Draft RFP Question and Answer.pdf

ASTRA Draft RFP Question and Answer

FA8604-25-R-B017

Intent and Disclaimer:

This Draft RFP Question and Answer is intended to inform industry of potential forthcoming requests for proposals and to allow industry to gain familiarity with the anticipated content and scope of those potential future requests. It is not a request for proposals nor is it to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract, nor does it restrict the Government to a particular acquisition approach. This document is solely for information and planning purposes.

The answers provided are in response to questions received to the draft RFP posted on 1 May 2025 to SAM.gov. This document is the only update to the 1 May 2025 posting and all other documents remain unchanged. The Government is not requesting any further feedback/responses. The contractor is cautioned that until a contract is executed any effort performed in support of the anticipated effort is performed strictly at contractor’s own risk and expense.

Question 1: On the recent Draft RFP for FA8604-25-R-B017, NASIC Advisory Support and Technical Requirement Administration (ASTRA) IDIQ, we noticed that the FAR 9.505 OCI language excluding the current COMET, NOVASTAR, MEGASTAR, and any other NASIC contract holders from competition on NASIC ASTRA has been removed. Would you please confirm that the Government intends to allow contractors with current NASIC work to compete for this IDIQ, whether as a prime or a teammate?

Answer: This language was inadvertently left out and will be included in the Official Request for Proposal. The Official Request for Proposal will include DAFFARS Solicitation Provision 5352.209-9001 Potential Organizational Conflict of Interest and the following language is intended to be included in Sections L and M:

L-4.2.5.3 Subfactor Three: Organizational Conflict of Interest

The Offeror shall provide a detailed narrative that discusses the Offeror’s approach for detecting, disclosing, avoiding, and mitigating OCI issues and risks IAW FAR Part 9.5, including those resulting from teaming arrangements or those resulting from work as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant as part of any contract supporting NASIC, when the work is done in direct support of NASIC contracts including, but not limited to: COMET, NOVASTAR, MEGASTAR, and any other contract that creates an OCI. The narrative should include: a) The adequate employee conflict of interest training and compliance with non-disclosure policies and directives. b) The Prime experience or staff qualifications to substantiate the Offeror’s capability. c) An OCI mitigation plan based on the requirements of FAR Subpart 9.5, Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest and provisions found in the model contract.

M-2.3.2.3 Subfactor Three: Organizational Conflict of Interest:

Description: This subfactor will assess the Offeror’s proposed approach to address OCI issues and risks:

a. Measure of Merit: Organizational Conflict of Interest. This measure of merit is met when the proposal describes a sound approach that ensures detection, disclosure, avoidance and mitigation of OCI issues and risks, to include those resulting from teaming arrangements or those resulting from work as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant as part of any contract supporting NASIC, when the work is done in direct support of NASIC contracts including, but not limited to: COMET, NOVASTAR, MEGASTAR, and any other contract that creates an OCI, at the ASTRA IDIQ contract and task order levels.

Question 2: Would you please provide the incumbent contract number.

Answer: Please see the referenced RFI postings to SAM.gov below:

MABMSB2024, posted on 01 August 2024.

MABMAL2024, posted on 17 November 2024

Question 3: Given the information provided indicates this effort will be full and open using NAICS 541330, will there be any set-asides, preferences, or evaluation considerations for small business prime contractors among the four awards?

Answer: It is the Government’s intent to solicit and award all requirements for ASTRA in accordance with FAR 6.102(b).

Question 4: Can you confirm whether Exception 1 to NAICS 541330 will be used in this solicitation to enable small business participation or preferences?

Answer: Exception 1 to NAICS 541330 will not be used in this solicitation.

Question 5: Given the full RFP guidance was not released and NASIC had indicated in the past there would be guidance coming, please provide additional information on OCI. Specifically, can a company who performs as a subcontractor on any of the R&D contracts, such as

NOVASTAR or MEGASTAR, also perform as a prime or subcontractor on the ASTRA contract if an OCI mitigation plan is provided?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 1.

Question 6: Will workshare or divestment requirements be addressed at the ID/IQ contract level since there will be no work performed at the ID/IQ level?

Answer: Yes. Please refer to the answer to question 1.

Question 7: Does the Government anticipate a partial small business set-aside under FAR 19.502.4?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 3.

Question 8: Will there be set-aside awards and if so, how many?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 3.

