RFQ FA910124QB022.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

HEADQUARTERS AIR FORCE TEST CENTER (AFMC)

Edwards Air Force Base California

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION

Request for Quote (RFQ) FA910124QB022, Scientific Cameras

This is a competitive RFQ set-aside 100% for Small Business.

The subject requirement is a commercial product; therefore, this combined synopsis/solicitation is prepared in accordance with (IAW) the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. Furthermore, this combined synopsis/solicitation does not provide for authorization to begin performance, and in no way obligates the Government for any costs incurred by the offeror associated with developing a quote. The Government reserves the right not to award a contract in response to this RFQ. Prior to commencement of any activities associated with performance of this requirement, the Government will issue a written directive or contractual document signed by the Contracting Officer with appropriate consideration established.

The incorporated provisions and clauses contained in this document and attached are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular, FAC 2024-02 dated 22 January 2024, Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation (DFARS) Change 1/22/2024 effective 1/22/2024, and Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation (DAFFARS) Change 2023-0707 effective 07/07/2023.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 333310, Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing, with a size standard of 1,000 employees. The Product Service Code (PSC) is 6710. FAR Clause 52.219-33, Nonmanufacturer Rule, applies to this RFQ and the resulting contract, should an award be made.

The purpose of this combined synopsis/solicitation is for the purchase and delivery of Scientific Cameras. The required Scientific Cameras shall meet all technical requirements outlined in Attachment 1 – Technical Specification Sheet. The Government intends to award a single, firm-fixed price (FFP) purchase order to meet this requirement. Delivery to Arnold AFB, TN is required no later than (NLT) six-months after receipt of order

(ARO).

Provided below is the anticipated Contract Line Item Numbers (CLIN), Item Description, Quantity, and Unit of Measure (UoM) for the contemplated purchase order:

CLIN Item Description Quantity UoM 0001 Scientific Cameras

IAW Attachment 1 – Technical Specification Sheet

10 EA

*FAR Provision 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors – Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Sep 2023) applies to this acquisition and the following addendum applies:

The following words stating “offer”, “offeror”, and “proposal” are replaced with “quotation”, “vendor”, and “quote”.

Paragraph (a) first sentence revised as follows: “The NAICS code and small business size standard for this acquisition appear above.”

Paragraph (c) first sentence revised as follows: “The vendor agrees to hold the prices in its quote firm for 30 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of quotes, unless another time period is specified in an addendum to the quote.”

RFQ due date: 13 March 2024 RFQ due time: 1:00 P.M. Central Time Email to mikayla.roland@us.af.mil and brooke.vandeman@us.af.mil

Note: .zip files are not an acceptable format for the Air Force Network and will not go through our email system.

All questions regarding this RFQ must be emailed to mikayla.roland@us.af.mil and brooke.vandeman@us.af.mil no later than 1:00 P.M. Central Time on 11 March 2024.

All companies must be registered in the System for Award Management at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ to be considered for award. The Government will not provide contract financing for this acquisition. Invoice instructions are provided in Attachment 3 – Provisions and Clauses.

Basis for Award: A competitive, simplified acquisition, best-value selection process will be conducted IAW FAR Subpart 13.5. Contracts awarded under FAR Subpart 13.5 are not subject to FAR Subpart 15.3 procedures. Accordingly, award of a contract under this RFQ, should an award be made, shall follow the procedures outlined in FAR Subpart 13.5, as supplemented.

The Government intends to make award based on the initial quote submissions without conducting interchanges. Therefore, each quote should contain the vendor’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. However, the Government reserves the right to hold interchanges if, during the evaluation, it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government. Interchanges are fluid interaction(s) between the Contracting Officer (CO) and the vendor that may address any aspect of the quote, including technical and price, and may or may not be documented in real time. However, the Government reserves the right to conduct interchanges using Interchange Notices (IN). Vendor responses to INs will be considered in making the order selection decision. Interchanges may be conducted with one, some, or all vendors, as the Government is not required to conduct interchanges with any or all vendors responding to this solicitation.

Please provide the following information in response to this RFQ:

1. Technical solution meeting, at a minimum, the technical requirements outlined in Attachment 1 – Technical

Specification Sheet, that includes a technical approach that overcomes the environmental difficulty for which the equipment will operate.

