NOTICE OF INTENT – Bridge Action For: Contract FA489019C0003, MQ-9 Contract Aircrew Training and Courseware Development (CAT/CWD)

NOTICE OF INTENT – Bridge Action For: Contract FA489019C0003, MQ-9 Contract Aircrew Training and Courseware Development (CAT/CWD)

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.

ACC Acquisition Management & Integration Center (AMIC) intends to award a six-month, sole source bridge contract action to Crew Training International (CTI), Inc., 9198 Crestwyn Hills, Dr. Memphis, TN 38125, under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 – 10 USC 3204(a)(1), Only One Responsible Source - No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. Places of performance are Holloman AFB, NM; Creech AFB, NV; March ARB, CA; and Hancock Field ANGB, NY. The period of performance for the bridge action will be 1 July – 31 December 2024 and is inclusive of two one-month options. Anticipated date of award for the bridge action is NLT 30 Jun 2024. Interested parties are requested to submit their responses to this RFI and/or capability package NLT 14 May 2024, 12:00 pm eastern time to the POCs listed at the end of this notice. The Government will provide an email confirmation of response. Offerors are advised that foreign participation is not permitted.

The current contract was solicited as a commercial, Firm Fixed Priced, 100% set aside for Small Business (SB) and awarded to Crew Training International, Inc. under the PSC code of U009 (Education/Training) and NAICS code 611512 (Flight Training). Current contract support includes, but is not limited to, the following: to furnish all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and all other items and services required to perform and support MQ-9 Contract Aircrew Training (CAT) and Courseware Development (CWD) to include Instrument Refresher Course (IRC) for personnel in support of operations, as required, at Holloman AFB, NM; White Sands Missile Range, NM; Creech AFB, NV; March ARB, CA; and Hancock Field ANGB, NY. The contractor will be required to train foreign military sales (FMS) aircrews at Holloman and Creech AFBs. The purpose of this training program is to support RPA pilot training to achieve the following qualification levels: Initial Qualification (IQT), Combat Mission Readiness (CMR), Requalification, and Instructor Upgrade. This contract requires the contractor to provide academic instruction, training device instruction, flight training instruction, and courseware development using the instructional systems development approach. The follow-on contract was solicited under FA4890-23-R-0065.

After the notice of award was distributed to all offerors who had submitted a proposal in response to the solicitation, a protest was received delaying the start of the follow-on contract. Due to the protest causing the follow-on from beginning performance, a bridge contract is required to continue receiving these highly specialized services until the follow-on contract can begin performance. The bridge action is estimated to be awarded NLT 30 June 2024 since the current end of performance of the current contract (FA4890-19-C-0003) is 30 June 2024.

This RFI meets the requirement to post IAW DFARS 206.302-1. When a J&A is necessary under FAR 6.302-1 authority, the Government is required to post a sources sought or RFI to substantiate their reasoning for using said authority. Accordingly, the Government is requesting from industry to respond to the following three items:
1) Does industry believe that a bridge contract is the correct course of action when a contract is awarded and aprotest is received causing a delay in the performance of the follow-on contract? If no, please explain.
2) Does industry believe that soliciting and awarding a contract for between four to six months for performance ofdescribed services above give any benefit to the Government? If so, does that benefit outweigh the costs ofconducting a new source selection?
3) Does industry believe that a new source selection for between four to six months of performance would result in acompetitive environment? If yes, please provide your capability package.

The follow-on acquisition is estimated to be begin performance sometime between 1 November 2024 to 1 January 2025. All required postings will be accomplished via SAM.gov.

POINTS OF CONTACT:
Imelda Reantaso, imelda.reantaso.1@us.af.mil
Anita Rochford, anita.rochford.2@us.af.mil