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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR PLANNING PURPOSES (UPDATED)

NOTE: This Notice is limited to Academia. Corporate/business responses are not requested and will not be reviewed.

Previous announcements were placed under notice W90BWX-23-T-23SCM1. Going forward, use the following reference number for all correspondence W31P4Q-23-RFI-UNIV. This number replaces the former reference of W90BWX-23-T-SCM1 in its entirety.

(a) This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 15.201(e). The US Army Futures Command, Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC), on behalf of the US Army, desires to obtain information to serve as a market survey to aid in development of a future procurement strategy. (b) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited as stated in subsection FAR 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs. (c) Although “proposal” and “offeror” are used in this RFI, your response will be treated as information only and not as a proposal. The information herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to pursue any course of action. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude any participation in any future procurement, if any are issued. The Government may reach out directly to the point of contact provided if it has further questions or clarifications regarding the information submitted to further understand an Academia’s capability.

The DEVCOM AvMC mission is to deliver collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development, and life-cycle engineering solutions. To meet this mission, the DEVCOM AvMC seeks collaboration with Academia specializing in engineering services to obtain support in the areas of weapon systems, sub-systems, and components as well as the technologies required to produce those systems and keep current with the changing and evolving advancements becoming evident in this arena. Specifically, the Government seeks Academia vendors having the experience, facilities, and capabilities to perform efforts in association with various Research and Development efforts. Central to this requirement is a focus on Weapon Systems Training Devices and Simulators Design, Analysis, Testing and Prototyping; Weapon Systems Simulation; Airworthiness; Industrial Operations; Advanced Manufacturing Technologies; Quality Engineering; Systems Engineering; Computer Engineering Research; Software Engineering; Expert Systems; Mathematical and Systems Analysis; Physics Research; Robotics; Optics; Educational Assistance and Training Materials; Human Capital Management; Science and Technology; Specialized Facilities Concept Development; Digital Engineering; and Reliability Engineering. Responses to this notice are not an offer and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

Interested parties who have not previously submitted white papers should submit a document not to exceed a total of 20 pages, not including any appendices/attachments with the responses to the RFI questions below. The white paper submission should include the following: (1) a brief description of any projects the University is or has been involved in that are similar in concept to what is described above in this RFI to include, any relevant lessons learned; (2) experience working with the Government to include active contracts with other Government entities; (3) input on the duration of the effort (i.e. 3, 5, or 7 years) as well as any associated outcomes; (4) input on the contract vehicle to best satisfy this requirement; and (5) any additional materials/information deemed appropriate by the respondent. The objective of this process is to assess potential offerors capable of achieving the stated objectives. Please note the 20 page limitation applies to the white paper only and does not consider responses to the questions posed within this RFI.

The purpose of this supplemental RFI is to gather information from potential Academia vendors that are located near Redstone Arsenal, AL as there may be daily to weekly travel commute requirements (project dependent) to perform on-site tasks at Redstone Arsenal, AL showing their ability to support the following Army Modernization Strategies in the technology areas identified above: (1) Hypersonic Flight: Aerodynamics, materials, and processes; (2) Artificial Intelligence: Increasing speed and agility in which we respond to emerging threats; (3) Autonomy: Autonomous mission planning, collaboration, and reactive behaviors for aviation and missile systems; (4) Material by Design: Protection overmatch against future threats; and (5) Science of Additive Manufacturing: For next generation weapon systems for increased range and lethality. The Government believes that it is mutually beneficial to determine the capability of potential offerors eligible early in the procurement process to preclude the need for a modification of the acquisition strategy later.

Responses: The Government’s Interested parties should submit responses to the following items.

1. The Government is not requesting interested parties resubmit any white papers or technical capability documents previously submitted under the original notice. If any interested parties had not previously submitted technical capability documents or white papers, they may submit supporting documents at this time.

2. Academia must be near Redstone Arsenal, AL due to on-site tasks and potential travel requirements.

a. Indicate if Academia is near Redstone Arsenal.

b. If response to 2a. is yes, indicate how many miles Academia is from Redstone Arsenal.

