Answers_to_Bidders_Questions_5.9.2019_.pdf

Attachment L.3: Bidders’ Questions Answers

Solicitation N00024-19-R-6316

[Contractor to provide information in columns of the Bidders’ Questions Form.]

QUESTION

NO.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

1 4/30/2019 N/A SOW Does the scope of the solicitation include airborne drone/UAV system support? Is it stated in the RFP documents?

The primary intent of the Unmanned

Surface Vehicle (USV) Family of

Systems (FoS) IDIQ-MAC is to support

USV programs and not airborne drone or unmanned air vehicles. However, several of the functional areas listed in

Section C.4 mention that solutions developed under the IDIQ-MAC may also be applicable to unmanned air vehicles or unmanned underwater vehicles.

2 5/1/2019 Section L, Organizational

Conflict of

Interest (OCI)

If an offeror responds to the Medium Unmanned

Surface Vehicle (MUSV), Large Unmanned Surface

Vessel (LUSV), or any other Unmanned Surface

Vehicle/Vessel (USV) solicitations would that preclude the offeror from responding to this USV FoS solicitation?

Responding to solicitations for USV platforms (e.g. MCM USV craft, MUSV or LUSV) would not preclude an offeror from responding or receiving an award to this USV FoS solicitation. However, Offerors are reminded that certain existing contractual arrangements may preclude, restrict or limit participation, in whole or in part, as either a subcontractor or as a prime contractor for orders issued under the USV FoS.

3 5/2/2019 N/A How does the Government intend to use this

Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity Multiple

Award Contract (IDIQ-MAC)?

The Government intends to use this

IDIQ-MAC as the primary contractual method to procure supplies and services used to design, develop, fabricate, prototype, integrate, test, maintain, and support multiple variants of Unmanned

Surface Vehicle (USV) systems and subsystems within the USV Family of

Systems (FoS). The Government intends to award MACs to multiple vendors.

The Government will then compete individual tasks within the pool of MAC holders through competitive Requests for Proposal (RFPs) and award Task and/or Delivery Orders under the IDIQ-

MAC.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

4 5/2/2019 N/A What is the Mine Countermeasures Unmanned

Surface Vehicle (MCM USV)?

The MCM USV acquisition is a combination of several MCM USV-related programs and projects, and addresses the development and production of the MCM USV craft and

Payload Delivery Systems (PDS) to meet Mine Countermeasures Mission

Package requirements. It leverages the mature, modular craft developed for the

Navy’s Unmanned Influence Sweep

System (UISS) program. The

Government does not intend to fabricate the MCM USV craft under the IDIQ-

MAC, but instead intends to compete this requirement under a separate full and open competition. However, supplies or services related to other elements of the MCM USV program may be ordered under the IDIQ-MAC, including PDS, payloads, non-payload sensors, logistics, sustainment, etc.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

5 5/2/2019 What is a Payload Delivery System (PDS)? A PDS is an MCM USV Mission

Support System, used to provide a physical, electrical, and/or data interface between the MCM USV craft and MCM

USV payloads. PDS may include payload launch and recovery systems to facilitate payload operation and/or mission conduct. The Minesweeping

PDS employs an included Mk104 acoustic generator and minesweeping cable. The Minehunting PDS includes a

Deploy and Retrieve (D&R) rig that provides the capability to employ surface towed sonars from the MCM

USV craft. The Mine Neutralization

PDS includes the system that launches neutralizers, as well as the communications system to support the relay of information and/or commands to/from a host platform and a deployed neutralizer.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

05/02/2019 section L, part

5.3, page 101

The solicitation provides instructions for the technical volumes including “Offerors are required to submit a description of experience in one or more of the functional areas as a prime contractor in direct support of DoD or Coast Guard contracts. An Offeror’s description of recent and relevant experience shall reference one but not more than three contracts.” On the same page, the instructions say “Note: Past performance references are not required or desired”

Could you please elaborate on the difference between the description of experience on prior contracts that is requested and a Past Performance reference that is not required or desired?

