Questions and Answers.pdf

Questions to Solicitation W9124M21R0007

1. Is there a separate line item for a Daily Availability rate and Flight Rate? Or does the daily availability need to be accounted for in the 150 hours of guaranteed flight hours?

There is no line item for daily availability rate. The availability rate needs to be accounted for in the 150 guaranteed flight hours.

2. In the contract, it mentions that a backup aircraft needs to be available within 24 hours if the primary goes down for MX. We have a backup aircraft but due to the distance of our home-base we would not be able to get it down there within 24 hours. Will this disqualify us from consideration for this contract?

No it will not. However, all aircraft maintenance or shutdowns must be coordinated with and approved by the COR. If the aircraft will be down for maintenance or overhaul and it is not approved by the COR then a replacement aircraft must be on site within 24 hours.

3. Are the PSD machines being supplied by the operator or the government? At the top of page 16 is talking about supplying chain info for the PSD machines, but on page 54 it says the government will provide them. Could you provide so clarification?

The PSD Machines will be supplied by the government. Correction has been made on the solicitation.

4. Under Contractor Furnished Items #4.6 it states: "Access to a replacement helicopter, equivalent to or larger than an AS350 or BH206 series meeting the specifications listed above. If the primary helicopter cannot fly due to maintenance or repairs for an expected 24- hour period or longer. The replacement aircraft should be ready to use within 24 hours after the primary helicopter becomes unserviceable. The replacement helicopter shall remain in service until the primary helicopter returns to duty."

Firehawk Helicopters will have replacement helicopters available from time to time during the EU period, but not guaranteed. If we do have a replacement helicopter available we will have to travel staff to ferry the aircraft which, depending on travel availability, may exceed 24 hours. Once the replacement helicopter is staffed and prepared it will need to ferry to location, most likely from another state or region of the country. If your intention is to have 2 fully capable and staffed helicopters available for the Operational Period, the pricing will be at least double that of the one staffed and operational helicopter. Since this will significantly change how we approach this solicitation our question is:

Is it acceptable to Mission and Installation Contracting Command-Fort Stewart for Firehawk Helicopters to use any and all commercial means possible to replace helicopter with replacement helicopter within 24 hours?

We would like a helicopter and staff meeting our requirements to be available every day we can execute a prescribed burn during the 210 day EU period. Our prescribed burn flight missions are strictly determined by weather and training area access. If the maintenance or helicopter down time is coordinated with the COR to occur during days where no flight missions are planned or possible then a replacement helicopter may not be necessary. If a helicopter becomes unavailable for longer than 24 hours when prescribed burn flight missions are possible then a replacement helicopter must be on site within 24 hours. All commercial means possible may be used to have a replacement helicopter onsite as long as it fulfills the minimum aircraft requirements outlined in the PWS.

5. Under Specific Tasks #5.1 and Operational Period #6.8 it states the pilot and helicopter need to be at "destination" within one-hour. Will there be designated times within a 14 hour duty day that this level of readiness needs to be maintained? This will affect pricing if we are going to need to pay overtime to our pilots for being on duty over 8 hours a day and over 40 hours per work week. If the one-hour duty times are limited to 8 hours a day and less than 40 hours a week when the workload permits, that will affect our pricing to you.

The pilot will typically be notified 12-24 hours in advance of a flight mission however they may be asked to respond within one hour if the weather or training area access changes. The pilot must be available seven days a week. A typical operational period for the pilot would include morning briefing (0730 – 0900), fueling and flight prep (0900-1000), flight mission (1000 – 1500), depending on weather, acreage and location of the burn, and then aircraft cleaning, storage, and administrative duties (1500-1600).

6. A pilot and/or alternates with a minimum of 1500 hours helicopter experience with 500 hours of air taxi experience (FAR Part 135), 500 hours of aerial application (FAR Part 137); and at least 100 hours of PSD experience. The helicopter must pass an annual FAR Part 135 inspection

Is there any possibility of reducing the 100 Hours of PSD requirement? We have pilots with 25 hours of PSD working on forest service contracts.

We would be willing to reduce the 100 hour required PSD experience as long as all other required flight experience met. (1500 hours helicopter experience with 500 hours of air taxi experience (FAR Part 135), and 500 hours of aerial application (FAR Part 137)).