3. A draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) has been provided with this notice to provide an overview of the tasks desired. The Government is asking for input and questions from Academia regarding the PWS elements indicated. Submit all questions in writing; questions will be answered and made known to all interested parties for review. The originator of the question(s) will not be released; do not use any personally identifiable information within any submitted question(s). The answers will be provided to all interested parties as soon as they are available. The location where responses will be posted is to be determined.

4. Academia must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) to do business with the US Government. SAM is the Official U.S. Government system that consolidates the capabilities required to do business with the Government. Information concerning registration requirement may be viewed via the Internet at https://www.sam.gov.

a. Indicate if Academia has an active registration for all Government contract awards. If yes, provide its active CAGE code and UEI number. If you do not have an active SAM registration, provide a response if you are willing to complete the registration process prior to any solicitation being released to be eligible to do business with the US Government. If you are unwilling to complete the SAM registration process, you will be ineligible to do business with the US Government.

5. Academia must obtain appropriate security clearances at the Facility and Individual level. Individual levels will require at least a Secret level Clearance. All participants must be US Citizens and cleared at the Secret level. Foreign owned companies and foreign national Contractors will only be permitted to perform when there are no qualified U.S. participants. If either clearance is not active, the process may take at least six (6) months. Any Academia interested in doing business with the US Government is required to retain a Facility Security Officer (FSO) on staff without any guarantee of a Government contract or retained position.

a. Indicate if Academia possesses a current Facility clearance and/or Individual clearances. If yes, provide dates when they were obtained and if dates known when they are due for renewal. If you do not currently have established Facility and/or Individual clearances, indicate if you are willing to obtain appropriate Facility and/or Individual clearances to work on secure contract tasks. If you are unable to or unwilling to obtain either clearance to work on secure tasks, please indicate in provided response. A negative response may not necessarily preclude an interested party from being considered for non-sensitive tasks.

b. Indicate if Academia has a FSO on staff. If response is no, indicate if you are willing to obtain a FSO on staff and provide length of time it will take to onboard a FSO. If you are unable to or unwilling to onboard FSO to be eligible for secure tasks, please indicate in provided response. A negative response may not necessarily preclude an interested party from being considered for non-sensitive tasks.

6. Academia must possess an adequate cost accounting system. The accounting system must have sufficient accounting methods, procedures, and controls in place to be deemed adequate in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The accounting system must provide for specific items, be in full operation, and be able to support detailed reports for direct and indirect cost items, labor distribution, time keeping, accumulation and segregation of costs as identified in Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation System (DFARS) 252.242-7006.

a. Indicate if Academia has an adequate accounting system in accordance with GAAP and DFARS 252.242-7006.

b. Provide the name of the accounting system.

c. Indicate if the system can support the requirements outlined in DFARS 252.242-7006. If the system is unable to support all the items, indicate the items it can support and if you are willing to take action to support the remaining items to be considered adequate.

7. Academia must be able to provide the US Government with labor data, rates, pools, categories, etc. to determine a fair and reasonable cost.

a. Indicate how Academia tracks labor and wages.

b. Provide the names of labor categories or pools you currently utilize.

c. After reviewing the PWS, indicate if you anticipate expansion of labor categories and/or pools. If yes, provide names of those new categories and/or pools.

8. Academia must be able to provide the US Government with a Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) Assessment to determine cybersecurity risk of vendor information systems. The Supplier Performance Risk System (SPRS) is a web-enabled enterprise application that gathers, processes, and displays data about supplier performance. The NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment Methodology directs the Contractor to document the scope of the Basic Assessment that is conducted, to include identifying each system security plan supporting the performance of the contract. An interested party and its subcontractor(s) must have results of an applicable current NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment available for US Government Contracting Officer verification in accordance with DFARS 204.73 and DFARS 252.204-7019.

a. Indicate if Academia complies with the requirements outlined in DFARS 252.204-7019. If it is unable to comply with the requirement, indicate if it is willing to take necessary action to meet this requirement to do business with the US Government.

b. Indicate if Academia has a current DoD Assessment posted in SPRS in accordance with DFARS 252.204-7019.

c. Provide the date the last DoD Assessment was posted or submitted for Academia to the encrypted SPRS e-mail address.

d. Indicate if all subcontractor(s) and/or partnerships/Joint Ventures complies with the requirements outlined in DFARS 252.204-7019. If they are unable to comply with the requirement, indicate if they are willing to take necessary action to meet this requirement for Academia to do business with the US Government.

e. Indicate if all subcontractor(s) and/or partnerships/Joint Ventures have any current DoD Assessment posted in SPRS in accordance with DFARS 252.204-7019.

f. Provide the date the last DoD Assessment was posted or submitted for all subcontractor(s) and/or partnerships/Joint Ventures to the encrypted SPRS e-mail address.

