USAFE-AFAFRICA Agile Acquisition Framework RFI - 26 June 24.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE

AIR FORCE INSTALLATION CONTRACTING CENTER

Unclassified

Subject: Request for Information (RFI) to support the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air

Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA (U-A)) Acquisition Framework.

1. Background

U-A, headquartered at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is a major command (MAJCOM) of the

United States Air Force (USAF). It is also the air component for two Department of Defense

(DoD) unified combatant commands -- EUCOM, which serves the U.S. component of the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and AFRICOM, which oversees security cooperation programs that assist African nations in building their own security capacity. The Commander of

U-A is responsible for delivering full-spectrum options to the Combatant Commander; leading and supporting Joint, Coalition, NATO, and Warfighting Headquarters operations; and promoting regional stability through focused theater engagement. As part of this mission, U-A trains and equips USAF units pledged to NATO and maintains combat-ready wings based from

Great Britain to Turkey. U-A plans, conducts, controls, coordinates, and supports air and space operations in Europe and parts of Asia and Africa to achieve U.S. national and NATO objectives.

The command's inventory of aircraft is ready to perform close air support, air interdiction, air defense, in-flight refueling, long-range transport, and support of maritime operations.

As the air component for both EUCOM and AFRICOM, U-A executes the Air Component missions with forward-based airpower and infrastructure to conduct and enable theater and global operations. U-A directs air operations in a theater spanning three continents, covering more than 19 million square miles, and containing 104 independent states. The U-A mission is to defend vital U.S. interests, deter aggression, and deepen relationships with Allies and partners by projecting combat-ready airpower in Europe and Africa. Its priorities include anti-access area-denial capabilities, integrated air and missile defense, intelligence and information sharing, command and control, and agile combat employment.

2. Description

The objective of this RFI is to address the acquisition framework to support the procurement of

U-A hardware and software with an emphasis on integration of the resulting materiel into the existing and future U-A communications backbone. The backbone encapsulates the core components of the U-A communications infrastructure to include the high-capacity network segments that provide the primary paths for data traffic across different parts of the U-A network. To meet this requirement U-A is requesting industry feedback on the acquisition considerations that will shape the contracting strategies for anticipated contracts under this acquisition framework. The acquisition framework is envisioned to include a Multiple-Award, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) and Task Orders (TOs) to provide technology refreshes and system modernization solutions within the primary users’ areas of responsibility including the acquisition, integration, and product support services of theater deployable communications, base information technology (IT) infrastructure, and cloud services.

Contractors will implement technology refreshes of main operating bases (MOBs) and existing

Geographically Separated Units (GSUs), establish an enduring infrastructure and systems for new GSUs, design and implement a U-A distributed and resilient enterprise hybrid cloud capabilities supporting Agile Combat Employment (ACE), and develop synthetic distributed and hosted modeling and simulation training environments and systems.

This IDIQ will enhance U-A Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) information sharing capabilities and the distributed Combined Joint All-Domain Command & Control (c-

JADC2) infrastructure, enabling operations in a denied, degraded, intermittent or limited (DDIL) environment integrated into the USAFE modernized C2 architecture utilizing the following primary capability pools:

Figure 1: IDIQ Capability Pools (U-A Training & Exercises, Comm Infrastructure Upgrades, C2 Infrastructure Investment, Battle Management & Defense Systems, and Tactical C2) integrated into the U-A C2 Backbone

3. Notional IDIQ Structure the Government is Considering:

i. Multiple Award IDIQ (TBD number of awardees)

ii. Allowing contractors to propose to a limited number of capability pools

iii. Estimated IDIQ ceiling of >$1.25B

iv. US Security Clearance Requirements - up to TS/SCI for portions of the anticipated work

v. Estimated 7-year Period of Performance with a 5-year ordering period.

vi. Multiple contract structures depending on task order requirements (varying option structure, contract type such as FFP, CPFF, CPIF, CPAF, etc.)

vii. Contractor on-ramping via white paper and invite to propose based on original RFP

viii. Contractor off-ramping procedures such as a no-bid cap for contractors per year (i.e. if a contractor skips multiple bid opportunities, they are at risk of being off-ramped from the

IDIQ)

ix. Highly Technically Rated Offeror (HTRO) approach for the IDIQ award

4. Request for Information Submission Details

Submittals shall not exceed five (5) pages total. The Government will not consider responses in excess of five (5) pages. Page size shall be 8.5 x 11 inches; single spaced with text no smaller than 12-point Times New Roman; font size restriction does not apply to graphics and tables.

Margins shall be one inch on all sides. The title page and front matter such as transmittal letter, cover page, and table of contents will not count against the page limit.

Respondents shall provide an unclassified response to the RFI to the maximum extent possible.

Respondents shall indicate whether their responses contain any proprietary information if the respondents wish for the responses to be handled as such. The Government shall NOT be held liable for any damages incurred if proprietary information is not properly identified. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property (PROPIN marked items will remain as PROPIN) and will not be returned. Any submission in response to this RFI is strictly voluntary. The Government will not reimburse any cost(s) associated or incurred by information submitted in response to this letter, nor shall any cost be allowed on any Government contract. If a classified annex to the RFI response is submitted, its contents will be limited to only that which is required to be protected as classified information. Classified annex page count will count towards the five (5) page total for the response, not including title page and front matter.

This RFI is intended to conduct market research to inform and shape an IDIQ focused on next generation C3I strategies at U-A. Additional market research may or may not be conducted.

Responses from small businesses and small disadvantaged businesses are encouraged. Future industry day is anticipated in September 2024 for this effort.

5. Requested Information

Please provide responses to the following questions listed below. Responses will be accepted that address part or a portion of the requested information:

Considering the proposed IDIQ contract, please provide feedback on the following:

1. Notional IDIQ structure identified in Section 3.

2. Considerations for the IDIQ prime contractor selection, to include proposal instructions and technical evaluation criteria.

3. Applicable data rights that meet Government need for continuation of operations regardless of funding.

4. Suggestions for increasing the speed of task order awards.

5. Your company’s experience with each capability areas as identified in Figure 1.

6. The notional IDIQ capability Pools (Figure 1) within the context of the U-A

Communications Backbone.

6. Submittal Instructions:

All responses shall be submitted via email to the Primary POC identified below. All submissions shall include company name and point of contact information including name, position, telephone number, and email address. Any questions related to the RFI should be directed to the

U-A POC listed below.

Responses are requested no later than 1700 ET on 25 JULY 2024. Responses received after this time might be considered in Government’s analyses. The government may subsequently contact respondents for clarification on the information submitted.

POINTS OF CONTACT:

Primary POC

Capt Gabriel Stelly

Contracting Officer, 764th ESS

764ess.ua-roc@us.af.mil

7. Disclaimer

Proprietary information, if any, should be kept to a minimum and MUST BE CLEARLY

MARKED. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. In order to review the RFI response, PROPRIETARY information may be given to

Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and/or Advisory and Assistance

Services (A&AS) contractors working for the Government. Non-government support contractors may be involved in the review of any responses submitted.