CPO Coatings Training

Washington Headquarters Services (WHS)/ Acquisition Directorate (AD) awarded a contract to provide corrosion training to Department of Defense (DOD) personnel in support of the DOD Corrosion Prevention and Mitigation Strategic Plan, section III, subsection E, paragraph 4, Working Integrated Product Team (WIPT) Policies, Mission, Objectives and Strategies: Training and Certification WIPT. The corrosion training curriculum shall address the general areas of corrosion control, cathodic protection (CP), and coating inspection. This curriculum establishes a foundational understanding and the knowledge base required for a DOD workforce trained in the understanding of corrosion prevention and control issues for DOD equipment and infrastructure. The contractor shall provide and administer corrosion training curricula to DOD military and civilian personnel, and as required, work in coordination with the Government to update the curriculum to address specific DOD training requirements. Depending on the specific training topic, corrosion courses may include in-person classroom lectures, online coursework, or a combination of both.

This action was procured on an open market, competitive basis for a 12-month base period plus four 12-month option periods.

The requirement was structured to maximize the use of firm-fixed-price by establishing an estimated number of Government employees anticipated to attend each course required by the DOD to be included within the training program. This estimated number was derived from historic and current training metrics such as total DOD students per training course were obtained from the Corrosion Prevention and Control Integrated Product Team (CPC IPT), specifically from Training & Certification Working Integrated Team (T&C WIPT). A set number of training courses and administrative services are required and can be easily proposed on an annual basis. One firm-fixed-priced contract line item number (CLIN) per year is contained in the schedule for the training, which will be invoiced at a monthly rate. The annual travel CLINs on the contract are considered reimbursable, but are for pre-determined amounts stated by the Government and require Government pre-approval before the contractor may plan or execute travel. These CLINs will only be paid at the actual cost. Listing these CLINs in a firm-fixed-price nature on the contract would not be in the best interest of the Government since part or all of the travel may not be used because it is not possible at the time of placing the contract to accurately estimate the extent or duration of the travel or to anticipate costs with any reasonable degree of confidence. The firm-fixed-price CLINs equate to the higher portion of the value of the overall contract.