• The required cameras are essentially COTS items that could be procured directly from a catalog based on the optical specifications; however, the environment in which they are to be used is complex due to low pressures and high temperatures. Based on market research, there are two known technical approaches that can be applied to overcome this environmental difficulty: 1.

harden the hardware, or 2. place non-hardened hardware in an enclosure.

2. Since the Government intends to conduct a best-value selection process, offerors shall identify any technical aspects/features of the quoted technical solution that are outside the technical requirements outlined in Attachment 1 and are considered beneficial to the Government. Offerors shall convey the perceived benefit the Government will receive as a result of the added technical aspect/feature. Technical aspects/features that exceed the minimum requirements and provide benefit to the Government, as ultimately determined by the

Government, will be considered “technical exceedances” for which the vendor may be given evaluation credit for in the selection process.

3. Technical solution that includes a delivery schedule for delivery of the equipment to Arnold AFB, TN. The Government desires a delivery schedule of no later than 6-months after receipt of order. *Note: The Government may consider an expedited delivery schedule (i.e., delivery to Arnold AFB in less than 6-months after receipt of order) an “exceedance” for which the vendor may be given evaluation credit for in the selection process.

4. Completed Pricing Worksheet (RFQ Attachment 2).

*FAR Provision 52.212-2, Evaluation -- Commercial Items (Nov 2021), applies to this acquisition and the following evaluation is applicable:

Evaluation Process: A comparative analysis will be conducted during the best-value selection process to select the vendor that is best suited to fulfill the requirements of this RFQ. The comparative analysis will be based on responses to the following factors: Factor 1 – Technical Solution and Factor 2 – Price.

First, the Government will evaluate each quote for conformance to the RFQ’s requirements. Quotes conforming to the RFQ’s requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by the RFQ instructions) will then be evaluated for Factor 1 – Technical Solution. The offeror’s quoted technical solution will be assigned an adjectival rating of either Superior, Acceptable, or Unacceptable, as defined in Table 1 below.

Table 1 – Factor 1 Ratings

Rating Definition

Superior Technical Solution meets all technical requirements outlined in the Technical Specification Sheet and contains one (or more) technical aspect(s)/feature(s) not contained in the Technical Specification Sheet that will provide the Government with added benefit/value, as ultimately determined by the Government.

Acceptable Technical Solution meets all technical requirements outlined in the Technical Specification Sheet.

Unacceptable Technical Solution does not meet all technical requirements outlined in the Technical Specification Sheet.

Next, the Government will perform a comparative analysis (comparing quotes to one another) using the rating assigned to Factor 1 – Technical Solution and the offeror’s total quoted price for Factor 2 – Price. Quotes that receive a rating of Unacceptable for Factor 1 – Technical Solution will not be included in the comparative analysis. Upon conclusion of the comparative analysis, the Government will identify the offeror that is best suited to fulfill the requirements of this RFQ. Lastly, the Government will evaluate (but not rate) the total quoted price for the offeror that is best suited to fulfill the requirements of the RFQ.

Ultimately, a contract may be awarded to the vendor who is deemed responsible IAW FAR 9.1, as supplemented, and is judged, based on the comparative analysis, to offer the quote that represents the best value to the Government. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced offer and the Contracting Officer reasonably determines that the technical solution of the higher priced quote outweighs the price difference.

Factor 1: Technical Solution

The Government will utilize the technical solution provided by the offeror in response to this RFQ to arrive at assigning an adjectival rating of Superior, Acceptable, or Unacceptable (as defined in Table 1 above) for this factor. Specifically, the Government will evaluate the technical solution for:

a) Degree of conformance/exceedance to the technical requirements as outlined in Attachment 1 – Technical Specification Sheet.

b) Degree of delivery schedule conformance to the Government’s desired delivery schedule of six-months

ARO.

Quotes that receive a rating of Superior or Acceptable for Factor 1 will be included in the comparative analysis.

Upon conclusion of the comparative analysis, the Government will have identified the quote that represents the best value to the Government.

Factor 2: Price

Under this factor, the Government will evaluate the best suited offeror’s total quoted price for completeness and reasonableness. Vendors whose price quote is determined to be incomplete or unreasonable will not be considered for award. In the event that the price quote for the best suited offeror is determined to be incomplete or unreasonable, the Government will evaluate the total price provided by the next best suited offeror, as determined through the comparative analysis.