Question 9: The SAM.gov notification indicates the NAICS code for this solicitation as 541330 - Engineering Services. Will the Government consider allowing NAICS 541330, Exception 1:

Military and Aerospace Equipment and Military Weapons (541330, Exp 1) to align with NASIC's missions, disciplines and mission technical areas of support for the requirements as outlined in the draft PWS?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 4.

Question 10: “In addition, the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to Task 1: Planning and Task 2: Prototyping, and Task 3:

Advocating, and for all the tasks that are addressed, the Offeror shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for each task.”

Does the Government expect a company to provide a single contract example that covers Task 1, Task 2, and Task 3?

Answer: Offerors can provide a separate example for each task or one example that covers multiple tasks.

Question 11: “In addition, the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-

Advocating, and for all the tasks that are addressed, the Offeror shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for each task.”

Can Offerors provide different contract examples to address each of the three tasks?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 10.

Question 12: “In addition, the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-

Advocating, and for all the tasks that are addressed, the Offeror shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for each task.”

Can the Offeror or teammate examples come from work performed as a subcontractor?

Answer: Yes

Question 13: L-4.5.1 "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements, and each resume should include at a minimum a) security clearance, b) levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number."

Will there be Key Personnel requirements at the IDIQ level?

Answer: Key Personnel removed from Section L-3.1 however resumes are still required and not counted against the 100 page limit. Section L-4.5 is removed as a separate volume and the language from that section will be incorporated into Section L-4.2.5.1.4, “The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements for Factors One and Two, and each resume should include at a minimum a) security clearance, b) levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. Each Resume submitted shall identify the applicable subfactor(s). No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number.”

Question 14: L-4.5.1 "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number."

L-3.1 "...Each page shall be counted except the following: cover pages, table of contents, tabs, glossaries, consent and authorization letters, and key personnel résumés."

Will the Government be requesting resumes for key personnel only?

Answer: No. Please refer to the answer to Question 13.

Question 15: L-4.5.1 "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number."

Will the Government be specifying key personnel at the task order level, if not can you further explain what the resume requirements are?

Answer: No. Please refer to the answer to Question 13.

Question 16: L-4.5.1 "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number."

Will the Government provide a Labor Categories document with the FRFP?

Answer: The Government will provide a labor category attachment to the Request For Proposals.

Question 17: "The SF33 must bear an original signature of an authorized representative for the Offeror."

May Offerors use an application like DocuSign to satisfy this "original signature" requirement?

Answer: Yes.

Question 18: What is the font type and minimum size for headers and footers?

Answer: Section L-3.2 is now updated to include header and footer requirements. See answer to Question 19 for font type and minimum size.

Question 19: What is the font type and minimum size for table/figure captions?

Answer: Section L-3.2 (b) states “Legible tables, charts, graphs and figures shall be used wherever practical to depict organizations, systems and layout, implementation schedules, plans, etc. These displays shall be uncomplicated and legible. For tables, charts, graphs and figures, the text shall be no smaller than 8 point.”

Question 20: What is the proposal validity period?

Answer: 180 calendar days.

Question 21: Is the scope of work the same as the incumbent contract?

Answer: The scope is comparable to the incumbent contract.

Question 22: Several sub-sections refer to a staffing plan. Does this staffing plan refer to the Offeror's response to Section L-4.2.5.1.4 Staffing Approach?

Answer: “Staffing plan” will be removed from the sub-sections and will only be required in Section L-4.2.5.1.4 Staffing Approach. The following language has been added to Section L- 4.2.5.1.4:

The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements for Factors one and two, and each resume should include at a minimum a) security clearance, b) levels of education, and c) experience and expertise to accomplish ASTRA tasks. Each resume submitted shall identify the applicable subfactor(s). No names shall be included in the resumes but rather have the appropriate labor category and distinguished by number.

Question 23: The PWS numbering skips from Section 13 to Section 16. Is there missing content?

Answer: The numbering has been corrected.

Question 24: "The contractor shall submit a Quality Control Plan to ensure that Contractor services conform to contract requirements and standards."

Will the Quality Control Plan be required with the proposal submission, or after contract award?

