Industry Day QA_250310_Final.pdf

ASTRA Industry Day Q&A

1. Will there be a small business set aside? If this is multiple award, will one or more of the companies be small business?

The Government has not made a small- business set-aside determination as of yet, and the results of market research will help finalize the acquisition strategy. Details will be provided with the Request for

Proposal.

2. Do you know how many companies you want to award to?

The Government does not have a specific “number” in-mind, and the results of market research will help drive this decision.

3. Why are you choosing multiple award? Were you directed to by higher leadership?

The Government’s preference is competition and if the results of market research show a multiple award is available, that will likely be the strategy.

4. Who is driving the multiple award route?

See response to #3 above.

5. What if you don’t get two or more companies that are fully capable?

If market research does not show two or more companies are fully capable, the Government will have to make a determination on a sole-source award. However, as mentioned in #2 above, the Government’s preference is competition and that is the reason the Government held an Industry Day and is releasing another Request for Information. The Government is very interested in ensuring any interested company understands the requirements and how the Government is utilizing the RFI responses when determining the acquisition strategy.

6. Clarification on SCIF space within 25 miles of NASIC.

A SCIF is not required day one of contract. As mentioned in the Performance Work Statement, the key is the “ability to obtain”. The Government is looking to ensure any potential offeror/awardee knows the process, has the ability to start the process, and is ready and willing to follow through on that process. The

Government’s requirement is for awardees to start the SCIF process within six (6) months of award.

7. Is the SCIF a prime or subs responsibility?

The Government has no preference on if the SCIF is the Prime or Subcontractors.

8. Does the SCIF have to be owned by the company, or can we lease out a SCIF space from someone else?

The proper paperwork will need to be completed to show that you can work the contract requirements at a SCIF that is not owned by your company.

9. Will the SCIF be paid for by NASIC?

The SCIF will be sponsored by NASIC once the contract awards, but NASIC does not pay for it. The company will be responsible for paying for the SCIF.

10. Clarification on the unclassified lab.

The lab is unclassified and needs to be local. It will need to have access to the internet. It should have no

Air Force or DoD connectivity (i.e. no NIPR or other government accounts). The space does not need to be big but does need to be big enough to fit 2-3 desks. This effort is currently 5 FTEs. Those five (5) FTEs are not all at the unclassified lab at the same time.

11. Will the slides with the tasks and KSAs be sent out?

Yes, the Government plans to send the slides as soon as possible, and will be posted to sam.gov.

12. Details on the next RFI.

The RFI will go out this week. It will be very similar to the previous RFIs. The goal of this RFI is to show the Government how companies plan to fill gaps and be fully capable across all PWS tasks. (RFI #4 went out 6 March 2025)

13. At what classification will the cloud/IT work be done?

All classifications except for SAP.

14. What is the ceiling of the current contract versus ASTRA? What is causing this increase?

The current ceiling is $230M (this includes the $30M ceiling increase NASIC requested last calendar year). The projected ceiling for ASTRA is $477M. The increase in ceiling is due to the increased availability of the contract by NASIC missions.

15. The current contract was supposed to be five years. Why are you solicitating a new contract so early?

Why is the Government moving from GSA to Air Force Contracting?

The Government has hit the ceiling of the current GSA contract.

16. Do you have a general timeline for RFP and award?

The Government does not have any concrete timeline for RFP and the Government goal is the award this effort no-later-than September 2025. The Government is still in the market research phase and plans to submit a Draft RFP if schedule allows.

17. How will the task orders be structured or grouped?

The Government does not have a final plan on this. The Government is interested in looking for ways to streamline task orders as much as possible (i.e., longer Period of Performance and grouping task orders where it makes sense.) Additional details will be provided as the Government finalizes the strategy.

18. What will be the timeline to award a task order on ASTRA?

About 120 calendar days for the entire acquisition (requirements development to contract award). From

Fair Opportunity Proposal Request (FOPR) release to contract award, the Government anticipates ~60-75 calendar days, however, this timeline is dependent on various things.

19. On the current contract, how are task orders structured or grouped?

The Government tries to combine requirements as necessary and as it makes sense, however, currently the

Task Orders are dependent upon mission needs and timing of requirements.

20. Will you consider pooling requirements for task orders? For example, have IT and R&D as two separate pools? Then a company would be a single award to a specific pool of requirements.

The Government is open to “pooling requirements”; however, the results of market research will assist in this determination. Additional details will be provided with the RFP.

21. How many task orders are currently on contract?

Currently, about 40 are executed.

22. Can the RFP responses be classified?

Right now, we want to keep it unclassified. The results of the market research might change that decision.

