Active

Contract Opportunity

The US Government (USG) hereby requests information regarding the technical and financial capabilities of Small Business Administration (SBA) certified 8(a) firms, to include Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO) owned, Native American Tribally owned or Alaska Native Corporation (ANC) owned certified 8(a) concerns, to perform Prototype Integration Facility (PIF) support requirements as outlined below. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement will be 336413 Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing, size standard 1,250 employees.

There is no commitment by the USG to issue a solicitation, make an award, or be responsible for any costs expended by any interested parties in responding to this notice. Information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the USG to solicit or award a contract. This is a sources sought notice only and is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). The USG will not pay for information received.

The purpose of this sources sought is to conduct market research to determine if responsible sources exist that can support this requirement; as well as to assist in determining if this effort can be competitive, and/or a total Small Business Set-Aside.

Background: For information purposes only. The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) anticipates a requirement for a support contract to provide labor, materiel, and facilities to support the PIF at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

The PIF is currently supported by Defense Systems and Solutions (DSS), a joint venture between Yulista Aviation, Incorporated (YAI) and Science and Engineering Services (SES), Incorporated under contract W58RGZ-18-D-0001. The contract, with a ceiling of $4.7 Billion and a five-year period of performance plus two, two-year options for a total of nine years possible. Caveat: Offerors are cautioned that historical workloads are not a guarantee of future workloads.

($4.7 Billion is not the guaranteed minimum. The guaranteed minimum if a contract is issued, is only the first task order.)

Additional information about the PIF may be available at: https://piee.mil. RFP: W58RGZ-24-R-0054.

A minimum of a working knowledge of the DoD Critical Safety Item (CSI) program and the Army Aviation Air Worthiness Release (AWR) process is required. History has shown that it is imperative that the prime contractor have (or be capable of developing) an extensive network of subcontractors and materiel vendors to address the broad scope of work, and rapidly evolving delivery order requirements. The prime must be structured in a manner that allows for flexible performance of the USG's requirements, increasing support during periods of growth, and reducing support during periods of decreased workload.

This potential requirement is being considered for Small Business Administration (SBA) certified 8(a) firms to include Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO) owned, Native American Tribally Owned, or Alaskan Native Corporation (ANC) owned certified 8(a) concerns, subject to the availability of funds.

Desired Response: Interested parties possessing the requisite skills, resources, and capabilities necessary to perform the stated requirement are invited to respond to this marketing research survey/sources sought announcement via an electronic submission of an executive summary.

Microsoft Word (.docx) and/or Adobe (.pdf) files are required. Interested parties are asked to answer, and respond to, the following questions and requests in addition to their executive summary. In both the executive summary and the response to the questions below, company proprietary information should be marked accordingly. Any proprietary information must be identified. To be reviewed, the statement "Releasable to USG Agencies and their supporting Contractors for Review Only" must accompany any proprietary submission. The USG reserves the right to request further clarification to enhance understanding of the respondent's submittal.

1. Please provide your company name, address, point of contact with corresponding phone number, e-mail address, CAGE code and small business size under NAICS 336413. Please clearly confirm whether or not your company is an eligible 8(a) firm. Confirm the primary NAICS for your organization.

2. Provide a summary of your approach to meeting the stated requirement (i.e., your company's facilities, team members, and their roles).

3. Provide relevant corporate experience references. You may cite company and related web addresses as additional sources of information. Address experience with: aviation, missiles, and Unmanned Aerial Systems. Address experience in dealing with major defense contractor Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Address your experience handling surge requirements. Relevant corporate experience information should identify the applicable contract number; the total contract dollar amount; contract period of performance; a brief description of the services performed; and customer point of contact with corresponding telephone number and e-mail address.

4. Does your organization participate as a prime contractor, or as a major subcontractor in the development or production of a weapon system under a major defense acquisition program, or pre-major defense acquisition program?

5. Does your organization have any Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI) with the PIF SOW? (The PIF SOW may be available on PIEE.) See FAR Subpart 9.5 – Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest. The offerors shall disclose to the Contracting Officer all facts relevant to the existence of an actual or potential OCI. This disclosure shall include a description of the action the Contractor has taken or plans to take to avoid, neutralize or mitigate the OCI. Does your organization have any fixed-wing production systems contracts with DFARS 252.209-7009 Organizational Conflict of Interest – Major Defense Acquisition Program?

6. Do you currently provide comprehensive program management, research and development, engineering, fabrication, subsystem/system integration, qualification testing, logistical and support to DoD hardware? If so, what types of systems do you support?

7. If your company is not currently providing this support, has your company had experience in the last 5 years providing these types of services as a prime contractor, or as a subcontractor? Specify whether your work was as the prime contractor, or was as a subcontractor.

8. What does your company specialize in?

9. The Government is contemplating the use of a Single Award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) type contract.

a. What experience does your company have with Government contracts?

b. Is your company familiar with the Government processes of contracting, billing, etc?

c. Do you have any experience with IDIQ type contracts?

d. If you have previous IDIQ contracts with the Government, what types of pricing arrangements were used [i.e. firm fixed price (FFP), FFP level of effort (LOE), time and material (T&M), cost plus fixed fee (CPFF), cost plus incentive fee (CPIF), etc...]?

e. What type of pricing arrangement would you recommend for this contract?