Answer: Quality Control Plan is in the PWS 15.0 Services Delivery Summary - The contractor shall submit a Quality Control Plan to ensure that Contractor services conform to contract requirements and standards. This shall include, but not be limited to, documented procedures, inspections, tests (taken at the point of performance) and training. The Contractor shall submit the final Quality Control Plan within 30 days after contract award.

Question 25: Request that the Entry Gate requirement be excluded from the 100-page limit for the Technical Volume

Answer: The Entry Gate will have a separate page limit from the Technical Volume.

Question 26: L.4.2.2 indicates that Factor 3, Price should be included as part of the technical volume.

Could the government confirm that this is an error, and that the price volume is to be submitted separately?

Answer: The Price Volume is to be submitted as a separate volume.

Question 27: L-4.2.4.1 indicates that the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to Task 1: Planning and Task 2: Prototyping, and Task 3: Advocating.

Can the Government confirm that a separate experience may be used for each task and offerors are not restricted to one experience for the entire subfactor?

Question 28: L-4.2.4.3 indicates that the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to the following tasks: SME in NASIC Mission, Technical (Proxy) Project Management, and Collaboration.

Can the Government confirm that a separate experience may be used for each task and

Question 29: L-4.2.4.4 indicates that the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to the following tasks: M&S of Threat Systems, M&S of Engagements; Verification & Validation of M&S.

Can the Government confirm that a separate experience may be used for each task and

Question 30: L-4.2.4.5 indicates that the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to the following tasks: Facility Infrastructure Support, Secure Facilities, Information Technology and Cyber Security, and Other Mission Support.

Can the Government confirm that a separate experience may be used for each task and

Question 31: All Subfactors under L-4.2.4 request staffing information. We respectfully request the government exclude all staffing plan requirements from Factor 1 Technical as there is a dedicated Staffing Approach required under Factor 2, Program Management and this information would be redundant.

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 22.

Question 32: L-4.2.4.1 indicates that the Offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have "with regard to Task 1: Planning and Task 2: Prototyping, and Task 3: Advocating, and for all the tasks that are addressed, the Offeror shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for each task".

Can the government clarify whether "all tasks that are addressed" are only Planning, Prototyping, and Advocating or if there are additional tasks that need to be addressed?

Answer: Section L was updated based on the answer to Question 22. As a result, the language referencing staffing plan in the question above has been removed.

No additional tasks need to be addressed for the referenced paragraph.

Question 33: L-4.2.4.2 indicates that "for the examples the Offeror addresses they shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for the task(s).".

Can the government clarify whether "the tasks" are only Digital Transformation and IA/AI/ML or if there are additional tasks that need to be addressed?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 32.

Question 34: L-4.2.4.3 indicates that "for the examples the Offeror addresses they shall clearly show in their staffing plan how they would obtain qualified personnel for the task(s).".

Can the government clarify whether "the tasks" are only SME in NASIC Mission, Technical (Proxy) Program Management, and Collaboration or if there are additional tasks that need to be addressed?

Question 35: L-4.2.4.4 indicates that "for the examples the Offeror addresses they shall clearly show in

Can the government clarify whether "the tasks" are only M&S of Threat Systems, M&S of Engagements, Verification and Validation of M&S or if there are additional tasks that need to be addressed?

Question 36: L-4.2.4.5 indicates that "for the examples the Offeror addresses they shall clearly show in

Can the government clarify whether "the tasks" are only Facility Infrastructure Support, Secure Facilities, Information Technology and Cyber Security, and Other Mission Support or if there are additional tasks that need to be addressed?

Question 37: L-4.2.4.2, requires at least one example of experience their company or teammates have in respect to that subfactor. However, L-4.2.4.1, L-4.2.4.3, L-4.2.4.4, and L-4.2.4.5 request "one example of experience".

Can the government confirm that for this and all other subfactors under Factor 1 allow multiple experiences to be used for each subfactor/ task.

Question 38: This is an unrestricted RFP rather than a small business set-aside, and therefore not subject to FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting. Did the Government mean to instead reference FAR 19.704 Subcontracting Plan Requirements and/or FAR 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan?

Answer: Section L and Section M have been updated to include FAR 19.704 Subcontracting Plan Requirements, FAR 52.219-8 Utilization of Small Business Concerns, and FAR 52.219-9 Small Business Subcontracting Plan

Question 39: The RFP does not state what positions (if any) are considered Key Personnel for the IDIQ RFP and which would therefore require resumes under L-4.5

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 13.

