NTSBQ160007-0001_Answers_to_Questions.pdf

AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION/MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT 1. CONTRACT ID CODE

2. AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION NO. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE 4. REQUISITION/PURCHASE REQ. NO. 5. PROJECT NO. (If applicable)

7. ADMINISTERED BY (If other than Item 6) CODE

STANDARD FORM 30 (REV. 10-83)

Prescribed by GSA FAR (48 CFR) 53.243

FACILITY CODE

9A. AMENDMENT OF SOLICITATION NO.

9B. DATED (SEE ITEM 11)

10A. MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT/ORDER NO.

10B. DATED (SEE ITEM 13)

11. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO AMENDMENTS OF SOLICITATIONS

The above numbered solicitation is amended as set forth in Item 14. The hour and date specified for receipt of Offers is extended, is not extended.

Offers must acknowledge receipt of this amendment prior to the hour and date specified in the solicitation or as amended, by one of the following methods:

(a)By completing items 8 and 15, and returning copies of the amendment; (b) By acknowledging receipt of this amendment on each copy of the offer submitted;

or (c) By separate letter or telegram which includes a reference to the solicitation and amendment numbers. FAILURE OF YOUR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO BE RECEIVED AT THE PLACE

DESIGNATED FOR THE RECEIPT OF OFFERS PRIOR TO THE HOUR AND DATE SPECIFIED MAY RESULT IN REJECTION OF YOUR OFFER. If by virtue of this amendment your desire to change an offer already submitted, such change may be made by telegram or letter, provided each telegram or letter makes reference to the solicitation and this amendment, and is received prior to the opening hour and date specified.

12. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA (If required)

13. THIS ITEM ONLY APPLIES TO MODIFICATION OF CONTRACTS/ORDERS.

IT MODIFIES THE CONTRACT/ORDER NO. AS DESCRIBED IN ITEM 14.

CHECK ONE A. THIS CHANGE ORDER IS ISSUED PURSUANT TO: (Specify authority) THE CHANGES SET FORTH IN ITEM 14 ARE MADE IN THE CONTRACT ORDER

NO. IN ITEM 10A.

B. THE ABOVE NUMBERED CONTRACT/ORDER IS MODIFIED TO REFLECT THE ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES (such as changes in paying office, appropriation date, etc.) SET FORTH IN ITEM 14, PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORITY OF FAR 43.103(b).

C. THIS SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT IS ENTERED INTO PURSUANT TO AUTHORITY OF:

D. OTHER (Specify type of modification and authority)

E. IMPORTANT: Contractor is not, is required to sign this document and return copies to the issuing office.

Except as provided herein, all terms and conditions of the document referenced in Item 9A or 10A, as heretofore changed, remains unchanged and in full force and effect.

15C. DATE SIGNED

15A. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print)

16C. DATE SIGNED

16A. NAME AND TITLE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print)

14. DESCRIPTION OF AMENDMENT/MODIFICATION (Organized by UCF section headings, including solicitation/contract subject matter where feasible.)

PAGE OF PAGES

6. ISSUED BY CODE

8. NAME AND ADDRESS OF CONTRACTOR (No., street, county, State and ZIP Code) (X)

CODE

15B. CONTRACTOR/OFFEROR

(Signature of person authorized to sign)

16B. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Signature of Contracting Officer)

NSN 7540-01-152-8070

Previous edition unusable

Solicitation # NTSBQ160007 – Amendment 0001

Questions & Answers

Non-technical

1. What is the budget available for this contract?

NTSB Response: The NTSB will not disclose the budget for this project; please price your quote in accordance with the Statement of Work. Pricing will be evaluated in accordance with Section M of the RFQ.

2. CLIN 0001 does not identify the start date/duration, so are we correct in assuming the CLIN 0002 timeframe of 10 months (4/1/2016-1/31/2017) are defined for the base period?

NTSB Response: The base period of performance (CLIN 0001) will extend from the date of award through 1/31/17. CLINS 0002 – 0010 (Option Years 2 through 4) will be one year each:

Option Year 1: 2/1/17 through 1/31/18 Option Year 2: 2/1/18 through 1/31/19 Option Year 3: 2/1/19 through 1/31/20 Option Year 4: 2/1/20 through 1/31/21

3. Did you intend for the travel CLINs to be Cost-Reimbursable vs. Firm Fixed Price (FFP)?

NTSB Response: Please refer to Section G of the RFQ:

“Travel & per diem will be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) in effect at the time of the travel. The purchase order will include a not-to-exceed allocation for travel, and per diem (lodging/meals & incidentals) costs, for the base year of the contract, and a ‘not to exceed’ a 3% increase (from the previous year) for the aforementioned costs for each option year thereafter.”

4. Do we need to include Section I - Contract Clauses (those clauses in addition to FAR 52.212-3) in our response?

NTSB Response: You do not need to include Section I in your response; however, please note that all applicable clauses will be incorporated into any resulting purchase order.

5. Did you want training experience only for proposed instructor or for broader company/team experience? If company/team has additional contract training experience, do you want it included in the training experience section of Volume I?

camc Typewritten Text

ATTACHMENT 2

NTSB Response: Please submit at least two examples of training experience of the proposed instructor that would qualify the proposed instructor to deliver the training required in the solicitation. Past performance of the vendor as a whole will be evaluated via submission of past performance questionnaires from vendors’ references. Please refer to Section L for more details.

6. Section L identifies that “All training development costs shall be included in CLIN 1 as the NTSB is not obligated to exercise option line items”, but the SOW identifies “Ensure teaching materials are updated to reflect new developments in the commercial space industry”. Please clarify the extent (if any) that training materials must be updated in option period for accurate pricing.

