W911SFR210014_QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CLOSE AIR SUPPORT.pdf

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CLOSE AIR SUPPORT

1. Due to the ambiguity associated with a redacted SOW and to enable the highest caliber of experienced staffing solutions, can the government change the Program Manager requirement in the SOW section 8.4 that reads, "PM must have in-depth, recent, and documented experience (within the last 18 months) planning and supporting [redacted]" to "PM must have in-depth and relevant experience planning and supporting SOF Units exercising under realistic conditions that replicate the scale, diversity and complexity of the operational environments encountered during current overseas combat operations."

The updated PWS answers the question

2. To increase options to deliver highly skilled Sensor Operator capabilities, can the government change the Sensor Operator requirement in the SOW section 8.7.a that reads, "(U) 1000 flight hours and 5 years of US military flight experience in tactical, fixed wing jet aircraft flown by the USN, USMC, or USAF OR 5 years JTAC experience required" to "(U) 1000 flight hours and 5 years of US military flight experience in tactical, fixed wing jet aircraft flown by the USN, USMC, or USAF OR possess BOTH an FAA pilot certification AND previous USN, USMC, USAF, or USA JTAC experience required."

As the vendor re-write to the JTAC experience, the vendor could possibly provide an inexperienced JTAC to fulfill this requirement. Our position is No change.

3. Will the government provide COMSEC material (as GFE/GFM) at each exercise location?

Yes, as required.

4. To ensure accurate pricing and to clarify responsibilities, will the government provide TacSat access as government furnished material (GFM).

Yes, as required.

5. To clarify technical requirements, does the government require flights to be flown under 14 CFR Part 91 (FAA) regulatory oversight and airworthiness standards or does the government require exercise support flights to be flown under DoD Public Aircraft Operations oversight and airworthiness standards?

6. In order to comply with FAA operating restrictions, contractors operating aircraft with Special Airworthiness Certification (Experimental) are significantly restricted in receiving payments from DoD unless the aircraft are operated under DoD Public Aircraft Operations status. To clarify requirements, if the government accepts aircraft with Special Airworthiness Certification (Experimental) will the government also endorse those aircraft to be flown as DoD Public Aircraft Operations activities?

7. To clarify the requirement, will the government sponsor a contractor in obtaining a Facility Security Clearance as specified in section 12.6 of the SOW?

Yes, as required.

8. Due to the redacted information in section 15.1 of the SOW, will the government permit the contractor to establish a reasonable period of performance (start date) to enable the contractor sufficient time to obtain a Facility Security Clearance following notice of award?

The vendor’s Pilot, Sensor Operator, GLO must have a current SECRET clearance as stated in Para 8.11, this will not be an issue to gain facility security clearance when required.

Given that Experimental Aircraft can only operate for revenue under the construct of DCMA and Public Aircraft Operations, does the Government intend to provide for the review of aircraft documentation and issue a Military Flight Clearance (MFC), Interim Flight Clearance (IFC) or other Service issued flight clearance?

As per para 5.2, 5.9, and 5.10 of the SOW:

5.2: The contractor shall at all times manage and operate the aircraft in accordance with Federal Aviation Regulations and under its own operational directives and SOPs.

5.9: All aircraft shall be operated in accordance with applicable Government aeronautical regulations, including U.S. Army (USA), U.S. Navy (USN), United States Air Force (USAF), United States Marine Corps (USMC) and local military flying directives when operating from Host Facilities.

5.10: The contractor shall comply with DoD requirements for operation of civil aircraft in support of military operations. DD Form 2400-Civil Aircraft Certificate of Insurance; DD Form 2401-Civil Aircraft Landing Permit; and DD Form 2402-Civil Aircraft Hold Harmless will be submitted at contract award and will govern operation of contractor aircraft at each training location.

