Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) Engineering and Research Activities for Aging Structures

Industry questions/comments and Government responses as of 23 February 2015 are posted. See PDF document titled "Consolidated Q&A RFP as of 23 Feb 2015".

Amendment 3 (Standard Form 30) to the RFP is posted to replace Attachments 8 (Section L) and 9 (Section M) both dated 13 February 2015 with revised versions of the same documents dated 20 February 2015. All revisions are shown via tracked changes. Please be sure to acknowledge all RFP Amendments in accordance with the instructions in block 11 of the SF 30. The date and time for receipt of offers, 5:00 pm MST on 6 March 2015, is not extended.

Industry questions/comments and Government responses as of 20 February 2015 are posted. See PDF document titled "Consolidated Q&A RFP as of 20 February 2015".

Industry questions/comments and Government responses as of 18 February 2015 are posted. See PDF document titled "Consolidated Q&A RFP as of 18 February 2015".

Technical difficulties are preventing non-Common Access Card (CAC) holders from accessing the Pre-proposal Conference recording via web link.  Please email the PCO at matthew.mclean.10@us.af.mil for options to obtain a copy of the recording.
 

Amendment 2 (Standard Form 30) to the RFP is posted to replace Attachments 1 (Work Statement CAStLE) dated 13 January 2015, 8 (Section L) and 9 (Section M) both dated 28 January 2015 with revised versions of the same documents dated 13 February 2015. All revisions are shown via tracked changes. Please be sure to acknowledge all RFP Amendments in accordance with the instructions in block 11 of the SF 30. The date and time for receipt of offers, 5:00 pm MST on 6 March 2015, is not extended.

Industry questions/comments and Government responses as of 13 February 2015 are posted. See PDF document titled "Consolidated Q&A RFP as of 13 February 2015".  Presentation slides of the pre-proposal conference held on Monday, 9 February 2015, on the Defense Connect Online (DCO) website titled "CAStLE Pre-Proposal Conference Slides" are posted.  Currently, there are issues uploading the recording of the pre-proposal conference due to size limitations.  Alternative methods of posting are being reviewed.   

A pre-proposal conference will be held via DCO (Defense Connect Online) webinar on 9 February 2015 at 10:00am MST. The webinar will be open to the public. All interested parties may participate by logging in as a guest via the following link: https://connect.dco.dod.mil/castle-pre-proposal-conf/. A user account is not required to login as a guest.

The intent of the pre-proposal conference is to review the RFP, in particular the Information/Instructions to Offerors (Section L) and Evaluation Criteria (Section M) and provide responses to industry questions/comments. All information presented comes from the RFP. New information will not be presented. You may submit questions via the DCO chat function or verbally if your system is setup to perform VoIP audio. Submitting questions to the PCO in advance via email is highly encouraged. The webinar will be recorded and a link to the recording will be posted to FBO afterwards.

DCO is simple to use, however the DCO User Manual is posted to this FBO notice for your convenience.

Amendment 1 (Standard Form 30) to the RFP is posted to replace Attachments 8 (Section L) and 9 (Section M) dated 13 January 2015 with revised versions of the same documents dated 28 January 2015.  All revisions are shown via tracked changes.  Attachment 12a Past Performance Questionnaire is added to the RFP in an editable MS Word format for offeror use.  Please be sure to ackowledge all RFP Amendments in accordance with the instructions in block 11 of the SF 30.  The date  and time for reciept of offers, 5:00 pm MST on 6 March 2015, is not extended. 

Industry questions/comments and Government responses as of 28 January 2015 are  posted.  See PDF document titled "Consolidated Q&A RFP as of 28 Jan 2015"

Two changes have been made to this FBO notice:

1. Vendor questions regarding the RFP are due 15 days prior to the RFP closing date.  Not 18 February 2015 as previously stated.

2. The PPI tool has been uploaded to the FBO solicitation notice. 

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL: Vendor questions regarding this RFP are due to the Contracting Officer in writing by 18 February 2015.  All questions and answers will be posted to fbo.gov under this notice.  A pre-proposal conference is tentatively scheduled for Monday, 9 February 2015 at 10:00 AM MST via web conferencing.  

GENERAL INFORMATION
Document Type: Pre-Solicitation
Solicitation Number: FA7000-15-R-0002
Acquisition: Total Small Business Set Aside
NAICS Code: 541712
FSC Code: AJ12

CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS
Department of the Air Force, USAF Academy - 10th Contracting Squadron, 10 CONS/LGCC, 8110 Industrial Drive, Suite 200, USAF Academy, CO, 80840-2315

DESCRIPTION
This synopsis IAW FAR Subpart 5.2 is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation for proposals. Do not submit a proposal at this time. This is a pre-solicitation notice for The Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) engineering and research activities support at the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO.

The Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) is located in the Department of Engineering Mechanics (DFEM) at The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). CAStLE's mission is to provide structural integrity tools, solutions and information to Department of Defense (DoD) as well as non-DoD and non-Government entities through the use of appropriate formal agreements. CAStLE also supports the Dean's mission by bringing Air Force-relevant research and engineering activities into the classroom.

