Attachment 2 - Section L - Instuctions to Offerors (Next-Gen Innovators) Revised 051526.pdf

FA2396-26-R-B001

15 May 2026

SECTION L

INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFEROR OR RESPONDENT

1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 NOTICE TO OFFEROR(S)/SUPPLIER(S): Funds are not presently available for this effort. No award will be made under this solicitation until funds are available. The Government reserves the right to cancel this solicitation, either before or after the closing date. In the event the Government cancels this solicitation, the Government has no obligation to reimburse an offeror for any costs.

1.2 The primary purpose of this Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) STEM Outreach Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, is to provide an agile and rapid acquisition vehicle to acquire Department of Air Force (DAF) wide STEM Outreach activities and support as defined in the Performance Work Statement (PWS).

1.3 The government intends to award a single IDIQ contract from this RFP. The Government will also award a task order with the award of the basic IDIQ Contract. Task order for STEM Outreach Support Services and the award kick-off meeting. Offerors will be considered based on demonstrated experience and performance risk for the subfactors below. All offerors that provide a responsive and qualified proposal will be eligible for award.

2.0 SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

2.1 INSTRUCTIONS: Offerors shall submit proposals no later than 26 May 2026, 1:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time.

To ensure timely and equitable evaluation of proposals, Offerors shall comply with all instructions within Section L and all solicitation submission requirements. Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with these instructions and other relevant documents in accordance with Table 2.3. Proposals shall be addressed to the Procurement Contracting Officer (PCO) and Contracting Specialist (CS). Offerors shall submit proposals electronically via email to AFRL.PZLE.Next-GenInnovators@us.af.mil and Jessica Briggs at Jessica.Briggs@us.af.mil and Natasha Randall at Natasha.Randall@us.af.mil. Late submittal may not be accepted in accordance with RFO 15.107.

Offerors shall apply all appropriate markings including those prescribed in accordance with RFO 52.215-1(e), Restriction on Disclosure and Use of Data, and RFO 3.104-4, Disclosure, Protection, and Marking of Offeror Bid or Proposal Information and Source Selection Information. Do not submit Classified information.

2.2 GENERAL INFORMATION: The Offeror’s proposal shall include all information requested by this solicitation and shall be submitted in accordance with these instructions.

The proposal shall be compliant with the requirements as stated in this solicitation. Non-compliance with the instructions provided in this solicitation may result in the proposal mailto:AFRL.PZLE.Next-GenInnovators@us.af.mil mailto:Jessica.Briggs@us.af.mil mailto:Natasha.Randall@us.af.mil being ineligible for award. The proposal shall be clear, concise, and shall include sufficient detail for effective evaluation and substantiating the validity of all stated claims. The Government will base its evaluation only on the information presented in the offeror's proposal or provided during negotiations, if applicable.

a. Elaborate brochures or documentation, binding, detailed artwork, or other embellishments are unnecessary and are not desired.

b. All proposals submitted shall have a proposal validity date of 180 days from proposal submission.

c. Government Point of Contact: Jessica Briggs at Jessica.Briggs@us.af.mil and Natasha Randall at Natasha.Randall@us.af.mil.

d. The Government intends to award one contract under this solicitation. However, the Government reserves the right to award no contracts.

e. Participation by Foreign Firms: In accordance with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual (NISPOM), foreign firms or U.S. companies determined to be under Foreign Ownership, Control, or Influence (FOCI) will not be permitted to participate.

f. Joint Venture: The Offeror can be a prime contractor consisting of parties jointly owned and managed either by a partnership or a corporation established for the expressed purpose of entering a contract with the Government. Neither party alone will have direct privity of contract with the Government; only the joint venture itself will have direct privity.

2.3 PROPOSAL ORGANIZATION

2.3.1 The offeror shall prepare the proposal as set forth in the Proposal Organization Table (Table 2.3 below). The titles and contents of the volumes shall be as in Table 2.3, all of which shall be within the required page limits and with the number of copies as specified.

The contents of each proposal volume are described herein and as noted in the table below:

TABLE 2.3 – PROPOSAL ORGANIZATION

Volume/Section Title Method of Submission Qty Page Limit

Volume I Executive Proposal

Section 1 Offeror’s Company Information Attachment 8 - Volume I Section I - Offeror's Company Information

1 1 Page

Section 2 Contract Documentation Written, submit separately 1 No limit

Section 3 Reps and Certs Written, submit separately 1 No limit

Volume II Evaluation Factor

Section 1 Experience Narrative 1 10 Pages

Section 2 Substantiating documentation PDF copy of substantiating documentation

1 No limit

Section 3 Small Business Participation Commitment Document

Attachment 9 - Small Business Participation Commitment Document

1 No limit

Volume III SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN

Small Business Subcontracting Plan Narrative 1 No limit

Volume IV Price

Completed Pricing Worksheet Worksheet 1 N/A

2.3.2 If Evaluation Notices (ENs) are required, page limits shall be placed on any responses. The specific page limits for responses to ENs shall be identified in the letter forwarding ENs to the offeror. Excess pages submitted in response to these shall be removed and disposed of by the PCO. Other deviations from the instructions shall be reviewed by the PCO to ensure that no offeror receives a competitive advantage. Deviations resulting in a competitive advantage for an offeror shall result in the proposal being determined to be noncompliant with the RFP requirements.