The vendor is required to meet the obligations IAW para 5.2, 5.9, and 5.10.

a) If so, how long does the Government forecast this review and flight clearance will take before operations begin?

b) Does the Government intend to conduct a Public Aircraft Operations determination and issue a PAO letter in order for the use of Experimental Aircraft?

c) Will the Government require Offerors that are proposing Experimental Certificate Aircraft to provide technical information and evidence of a current MFC, IFC or other Service issued flight clearance?

d) If the Government intends to conduct Public Aircraft Operations in order to allow the use of Experimental Certificate Aircraft, does the Government intend to assign a Government Flight Representative to comply with DCMA regulations and to conduct an inspection of Contractor's training, safety and maintenance programs?

e) If the Government intends to assign a GFR, can the Government identify the organization that will provide this individual?

9. Which is correct LOE to base the bid on? 600 / 24-week long events per year per the PWS or 660 hours / 40 events per year per the CLIN structure?

The government will adhere to the 600/24 week long training events per year as stated in the SOW.

10. All previous requirements for this type of work required High Definition (HD) Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) capabilities in order to make full utility of Rover and Vortex HD FMV transmission. All US military aircraft utlizing HD sensors and this seems like a detriment to JTAC / JFO / GFC / JOC training when viewing non-HD FMV feeds. Suggest updating requirement to "equipped with a High Definition (HD) forward-looking infrared (FLIR) system capable of..." Anything less is a reduction in capability of what units already are receiving.

The system that the 75th Ranger Regiment uses is compatible with L3-VORTEX. This is the only system we are able to pull CCAS feeds in to the JOC.

11. What is the contract's maximum value?

The Government doesn’t provide minimum and maximum value in solicitation

12. Is there a minimum order amount associated with each Exercise?

The minimum exercise will total at least 12 hours of training.

13. For clarity, can the government provide the details associated with proposal Volumes, Formats, Page Limitations and Submission information that appears to be missing on page 110 of the Solicitation in section “Submission 8”?

Amended

14. To increase competition and enable the most advantageous solutions to the government, can the government confirm the contract set aside category as simply "Small Business" as stated in the redacted SOW section 1 and not the set aside category of "Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business" checked in Block 10 of the SF 1449?

15. To ensure clarity of the requirement and to better understand the performance expectations for the 1 March 2021 Delivery Date specified in the Solicitation, can the government confirm that vendors may offer a realistic performance start date consistent with the technical modification schedule associated with their proposed aircraft and equipment solution?

Actual schedule dates will be in the delivery orders per scheduled event.

16. To clarify the government's evaluation criteria can the government explain the apparent disagreement between page 109 of the solicitation citing lowest price technically accepted (LPTA) evaluation and Section 1 of the SOW citing best value evaluation?

(LPTA and Best Value are the same)

17. To clarify the requirement, can the government confirm there is no overlap between exercise events throughout the year?

Exercise events will not overlap.

18. In order to accurately price travel estimates for number of aircrew required per exercise, can the government state the daily flying "turn pattern" schedule that is required? For example, will the flying requirement be a single flight per day? Or will the aircraft fly multiple sorties per day (and if so, how many hours between each land time and the next takeoff time)?

Daily turn pattern is 4-6 hours for a single flight. There may be events that will require multiple crews, in order to not violate crew rest standards, to support training requests.

19. Notwithstanding the flexibility found in section 9.3 of the SOW, in order to coordinate overall aircraft availability and scheduled maintenance activities, how much advanced scheduling notice will the government provide to initially inform the contractor of each exercise event?

On average, training requests will be submitted to the vendor at least 1 month prior to execution.

20. To clarify requirements, can the government explain what is meant by the phrase in section 9.2 of the SOW which states "The Contractor shall: Carry over unused flight hours to remaining events in the FY"?

Due to operational requirements and training cycles, the 75RR JTACs may not require full usage of the contract within a calendar year, and may require additional training the following year.

21. To clarify the requirement, and without knowing actual training locations, will the government adjust daily briefing times to accommodate contractor automobile travel time to comply with the face-to-face briefing requirement of section 4.2 of the SOW and the unknown distance of civilian airfields IVO the training locations as referenced in section 9.14 of the SOW?

