AFCS_Industry_Day_Questions_with_Recommended_Gov_Responses.pdf

Industry Questions / Recommendations Government Response Q1. Will this be a set aside for Small Business?

A1.The results of our Market Research will be used to determine the type of IDC.

Q2. Could temporary access be given to the JCMS to gain better knowledge of this requirement and the systems used?

A2. At this time there are no other ways to access the JCMS vise CAC. However, experience with the JCMS system is not a pre-requisite of the Contract. Training on this system will be given and paid for by the Government to the winning recipient of the contract.

Q3. What type of experience is required?

A3. Experience designing in a contingency environment is a must; however, it does not have to be AFCS specific work but it should be similar type of work (i.e., design of initial and temporary facilities for use in a contingency environment).

Q4. How much interaction would there actually be with the JCMS systems?

A4. Primarily AE firms work with DMS and use JCMS as a reference for information. It was again noted that both the JCMS and DMS require CAC to log in.

Q5. Recommendation: It would be helpful if the experience could go back to about 10 years because there has not been a lot of this type of work recently.

A5. The Government acknowledges this recommendation.

Q6. Will Government computers be required for use on this project? A6. Yes Government issued computers will be required and will be provided to support the team.

Q7. Do you know the anticipated contract capacity and duration? A7. Our industry day posting did include a draft of the A/E synopsis. We are still in the market research phase and everything is subject to change.

Q8. Design of initial and temp facilities for contingency operations: Is this previous experience more about temporary facility design or the location of the temporary facilities? During the presentation Q&A it was suggested that the substitution of projects designed in Iraq, etc. would possibly be acceptable. However, on side 7 a list of typical temporary construction material types (wood, CMU, PEB) was provided. Would previous experience with DoD facilities of these types of construction material, not necessarily designed for warfighter or contingency environments, be relevant as previous experience?

i.e. many firms provide CONUS design projects for DoD that are constructed of CMU or PEB materials and many firms provide design projects for OCONUS projects that may or may not be constructed of CMU or PEB materials. Will either and/or both be acceptable under selection criteria A.1.?

A8. Design of initial and temporary facilities in support of a contingency operations is extremely relevant to the AFCS program. This comment will be considered in the development of the final synopsis.

Q9. Quality Management Procedures: This needs to be expanded on. What exactly do you want the A/E to provide? How we review our documents prior to submittal? This would be entirely different for this type of contract. Please be more specific.

A9. The government intends to evaluate the firm's proposed quality management procedures.

Q10. Professional Qualifications - how many resumes in each discipline do you want to see? Do all need to be registered/licensed? A10. The lead personnel from each discipline should be clearly identified. Only one resume (the lead for that discipline) will be evaluated for each discipline. The AFCS program does not require Engineers are registered/licensed.

Q11. Past Performance - I like that you are going to use CPARS and if you are going to look a subs as well, please make sure that is stated in the SOL, so that we can address that specifically within our response. i.e. providing correct DUNS# etc.

A11. This comment will be considered in the development of the final synopsis.

Q12. Capacity - Again how many of each discipline are you requiring? I am assuming that is what you mean by capacity. If not please explain.

A12. There is not a set number of each disipline required. The firm should provide a response indicating the resources avalible by disipline.

Q13. There were a few comments relative to specialized experience in designing initial and temporary facilities for contingency operations. My company is new and my team has a broad range of project experience and technical skills that have enabled us to address projects with unique design requirements like AFCS. My concern in competing for this work is that our project experience and technical skills were developed in other industries and the definition of specialized experience presented today appears very narrow and creates a Catch-22. My initial read on this requirement is that only personnel that worked for the companies that supported actions in Iraq or Afghanistan (for example Halliburton) would have a competitive edge, limiting the field of prospective companies. Please give consideration to modifying the language of this requirement to allow for experience commensurate to the design requirements associated with initial and temporary facilities for contingency operations. Slide 15 – The list of Professional Qualifications includes an architect. My assumption is there are sets of standard architectural details that may be used from project to project. Please clarify the scope for architecture relative to temporary facilities. Is the intent to develop architectural drawings and finish schedules for temporary facilities or just perform egress studies?

A13. Design of initial and temporary facilities in support of a contingency operations is extremely relevant to the AFCS program. This comment will be considered in the development of the final synopsis.

Q14. Slide 15 – Is there a need for Fire Protection engineer? A14. All applicable fire protection standards as described in UFC 1-201-01 will be incorporated in AFCS designs. A Fire Protection Engineer is not required to support the AFCS program.

Q15. Would the AFCS program consider changing the NAICS code to allow more businesses to quality as “small” under that code. There are other NAICS codes that are still appropriate under which businesses larger than $15 million would qualify as small and increase the pool of competitors.

A15. The results of our Market Research will help determine the NAICS code for this action.

Q16. Would the AFCS program consider a MATOC in the full and open category vs. a SATOC? This might provide the program with greater opportunity for cost efficiencies than a single award.

A16. The results of our Market Research will be used to determine the type of IDC.