Section M Draft.pdf

FA8684-22-R-2006

SECTION M

EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

M-1.0. BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD

a. This is a Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15, Contracting by Negotiation, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), the Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFFARS), Department of Defense (DoD) Source Selection Procedures, 31 March 2016 and Air Force Mandatory Procedures 5315.3. These regulations are available electronically at the Government FAR Site, https://www.acquisition.gov/. The Government will award contract(s) to those Offeror(s) whose proposals conform to the solicitation’s requirements and are judged, based on the evaluation factors, to be technically acceptable with a proposed price for the initial delivery order of $1,000. While the Government will strive for maximum objectivity, the source selection process, by its nature, is subjective, and therefore professional judgment is implicit throughout the entire process. The Government reserves the right not to award any contracts under this solicitation.

b. The Government will review all documents for compliance with Section L. Security concerns such as foreign ownership/ control, history of security violations, loss of facility clearance, and failing oversight conditions, and other security concerns subject to Government determination will disqualify an offeror from award under this solicitation.

c. The Government will evaluate the technical and pricing proposals on a pass/fail basis, assigning ratings of ACCEPTABLE or UNACCEPTABLE. An unacceptable technical rating and/or unacceptable pricing rating will result in Offerors being ineligible for award. Offerors shall clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale, however these may render the proposal unawardable.

TABLE 1 – PROPOSAL RATINGS

Rating Description Acceptable Proposal meets the requirements of the solicitation.

Unacceptable Proposal does not meet the requirements of the solicitation.

d. The Government pricing evaluation team will evaluate the price proposals for completeness. In this evaluation, all Offerors must propose the specified price of $1,000 for the initial Delivery Order in order to be eligible for award.

M-1.1 AWARD WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS

The Government reserves the right to award without discussions. Therefore, the Offeror’s initial proposal should contain the Offeror’s best terms from a price and technical standpoint. If during the evaluation period it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government to hold discussions, Offeror responses to Evaluation Notices (ENs), and Final Proposal Revisions (FPRs) will be considered in making the source selection decision. The Government does not intend to use non-government advisors or evaluators in this source selection. If the Offeror’s proposal has been evaluated as acceptable at the time discussions are closed, any changes or exceptions in the FPR are subject to evaluation and may introduce risk that the Offeror’s proposal be determined unacceptable and ineligible for award.

M-1.2 NUMBER OF CONTRACTS TO BE AWARDED

The Government anticipates making multiple awards, potentially 50-100 awards, of a maximum $1,000 for development and delivery of a Post-award CDRL. Offerors shall demonstrate capability in one, some, or all of the below technical capability categories in accordance with Section M section 3. Successful Offerors will be on-ramped into stratified vendor pools aligned to the categories as stated in SOW paragraph 2.0 and to which their proposal is found technically acceptable.

Offerors will compete for future delivery orders in the categories for which they receive an ID/IQ award.

M-1.3 SOLICITATION REQUIREMENTS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Offerors shall meet all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as factors. Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of the solicitation may result in the Offeror being ineligible for award. Offerors shall clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and shall provide complete supporting rationale.

M-2.0 EVALUATION PROCESS FACTORS AND SUBFACTORS TO BE EVALUATED

The following evaluation factors shall be used to evaluate each proposal. The Government will evaluate proposals for

DRAFT

http://www.acquisition.gov/ acceptability, but will not rank the proposals by the non-price factors or subfactors.

Factor I: Technical Capability

• Capability Development/Development Planning

• Systems Development

• Synthetic Environment Development

Factor II: Price

• Post-Delivery CDRL Pricing Worksheet

M-3.0 FACTOR I: TECHNICAL CAPABILITY

The Government’s technical evaluation team shall evaluate the technical proposals on an acceptable or unacceptable basis.

Only those proposals determined to be technically acceptable shall be considered for award. The Government reserves the right to award this effort based on the initial proposal, as received, without discussion.

Offerors may respond to one or more of the three Technical Capability categories (Capability Development/ Development Planning, Systems Development, and Synthetic Environment Development). The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s technical proposal and assign a proposal rating of Acceptable, Unacceptable, or Not Proposed for each of the three Technical Capability categories. A rating of Acceptable in at least one category will result in a proposal rating of Acceptable for Factor I: Technical Capability. An unacceptable determination in one category will not render the entire proposal unacceptable, if an Offeror responds to multiple categories and is found acceptable in another category.

Information provided for each category shall be evaluated on a standalone basis and only considered for that category. A proposal that receives any combination of proposal ratings of Unacceptable and/or Not Proposed for all three Technical Capability categories will result in a proposal rating of Unacceptable for Factor I: Technical Capability and that proposal will not be eligible for award.

The Offeror has met this requirement by demonstrating experience and proficiency in one or more categories below. Each category response shall include, at a minimum, one experience narrative. The experience narrative shall describe a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer. Examples may include work with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry. The experience narrative shall describe the totality of the Offeror’s support for the activity or project: scope, tasks performed, contract/subcontract value, and period of performance. The experience narrative shall demonstrate proficiency in at least two (2) attributes listed under each category.

M-3.1 CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT/DEVELOPMENT PLANNING

A proposal to meet this category is Acceptable if it meets all of the following requirements:

a. Includes, at a minimum, one experience narrative that describes a a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

b. The experience narrative(s) describes a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer. Examples may include work with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

c. The experience narrative(s) demonstrates proficiency in at least two (2) of the following attributes for this category:

1. Employment of Agile, DevOps or DevSecOps practices or pipelines to support software development, analysis or early systems engineering activities, including both:

i. Building, testing, and deploying software in various languages such as, C, C++, C#, Java, Python or R; and

ii. Operating with or developing cyber security plans and programs

2. Experience developing or deploying software solutions for external or internal customers.

3. Development of system and subsystem levels at varying levels of fidelity, ranging from physics to parametric levels, including associated documentation such as models and Systems Engineering Plans

(SEP).