Question 40: Resumes are required according to L-4.5.1 but not evaluated in Section M. During Industry Day, the Government stated they did not intend to require resumes for key personnel beyond those required to perform management and back office functions. Can the Government confirm resumes will be excluded from the evaluation criteria and the Program Management Factor will address this area of evaluation?

Question 41: Can the Government clarify whether it expects a narrative describing the approach to classified material destruction in addition to demonstrating capability?

Answer: Narrative only.

Question 42: Can the Government clarify the exact placement of the Entry Gate documentation— should it precede or follow the glossary? L-4.2.3 and L-4.2.2 have conflicting requirements.

Answer: This is corrected. The Entry Gate will be submitted as a Volume.

Question 43: Should Volume I include the master Table of Contents for the entire proposal, and Volume II include only its internal Table of Contents? L-4.1.2 and L-4.2.2 have conflicting requirements.

Answer: Volume I (Executive Summary) should include the master Table of Contents for the entire proposal. Volume III (Technical Volume) should include the specific Table of Contents for that Volume.

Question 44: Section M lists 4 measures under Subfactor One: Management Approach; Section L references five Measures of Merit but defines only four. Could the Government clarify whether a Measure of Merit is missing or if the count in Section L should be corrected

Answer: The count in Section L-4.2.5.1 should be four (4) Measures of Merit identified in Section M.

Question 45: Please confirm that Subfactors 1 through 5 require Offerors to provide both an approach and relevant experience. Subfactor 2 (Systems Engineering) appears to only request Offeror experience, with no explicit requirement for an approach. Could the Government clarify whether this omission was intentional?

Answer: Subfactor 2 has been corrected to include description of approach.

Question 46: Can the Government clarify the Section M Technical Evaluation Criteria in Tables 2 and 3 and under 2.3.1 to address specifically how 1) Approach 2) Experience and 3) Staffing (if left in Section L, Factor 1) which are asked for in almost all Subfactors under L-4.2.4 will be assessed? Currently, Table 2 only addresses approach, understanding, and strengths while Table 3 assess impacts of potential weaknesses and Section M 2.3.1 primarily assesses Approach. It is unclear how the Experience or Staffing requirements outlined in Section L, Factor 1 will be evaluated

Answer: Please reference the answer to question 32. The sound approach and understanding in table 2 is driven by an integrated assessment of the offerors approach, experience, and staffing proposed to meet Factors one and two. The risk assessment in table 3 is based on the potential impact to cost, schedule, and/or performance based on the proposed approach, experience, and staffing to meet Factors one and two.

Question 47: This section states "Volume II will include classified information, up to the SECRET Collateral level". Can the Government confirm this should say "Volume II may include classified information, up to the SECRET Collateral level" and it is up to an Offeror to decide whether Secret classified information is necessary for their offers in this Volume?

Answer: Wording updated to “may include classified information”.

Question 48: This states "The ordering period for the MAC IDIQ contract shall be five (5) years and the period of performance shall be six (6) years". Can the Government share the rationale behind its intent to have the period of performance (PoP) be only a year longer than the ordering period? Most MAC IDIQs have a PoP which lasts 5 years beyond the end of the ordering period i.e. an ordering period of 10 years and a PoP of 15 years. This gives the Government the ability to award Task Orders with periods of performance up to 5 years all the way up to the end of the ordering period. By limiting the PoP to only one year after the end of the ordering period, any awards made in the final year would be capped at ~1 year of task order performance, which may require excess resources to then have to re-award so quickly somewhere else after the initial award was only a year prior. This creates a burden for the Government having to procure these services so frequently and makes opportunities which such instability less desirable to offerors. We respectfully request the Government consider extending the PoP for the ASTRA IDIQ so it has the flexibility to make longer task order awards towards the end of the ASTRA ordering period while still having the option to make task order awards with shorter periods of performance if it so wishes.

Answer: Will update to “The ordering period for the MAC IDIQ contract shall be five (5) years and the period of performance shall be eight (8) years”

Question 49: Section L3.3 states "Volume II will include classified information."

Will portions of the Request for Proposal be classified or will classified information be limited to the proposal response?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 47.

Question 50: Section L3.3 states "Volume II will include classified information".

Is a classified proposal response expected to be mandatory or optional?

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 47.

