AFOSR PIA RFP Responses to Questions.pdf
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- Attached to
- Basic Research Innovation and Collaboration
- Solicitation number
- FA9550-25-R-0001
About this file
This document contains responses to questions about a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) Request for Proposal (RFP) from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). The RFP seeks an intermediary to facilitate technology transfer, innovation, and collaboration across academic, industry, and government interfaces, with a total contract value of $80 million over five years ($5-$20 million annually). The contract will be awarded using a Best Value evaluation method, with equal weighting (1/3) for Technical Capability, Past Performance, and Cost proposals. Key requirements include establishing and managing collaboration environments, maintaining awareness of innovation techniques, capturing project impacts, developing technology transition plans, and supporting workforce development in scientific and engineering fields.
The solicitation includes specific details about contract structure, including a one-year base period with four option years, requiring contractor-leased collaboration facilities in three locations (Arlington, Chantilly, and Colorado Springs) that must be staffed during operating hours. Proposals are due by 11:59 PM EST on August 8, 2025, with an anticipated award date of September 15, 2025. Potential offerors must be registered in SAM.gov and can submit past performance examples from related entities, consortium partners, or subcontractors. The government will evaluate past performance using sources like CPARS, SAM.gov, and may request additional references or conduct questionnaires to assess contractor capabilities.
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AFOSR PIA RFP Responses to Questions
Q: Incumbent Information: Could you confirm if there is an incumbent on this contract? If so, may we know who the current holder is and the value of the previous award?
A: We have had a PIA in place since 2012. This is for a new contract and there will not be another contractor on the new PIA. Our current PIA contract number is FA9550-22-3-0001. The information you requested should be publicly available.
Q: Evaluation Criteria: Could you confirm whether this will be evaluated as Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA), Best Value, or another method?
A: Best Value
Q: Past Performance: How will past performance be evaluated?
A: The government will use CPARS, SAM.gov, and eSRS or FSRS if relevant. The government may also request references from potential offerors, use questionnaires, and recent and relevant experience from within the government. If team members, key subs, joint ventures, or teaming arrangements are relevant, they can be evaluated per the FAR. These FAR references have been included in the past performance section of the RFP.
Q: Alternate Product Flexibility: Are substitutes or alternative product proposals accepted?
A: Your proposal may include provisions that allow for flexibility, to include substitutes or alternative proposals as long as it meets the requirements in the SOO and the SOW posted with the RFP.
Q: Can you provide any details on the expected timeline for the award process following the proposal due date?
A: We plan to award the PIA by 15 September 2025
Q: What specific types of technology transfer-related projects does the AFRL foresee prioritizing under this opportunity?
A: This information is included in Section 2.2 Technology Transition and Commercialization Enablement in the SOW included with the RFP
Q: Does the government anticipate awarding one or multiple contract items should this contract be awarded? Being a small business and able to support contract line items.
A: The PIA will be awarded to one offeror.
Q: If there is an opportunity for the potential vendor to work close at an AFRL close to their location/remote?
A: The PIA requires that the contractor is in the locations included in the SOW document attached to the RFP.
Q. Will the Government consider hosting an information session to support offerors, given the absence of a pre-solicitation or industry engagement opportunity?
A: We are not able to hold this meeting due to time constraints on making an award by September 15, 2025. If this changes, we will notify all potential offerors.
Q. The opportunity was formally announced on July 1st, and the submission deadline is no later than 11:59AM EST, July 28th. We kindly request that the due date be revised to August 29th to allow sufficient time to develop a fully responsive proposal in a cost-effective and mission-aligned manner.
A: We are extending the proposal due date to August 8, 2025. The RFP announcement will be updated to reflect this change. There will also be some minimal changes to the Statement of Work.
Q: When does USG anticipate awarding this PIA?
A: September 15, 2025
Q: Is the Contractor required to perform the work in the three identified collaboration facilities?
A: Yes
Q: Are the three collaboration spaces (Arlington, Chantilly, C. Springs) identified facilities owned by Virginia Tech? If not, then who owns and controls the current facilities?
A: The collaboration spaces are not owned by Virginia Tech. The information is not available at the time; the contractor will enter into a lease agreement with the facility owner upon award of contract
Q: Are the three identified facilities currently being used by the incumbent to support this project?