The RFP will say what classification the responses need to be.

23. Can you clarify the OCI? There were a lot of mission partners listed on the briefing slides. How deep into the mission partners is considered an OCI? Where does that connection stop?

The Government is currently working with internal stakeholders on this topic and will provide clarification as soon as possible. Offerors will be put “on-notice” at the time of solicitation release that a mitigation plan will be required for review.

24. In regard to the OCI, is the conflict only with NASIC specific contracts? Does it matter if the contract we supported were in the past or if its current?

See response to #23 above.

25. Do we have to team with other companies to be competitive for award? Is teaming a requirement to win this contract?

No, teaming is not required. The goal is to find companies (or a team of companies) that are fully capable across all PWS tasks. If your company can be fully capable without teaming, you do not need to team. If you know your company has gaps on certain PWS tasks, the Government suggests teaming to help fill those gaps.

26. If we do decide to team, are there rules on how much work each company has to do? If some of the teaming companies are small business, do we have to follow the rule of two and have them do 51% of the work? If multiple companies come together to get that 51% is that acceptable?

Please see FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontractor for specifics.

27. What are the potential RFP evaluation criteria?

The Government has not finalized evaluation criteria. Specifics will be provided with the RFP.

28. Is there a potential of having a sample task order as part of the RFP?

There is a potential, but the Government has not officially decided.

29. Clarification on Key Management Personnel (KMP).

The Government does not mean senior SME level personnel. The Government is referring to the personnel at the corporate level that will need to be available day one of award to help process SCI nomination paperwork, CAC paperwork, write task order proposals, etc. (i.e. PMs and FSOs).

30. In regard to Task 8 of the PWS, are you looking for tangible products and/or reports?

No. The Government utilizes A&AS to advise on options and capabilities and to oversee R&D efforts. The

Government also utilizes A&AS personnel to be “future-looking” and help manage future funding and projects.

31. The mission briefings had a lot more detail than the PWS. Are you planning on adding more detail to the PWS to make it more clear what specific work is being done for each task?

The Government will take this into consideration. It is important to keep in mind that the current

Performance Work Statement is for the anticipated IDIQ contract. The Government intentionally keeps the IDIQ PWS broad and will further specify at the task order level.

32. How is work separated between NOVASTAR and ASTRA?

It comes down to the specific work being done. A&AS helps advise and assist. Determinations on if requirements are better suited to one contract or another will be made at the task order level.

33. What is the percent breakdown of the technical tasks versus the work on Tasks 8 and 9?

“Technical tasks” (Tasks 2-7) account for about 70% of the work currently on A&AS. Tasks 8 and 9 account for about 30% of the work currently on A&AS.

34. Is the RFI evaluation you shared during the one-on-one sessions based off the last RFI?

Yes.

35. How did the technical team rate the RFI submissions?

Each technical team member looked only at their mission area and evaluated the RFI responses on if the company showed they could accomplish the scope of work for that individual mission area. The technical team were given the following options for each PWS task: capable, not capable, N/A. Those individual evaluations were combined to get one of the following: capable, not capable, partially capable. A company was deemed partially capable if one or more technical team members rated capable, but one or more technical team members rated that same task not capable.

36. Where will the RFI be posted?

On SAM.gov.

37. How long has Riverside been doing the NASIC A&AS work?

20+ years.

38. How many FTEs are currently on contract?

220+ FTEs.

39. What is the government’s definition of competition?

Adequate price competition is when two or more responsible offerors, competing independently, submit priced offers that satisfy the Government’s expressed requirement

40. It was mentioned there was a regulation for single award. What is that regulation?

FAR 16.504(c)(2).

41. There were no briefers from GSI, NSIC, or FT. Do we expect work from those mission areas on ASTRA?

Yes, we do. In order to be awarded, companies must be fully capable of all PWS tasks to ensure they can meet the needs of any requirement out of any mission area.

42. What are A&AS priorities today from each technical team member?

WM: Program managing.

GSP: Modeling and simulation is shifting more. The functional won’t change. Intel is shifting to adopt and modernize.

GSM: Cloud computing. More data coming in. Need A&AS to be future looking in realm of digital transformation, AI, cloud computing, and advising over contracts and funding.

43. Can requirements be done remotely so long as the contractor has access to the proper networks?

The preference is for contractors to be local. Some work, like the work in Task 2, is challenging to accomplish remotely. Certain roles, like program managers, it’s also preferred are here locally so they can oversee day to day operations. Working remotely versus onsite can be determined at the task order level, depending on the type of work required.