the AOI.

2.7 Be advised, only a Contracting Officer/Agreements Officer has the authority to enter into a binding agreement on behalf of the Government and has exclusive authority to change the terms of a contract or agreement. All inquiries shall be sent to: Contracting Officer, Thomas Corum at thomas.corum@us.af.mil and the Contracting Specialist, Mary Beth Wasden mary.wasden@us.af.mil

2.8 Questions regarding the objectives or preparation of solutions shall be addressed to the Contracting Officer, Thomas Corum at thomas.corum@us.af.mil and the Contracting Specialist, Mary Beth Wasden at mary.wasden@us.af.mil

2.9 Submissions shall be submitted electronically via email to: Contracting Officer, Thomas Corum at thomas.corum@us.af.mil and the Contracting Specialist, Mary Beth Wasden at mary.wasden@us.af.mil.

3. PHASE I: WHITE PAPERS

3.1 Initially, solutions will be sought on a full‐and‐open basis to address a BES capability gap characterized by the AOI (reference Attachment 1). Initial submissions against this AOI will be requested in the form of a White Paper. A team of Government and Non- Government personnel who are subject matter experts for this AOI will evaluate each submission independently against mailto:thomas.corum@us.af.mil mailto:mary.wasden@us.af.mil mailto:thomas.corum@us.af.mil mailto:mary.wasden@us.af.mil mailto:thomas.corum@us.af.mil mailto:mary.wasden@us.af.mil

FORCE BASE GUNTER ANNEX ALABAMA

standard criteria for advancement to Phase II (reference para. 3.5). The Government may elect to proceed directly to Phase III after a successful Phase I evaluation.

3.2 Submitter’s white papers should not exceed five (5) pages using twelve (12)‐point font.

Alternatively, white papers may take the form of slides, which should not exceed ten (10) slides.

3.3 All White Paper submission shall be submitted prior to February 10, 2020 at 5:00 PM CST.

3.4 White paper content:

3.4.1 Title Page (does not count against page limit) ‐ Company Name, Title, Date, Point of Contact Name, E‐ Mail Address, Phone, and Address

3.4.2 Executive Summary (one page) ‐ Provide an executive summary of the technology.

3.4.3 Technology Concept: Describe the unique aspects of your technology and the proposed work as it relates to the AOI. Identify whether the effort includes the pilot or demonstration of existing commercial technology (identified as commercially ready and viable technology), or the development of technology for potential commercial or defense application. If development or adaptation is proposed, identify a suggested path to mature the technology.

3.4.4 Company Viability: Provide a brief overview of the company. Provide a summary of current fundraising to date or a summary of the top line (gross sales/revenues).

Provide a summary of product commercialization and go‐to‐market strategy.

3.5 White Paper Basis of Evaluation: Individual proposed solutions will be evaluated without regard to other submissions received under this announcement against the following criteria:

3.5.1 Technical Merit

3.5.2 Relevancy to Area of Interest

3.5.3 Business Viability

3.5.4 Feasibility

3.6 The criteria identified in paragraph 3.5 are equal in terms of relative importance.

3.7 After evaluation of white papers, the Government may elect to invite a Company to pitch and/or demonstrate their proposed solution in person or request additional information from the

Company. The Government may also move a favorably evaluated proposal directly to Phase III.

3.8 The Government reserves the right to move all, some, or none of the favorably evaluated proposed solutions to Phase II.

3.9 The Government reserves the right to maintain favorably evaluated proposed solutions for a period not to exceed one year from the date of White Paper submission for future consideration.

4. PHASE II: VERBAL PITCH/DEMONSTRATIONS

4.1 If a Phase II evaluation is necessary, the Government will host Phase II invitees at one of its facilities wherein each company will have a standard amount of time to pitch/demonstrate its proposed solution to the Government evaluation panel and hold any discussions necessary for evaluation. The

Government may also elect to hold Phase II pitch/demonstrations remotely via video call.

Discussions may continue outside of the pitch/demonstration session. Favorably evaluated pitches may receive a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP) marking the beginning of Phase III. Note, Phase II is optional for this CSO process, and may not always be conducted, or may not be required for every successful Phase I submission.

4.2 Phase II invitees will be provided a bidder’s library with detailed technical information to further refine their solutions.

FORCE BASE GUNTER ANNEX ALABAMA

4.3 The pitch and/or demonstration should provide more details on the technical merit and business viability of the proposed solution submitted in the white paper using information provided in the bidder’s library.