9. Academia must be able to administer a property management tracking system that accounts for all Government Furnished Property (GFP), Government Furnished Equipment, Government Furnished Material, and/or Government Furnished Information. The property management tracking system shall be compliant with DFARS 252.211-7007 and PGI 245.103-72 that requires contractors to report GFP receipt, shipment, and transfer events.

a. Indicate if Academia has an adequate property management system.

b. Provide the name of the system being used.

c. Indicate if the system is compliant with Government Property DFARS requirements (both 252.211-7007 and PGI 245.103-72) to transmit encrypted documentation to the Government. If it is not currently compliant, or if you are unable to comply with this requirement, indicate if you are willing to take necessary actions to meet this requirement to do business with the US Government.

10. Academia must cease usage of and remove the TIK TOK application along with any additional applications owned and operated by ByteDance Limited on any system that is used to conduct US Government business. The use of TIK TOK and other ByteDance Limited applications is prohibited in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 52.204-27. Section 102 of Division R of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328), the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, and its implementing guidance under Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-23-13, dated February 27, 2023, “No TikTok on Government Devices” Implementation Guidance, collectively prohibit the presence or use of a covered application on executive agency information technology, including certain equipment used by Federal Contractors. The Contractor is prohibited from having or using a covered application on any information technology owned or managed by the Government, or on any information technology used or provided by the Contractor (upon award of a Government contract, if awarded), including equipment provided by the Contractor’s employees; however, this prohibition does not apply if the Contracting Officer provides written notification to the Contractor that an exception has been granted in accordance with OMB Memorandum M-23-13. For personnel who may conduct US Government on their own devices, or may be entering Government facilities, TIK TOK and other ByteDance Limited applications should be removed.

a. Indicate if Academia complies with the requirements outlined in FAR 52.204-27. If it is unable to comply with the requirement, indicate if it is willing to take necessary action to meet this requirement to do business with the US Government.

b. Indicate if Academia permits its personnel (staff and students) to use personally owned devices to conduct US Government business.

c. Indicate if all subcontractor(s) and/or partnerships/Joint Ventures complies with the requirements outlined in FAR 52.204-27. If they are unable to comply with the requirement, indicate if they are willing to take necessary action to meet this requirement for Academia to do business with the US Government.

All responses to above items must be submitted via e-mail no later than 3:00 PM Central Standard Time (CST) on 18 October 2023 to the ACC-RSA point of contact Samantha Keegan at Samantha.m.keegan.civ@army.mil. Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF is the preferred format. Any PWS related input and/or questions must be submitted via e-mail no later than 3:00 P.M. CST on 18 October 2023. Telephone requests for additional information will not be honored. All responses to this RFI amendment must reference the current RFI number W31P4Q-23-RFI-UNIV, Organization name, address, e-mail address, Web site address, telephone number, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code (if respondent has one), Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) Number, business size status, point of contact (name, phone, and e-mail).

NO FOREIGN PARTICIPATION IS AUTHORIZED. Acknowledgement of receipt will only be issued if a return receipt is requested with the submission. Please do not submit any classified information and clearly mark any proprietary data/information. All information submitted shall be adequately safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR Part 15.207. The Government reserves the right to request further clarification or request presentations to enhance the Government’s understanding of the respondent's submittal. Any submissions that fail to comply with the above instructions or present ideas that are not pertinent to the subject may not be reviewed. Information submitted in response to this RFI will not be returned. In the event you have difficulty reading this RFI, please contact Samantha Keegan via e-mail at Samantha.m.keegan.civ@army.mil for a copy of this notice.

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