Yes, face-to-face briefing times will be coordinated with vendor as part of the training request.

22. To ensure clarity of requirements and government ordering methods and to verify pricing implications, can the government clarify the various references to hourly requirements between the Solicitation requirement for manpower hours (such as Item Number 0001AA requiring 1580 hours of Pilot support) and the Solicitation requirement for 660 Exercise Hours (the summation of Item numbers 0001, 0002, 0003 and 0004) and the SOW which states (Section 9.1) the contractor is to provide “up to six hundred (600) hours of Dry CAS/ISR Support…”?

23. Does the government intend to order the full value of each FFP "Extended Description Additional Supplies" CLINs (i.e., CLIN 0001AE, CLIN 0002AE, etc.) and make a single payment for the total value of those CLINs to the contractor immediately after the contract is awarded?

24. How does the government intend to schedule and order the hourly labor CLINs (i.e., CLIN 0001AA, CLIN 0001AB, etc.)

necessary for Exercise support?

The government will coordinate with the vendor’s operations, providing the 5W’s for each training request.

25. How will the government order hourly labor CLINs (i.e., CLIN 0001AA, CLIN 0001AB, etc.) on days when contractor personnel are traveling to Exercise locations?

26. Will the government order a minimum of 8 hours of each labor CLIN (i.e., CLIN 0001AA, CLIN 0001AB, etc.) on every day in which the labor category is required?

No

27. Will the government order a minimum of 8 hours of each labor CLIN (i.e., CLIN 0001AA, CLIN 0001AB, etc.) on "idle days" at Exercise locations when contractor personnel are required to be present but when the government is not actively requiring contractor participation? For example, if an Exercise is scheduled for Monday through Wednesday (contractor travel days of Sunday and Thursday) but weather or other conditions cancel contractor participation on Tuesday, will the government still pay for 8 hours of contractor labor for Tuesday?

28. Notwithstanding the flexibility stated in section 9.4 of the SOW, if personnel are not otherwise tasked, will the government allow the contractor to invoice for weather attrition and government cancellations as long as required contractor personnel were present at the Exercise location when those cancellations occurred?

29.To ensure accurate pricing, can the government state the duration (number of travel days and number of execution days) of each occurrence of the named exercise types listed as CLINs 0001, 0002, 0003 and 0004?

30. To ensure accurate travel costing, how many total TDY events (distinct exercise travel events) will occur each year?

The government will adhere to the 24-week long training events per year as stated in the SOW.

31. To clarify the requirement, can the government explain the apparent disagreement between the SOW reference in section

9.1 of "…up to 24 week long training events per year" and the Solicitation CLIN summary indicating 40 training events per year (i.e., 20 CASEX events, 8 MLAT events, 6 TFT events, and 6 FSCX events)?

The government will adhere to the 24-week long training events per year as stated in the SOW.

32. To ensure accurate travel pricing, can the government provide the historical TDY locations and specific dates when each exercise occurred in the past under the previous contract?

The primary training areas will be Columbus GA, Savannah GA, and Tacoma WA. Specific dates are based on the individual Ranger battalion’s training cycles, and will be coordinated through the Regimental Fire Support Element.

33. To ensure a more comprehensive understanding of requirements, can the government explain their concept of operations (via narrative or OV-1 architecture or other means) to clarify why satellite beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) voice communication (SATCOM) is required to support JTAC training through the contracted delivery of Dry CAS and ISR services? Our previous experience in support of SOF unit training suggests only LOS communications are required.

The 75RR requires SATCOM due to the limitations of LOS comms in operating areas we perform exercises, trees, mountains and other terrain that limits LOS communication to the A/C. This will limit station time and severely degrade training value for JTACs. Also some of our exercises have multiple maneuvering units dispersed over 10s of KMs, with a C2 element in the rear echelon. In order to dynamically re task supporting A/C our C2 element needs to be able to reach supporting A/C and SAT COM is the only reliable form of communication as of now. Also for A/C not in direct support of a unit, SAT COM will be used to communicate situation updates and location of friendly and enemy elements.

