Q and A DETER Call 0009_20220830.pdf

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS FOR FA9451-21-S-0001, CALL 0009 (DETER LSD

COHERENT BEAM)

Q1: What is the desired duty cycle for this effort?

A1: As stated in the call, the magazine should be a minimum of 30 seconds of lasing. The recharge time should be minimized. Assume a threshold recharge time of 30 minutes.

Q2: What is included in the SWaP metrics?

A2: The weight and volume includes the fiber laser module (FLM), the coherent beam combination components (CBC), and the thermal management system (TMS). The FLM must contain two or more fiber laser amplifiers. All electronics required to operate the FLM, CBC, and TMS should be included. The thermal management system includes coolant, pumps, thermal storage devices, piping, instrumentation and all other components required to operate the TMS. When in doubt include the item as a separate line item in your SWaP roll-up.

Q3: Do we have to perform flight qualification of the hardware?

A3: The hardware design must not preclude flight in the future. Thus, no design elements which would be prohibited in flight may be included. Furthermore, no additional hardware should be required in a flight design. For flight, assume a flight envelope of 0-40,000 feet, max velocity of

0.8 and maximum relative humidity of 100% condensing. Assume that the laser will be subjected to ambient conditions outside the aircraft.

Q4: Can the response deadline be extended?

A4: Due to program requirements, the response deadline of 5:00 PM MDT on 31 AUG 2022 cannot be extended. As a reminder, responses shall be submitted via the Valid Eval website at:

https://usg.valideval.com/teams/DETER/signup

Q5: Are full cost proposals required the initial response?

A5: No, for the initial response, only a Cost Estimate/Rough Order Magnitude (ROM) is requested.

See Section D.4. of the announcement for a description of the Cost Estimate/ROM element. To clarify, the Cost Proposal Instructions were provided only to give offerors an advanced preview of potential requirements should an offeror receive a request for proposal following white paper selections.

https://usg.valideval.com/teams/DETER/signup

Q6: Should a Cover Page be provided with the response and does it count within the page limitation?

A6: No, a Cover Page is not required or requested. When submitting through the Valid Eval site, offerors will be prompted to provide key information via a web form that will instead serve the purpose of a Cover Page. If offerors elect to provide a separate cover page it will be considered as part of the page limitation.

Q7: Should the response documents (Statement of Work, ROM, SF424, Security Program

Questionnaire, etc.) be submitted as a single file or as separate files?

A7: Separate files are preferred; however, the Government will accept a single file as well.

Q8: Is there a template or a specific format for the Statement of Work (SOW)?

A8: Offerors are encouraged to provide a SOW response and the format that best reflects or captures the technical approach. The typical format or any contractor preferred formats are acceptable.

Q9: With an expectation of selecting one proposal, will the WP evaluation be used for down selection to one or will all selectable WPs be given the opportunity to submit full proposals and down selection made during full proposal evaluation?

A9: The Call announcement was issued as a two-step solicitation but has the ability to be collapsed to a one-step process should the white papers received have sufficient technical detail and a selection decision is possible and appropriate. As such, if the process continues forward as a two-step process, the white paper evaluations may be used to request proposals from one or more white paper respondents and a final selection decision will be made prior to award. If the process is collapsed into a one-step process, then the award decision will occur following white paper evaluation.