10. The Government is contemplating a potential Period of Performance of 9 years. In this scenario, offerors would propose Not-to-Exceed Fixed Price (FP), Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF) labor and overhead rates for each year of performance.

a. Can you accurately reflect your costs within Not-to-Exceed rates for this period of performance?

b. What are your concerns regarding this period of performance?

11. Would the length of the period of performance impact whether you would participate in a future competition? If so, explain your response. What do you believe is the optimal period of performance and why?

12. What is the minimum information required for your organization to accurately bid Not-to-Exceed Fixed Price, Cost Plus Fixed Fee labor and overhead rates, under a potential contract?

13. Do you currently support any OCONUS sites and if so, in what capacity?

14. In relation to question 13, if you have no OCONUS experience, do you foresee an issue with supporting the PIF at OCONUS sites? For example, labor laws, Technical Expert Status Accreditation (TESA) requirements, Status of Force Agreements (SOFA) requirements, and estimating costs, etc? Please be as detailed as possible.

15. What experience does your organization have with additive manufacturing? What equipment does your organization have for additive manufacturing?

16. What experience does your company have with managing Government property? Specify the warehouse square feet and dollar amounts per year. The Government estimates the amount of Government property to be around $1.5B on this contract. (Note: DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to consolidate existing contract clauses for the management and reporting of Government property into a single contract clause. See DFARS 252.245-7003 Contractor Property Management System (Jan 2024)).

17. Does your company have its own anodizing facilities in-house, or do you outsource anodizing? What environmental standards does your company have for anodizing work?

18. The Government desires a minimum of 2,000,000 square feet (sqft) off-post facilities space, to include aircraft hangar space for large helicopters such as the CH-47 Chinook, high-bay space, warehouse space for $1.5 billion in Government property, and manufacturing space. 500,000 sqft of hanger space for approximately 50 aircraft. 180,000 sqft fabrication and integration space. How much facility space does your organization have located within the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville Combined Statistical Area as defined in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin No. 23-01, dated 21 July 2023? How much aircraft hangar space does your organization have located within the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville Combined Statistical Area? How much facility space do you have that is high bay? What facilities do you have near Joint Base Langley, Virginia? Provide any recommendations or concerns you have about the desired off-post facilities space, aircraft hangar space, and the geographic restriction to the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville Combined Statistical Area. The requirement for maintaining these facilities shall not be construed to mean that the Government will pay any direct costs in connection therewith and further, the contractor shall not be entitled to any direct payment in connection with any personnel set in readiness at or brought to such facility in preparation or in exception of work to be performed under the contract. Payment for labor hours and materiel will be made only for such hours and materiel actually expended in performance under the contract.

19. The Government desires a paint booth with a minimum of 20,000 sqft that can fit large helicopters such as the CH-47 Chinook. Does your company have a paint booth that meets current environmental regulations, and what size is it?

20. Does your organization currently possess an Alcohol Tabacco Firearms (ATF) license? If yes, specify which ATF license you have. Provide any concerns you have about obtaining an ATF license. https://www.atf.gov/firearms/tools-services-firearms-industry

21. Does your organization have a secret facility clearance, or other facility clearance? Provide any concerns you have about obtaining a facility clearance.

22. What ISO/AS certifications does your organization have? Provide any concerns you have about obtaining ISO/AS certifications. The Government desires AS 9100 D Aerospace certification and AS 9110 C +ISO 9001:2015 Aerospace certification for Aircraft Maintenance and repairs.

23. What validated tooling, test, and inspection equipment does your organization have in-house?

24. Does your organization have a Counterfeit Electronic Part Detection and Avoidance System IAW DFARS 252.246-7007?

25. The Government anticipates that the guaranteed minimum would only be the first task order. Provide any concerns you have about the guaranteed minimum.

26. Provide any other recommendations, comments, or concerns you have about this potential acquisition.

Place of Contract Performance: Primarily at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, local contractor-provided facilities off-post, and minor requirements at Joint Base Langley-Eustis (JBLE), Virginia.

Responses shall be unclassified.

If a solicitation is issued, it will be published electronically on the SAM.gov website and will be the responsibility of the contractors/interested parties to check regularly.

All interested parties are requested to send an executive summary, responses to the questions/requests, including web-based links to company and/or descriptive literature along with any recommendations and comments on or before 15 Mar 2024 to:

Mr. Charles D. Miller, Army Contracting Command - Redstone via email at:

charles.d.miller2.civ@army.mil and derrick.l.thompson28.civ@army.mil

The Government desires to hold one-on-one discussions with those parties that have a serious interest in this potential requirement. To schedule discussions contact Mr. Derrick Thompson at: derrick.l.thompson28.civ@army.mil

The DEVCOM AvMC Industry Day is tentatively scheduled for 9 May 2024.

This Sources Sought is issued for market research and for planning purposes only, and shall not be considered a Request for Proposal (RFP) or Invitation for Bid (IFB); shall not be considered an obligation from the USG to acquire any products or services; and shall not be considered an authorization to incur any cost in anticipation of such authorization. The USG does not intend to reimburse respondents for information solicited or for costs of any other activities associated with responding to this RFI, including participation in any demonstration. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the USG to pursue any course of action described herein.

Attachments/Links