2.3.3 To the greatest extent possible, each written volume shall be on a stand-alone basis so that its contents may be evaluated with a minimum of cross referencing to other volumes of the proposal. Information required for proposal evaluation which is not found in its designated volume shall be assumed to have been omitted from the proposal. Cross-referencing within a proposal volume is permitted where its use would conserve space without impairing clarity.

2.4 WRITTEN PROPOSAL SIZE/FORMAT

2.4.1 Written proposal material: Written proposals shall be submitted electronically in searchable PDF format. Company name and proprietary information notices shall be declared as appropriate in the submission. Offerors shall not deviate from the format of the templates provided and shall not exceed page limits set forth in Table 2.3.

2.4.2 Electronic proposal materials: Do not submit on flash drive media. The offeror shall submit Volumes I, II, III and IV via email to AFRL.PZLE.Next-GenInnovators@us.af.mil and Jessica Briggs at Jessica.Briggs@us.af.mil and Natasha Randall at Natasha.Randall@us.af.mil.

2.5 DEBRIEFING: The PCO will promptly notify offerors of any decision to exclude them from the competitive range in accordance with RFO 15.206-1(a). The PCO will notify mailto:AFRL.PZLE.Next-GenInnovators@us.af.mil unsuccessful offerors in the competitive range of the source selection decision in accordance with RFO 15.301-1(a)(1). Upon receipt of either notification, offerors may request and receive a debriefing if their request is made in accordance with the requirements of RFO 15.206-2 or RFO 15.301-1, as applicable.

2.6 RESERVED

2.7 ELECTRONIC REFERENCE DOCUMENTS: All referenced documents for this solicitation are available online at https://sam.gov.

2.8 COMMUNICATIONS: The PCO will control all exchanges of information between the Government and Offerors. Exchanges with industry may be written and transmitted via encrypted e-mail. The PCO is the sole point of contact for this acquisition. Address any questions or concerns you may have to the PCO via Jessica.Briggs@us.af.mil. Email may be used to transmit information to offerors only if the email can be sent and received encrypted and includes “SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – See RFO 2.101 & 3.104” in the subject line.

2.9 JOINT VENTURES

Offerors can submit proposals as a Joint Venture or as a single party, but not both.

Proposals for Joint Ventures shall be submitted on behalf of the Joint Venture only. If the Joint Venture is awardable, the IDIQ will be awarded to the Joint Venture only.

3.0 VOLUME I – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

3.1 SECTION 1 – OFFEROR’S COMPANY INFORMATION: The offeror shall complete the company information sheet, Attachment 8 - Volume I Section I - Offeror's Company Information. Any company information presented here will not be considered as meeting the requirements for any portions of other volumes of the proposal and will not be evaluated.

3.2 SECTION 2 – CONTRACT DOCUMENTATION: The offeror’s proposal shall include a signed copy of the Standard Form (SF) 33, to include clause fill-ins at Section K. The offeror shall complete blocks 15A through 16 and sign and date blocks 17 and 18 on the cover page of the SF 33. Signature by the Offeror on the SF 33 constitutes an offer, which the Government may accept. In doing so, the Offeror agrees to the contract terms and conditions as written in the RFP Sections A through K. Offerors shall ensure that all clauses and provisions that require “fill-in” information are appropriately completed. This contract is an IDIQ contract with baseline clauses and conditions. The specific prices, contract type(s), delivery requirements and period of performance will be determined at the Delivery Order (DO)/Task Order (TO) level.

3.3 SECTION 3 – REPRESENTATIONS (REPS) AND CERTIFICATIONS (CERTS): In addition to completing the fill-ins at Section K of the contract document as referenced above in paragraph 3.2, the Offeror shall ensure all required representations and certifications to the solicitation have been filled-in/completed and are provided in their proposal.

4.0 VOLUME II – EXPERIENCE VOLUME

4.1 FACTOR 1: EXPERIENCE EVALUATION FACTOR

4.2 Offerors shall submit an Experience Volume (Volume II) with its proposal. The Volume consists of three sections. First, is the Experience Subfactor Narrative as described below and in Table 2.3 above. Second, is the substantiating documentation as described in paragraph 4.2. Third, is Small Business Participation Commitment Document, Attachment

9. All experience claims in the Experience Summary will be verified by the Government via a review of the substantiating documentation. Offerors shall assume that the Government has no prior knowledge of their operation and will rely on documentation provided as part of the Offeror’s proposal. Proposals that omit any information from the proposal submission requirements may result in a determination that the Offeror is unresponsive.