Past performance (how well an offeror performed) is not being evaluated for award of the IDIQ MAC. There is no requirement to submit past performance references. The Government is however evaluating each Offeror’s technical experience in the functional areas listed within the RFP. Offerors shall provide information to demonstrate their relevant experience in one or more of the functional areas as a prime. This information includes, at a minimum, the contract number and/or agreement & name of activity supported, period of performance dates, and a description of tasking performed that is relevant to the proposed functional area(s). No information should be submitted from the supported activity regarding how well the Offeror performed on the individual contract.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

05/03/2019 Section 5.3, Offeror’s experience

Section 5.3 (Page 101 of 109) of the RFP appears inconsistent regarding the intent for experience claims within the Technical Proposal. The first paragraph states, “Offerors are required to submit a description of experience in one or more of the functional areas as a prime contractor in direct support of DOD or Coast

Guard contracts.” The third paragraph states, “The information submitted is intended to provide the

Government with evidence of recent and relevant technical experience providing support to the DOD or

Coast Guard, as either a Prime Contractor or a

Subcontractor.” Request the Government please confirm that for a given Functional Area, Offerors are allowed to include experience references where they are either a Prime or a Subcontractor to satisfy the

Government’s intent as clarified in the third paragraph of Section 5.3.

Offerors are to include experience references where they are/ were a Prime

Contractor only. Section L has been updated in Amendment 0001.

05/06/19 L, 4.0 pg. 99 Proposal

Format

Does each functional area (1-6) proposal file require a cover sheet, table of contents and list of acronyms? If required, do these items count toward each 5 page limit?

No, Offerors do not need to submit a coversheet, table of contents and list of acronyms with every functional area proposal file.

05/06/19 C.10.2 pg. 22

L-219-H001

pg. 106

Subcontracting

Plan

Submission of

SBSP

Is it the government’s intent for the Offeror to provide a Subcontracting Plan with their prime MAC proposal or with individual task order proposals? If yes, of the

12 submission documents required in section L, please identify which of 12 listed documents should contain the Subcontracting Plan?

Yes, Section 4.3 has been updated to include submission of a Small Business

Subcontracting Plan. Section L has been updated in Amendment 0001.

Small Business Subcontracting Plans will be required for individual DO/TO’s as well.

05/06/19 C.10 Teaming and

Subcontracting

Can team members or subcontractors be added at the

DO/TO level after award of MAC prime contract awards?

Yes, however offers are still required to submit and comply with the requirements of the contract.

05/06/19 5.0 pg. 100 Proposal content

The government requires an Executive summary in section 5.0. Are there specific content requirements for the Executive Summary?

No, there are no specific content requirements for the Executive

Summary.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

05/06/19 5.2. pg. 100 Cover Letter The cover letter has a page limit of 2 however, the requirement for this document requires Section K, reps and certs be included which consists of 5 pages.

Will the government increase the page count to cover the requirement of adding section K to this document?

Yes, the page count has been increased in Amendment 0001.

05/06/19 4.3, Page 100

5.5, Page 102

Contractor

Information

Spreadsheet

(Attachment

L.1)

Section 4.3 identifies the Contractor Information

Spreadsheet (Attachment L.1) by the filename

“Company_Name_CAGE_Teaming” and

Section 5.5 instructs the offerors “to provide prime information with the proposal. Prime Offeror information shall include: …”

Please confirm that the Government intends for

Offeror to identify Company Information for the

Prime only on Attachment L.1 and not identify the team members.

Attachment L.1 is to identify Prime only information. The naming convention of the Attachment L.1 has been updated in

Amendment 0001.

05/08/19 C.9.2, PAGE

Competitive

Ordering

Process

Will the government entertain sole awards under the

MAC IDIQ for unsolicited proposals provided to the government?

No.

05/08/19 5.3, PAGE 101

of 109

Experience Para 5.3 states, An Offeror’s description of recent and relevant experience shall reference one but not more than three contracts/agreements.

Does the government include Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) as an applicable agreement?

Yes but the agreement must directly be in support of the DOD and Coast Guard in the areas listed in Section C.

DATE OF

SUBMITTAL

SOLIC.

SECTION

AND PAGE

GENERAL

SUBJECT

STATEMENT REQUIRING CLARIFICATION

OR QUESTION ANSWER

05/08/19 Page 101, Paragraph 3

“The information submitted is intended to provide the

Government with evidence of recent and relevant technical experience providing support to the DOD or

Coast Guard, as either a Prime Contractor or a

Subcontractor”. Are we able to submit past performance write ups in reference to a subcontract where we directly supported the customer in one the six functional areas?

No. Past performance is not being evaluated for award of the IDIQ MAC and Offerors should not submit past performance references. The

Government is however evaluating each

Offeror’s technical experience in the functional areas listed within the RFP as

Prime Contractor only. Offerors shall provide information to demonstrate their relevant experience in one or more of the functional areas as a prime. This information includes, at a minimum, the contract number and/or agreement & name of activity supported, period of performance dates, and a description of tasking performed that is relevant to the proposed functional area(s). No information should be submitted from the supported activity regarding how well the Offeror performed on the individual contract.