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

Added: Dec 23, 2014 3:45 pm

This is a special notice (IAW FAR 5.205(c)) to announce a DRAFT Request for Proposal (RFP) by the 10th Contracting Squadron at the USAF Academy, CO for a single award, multi-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. This notice is provided to allow interested offerors the opportunity to review the requirements documents and provide any comments, questions and suggestions regarding the Draft RFP. Candid industry feedback is highly encouraged.

Attached to this Draft RFP is a draft Work Statement (WS) along with associated draft attachments. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (RFP) or a commitment to issue a solicitation in the future. As stated in FAR 15.201(d), special notices of procurement matters may be used to publicize the Government's requirement or solicit information from industry. Responses to this notice are not considered offers, shall not be used as a proposal, and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This special notice does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Furthermore, proposals are not requested at this time. Funds are not presently available to support this acquisition. No contract will be awarded until funds are appropriately certified and made available.

Respondents are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this special notice. All costs associated with responding to this special notice will be solely at the responding party's expense. There is no intent to hold an Industry Day associated with this RFP in the future, however the Government intends to hold a pre-proposal conference after the RFP has been posted to review the RFP with industry and answer questions.

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, 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.

All questions and comments concerning this DRAFT RFP must be submitted in writing by Thursday, 8 January 2015 at 4:00PM MST. We request feedback on any or all attachments, but special emphasis for industry review should be placed on the following attachments:
- Attachment 2 Task Order Proposal Template;
- Attachment 3 Basic IDIQ Pricing Schedule;
- Attachments 3a - 3d Task Orders 0001 - 0004 Pricing Schedule;
- Attachment 6 Task Orders 0001 - 0004;
- Attachment 8 Section L;
- Attachment 9 Section M; and
- Attachment 12 Past Performance Questionnaire (it is of particular importance to the Government that this document receive industry feedback).
In your responses, please provide a reference to the appropriate attachment, relevant page number, and appropriate paragraph along with a detailed comment/question.

Verbal questions/comments will not be entertained. Questions/comments regarding the DRAFT RFP should be emailed to all of the following: Mr. Matthew McLean, matthew.mclean.10@us.af.mil (Contracting Officer) and Mr. Londres Medranda, londres.medranda@us.af.mil (Contract Specialist). Under no circumstances will communication regarding this solicitation be accepted by any other Government employee. Comments or questions that are proprietary in nature should be so marked and will not be released publicly. Information that is not proprietary, including information necessary for offerors to formulate an approach, may be released by the Government at any time. Government responses to comments, questions and suggestions are expected to be posted on FBO for industry review.
The final solicitation (FA7000-15-R-0002) is anticipated to be released in the near future. Please continue to monitor Federal Business Opportunities at https://www.fbo.gov for final RFP release. When the final RFP is issued, offerors shall prepare proposals in accordance with the instructions contained in Section L of the final RFP.