Attachment 0016 - Solicitation Q and A UPDATED 1-11-24.docx

Solicitation W15QKN-24-R-0005, Attachment 0016 Questions and Answers (Q&A) Question Set 1 (11/1/23):

1) For the CONUS location training CLINS X014 and X016:

· For how many CONUS Locations will OPNET be required?

· For how many CONUS Locations will MNET be required?

· What are the specific CONUS locations for OPNET and MNET Training?

· Will the USGGOV provide CONUS training facilities/buildings at each training location?

· How many Soldiers are required to be trained at one time at each CONUS location?

· How many Soldiers are required to be trained overall at each CONUS location?

ANSWER: The CONUS training (CLINS X014 and X016) has always been planned to occur at the contractor's facilities (or contractor provided facilities) for operator training (OPNET) and maintenance training (MNET). The training would be associated with Foreign Military Sales (FMS) only and no US service members would be involved in this training. The number of students involved in each training would be dependent on the contractor's facilities and trainers, the size of the classes would be determined by the contractor. Three sets of up to 3 classes each were envisioned for CONUS OPNET and MNET per year, a total of up to 18 classes (3 sets of 3 classes for 2 trainings).

2) For OCONUS location training CLINS X015 and X017:

· How many OCONUS Locations will OPNET be required?

· How many OCONUS Locations will MNET be required?

· What are the specific OCONUS locations for OPNET and MNET Training?

· Will the USGGOV or Host Nation provide OCONUS training facilities/buildings at each training location?

· How many Soldiers are required to be trained at one time at each OCONUS location?

· How many Soldiers are required to be trained overall at each OCONUS location?

ANSWER: The OCONUS training (CLINS X015 and X017) for OPNET and MNET are expected to be conducted consecutively at facilities provided by the FMS customers, although some may require one but not the other. The locations have not been determined and will be established once orders are received from the various FMS customers. The training would be associated with FMS only and no US service members would be involved in this training. The number of students involved in each training would be dependent on the facilities and contractor's trainers, the size of the classes would be determined by the contractor. Two sets of up to 3 classes each were envisioned for OCONUS OPNET and MNET per year, a total of up to 12 classes (2 sets of 3 classes for 2 trainings) at up to 2 locations.

3) Offeror has not received from the government a cumulative and shared list of industry-initiated Questions & Answers that typically occur with a contract solicitation. Has there been such a list generated before or after the RFP release? If “yes” may we please receive the list?

ANSWER: A cumulative and shared list of industry-initiated Questions and Answers has NOT been generated. If such a list is generated, it will be made available to all prospective Offerors for their clarification.

Question Set 2 (11/6/23):

4) Item 7 says it is for JCO use only and there are no instruction for the DOD official signature in item 8. Could you please advise where or how I accomplish this task.

ANSWER: Please see the URL below to obtain information regarding the JCO and the Military Critical Technical data form DD2345:

https://www.dla.mil/Logistics-Operations/Services/JCP/DD2345Instructions

5) These drawings say they were created from a 3D CAD model, does the government have these models and can they be provided?

ANSWER: The TDP drawings were created from 3D, but the 3D version is not required for manufacture of the items. The 3D may be made available post-award, to the selected Offerors, for informational purposes only.

6) Requested to extend the closing date.

ANSWER: Date extended to January 4, 2024.

Question Set 3 (12/19/23):

7) Training requirements: The Statement of Work does not define locations for CONUS or OCONUS travel, nor the FMS customer we could be servicing. This significantly limits the Offeror’s ability to provide fair and reasonable pricing to the solicitation as we would be guessing at the Government's needs for this requirement. If the Government is unsure of this actual requirement at this time, we request the Government provide a plug-in number for these CONUS and OCONUS requirements with a Not-To-Exceed (NTE) CLIN cost to the IDIQ, to allow for travel, lodging, rental vehicles, and per diem for CONUS and OCONUS training without putting the Offeror at a significant pricing disadvantage by guessing the Government's requirement which will be detrimental to the Offeror during the evaluation. We believe this is a reasonable and achievable resolution if the Government is unable to define these geographical locations, which is a significant evaluation factor in the Pricing volume.

Government Response:

In accordance with SOW 4.7 the CONUS training (CLINS X014 and X016) is required to occur at the contractor’s facilities (or contractor provided facilities) for operator training (OPNET) and maintenance training (MNET). The CONUS training CLINs will remain in the Total Evaluated Price Calculation.