The contractor shall perform engineering and research activities related to material degradation due to aging, initiated by external customers, CAStLE, other government agencies and non-government entities. In general, the research and engineering activities performed by CAStLE cover a variety of work that follows aircraft and other structures through their life-cycle from cradle to grave. CAStLE efforts span a wide range of material degradation-related topics, including basic development and characterization of materials, mechanical testing of structure(s), material corrosion susceptibility and mitigation, computer modeling and finite element analysis, flight data acquisition, structural teardown and analysis, and analysis of damaged, failed and/or degraded structure(s) and materials. The contractor may be required to perform efforts related to the above listed CAStLE activities, as well as research activities, engineering activities, structures teardown, non-destructive analysis, design analysis/development/qualification testing, full-scale testing, certification and force management development, force management execution, training/procedural support, written reports/briefings, education, lab equipment maintenance, and other related efforts. The scope of this effort may cover a variety of aging structures (from a micro-level up to aircraft, ships, tanks, ground support equipment, bridges, and other varieties of aging structures and materials). The Contracting Officer will issue Task Orders (TOs) as the ordering mechanism for specified requirements.

The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) is 541712 and the small business size standard is 500 employees. This acquisition is a total small business set aside in accordance with FAR Part 19.502-2(b). It is anticipated the solicitation will be issued electronically about mid-January to early February 2015 on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) web page at https://www.fbo.gov/. Due date for receipt of proposal will be indicated in the solicitation document when it is released. Once the solicitation is posted on FedBizOpps, it is incumbent upon the interested parties to review this site frequently for any updates or amendments. It should be noted that paper copies of documents will not be provided. All proposals are to be submitted by U.S. Mail or by other courier delivery services company only. No proposals will be accepted by email or fax.

Offerors must be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM) or may not be considered for award. Registration can be accomplished at https://www.sam.gov. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires the use of electronic annual representations and certifications in Federal solicitations as part of the proposal submission process. Representation and Certification are to be accomplished at https://www.sam.gov. Registration requires applicants to have a DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet and can be obtained at http://www.dnb.com/.

This is expected to be a best value source selection conducted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.3, Source Selection, as supplemented by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), DoD Source Selection Procedures (dated 4 March 2011) and the Air Force Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFFARS). These regulations are available electronically at the Air Force (AF) FARSite, http://farsite.hill.af.mil. The Government will select the best overall offer, based upon an integrated assessment of Technical, Past Performance, and Cost/Price. A contract may be awarded to the offeror who is deemed responsible in accordance with the FAR, as supplemented, whose proposal conforms to the solicitation's requirements (to include all stated terms, conditions, representations, certifications, and all other information required by Section L of this solicitation) and is judged, based on the evaluation factors and subfactors to represent the best value to the Government. The Government seeks to award to the offeror who gives the Air Force the greatest confidence that it will best meet, or exceed, the requirements. This may result in an award to a higher rated, higher priced offeror, where the decision is consistent with the evaluation factors, and the Source Selection Authority (SSA) reasonably determines that the technical approach and/or past performance of the higher price offeror outweighs the price difference. The SSA will base the source selection decision on an integrated assessment of proposals against all source selection criteria in the solicitation.
5352.201-9101 OMBUDSMAN (APR 2014)
(a) An ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The existence of the ombudsman does not affect the authority of the program manager, contracting officer, or source selection official. Further, the ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals, the source selection process, or the adjudication of protests or formal contract disputes. The ombudsman may refer the interested party to another official who can resolve the concern.
(b) Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. Consulting an ombudsman does not alter or postpone the timelines for any other processes (e.g., agency level bid protests, GAO bid protests, requests for debriefings, employee-employer actions, contests of OMB Circular A-76 competition performance decisions).
(c) If resolution cannot be made by the contracting officer, the interested party may contact the ombudsman,
Kelly S. Snyder
8110 Industrial Drive, Ste 103
USAFA, CO 80840
Telephone number 719-333-2074
FAX 719-333-9018
email: kelly.snyder@us.af.mil
Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the Center/MAJCOM/DRU/HQ AFICA/AFISRA/SMC ombudsman level, may be brought by the interested party for further consideration to the Air Force ombudsman, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) (Contracting), SAF/AQC, 1060 Air Force Pentagon, Washington DC 20330-1060, phone number (571) 256-2395, facsimile number (571) 256-2431.
(d) The ombudsman has no authority to render a decision that binds the agency.
(e) Do not contact the ombudsman to request copies of the solicitation, verify offer due date, or clarify technical requirements. Such inquiries shall be directed to the Contracting Officer.
(End of clause)

POINT OF CONTACT

Questions and responses should be addressed to the primary contact, Matthew McLean, Contracting Officer, at matthew.mclean.10@us.af.mil, or the alternate point of contact, Londres Medranda, Contract Specialist at londres.medranda@us.af.mil.