4.3 SUBSTANTIATING DOCUMENTATION: The substantiating documentation shall demonstrate specific experience described in the Experience Subfactor Narrative. The offeror shall highlight the portions of the substantiating documentation relevant to the subfactor. Substantiating documentation can include but not limited to: contract award document, Statement of Work, Performance Work Statement, invoice, CDRLs, redacted payroll rosters, CPARS and/or Contracting Officer letters. A Multiple Award (MA) IDIQ contract or MA IDIQ PWS is not an acceptable form of substantiation unless accompanied by an awarded task order. A sole award IDIQ PWS is an acceptable form of substantiation.

The burden of proof rests with the Offeror to provide substantiating documentation that is sufficient to validate the experience.

4.4 EXPERIENCE SUBFACTORS 4.3.1 – 4.3.5:

4.4.1 SUBFACTOR 1 – WIZARDS OF WRIGHT!

The offeror shall describe the recency, relevance, and depth of their experience in developing and executing STEM curriculum. The offeror shall provide substantiating documentation supporting the offeror’s narrative.

4.4.2 SUBFACTOR 2 – FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE

The offeror shall describe the recency, relevance, and depth of their experience in developing and executing statewide robotics programs, with multiple concurrent events.

The offeror shall provide substantiating documentation supporting the offeror’s narrative.

4.4.3 SUBFACTOR 3 – AUDIO VISUAL AND WEB DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

The offeror shall describe the recency, relevance, and depth of their experience in developing and producing STEM videos and web content. The offeror shall provide substantiating documentation supporting the offeror’s narrative.

4.4.4 SUBFACTOR 4 – STEM APPRENTICES AND JUNIOR APPRENTICES

The offeror shall describe the recency, relevance, and depth of their experience in hiring and managing STEM students. The offeror shall provide substantiating documentation supporting the offeror’s narrative.

4.4.5 SUBFACTOR 5 – STEM CAMPS, EVENTS, AND ACTIVITIES

The offeror shall describe the recency, relevance, and depth of their experience in planning, developing and executing STEM camps, events, and activities. The offeror shall provide substantiating documentation supporting the offeror’s narrative.

4.5 FACTOR 2: SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION COMMITMENT DOCUMENT

4.5.1 The Offeror shall submit a Small Business Participation Commitment Document (SBPCD), Attachment 9, which specifies the Offeror’s level of commitment to small business utilization for the effort to be performed. A SBPCD is required from all Offerors, to include small businesses. This also applies to companies with commercial plans and comprehensive subcontracting plans. Each awardable Offeror’s SBPCD will be incorporated as an attachment to the awarded contract. The SBPCD is separate from the Subcontracting Plan required in Volume 5. The SBPCD must address the following:

4.5.2 List which small businesses (including small businesses in all identified socioeconomic categories) may participate, if any. If the offeror is a small business, include the name of the offeror in this section. Prime effort counts towards small business participation and should be recorded as such.

4.5.3 In accordance with US small business administration size standards, identify the socioeconomic category/categories for each company as applicable. Examples include:

• Small Business (SB)

• Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)

• Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB)

• Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Business

• Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)

4.5.4 Provide product service code for each company.

4.5.5 Provide North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for each company.

4.5.6 Describe the strength and specificity of the commitment between offeror and each company. For example, but not limited to, agreement type, legally binding, previous partnership, etc.

5.0 VOLUME III – SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN

5.1 A Small Business Subcontracting Plan is a requirement for award IAW RFO 19.109 and shall be incorporated into any resultant contract. Other than Small Business offerors shall submit a written small business subcontracting plan that complies with RFO 52.219-9, Alternate II, and R-DFARS 252.219-7003 (or R-DFARS 252.219-7004 if the Offeror has a comprehensive subcontracting plan). Small Business subcontracting goals must be expressed in terms of percentage of subcontracted value.

5.1.2 Table 5.2 below depicts the breakdown of the Small Business Subcontracting Plan goals. Offerors shall submit, in writing, a Small Business Subcontracting Plan addressing each of the socio-economic categories listed in the table. Offeror’s goals shall meet or exceed the DoD subcontracting goals shown in Table 5.2 and the offeror shall present a methodology for meeting or exceeding such goals. For small business categories where the offeror’s goal is less than the DoD goal shown in Table 5.2, the offeror shall provide a substantiated rationale for not meeting the suggested goal.

Table 5.2 Small Business Subcontracting Plan Goals Type of Small Business DoD Goals for Percentage of Total

Subcontracted Value Small Business % 30% Small Disadvantaged Business % 5% Women-Owned Small Business % 5% Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business % 5% HUBZone 3%

6.0 VOLUME IV – PRICE

6.1 The offeror shall complete the Total Evaluated Price Task Order 1 Spreadsheet, Attachment 7, to reflect the offeror’s proposed price for Task Order 1 Performance Work Statement titled TO1 PWS - (Next-Gen Innovators) v3, Attachment 6.