Active

Contract Opportunity

Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTACs) are an official government contracting resource for small businesses. Find your local PTAC (opens in new window) for free government expertise related to contract opportunities.

The United States Government (USG) is conducting market research to identify, as potential sources, companies that may possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to competently and competitively respond to requirements that provide E-3 AWACS DRAGON CLS as well as the ability to perform Engineering Changes Proposals (ECPs).

This Sources Sought posting is a Request for Information (RFI) and is for informational and planning purposes only. This is NOT a Request for Proposal (RFP) and a formal solicitation is not available.

This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government to issue an RFP, contract, order or agreement. No reimbursement will be made for costs associated with providing information in response to this RFI.

Responses to this notice are not offers and will not be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. Responses to the RFI will not be returned.

Instructions for Responses:

1. Below is a document containing a description of the E-3 AWACS DRAGON requirements and a Contractor Capability Survey which allows you to provide your company’s capability to meet the requirements.


2. If, after reviewing, you desire to participate in the market research, you should provide documentation that supports your company’s capability in meeting these requirements. Failure to provide documentation may result in the USG being unable to adequately assess your capabilities. If you lack sufficient experience in a particular area, please provide details explaining how you would overcome the lack of experience and/or capabilities in order to perform that portion of the requirement.


3. Both large and small businesses are encouraged to participate in this Market Research.


4. Questions relative to this market survey should be addressed to Jeremy Wal (Contract Specialist / CS) at jeremy.wal@us.af.mil, Captain Duncan Bowman (Procurement Contracting Officer / PCO) at duncan.bowman.1@us.af.mil, and Diane Chen (Supervisory Contracting Officer) at diane.chen@us.af.mil.

E-3 AWACS DRAGON Program Description:

The E-3G Sentry AWACS aircraft is a modified commercial derivative aircraft, based on the 707‑300B‑Advanced/C aircraft, modified with commercial and military equipment. The AWACS DRAGON FCTS is a system of three flight crew trainers Increment I Flight Training Device (FTD) [FAA Part 60 Level-6 equivalent], Increment II Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and Increment III Full Flight Simulator II including brief/de-brief rooms equipped for playback of simulator mission recordings, maintenance, and support, as required to keep the FCTS operational and concurrent with the aircraft. Both FFS devices are of FAA Part 60 and Aerial Refueling Aircraft Simulator Qualification (ARASQ) Level-D equivalent fidelity. The FCTS is comprised of unclassified equipment and software as a baseline configuration but include applicable cybersecurity controls IAW AFI 33-210 as modified by AFLCMC Guidance Memorandum on Information Assurance (IA) Certification & Accreditation (C&A) and NIST 800-53. The FCTS is capable of classified training and mission rehearsal. The goal of the FCTS is to provide the most effective and efficient training for United States Air Force (USAF) Pilots, Copilots, Flight Engineers (FEs), and maintenance engine run personnel, while minimizing the use of the aircraft as a trainer. All three flight crew trainers are located in a secure controlled-access facility at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

E-3 AWACS DRAGON System Requirements:

Below is a list of the key requirements as identified in the Performance Work Statement (PWS) attached herein:

Contractor Logistics Support (CLS):

• Provide all trained personnel, equipment, tools, material, supervision, and other items as necessary to support the FCTS, the Training System Support Center (TSSC), and all associated subsystems and equipment.


• Provide all hardware and software to duplicate Flight Crew Training System (FCTS) Training System Support Center (TSSC) three months after contract award at contractor-provided location.


• Obtain and maintain all appropriate software/engineering/automated software/software diagnostic/cyber hardening tools necessary to read/edit the mechanical, electrical, and assembly drawings.


• Provide all Program Management functions necessary to support the AWACS DRAGON FCTS, including but not limited to outlining the business administration, overall planning, programming, technical and logistics management, directing and controlling the FCTS & TSSC.


• Provide property accountability/control of contractor managed and possessed GFP through implementation of integrated logistics and contractor processes (from acceptance and receipt to disposition) IAW DoDM 4140.01, V6, DoDI 5000.64, and Financial Improvement Audit Readiness/Remediation (FIAR) guidance.


• Support all Government training and cyber-security accreditation processes for the trainers and associated support systems (e.g., TSSC).


• Adhere to the principles of OPSEC as described in AFI 10-701 to reduce program vulnerability from successful adversary collection and exploitation of Critical Information (CI).


• Review/comply with AWACS Platform and Simulator Security Classification Guides (SCG(s)) and Program Protection Plans (PPP(s)), as required.


• As necessary for specific tasks, the contractor shall enter into ACAs for exchanging data, accessing and using third party software and equipment, receiving technical support, working interface issues, and/or agreeing on equipment use and time.


• Establish and execute procurement processes to procure, replenish, and maintain the required materials, to include spares and services, to support the FCTS.


• Determine the appropriate sparing level required to meet the availability referenced in Availability section of this document. All initial spares for each increment will be purchased by the Government.


• Responsible for repairs and replenishment of all spares.