NTSB Response: We ask that any costs incurred to develop the course content & curriculum be included in CLIN 0001, since a firm fixed price order must be fully funded at the time of award/obligation of funds. In the event that an option line item were not exercised, and the vendor had spread the course development costs across several line items, they would not be fully compensated.

Updating teaching materials is not the same as developing the course curriculum. The NTSB expects that as new developments in the industry occur, the course teaching materials are updated accordingly. Please include any anticipated costs from this into your quote as necessary.

7. The SOW identifies the six (6) learning objectives and the 3-day class, but does the Government want to provide more guidance as to the desired length (1-8 hours) for individual objectives or content (10 PPT slides vs. 100 PPT slides) to ensure we understand the full requirement?

- In addition, will the Government consider a kick-off meeting and internal reviews to refine the training materials or will offeror have authority to provide materials/support as proposed and bid at the FFP structure (which may not consider reviews/re-work)?

NTSB Response: The Government does not have any specific desires for the lengths of individual objectives in the SOW, as long as they are all covered. The COR will review all training materials prior to the course taking place, and will approve or provide feedback as appropriate. Please include any anticipated costs from possible course material re-work into your quote as appropriate.

8. The SOW identifies development of a 3-day course, but also that the course should be given on consecutive days and not to exceed 5 days. Please clarify the expected content/duration of the course.

NTSB Response: The course will be 3 days long.

9. The solicitation identifies a single instructor in most cases, but SOW section 6.0 identifies multiple instructors. Please clarify if more than one instructor is required for administering this training.

NTSB Response: The number of instructors is at the discretion of the offerors.

10. The Government identifies that they are not obligated to exercise any options, so we assume no data rights will be provided for training materials outside of this contract. Please verify concurrence.

NTSB Response: Correct.

11. How quickly in the base period does the Government anticipate the training materials be completed and ready for execution?

NTSB Response: A copy of the training materials/course outline will be submitted to the Government for approval no later than two months after award of the purchase order.

12. Does the Government anticipate the training to occur greater than once/year or in alternate locations?

NTSB Response: The course will occur once per year at the NTSB Training Center in Ashburn, VA.

13. Please clarify if it is expected that the base period training material is expected to be updated for subsequent option years due to historical developments, feedback on previous training years and any relevant flight failure events.

NTSB Response: Yes, training materials are expected to be updated as necessary due to relevant events and feedback from previous training participants.

14. Training hours were stated as 8:30am to 4:30pm per day. Please clarify if this also assumes a 1 hour lunch break and 15 minute AM and PM coffee breaks. This helps to dial in specific amount of training presentation time.

NTSB Response: Yes, this includes lunch and breaks.

Technical

1. The stated learning objectives reflect only a partial list of systems engineering topics required to meet space systems development requirements. Should they also include subjects on electrical power systems, command and data handling (#5 states “data handling and analysis” which can be other than onboard systems), environmental and life support systems (this is a larger topic than #3: thermal and occupant protection), guidance and navigation control (this may be described as “thrust control” in #4), and ground control functions?

NTSB Response: Yes.

2. Should we expect a requirement to discuss redundancy, especially in human-rated missions? For example, NASA maintains a “fail operational, fail safe” concept for critical systems. There will be a lot of discussion on the transfer of these requirements to the commercial sector for human spacecraft and it may be a contributing or critical factor in any future accident investigation.

3. Should we anticipate a need to describe the basics of orbital mechanics, space environment, or electromagnetic applications to systems (basics of communications systems, for example)?

NTSB Response: No.

4. Should we anticipate a need to describe on orbit operations, for example, rendezvous/proximity operations for any vehicle visiting an orbiting facility? This will be a condition of any commercial station, e.g., Bigelow Aerospace facilities (advertised future hotel destination).

NTSB Response: No.

5. Should we prepare to provide a survey of current and future vehicle capabilities?

6. Requested scope includes: "An overview of the launch and reentry environment." Please clarify if the training scope is expected to include re-entry spacecraft designs such as commercial cargo return vehicles and manned spacecraft return vehicles (eg Dragon, Dream Chaser, Boeing CST 100, Blue Origin's New Shepard, Virgin Galactic's Spaceship One & Two, etc).

7. Requested scope includes: "A review of systems engineering, structures, propulsion and thermal and occupant protection for spacecraft design." Please clarify if the training scope is expected to cover manned spacecraft with associated manned rating design aspects (eg Commercial Crew vehicles such as Dragon, Boeing CST-100 and suborbital human vehicles such as New Shepard and SpaceShip 1 & 2, etc.). Also confirm if NASA's Orion manned capsule is expected to be covered or not in the training. Note that design for human rating of spacecraft and launch vehicles is a significant and complex topic.

NTSB Response: Yes, a broad overview to touch on current requirements for commercial space.

8. Requested scope includes: "A review of attitude control, thrust control and termination and flight termination systems." Flight termination systems are typically used on launch vehicles to stop their propulsion capabilities in the event of a major deviation of desired launch trajectory.

Please clarify if the training scope is expected to cover launch vehicle design overviews along with the requested spacecraft (satellite) design descriptions.

NTSB Response: Launch vehicles only, no satellites at this time.

9. Requested scope includes: "An overview of failures and lessons learned". Please confirm if the scope of "failures" training is to include mission ending failures and/or failures that affected human safety, and not lower level failures that do not affect mission and/or human safety (example: software error messages).

NTSB Response: Correct. The scope will include mission ending failures and/or failures that affected human safety, and not lower level failures.

490 L'Enfant Plaza East SW Washington, DC, 20594-0003, US

AMD_ISSUING_OFFICE_LOCCODE: AD-20