Question 51: Section L3.3 states "Volume II will include classified information."

Will a DD254 be issued with the Request for Proposal?

Answer: Yes

Question 52: Section L3.3 states "Volume II will include classified information."

Will NASIC provide government space for offerors to draft a classified proposal response?

If so, how many personnel will be sponsored?

Answer: Government space will not be offered. Please refer to the answer to Question 47 regarding the updated language in Section L-3.3.

Question 53: The instructions state "for the examples the Offeror addresses they shall clearly show in their staffing plan". Does "the examples" refer to the examples of experience provided to address this subfactor and, if so, is the offeror expected to address how they staffed that sample experience?

Question 54: Each subfactor states "offeror shall provide one example of experience their company or team-mates have with regard to the tasks that are addressed,".

Will the Government consider allowing an offeror to provide up to three examples of experience per subfactor with regard to the tasks that are addressed? This would enable offerors to more sufficiently address recent, relevant experience for each subfactor.

Question 55: The instructions state "Offeror provides documentation that they have individuals who are TS//SCI cleared." Is a redacted personnel report printout from DISS sufficient to substantiate that individuals are TS/SCI cleared?

Question 56: The instructions state "The Offeror’s organizational chart shall include: a) The number of personnel required to perform each part of the requirements." Does this refer to the number of personnel required to perform and/or manage the IDIQ or a specific Task Order?

Answer: IDIQ level.

Question 57: The instructions state "The Offeror’s organizational chart shall include: a) The number of personnel required to perform each part of the requirements." Does this refer to the number of personnel required to perform the described management approach or all 9 PWS task areas (PWS 3.1-3.9)?

Answer: Management approach to the IDIQ.

Question 58: The instructions state "identify if subcontractor qualifies as a small business under NAICS code 541330." Will the Government consider using NAICS Code 541330 Exception 1 (also sometimes called Exception A) which pertains to engineering services related to military and aerospace equipment and military weapons? Use of this exception would be highly analogous to the use of the exception on other recent NASIC acquisitions such as NOVASTAR, which used NAICS Code 541715 Exception A (Aircraft, Aircraft Engines, and Engine Parts). The use of this exception would provide greater access to small business teammates with higher annual revenue and greater capabilities for NASIC.

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 4.

Question 59: Will the Government require the offeror, including all teammates, to provide a Total Compensation Plan?

Question 60: The instructions state "List all locations where work is to be performed and indicate whether such facility is a division, affiliate, or subcontractor, and the percentage of work to be performed at each location." Is the offeror expected to forecast each location and the percentage of work that will ever be performed on the IDIQ or is this intended for completion in response to a specific Task Order?

Answer: List at the IDIQ level.

Question 61: The instructions state "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements".

Will the Government consider modifying the requirement to "shall submit resumes of all proposed KEY personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements?" It would seem likely to unduly restrict competition if all offerors were expected to submit resumes of all proposed personnel for every requirement on an IDIQ with a ceiling valued at $480M.

Question 62: The instructions state "The Offeror shall submit resumes of all proposed personnel to meet the ASTRA requirements". Is this requirement intended for use at the Task Order level rather than the IDIQ?

Question 63: Each of the associated subfactor measures of merit state "Demonstrates a sound approach"; however, the Section L instructions for each associated criteria (Section L-

4.2.4.x) requires approach, experience, and staffing plan. Are experience and staffing plan not required to meet the measure of merit?

Answer: Please reference the answer to question 46. Experience and staffing approach are included as part of the sound approach. All three will be evaluated together.

Question 64: PWS Section 8.1.2 states "contractor shall ensure the labor categories as defined in the Labor Categories document." Will the Government define the Labor Categories within the Labor Categories document to allow offerors to provide standardized pricing in response to the RFP?

Question 65: PWS Section 13.2 references the need for a "Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) facility clearance." Will the Government please clarify that this refers to a Top Secret Facility Clearance, which is the highest level issued by DCSA?

Answer: This has been corrected on the PWS.

Question 66: PWS Section 13.2 is titled Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) Requirements and indicates it must be issued "at time of award in order to conduct classified work". Does this requirement refer to the IDIQ award or subsequent Task Order awards at which point classified work would be conducted?

Answer: IDIQ award.