Applicable definitions are outlined below:

Completeness - The vendor’s total quoted price will be reviewed to determine the extent to which all the price elements have been addressed and will be evaluated to ensure continuity and traceability of prices to the technical solution and between the initial quote and any revisions. The review will determine the adequacy of the contractor’s quote in addressing and fulfilling the RFQ requirements.

Reasonableness - For the total quoted price to be reasonable, it must represent a price to the Government that a prudent person would pay in the conduct of competitive business. The Government will determine the total quoted price fair and reasonable through the use of one or more of the price analysis techniques at FAR 13.106- 3(a).

Technical Exceedances.

The Government intends to incorporate into the resulting contract, any or all beneficial aspects of the awardee’s quote (“exceedances”) for which evaluation credit was given. The Government will use Attachment 1 – Technical Specification Sheet, to incorporate technical exceedances.

(End of Provision)

*52.225-18 Place of Manufacture

As prescribed in 25.1101 (f), insert the following solicitation provision:

Place of Manufacture (Aug 2018)

(a) Definitions. As used in this provision—

Manufactured end product means any end product in product and service codes (PSCs) 1000-9999, except-

(1) FPSC 5510, Lumber and Related Basic Wood Materials;

(2) Product or Service Group (PSG) 87, Agricultural Supplies;

(3) PSG 88, Live Animals;

(4) PSG 89, Subsistence;

(5) PSC 9410, Crude Grades of Plant Materials;

(6) PSC 9430, Miscellaneous Crude Animal Products, Inedible;

(7) PSC 9440, Miscellaneous Crude Agricultural and Forestry Products;

(8) PSC 9610, Ores;

(9) PSC 9620, Minerals, Natural and Synthetic; and

(10) PSC 9630, Additive Metal Materials.

Place of manufacture means the place where an end product is assembled out of components, or otherwise made or processed from raw materials into the finished product that is to be provided to the Government. If a product is disassembled and reassembled, the place of reassembly is not the place of manufacture.

(b) For statistical purposes only, the offeror shall indicate whether the place of manufacture of the end products it expects to provide in response to this solicitation is predominantly-

(1) □ In the United States (Check this box if the total anticipated price of offered end products manufactured in the United States exceeds the total anticipated price of offered end products manufactured outside the United States); or

(2) □ Outside the United States.

(End of provision)

FAR Provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Alternate I) Nov 2023, applies to this acquisition. All vendors must be registered in System for Award Management at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ at the time of Quote submittal.

FAR clause at 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Nov 2023), applies to this acquisition with the following Addendum: Paragraph (c) of this clause is tailored as follows: Changes in the terms and conditions of this contract may be made only by written agreement of the parties with the exception of administrative changes, such as changes in the paying office, appropriations data, etc., which may be changed unilaterally by the Government.

Note: The vendor acknowledges that should the quote terms and conditions and/or agreement conflict with mandatory provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and other Federal law applicable to commercial acquisitions, to the extent of such conflict the FAR and Federal law govern and conflicting vendor terms and conditions and/or agreement are unenforceable and are not considered incorporated into any resultant contract.

FAR clause 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders --

Commercial Products and Commercial Services (Dec 2023), is applicable to this acquisition. For the FAR clauses cited in FAR clause 52.212-5 that are applicable to this acquisition see Attachment 3 – Provisions and Clauses.

For additional FAR provisions and clauses not referenced specifically in this document that apply to this acquisition, see Attachment 3 – Provisions and Clauses. Likewise, for DFARS and AFFARS provisions and clauses that are applicable to this acquisition, see Attachment 3 – Provisions and Clauses. The full text of these clauses and (*) provisions may be assessed electronically at the website acquisition.gov. NOTE: ALL

PROVISIONS WILL BE REMOVED AT TIME OF AWARD BUT SHALL REMAIN PART OF THE

CONTRACT FILE.

BROOKE Z. VANDEMAN

AFTC/PZIA (Arnold) Contracting Officer

Attachments:

Attachment 1 – Technical Specification Sheet Attachment 2 – Pricing Worksheet Attachment 3 – Provisions and Clauses