For CLINS X015 (OCONUS OPNET) and X017 (OCONUS MNET) the proposed price shall be the Government provided amounts (see attachment 0005), which are used for evaluation purposes only. Section L (page 70), M (page 78) and Attachment 0005 are revised accordingly.

As a result of this question the government clarifies the requirement for CONUS and OCONUS training. Section C: 4.7.1. and 4.7.2 are revised.

8) The Solicitation and Technical Data Package (TDP) provide incomplete descriptions of the requirements for packing and shipping of the .50-caliber systems, components, and kits. Overall, 34 items are listed between the Solicitation and TDP, but only 27 have Special Packing Instructions (SPI) forms. There are no statements regarding quantities, the set of SPIs are incomplete, and the statements regarding disposition of kits and parts (ie: hold or ship with the systems) are unclear. The lack of this information significantly limits our Company’s and any other Offeror’s ability to provide fair and reasonable pricing to the solicitation, as we would be guessing at the Government's requirement. If the Government is unsure of this actual requirement at this time, we request the Government provide a plug-in quantity and missing SPIs to allow for pricing without putting the Offeror at a significant pricing disadvantage by guessing the Government's requirement which will be detrimental to our Company and any other Offeror submitting a proposal to this solicitation.

Government Response: The packaging requirements for the items not specifically defined by the Special Packaging Instructions (SPI) for the item(s) are specified in Section C, 4.6.1, to utilize best commercial practices. In accordance with solicitation CLINs 0001 through 0013, CLINs 1001 through 1013, CLINs 2001 through 2013, CLINs 3001 through 3013, and CLINs 4001 through 4013, a transportation account code (TAC) will be provided upon issuance of each delivery order for the associated shipping costs.

9) Training ammunition: Solicitation Paragraph 4.7 says the Offeror must provide the dummy ammunition for Maintainer training. The solicitation does not specify any requirements for providing live ammunition for Operator training. The lack of specificity to the requirement by the Government for live ammunition requires the Offeror to guess at the Government's live ammunition requirement. Will the Government please specify the requirements for providing live ammunition as it did for the dummy ammunition in paragraph 4.7?

Government Response: In accordance with Section C, 4.7.1, the contractor is responsible for providing live ammunition DODIC: A557 (or commercial equivalent) in the necessary quantities to support awarded CONUS OPNET training events. To clarify, the DODIC: A557 is live, .50 caliber cartridges of M33 ball and M17 tracer, 4:1 link.

10) Offeror respectfully requests an extension to the Proposal due date, to commence 21 days from when the government provides the information missing from this solicitation regarding training, packing, shipping, and ammunition, which Offeror requested in 6 Dec 23 letter (see Attachment), plus the three questions that follow here.

Government Response: The RFP closure date is extended to 10 January 2024.

11) Volume 2, Past Performance: The Statement of Work, Paragraph L.1.4.5, states "submission of the identified contracts shall be in Excel format." It further states "Offerors shall provide a specific narrative explanation of each contract listed in Section 1 -Contract Descriptions, describing the objectives achieved and detailing how the effort is relevant to the requirement of this RFP." Did the Government intend for the entire Volume 2 response to be submitted as one single Excel file, or can the critical contract identification data be in an Excel table embedded in an MS Word document?

Government Response: Only the contracts to be identified shall be in Excel format. Not the entire Volume 2.

12) Volume 2, Past Performance: The Statement of Work, Paragraph L.1.4.5(3) states "Section 3 Subcontracts. Offerors shall provide an outline of how the effort required by the RFP will be assigned for performance within the Offerors corporate entity and among the proposed subcontractors." Is the Government referring to prior subcontracted work, or the work proposed by the solicitation? For subcontracts, we would expect the government to inquire about past work in a Past Performance volume, thus we want to ensure we clearly understand your intent is focused on future work in this Volume 2.

Government Response: Offerors shall provide an outline of how the EFFORT REQUIRED BY THE RFP would be assigned for performance (with respect to subcontracts), not prior subcontracted work.

13) What does the Government expect Offerors to submit in Volume IV under Section G Contract Administration Data? The RFP instructs Offerors to submit "Contract Administration Data" which is currently listed in Section L as Contract Administration Data and, when cross referenced with Section G of the solicitation, the only reference is DFAR clause 252.232-7006 Wide Area Workflow Payment Instructions (Jan 2023). It appears this is a section the Government, not Offerors, is to provide in the contract for invoicing instructions to the vendor and DFAS.

