FARA_Vendor_Engagement_Plan.DOCX

FUTURE VERTICAL LIFT CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAM

FUTURE ATTACK RECONNAISANCE AIRCRAFT

VENDOR ENGAGEMENT PLAN

This Vendor Engagement Plan represents a commitment by the Aviation Development Directorate (ADD) of the Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC) supporting the Future Vertical Lift Cross Function Team (FVL CFT) of the U.S Army Futures Command, henceforth referred as the Government, to promote increased dialogue with the vendor community regarding the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Competitive Prototype (FARA CP) and Draft Program Solicitation.

1. Introduction

The Government engagement plan is intended to improve the quality of market research, increase the Government’s understanding of the industry proposed designs and capabilities during the lead into the FARA CP, and improve the quality of proposals submitted in response to the program solicitation. The Government engagement will be conducted in a fair, level, and transparent manner with the members of the industrial base using the flexibilities inherent in the Other Transaction Authority for Prototype (OTAP). The Government’s engagement will be balanced with protecting Government sensitive and interested sources’ proprietary information.

Proper communication exchanges with vendors can add significant value to and create efficiencies in: the program solicitation development, proposal preparation, proposal evaluation, discussions, and award processes. To that end, the Government anticipates continued collaborative interchanges with sources during proposal preparation.

2. FARA CP Engagement Objectives:

a. To facilitate improved understanding of the Initial Capability Refinement Document (ICRD) and sought capabilities;

b. Increase FARA CP Program Office awareness of industry products and services;

c. Inform industry business decisions about their private sector investments in products or services;

d. Identification of nontraditional defense contractors with technologies that can make a significant contribution to the FARA CP;

e. Inform the FARA Program Office on industry relevant, proposed and existing designs;

f. Obtain awareness of Industry suggestions for changes to proposed terms and conditions that provide increased industry flexibility during competitive prototyping efforts with the objective of reducing costs, maintain schedule, and deliver sought capabilities;

g. Increased cost savings through the identification of ICRD requirements that may elevate costs without providing commensurate capability and the removal of procurement contract like requirements that provide marginal benefits and increase program costs on this type of effort; and

h. Obtain information to form realistic Government expectations about marketplace capabilities;

3. Program Office Requested Engagements with Interested Sources:

The Program Office requests that eligible and capable sources identify themselves to the Program Office, through the contact in Federal Business Opportunities by submitting a capabilities statement of no more than three-pages using the format in the document named “W911W6-18-R-FVL_FARACP Prime Offeror Capabilities Statement provided as a separate attachment to this Federal Business Opportunities modification by 31 July 2018. Eligible sources are those entities that meet the criteria to receive the Supplemental Information Packet (SIP). Capable sources have the capability to compete for the prototyping effort, carry the prototype through the engineering and manufacturing development and into production, including those entities with a viable plan to achieve such a capability.

The Program Office will then follow up with interested capable sources either virtually, meetings at Program Office locations or by travel to the source. These interchanges will be documented and provided to interested capable sources.

The Program Office has a small staff and a short period of time until estimated date for release of the final program solicitation. Therefore the level of engagement will vary based upon available time. The Program Office will at times have to prioritize these capabilities engagements based upon the communication preference and rationale provided by vendors in the white papers and the Program Office’s review of available data and subsequent determination of what method offers the greatest possibility for technical understanding of design approach and trades prior to receipt of proposals, an assessment of the sources capabilities and the maturity of notional prototype designs. Focus will be directed to those sources considering proposal as prime performers. Levels and/or methods of interchange are not indicative of the level of the Government interest in or preference of one viable technical approach or another.

The Program Office will post the prime performer sources it is meeting with to allow nontraditional defense contractors to explore partnering opportunities with these entities in Federal Business Opportunities.

The Program Office’s intent is that the final program solicitation will address the Program Office’s continued collaboration through the proposal preparation process and will likely continue in engagement with the interested capable sources to facilitate obtaining the same engagement objectives in this plan as an evolutionary process.

4. Links to existing policies:

The following regulations and statutes are not intended to represent the complete list of requirements applicable to communicating with industry, but serve to provide a structure for this engagement.

10 U.S. Code § 2371b, Authority of the Department of Defense to carry out certain prototype projects.

Department of Defense Other Transactions Guide for Prototype Projects, Version 1.2.0, January 2017

Procurement Integrity Act (41 U.S.C. § 423)- Government officials may not disclose proprietary or source selection information.

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552)

Conflict of Interest Prohibition (18 U.S.C. § 208) - Government officials may not participate in a matter that presents an actual or apparent conflict of interest.

Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1905) - Government officials may not disclose trade secrets or other proprietary information without permission of the owner of the information. Government officials must protect procurement-sensitive information and information that would not otherwise be lawfully disclosed to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.