A: Yes
Q: Do those spaces support other projects/contracts?
A: The facilities are all currently supporting projects for the AFRL/AFOSR PIA
Q: It appears the incumbent is operating more than three facilities to support the existing PIA, will awardee be expected to assume or replicate those additional facilities?
A: Yes
Q: Will the government consider providing the facilities, equipment, and accompanying software as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)?
A: It will be Government Furnished Property (GFP)
Q: Does the government plan to fund the incumbent and the awardee a 30 – 60-day transition period for technology transfer?
A: There is no scheduled transfer from the incumbent
Q: A thirty-day stand-up period requirement for three not less than 10,000 SF facilities in different locations with no transition is concerning.
A: A 30-day period after award should be enough to stand up the 3 facilities.
However, if the selected awardee requires more time, this can be negotiated after selection and before the award is made. If the awardee requires more time, they are required to access external facilities for surge or short-term requests.
These include external environments or facilities for collaborations that are larger in scale (200+ attendees) or are above secret classified level.
Q: Does the government require that the three identified contractor-leased collaboration facilities to be fully staffed at all times? What does that mean?
A: Yes, the facilities should be manned during operating hours. This means there must always be some people on site to operate the facility.
Q: We respectfully request that the government provide estimated labor categories and associated level-of-effort guidance for staffing each facility and its respective capability areas, to promote consistency and fairness across all offerors.
A: The intermediary decides the labor mix to meet the level of effort. The government has outlined key personnel for staffing guidance. The labor mix can be discussed and negotiated after selection is made and prior to the award.
Q: We understand from available guidance that past performance is a significant component of the proposal. To ensure accurate alignment with the government’s expectations, we respectfully request clarification in the following areas:
Intent of “1/3 of the Response”: Could the government clarify whether the statement that past performance constitutes “1/3 of the response” refers to:
• One-third of the evaluation weighting used in the source selection decision?
• One of three required sections of the written proposal? or
• Another intended meaning?
A: The evaluation factors will be 1/3 Technical, 1/3 Past Performance, and 1/3 Cost.
Q: Will the government accept past performance examples conducted under related entities, consortium partners, or subcontractor roles, provided they are clearly attributed and relevant?
A: Yes
Q: For classified or proprietary efforts, what is the preferred method for providing sufficient context without breaching disclosure limitations?
A: Please provide the name of the contract and contact information for the Government POC and we can obtain the classified information.
Q: Is it for experience?
A: Yes
Q: Confirm this a Fixed Firm Price Contract? If not, what will it be?
A: The PIA is an agreement that has some elements which reflect similarity to fixed type contracts. However, the PIA is not limited to one type and does have some cost reimbursable aspects.
Q: The SOO states that the contract will be a base of five years with options (SOO, 5.0). The SOW states that the contract will be a one-year base with 4 option periods (SOW, 3.0). Can you clarify?
A: The PIA is a 5-year agreement. There will be a base award for the time period of one year and 4 options years.
Q: What is the NTE dollar ceiling for the five-year contract period?
A: $80 Million
Q: What is the anticipated funding ceiling for each year?
A: $5-$20 Million per year
Q: What is the anticipated LOE for each year and each Objective or Capability area?
A: The facilities support hundreds of engagements that have required manning from 0730 - 1730 daily. The PI determines manning. More information and details will be provided after selection, and this can be further discussed at that point.
Q: Does the government expect the Key Personnel to be full-time employees?
A: There will be some FTE Key Personnel. They do not need to all be FTE.
Q: Does the incumbent have six full-time employees in these positions now?
A: We are not able to provide information regarding the current incumbent.
Q: The SAM.Gov solicitation did not have the standard UCF/RFP/solicitation Form 30 and supporting sections A-M. Can you provide this document or upload it to the solicitation?
A: A Form 30 is not required as this is a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA). It is set up as an agreement not a contract.
Q: Also, is this a new requirement or is there an incumbent performing this work/ If incumbered, can you provide the company name?
A: It is a new requirement. We do have other PIAs at AFRL/AFOSR. We are not able to provide any information regarding the current incumbents.
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