Government Response: As required in Section L.1.4.7, “Section G Contract Administration Data”, the government requires the offeror to provide their place of performance and relevant contracting/business POCs.

14) Can the USG accept RFVs for the solicitation?

Government Response: Please refer to the solicitation “Section M.5.3. Minimum Acceptability” language.

Question Set 3 (1/8/24):

15) For this contract will the government be purchasing at least a quantity of 1 from each of clin 1, clin 2, and clin 3 from the contractor?

Government Response: The guaranteed amount for an award winner is $250,000 for M2A1 Enhanced Barrels as defined by the Acquisition Plan/Acquisition Strategy Report. The remainder of the items to be purchased will be determined by orders to be received by customers, including U.S. services and Foreign Military Sales (FMS). There is no guarantee of at least one (1) of each weapon systems under CLINs 1, 2, & 3.

16) Per Section 5.2.2.1a of the solicitation there is no FAT for any items on this solicitation. instead, there is an IPI requirement.

Per Section 5.2.2.1a -d 10 guns per variant are made for this testing.

Per Section 5.2.2.1e the IPI of 10 guns per variant cannot be used for production except for some non-endurance tested guns.

My question is: does the government anticipate the cost of the 10 IPI samples be applied to the order quantities on the pricing matrix?

For example:

For a bid for quantity 1 gun the pricing would include the price of the gun, the price for test article per the drawings, the cost for 10 IPI guns, and the cost of tooling and other NRE!

Government Response: The cost of the IPI is expected to be applied to the quantities in the pricing matrix. As stated in paragraph C.5.2.2.1, the IPI quantities are in addition to the bid quantities.

17) Page 170 of solicitation W15QKN-24-R-0005 says:

L.1.4.7 VOLUME IV SOLICITATIONS, OFFER AND AWARD DOCUMENTS AND CERTIFICATIONS/REPRESENTATIONS.

Certifications and Representations Each Offeror shall complete (fill-in and signatures) the solicitation sections indicated below using the file (without modification to the file) provided with the RFP. An authorized official of the firm shall sign the SF 1449 and all certifications requiring original signature. An Acrobat PDF file shall be created to capture the signatures for submission.

The solicitation is on SF 33 (Rev. 9-97) from bottom of page 1 I do not see a SF 1449 on Sam.gov, where do we get this document to comply with volume 4?

Government Response: Amendment 0006 removes Section L.1.4.7 that removes the words SF 1449 and replaces it with SF 33.

18) For the above solicitation several drawings have been identified as source controlled with General Dynamics being the only approved source.

Is General Dynamics the only source that these parts be purchased from, or can the winner of this contract manufacture these parts?

Government Response: Please see Page 93 of the Solicitation in the Statement Of Work in Paragraph C.2.0 stating:

“General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) developed the Technical Data Package (TDP) and has a licensing agreement with the US Government that permits the use of the contractors proprietary TDP to acquire further M2A1s from any source, provided the Government satisfies the General Purpose License Rights (GPLR) agreement requirements. The US Government has fulfilled its legal obligations and has the rights to utilize GDOTSs proprietary TDP from any source via contractual vehicle.”

Question Set 4 (1/10/24):

19) Reviewing the TDP and we are not finding the Endurance M2A1 Barrel. Is their specific print you can provide for Endurance M2A1 Barrel that is part of solicitation W15QKN-24-R-0005?

Government Response: There is no Endurance M2A1 Barrel in the solicitation or in any of the TDPs. I believe the question should be referring to the Enhanced M2A1 Barrel, described in paragraph C.4.2.1 of the solicitation. The enhanced M2A1 barrel is described as “variants of the standard M2A1 barrel incorporating modifications intended to improve performance, decrease weight, and/or decrease the cost of production. The details of any enhanced barrel configuration will be provided by the PCO and included in the specific delivery order.”

The Barrel Assy, Machine Gun (M2A1) (Part No./Drawing 13027965) may be used for reference.

Question Set 5 (1/11/24):

20) I submitted our proposal for the above solicitation before the amendment providing an extension was posted.

Can you open up my submission so I can revise as needed prior to the revised closing date?

Government Response: If the vendor already submitted their offer, they cannot edit it, but they can withdraw it and submit a new offer until the closing date (16 January 2024 at 3:00pm EST).