34. To lower costs, can the government explain the rationale for specifying the name brand L3 VORTEX transceiver (with encryption module) to enable video downlink (VDL) to ROVER? In our experience, there are other VDL transceiver solutions available that will provide better value to the government.

The system that the 75th Ranger Regiment uses is compatible with L3-VORTEX. This is the only system we are able to pull CCAS feeds in to the JOC.

35. According to the L3 VORTEX OEM vendor, only the government is permitted to procure the KGV-135A encryption chip to enable the VORTEX COMSEC module capabilities. To ensure a common understanding of contractor and government responsibilities, can the government confirm they will provide (as GFE) the required KGV-135A chip (controlled COMSEC) to enable encryption via the VORTEX COMSEC module?

Yes, COMSEC will be provided.

36. To reduce cost and increase safety, will the government change the current twin engine aircraft requirement to also permit single engine aircraft solutions? Twin engine aircraft design does not necessarily increase flight safety margins. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) previously documented the fatality rate for light twin-engine aircraft experiencing an engine failure as 0.41 per 100,000 flying hours while comparing the fatality rate for single-engine aircraft experiencing an engine failure as 0.23 per 100,000 flying hours. The comparison of these two rates suggests that single-engine aircraft are almost twice as survivable when experiencing engine failures compared to light twin-engine aircraft.

Twin engine A/C is preferred, but not mandatory.

37. Can the government explain the apparent inconsistency between SOW section 2.5 stating the specific task/objective to "Incorporate fixed wing platforms that simulate current military air fleet" and the SOW section 9.1.a directing the contractor to "Provide manned aircraft(s) similar to O-2 Skymaster or DA-42 Twinstar"? Neither the O-2 Skymaster nor the DA42 Twinstar would seem to "...simulate current military air fleets". Representative military CAS aircraft might include: F-16, A-10, F-35, U- 28 or A-29 (most of which are single engine aircraft). What are the O-2 Skymaster or DA42 Twinstar aircraft performance specifications (e.g., cruise airspeed, maximum altitude, etc.) required by the government to deliver technically compliant Dry CAS simulation? In order to increase competition, would the government consider removing the SOW section 9.1.a.

references to the O-2 Skymaster and DA42 Twinstar?

0-2 and DA-42 are the bare minimum to replicate DOD CAS Platforms 03

39. To ensure vendor solutions are appropriately engineered, can the government explain the future systems that may be connected via the 8-switch port required in the SOW section 9.10.d?

This will allow CAS/ISR supporting A/C to access MIRC

40.To clarify contractor and government responsibilities, can the government confirm their provision of GFE to contractors to meet the requirements for JIANT mIRC capability listed in SOW section 9.10.e and for JIANT network access listed in SOW section 12.12.a?

This is another way for the C2 element to dynamically re task supporting A/C. We can install temporary antennas and connect to the 8-switchport allowing for access to MIRC and JIANT. Regiment S-2 can ensure pilots, LNOs and sensor operators have secret level clearances and grant access to certain parts of the JIANT system. MIRC also allows supporting A/C to be in comms with other ISR assets.

41.To ensure vendor solutions are appropriately engineered, can the government explain the future systems that may be connected via the 8-switch port required in the SOW section 9.10.d?

This will allow CAS/ISR supporting A/C to access MIRC

42.To clarify contractor and government responsibilities, can the government confirm their provision of GFE to contractors to meet the requirements for JIANT mIRC capability listed in SOW section 9.10.e and for JIANT network access listed in SOW section 12.12.a?

This is another way for the C2 element to dynamically re task supporting A/C. We can install temporary antennas and connect to the 8-switchport allowing for access to MIRC and JIANT. Regiment S-2 can ensure pilots, LNOs and sensor operators have secret level clearances and grant access to certain parts of the JIANT system. MIRC also allows supporting A/C to be in comms with other ISR assets.