• Ensure that materials, parts, and accessories used for replacement items are equal to or superior to the original and are interchangeable without alteration.


• Implement a supply chain risk management (SCRM) process that provides the appropriate elements of control for Supply Chain Protection (SA-12) as defined in NIST SP 800-53, DoDI 5200.44, NISTIR 7622, AFPAM 63-113, and DoDI 5200.39.


• Conduct a Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortages (DMSMS) program using MIL-HDBK-896 as a guide to monitor DRAGON FCTS for potential parts obsolescence and DMS/MS issues to include options, costs, and system impacts.


• Plan, operate, and continually seek to improve the processes associated with CLS for the FCTS and facility, including all associated subsystems and equipment.


• Define, implement and maintain a Configuration Management System (CMS) using MIL-HDBK61A, ANSI/EIA – 649B and SAE EIA-649-1 as a guide.


• Establish disciplined systems engineering processes and effective operational, training, supply, and maintenance procedures to preserve the operational, safety, suitability, and effectiveness of the [FCTS] training devices.


• Design, develop, and implement minor modifications to the fielded trainers that do not require a modification to the contract.


• Generate and maintain the visual databases and modeling required for standalone and local training exercises.


• Support the AF-conducted Simulation Certification (SIMCERT) of the AWACS DRAGON FCTS IAW SIMCERT Plan approved by ACC/A5T.


• Provide trained personnel, including those with prior pilot and flight engineer experience, capable of developing/performing Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) and Part 60 type of Qualification Test Guide (QTG) tests for integrating new/modified training capabilities and for quarterly sampling to monitor and track FCTS functional and performance health.


• Obtain approval for all travel from the PCO not later than 21 calendar days prior to departure dates, or as soon as practicable. Required travel will be reimbursed by the Government under no-fee cost-reimbursable Contract Line Item Number (CLIN).


• Provide shared training operations and facility support at no additional cost to the Government, to include program and site management, scheduling, facilities maintenance, and physical security personnel and services.


• Generate concurrent FFS software baseline at OEM final delivery.

Availability:

• Meet or exceed a training system availability rate of 98 percent.


• Compute the monthly availability rate as follows:

AR = ((C+A))/((S+A-E))*100, where

AR = Availability Rate

C = Completed Hours (See Section 5, Glossary for a definition of Completed Hours)

A = Alternate Mission Hours (See Section 5, Glossary for a definition of Alternate Mission and Alternate Mission Hours)

S = Scheduled Hours (See Section 5, Glossary for a definition of Scheduled Hours)

E = Exception Hours (See Section 5, Glossary for a definition of Exception Hours).

• Accommodate surge, if required, with no degradation in system performance. Under normal anticipated scheduling, the availability rate shall provide a primary measurement of contractor and system performance. However, availability of training devices as scheduled is not the only measure of performance. The Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will evaluate other factors on a daily basis. Housekeeping, safety, conservation, efficient management of Government materials, security of Government assets, and meeting documentation are also performance factors.

Training and Support:

• Provide training for all Government-identified personnel and/or agencies to operate the training system. This training shall include Instructor IOS training, safety/egress training, scenario development training, and appropriate maintenance need reaction training.


• Identify, in writing, the program manager, site manager, shift supervisors, and contractor counterparts to the COR, PCO, and Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO) for Government/contractor interaction.


• Notify the COR, PCO, and ACO not later than 48 hours before a change in the identified key personnel. The Site Manager or his alternate shall have full authority to act in behalf of contract awardee on all contractual matters relating to the daily operation under this contract. The Site Manager or alternate shall be available during normal duty hours at the site to meet with the COR and with other Government personnel to discuss problem areas.


• Personnel shall possess appropriate and current personnel security investigation [e.g., National Agency Check with Local Agency and Credit Check (NACLC), Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI), etc.] commensurate with assigned duties.

Maintenance Instructions Manual (MIM):

• Maintain and update a MIM for CLS support for each trainer increment and each TSSC subsystem in commercial format.


• Each MIM shall provide all maintenance procedure information for the training device/support subsystem and shall be organized into separate sections for a parts catalogue (this includes a parts breakdown and component diagram) and each maintenance task.


• Each section shall include the following information:

a. Brief summary of the preventive maintenance actions and frequency with appropriate references to the general maintenance section.

b. Principal system characteristics and list of special tools (identified by functional name) required for maintenance.

c. Physical and functional descriptions.

d. Theory of operation.

e. Preventive maintenance schedule and procedures.

f. Troubleshooting (Fault Analysis).

g. Repairs, adjustments, and alignments.

h. Removal and replacement procedures for all major assemblies such as servo actuators, loaders, chassis, and circuit cards, as appropriate to each section.

• Wiring diagrams and schematics for CLS support of the trainers will shall be provided in commercial format as either standalone documents or as part of the MIM.


• The MIM shall be written to provide complete maintenance information, including, at contract awardee discretion, vendor-supplied maintenance manuals. In cases where the vendor manuals do not provide complete maintenance information, contract awardee shall research the maintenance requirements and provide MIM text that effectively supplants the vendor manuals.