Question 67: Paragraph states the contractor "shall provide support for the planning and oversight of classified areas that may be a part of a large corporate facility or they could be stand-alone or managed separately from other facilities they are co-located with." Please clarify if this applies to the contractor's facility or facilities, or is the intent that the contractor will be responsible for planning and oversight of other third-party or associate contractor classified areas.

Answer: Manage contractor facilities as well as NASIC managed facilities.

Question 68: Will the contractor be required to have staff overseas supporting classified cloud networks infrastructure in foreign countries?

Answer: Overseas travel may be required.

Question 69: Paragraph states "All contractors working within NASIC shall have the proper odcs for these areas and equipment." Please clarify meaning of "odcs".

Answer: Typo – corrected to “security clearances”

Question 70: Paragraph 9.0 states "Work will be performed at govt facilities..." but also indicates that "If work cannot be accomplished at govt facility, contractor shall provide facilities...", 12.0 states "majority of work will be accomplished at NASIC..." but "additional locations shall be negotiated..." 13.2 states "contractor shall have a SCIF at time of award...".

Recommend govt clarify contractor facility requirements as only needed to provide surge or back office support (location, # of FTE, IT systems, etc.) for final RFP.

Answer: Will be defined at the task order level.

Question 71: Juneteenth is not listed among the federal holidays. Is this an oversight or will it not be considered as such during the performance of this contract.

Answer: This has been corrected and is listed among the federal holidays.

Question 72: Recommend inclusion of ", monitoring, and sustain in production." after "…managing plans and programs to guide intelligent automation, artificial intelligence or machine learning implementation." Putting IA/AI/ML into production ("implementation") is only part of the challenge and somewhat predicated on an ability to successfully monitor the solutions and update/replace them on the timing and tempo to be trusted upon.

Answer: Current language in the PWS is correct.

Question 73: Wording is a little unclear on what part is optional and reads as if only "one example" can be used. Recommend changing wording in line 3 from "shall provide one example" to "shall provide example(s)" since more than one example may be needed to adequately cover the range of the M&S tasks in the PWS and clarify M&S tasks to be performed ice sponsor vs M&S development oversight/management.

Question 74: For multi-award IDIQ Staffing Approach, we recommend only providing IDIQ level Key Personnel for the IDIQ proposal. Subsequent TOs can require resumes for TO-level Key

Personnel. Requiring numbers, quals and resumes (L-4.5.1) for every position in the PWS for the IDIQ proposal seems inconsistent with the multi-award approach. As an alternative, consider only requiring designated Key Personnel or consider providing a sample Task Order as part of the IDIQ proposal and then request a detailed staffing plan for the sample Task Order in order to showcase unique offeror solutions while simultaneously providing government confidence that each offeror understands how to staff this type of work.

Question 75: Paragraph references key personnel résumés but, the dRFP does not address the specific LCAT positions descriptions or requirements associated with these positions.

Answer: Please refer to the answer to Question 13. Labor category document will be provided with Final RFP.

Question 76: Paragraph states "The Offeror must identify if the subcontractor qualifies as a small business under NAICS code 541330." Please clarify if all subcontractors have to meet the stated NAICS code?

Answer: This language has been removed.

Question 77: Paragraph states "For each identified effort for a commercial customer, the Offeror shall also submit a client authorization letter, authorizing release to the Government of requested information on the Offerors’ performance. See attachments 4 and 5 for sample consent and client authorization letters." Attachments 4 and 5 are currently not provided in draft documentation.

Answer: Consent/Authorization Letters is removed from Section L.

Question 78: For IDIQ award, recommend only requiring IDIQ level Key Personnel resumes. Requiring resumes for ALL personnel required to meet ALL PWS requirements means submitting 300-400 resumes for the IDIQ proposal. Recommend considering a sample Task Order as part of the IDIQ proposal and then request a detailed staffing plan for the sample Task Order in order to showcase unique offeror solutions while simultaneously providing government confidence that each offeror understands how to staff this type of work.

Question 79: What specific performance metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) will be used to evaluate the success of the contracted services across different tasks?

Answer: Including, but not limited to, the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan and the Service Delivery Summary.

Question 80: Are there existing systems or processes that the contractor will need to integrate with, and if so, can you provide details on these systems?

Answer: This answer could vary based on Task Order.

Question 81: Can you provide more details on the evaluation process, and the specific criteria that will be used (e.g., technical approach, management approach)?

Answer: See Draft Sections L and M.