4. Development of Systems Modeling Language (SysML) models and associated documentation, such as those that support pre-program of record activities.

5. Development of engineering, engagement, mission, or campaign level simulations and the associated analysis.

6. Integration of Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (MS&A) (i.e. analytical) models into planned or past systems development.

7. Conducting technology maturation and transition activities.

M-3.2 SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

a. Includes, at a minimum, one experience narrative that describes a a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

b. The experience narrative(s) describes a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer. Examples may include work with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

c. The experience narrative(s) demonstrates proficiency in at least two (2) of the following attributes for this category:

1. Any record of maturing or plan to mature innovative technologies, concepts, or systems.

2. Display innovative hardware and software design methods that could lead to development of disruptive capabilities.

3. Experience testing or fielding integrated systems from pre-Milestone A to least Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP), including:

a. Ability to measure progress in prototype design and development; and

b. Small scale production of prototypes to support demonstration/test; and

c. Identification of system problems (or deficiencies) to allow for early and timely resolution

4. Employment of agile test methods, understanding of systems engineering, SEPs, or Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), including:

a. Ability to model and fabricate complex systems; and

b. Ability to assess system designs to ensure they are producible, ensuring proper manufacturing planning;

and

c. Ability to track program status and ensure that quality standards are being met during production

5. Experience conducting or supporting Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) or other acquisition engineering and analytical activities.

6. Ability to plan for and execute operations and product support throughout the lifecycle of the system to include system design, test, production, deployment, operations, sustainment, and disposal/demilitarization.

7. Ability to integrate and install a system into its operational environment and train user communities as required.

8. Ability to provide integrated product support for full life-cycle and sustainment for fielded systems.

9. Certified secure facility in place or planned that is capable of processing collateral, Special Access Program (SAP), or Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).

10. Certified computer networks in place or planned to conduct various activities at the collateral, SAP, or SCI level.

M-3.3 SYNTHETIC ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT

a. Includes, at a minimum, one experience narrative that describes a a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

b. The experience narrative(s) describes a current or recent (within 5 years) activity or project managed, supported, or completed by the offerer. Examples may include work with the US Government, other government partners, or private industry; and

c. The experience narrative(s) demonstrates proficiency in at least two (2) of the following attributes for this category:

1. Experience using Agile, DevOps, or DevSecOps software development processes.

2. Development of Simulation Architecture to support constructive or virtual synthetic environment

3. Understanding of synthetic test or training environments, especially focused around platform agnostic, multi domain use cases.

4. Development of large open world simulations or video games, especially when run across multiple geographic locations with shared data.

5. Electromagnetic modeling experience at the pulse, wave or physics level.

6. Employment and design of open or standard interfaces for system and subsystem models.

7. Participation or leadership of a consortium of vendors to support building and delivering individual or collaborative products in compliance with consortium norms.

8. Production of software plugins, especially to support analytic activities.

9. Certified secure facility in place or planned that is capable of processing collateral, Special Access Program (SAP), or Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI).

10. Certified computer networks in place or planned to conduct various activities at the collateral, SAP, or SCI level.

M-4.0 FACTOR II –PRICE

The Price factor will be assigned a rating of acceptable or unacceptable. To be determined acceptable, proposals must meet the following:

a. The pricing worksheet for the Post-Award deliverable must be complete

b. The Offeror’s total proposed price for the initial delivery order is equal to $1,000.00.

M-5.0 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN (SBSP)

a. For other than small business offerors, the Government will evaluate the required Small Business Subcontracting Plan (SBSP) as described in this section. Small business offerors are not required to submit a SBSP and will not be assessed under this section. The Government will assess the extent to which the Offeror proposes acceptable use of Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned Small Business, Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUB Zone) Small Business, Veteran-Owned Small Business, and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concerns in the performance of the proposed contract. The extent of the commitment to such firms, including the proposed percentages of the acquisition, the probability that the Offeror shall satisfy the requirements of FAR 52.219- 8, Utilization of Small Business Concerns, and achieve the levels of Small Business Participation identified in their proposal shall be considered.

b. The Other than Small Business Offeror’s Small Business Subcontracting Plan (SBSP) shall be assessed as acceptable or unacceptable in accordance with FAR Clause 52.219-9, Small Business Subcontracting Plan, Alternate II, FAR 19.704, FAR 19.705, and DFARS 219.704. The Small Business Subcontracting Plan requirement is mandatory for award and the plan shall be incorporated into any resultant contract.

c. To be considered for award, the SBSP is assessed as acceptable when:

• The Offeror’s Small Business Subcontracting Plan meets the requirements of FAR 52.219-9.

• The Offeror proposes to meet or exceed goals shown in Table L-5.1.

• The Offeror provides methodology (e.g., use of SB industry days, databases, tools, etc.) for meeting the Offeror’s proposed goals.

M-6.0 INITIAL DELIVERY ORDER SUBMISSION

The Government intends to conduct evaluations on an incremental, first-in-first-out basis as proposals are received.

Contractors are encouraged to submit proposals early, if practicable. The Government will evaluate as received. The Government will not make award to any contractor prior to the solicitation closing date and time. All awardees will have the same effective date of award, regardless of the date of proposal submission. Notice of award will be no later than five (5) business days prior to the effective date via email to Contractor’s obligation POC.

The Government intends to award a Delivery Order to all successful Offerors to satisfy the IDIQ minimum price of $1,000 for development and delivery of a Post-Award CDRL. The Post-Award CDRL, a digital presentation of the contractor’s capabilities, will be developed and delivered as required by SOW paragraph 7.0, and is NOT a deliverable under this solicitation.