• Check the vendor documentation for accuracy and liability by means of using it to perform maintenance while the training device is at Combined Simulator Building (CSB) Facility, Tinker AFB.

Contractor Capability Survey

E-3 AWACS DRAGON CLS

Part I. Business Information:

Please provide the following business information for your company and for any teaming or joint venture partners:

• Company Name:


• Address:


• Point of Contact:


• CAGE Code:


• Phone Number:


• E-mail Address:


• Web Page URL:


• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code: 336413
  
  The NAICS Code for this action is 336413, size standard 1000 employees. Based on the above NAICS Code, state whether your company is:
  
  
  
  • Small Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Woman Owned Small Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Small Disadvantaged Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • 8(a) Certified (Yes / No)
  
  
  • HUBZone Certified (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Veteran Owned Small Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Service-Disabled Small Business (Yes / No)
  
  
  • Registered in System for Award Management (SAM) (Yes / No)*
  
  
  
  


• A statement as to whether your company is domestically or foreign owned (if foreign, please indicate the country of ownership):

*All prospective contractors must be registered in the SAM database to be awarded a DoD contract. If your company is not registered, please describe what steps you are taking to become registered in SAM.

Part II. Capabilities:

1. Briefly describe the capabilities of your company and the nature of the goods and/or services you provide.


2. Describe your company’s technical competencies and experience in sustaining aircrew training devices. Include contract numbers, a brief description of the work performed, period of performance, agency/organization supported and individual points of contact (Contracting Officers or Program Managers). Provide no more than 5 examples and state whether you were the prime or subcontractor.


3. Describe your specific capabilities to sustain an aircrew training system. Be sure to include any information relevant to your experience with attaining system availability, identifying and resolving obsolescence issues, maintaining a Re-competition Support Package and responding to user requests to update visual databases.


4. Describe your experience and capability in managing user-generated Aircrew Training Device (ATD) software changes via a Software Configuration Working Group. Include your document maintenance process and your software/database modification development, test, distribution, and installation processes.


5. Describe your experience and capability managing and working with commercial-off-the-shelf solutions and/or integrating solutions from partners/vendors.


6. What experience and capability do you have maintaining training device technical data, engineering drawings and source code/media? What is your expertise in successfully obtaining and working with data and software containing limited or restricted rights, and/or third-party proprietary data?


7. What experience and capability do you have with replacing and upgrading training system instrumentation?


8. Describe your company’s ability to provide engineering and sustainment for the program in addition to the E-3 AWACS DRAGON CLS.


9. The majority of spares and support equipment are currently owned by the government. The spares and support equipment are necessary to sustain the simulators. The incumbent will make all necessary items available upon expiration of the current contract.


10. The USG is contemplating a Firm-Fixed-Price contract. The program period of performance is anticipated to be 2 years. Describe your company’s capability to execute a contract of this type/length.


11. Assuming a contract award 29 March 2024, describe how your company would ramp up to support the E-3 AWACS DRAGON program beginning 29 April 2024?


12. No set-aside decision has been made; however, the Air Force is contemplating setting this acquisition aside for Small Businesses if there is sufficient demonstrated interest and capability. Note that a key factor in determining if an acquisition will be a Small Business Set-Aside is that two or more potential small business prime contractors must be capable of performing at least 50% of the effort, as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting. Provide specific details and rationale as to how compliance with FAR clause 52.219-14 would be achieved, including specific details regarding teaming arrangements, etc. If subcontracts are to be used, provide anticipated percentage of effort to be subcontracted and whether small or large businesses will be used. Teaming, subcontracting and/or joint venture arrangements should be clearly delineated and previous experience in teaming must be provided.


13. The acquisition strategy for this source selection has not yet been decided. If this effort is a full and open-source selection, small business utilization will be considered. Request that large and small businesses provide a reasonable expectation for small business utilization as a percent of total contract value. Please provide supporting rationale for the recommended percentage.


14. If your company is capable of some, but not all, of the consolidated requirements stated, please provide a response that explains the requirements for which you are capable and how they would be integrated into the total requirement.

Part III. Request for Information:

1. Identify the top five risks you foresee in executing this acquisition. Accompany the risks with potential mitigation strategies.


2. What data will you require of the USG to assemble a proposal for this effort?


3. Are there any other relevant topics, concerns, and/or information that you believe will help the USG in forming an acquisition strategy?

Part IV. Communication:

If you choose to respond, e-mail your responses to jeremy.wal@us.af.mil, duncan.bowman.1@us.af.mil, and diane.chen@us.af.mil. Marketing materials are considered an insufficient response and direct/succinct responses are preferred.

All responses must be received no later than 25 June 2023. Your response should be no more than 20 pages (8.5x11 inches); MS Word; 12 point font, one inch margins.

In addition, identify a representative to support further USG inquiries and requests for clarification of the information provided, if needed. Respondents should indicate which portions of their response are proprietary and should mark them accordingly.

Attachments/Links