4.4 Individual pitch and/or demonstration will be evaluated without regard to other presentations under this announcement on the following factors:

4.4.1 Technical Merit

4.4.2 Relevancy to AOI

4.4.3 Business Viability

4.4.4 Innovation (reference para 6.1)

4.4.5 Price

4.4.6 Affordability

4.4.7 Schedule/Timeline

4.4.8 Data Rights/Intellectual Property Assertions

4.5 The criteria identified in paragraph 4.3 are equal in terms of relative importance.

4.6 The Government will aim to complete Phase II evaluations and Company notifications within 30 calendar days of the pitch/demonstration and/or receipt of additional requested information. All companies will receive Phase II notification, however, only favorably evaluated pitches/demonstrations will enter Phase III of the CSO process and receive a Request for Proposal

(RFP) or Request for Prototype Proposal (RPP).

4.7 The Government reserves the right to move all, some, or none of the favorably evaluated proposed solutions to Phase III.

4.8 The Government reserves the right to maintain favorably evaluated proposed solutions for future consideration.

5 PHASE III: NEGOTIATION/AWARD

5.1 The Government will only advance companies to Phase III if it intends to award a Contract or Agreement for its proposed solution. Award of a contract or agreement is contingent upon availability of funds. Companies will receive proposal requests, collaboratively build Statements of Work with the Government team, and negotiate Contract/Agreement Terms and Conditions for award.

5.2 RFPs/RPPs will include preparation instructions. During this Phase, companies may collaboratively develop Statements of Work (SOW)/Performance Work Statements (PWS) with the Government teams for their specific projects and negotiate Terms and Conditions into their Contracts or Agreements.

5.3 Only Warranted Contracting Officers and Agreements Officers may obligate the Government and issue awards for Procurement Contracts or Other Transaction Agreements (OTA).

5.4 Awards made under this CSO will be either FAR‐based Fixed‐Price (and variants) contracts or agreements, or OTA under 10 U.S.C 2371b for Prototypes Projects with potential follow‐on Production Contracts or Transactions. Contract type will be determined during Phase III.

5.5 In the event an OTA is awarded under 10 U.S.C 2371b for a Prototype Project, a follow‐on production agreement may be awarded to the Prototype Project recipient in a non‐competitive manner based on completion of success criteria listed in the Prototype Project. Success criteria will be negotiated and defined during Phase III. The non‐competitive production OTA may also be awarded before the overall completion of the Prototype Project.

5.6 To receive an award, Companies must be a registered entity in the System for Award Management (SAM). This system verifies identity and ensures that payment is sent to the right party. The link can

FORCE BASE GUNTER ANNEX ALABAMA

be found here: https://sam.gov/SAM/

5.7 In general, to invoice and receive payment, Companies must register in Wide Area Work Flow

(WAWF). The Contracting Officer/Agreements Officer will provide WAWF assistance during Phase

III.

6 DEFINITIONS

6.1 Innovative: “Innovative” is defined as (1) Any technology, process, or method, including research and development, that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal; or (2) Any application that is new as of the date of submission of a proposal of a technology, process, or method existing as of such date.

6.2 Other Transaction Agreement (OTA): Legally binding instrument IAW 10 USC 2371 and 2371b that is not subject to the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

6.3 Procurement contract: A contract awarded pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

6.4 Procurement Integrity Act: implements section 27 of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act

(see 41 USC 423) regarding the requirement to protect source selection and proprietary information.

6.5 Prototype Project: prototype project addresses a proof of concept, model, reverse engineering to address obsolescence, pilot, novel application of commercial technologies for defense purposes, agile development activity, creation, design, development, demonstration of technical or operational utility, or combinations of the foregoing. A process, including a business process, may be the subject of a prototype project.

6.6 Small Business: means a concern, including its affiliates, that is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts, and qualified as a small business under the criteria and size standards in 13 CFR part 121.

6.7 Successful Completion: the conditions which constitute successful completion of the prototype project provided for in the transaction will be described in the transaction..

6.8 Although assistance terms are generally not appropriate in OT agreements, ancillary work efforts that are necessary for completion of the prototype project, such as test site training or limited logistics support, may be included in prototype projects. A prototype may be physical, virtual, or conceptual in nature. A prototype project may be fully funded by DoD, jointly funded by multiple federal agencies, cost‐shared, funded in whole or part by third parties, or involve a mutual commitment of resources other than an exchange of funds.

7 CONTACT INFORMATION

7.1 Be advised, only a Contracting Officer/Agreements Officer has the authority to enter into a binding agreement on behalf of the Government and has exclusive authority to change the terms of a contract or agreement. All inquiries need to be sent to: Contracting Officer, Thomas Corum at thomas.corum@us.af.mil and the Contracting Specialist, Mary Beth Wasden at mary.wasden@us.af.mil

THOMAS E. CORUM

Contracting Officer Agreements Officer

Attachments:

1. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Common Services Specific AOI https://sam.gov/SAM/ mailto:thomas.corum@us.af.mil mailto:mary.wasden@us.af.mil