Airlift and Airborne Training Support Services

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR MARKET RESEARCH PURPOSES United States Special Operations Command Contract Airlift and Airborne Training Support Services NOTICE: This notice is being issued for market research purposes only. The information obtained as a result of this notice will be used to assist the Government in its acquisition strategy. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide continued support of this USSOCOM effort. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. USSOCOM has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned. This Request for Information (RFI) is for Market Research purposes only and shall not be considered as an invitation for bid, request for quotation, request for proposal, or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. No contract awards will be made from this notice and no solicitation is available at this time. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government use of such information. *PLEASE NOTE THIS RFI IS SEPARATE AND DISTINCT FROM ANY ONGOING CONTRACT AIR AND/OR MILITARY FREE FALL SOLICITATIONS RFI Submittal Instructions: ELECTRONIC RESPONSES SHALL BE RECEIVED NOT LATER THAN 12:00 Eastern Time on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 by Ashley Farrier, Contracting Officer, Ashley.Farrier@socom.mil, (813)-826-7335 or (813)-480-4233. Lack of response will dictate that interest does not exist. Description of Requiring Organization. USSOCOM is comprised of a headquarters, four Components (U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC); Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM); Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARFORSOC)), a sub-unified command (Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)), and Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOCs). The TSOCs are: Special Operations Command South (SOCSOUTH), Homestead Air Force Base, FL Special Operations Command Africa (SOCAFRICA), Stuttgart, Germany Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR), Stuttgart, Germany Special Operations Command Central (SOCCENT), MacDill Air Force Base, FL Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC), Camp Smith, HI Special Operations Command Korea (SOCKOR), Yongsang, Korea Special Operations Command U.S. Northern Command (SOCNORTH), Peterson Air Force Base, CO. USSOCOM is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping all Special Operations Forces. USSOCOM has a global mission and must provide effective, responsive, stable, and affordable contract(s) to support SOF airborne training. All SOF Airborne training must adhere to specified training standards and all aviation and airborne training must meet specific safety requirements. As such, USSOCOM is using this market research tool to assess industry's capacity to support the efforts described below. Performance for Air Support services will be in accordance with Department of Defense quality and safety requirements as described in DODI Directive 4500.53, USSOCOM Directive 350-8, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135, and in compliance with the USSOCOM Intrastate Contract Aviation Paratroop Survey Checklist, as applicable. Scope. USSOCOM requires full spectrum Contractor support for airlift and airborne instruction to enhance SOF's ability to execute missions. Privately contracted airlift services and professional airborne instruction Support Services provide the opportunity to build on current military capability Objective. The objective is to obtain contractor provided aviation support using Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Part 135, and Department of Defense (DoD) approved Commercial Paratroop Operators. The support provided would include professional contract air and MFF support services including airlift, MFF instructors, riggers, facilities, Drop Zones (DZs) and other support tasks necessary to provide these services. If solicited in the future, resultant contract vehicles shall provide for all airborne instruction support related services for training instruction, advisory, Airlift/Airfield/Drop Zone and related support tasks necessary to provide these services to the entire SOF Enterprise. Parachute operations include cargo and personnel airborne operations utilizing land and water drops. The contractor shall provide all personnel, instructors, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, management, airlift, pilots, and services (not otherwise provided by the Government) necessary to provide Airborne Instruction Support Services as identified at the task order level. The contractor shall provide full spectrum Airborne Instruction Support Services that include, but are not limited to, MFF Canopy Control Course of Instruction (COI), USPA Accelerated Free Fall Instructor Rating COI, USPA Coach Rating COI, DoD approved Airlift/Airfield/Drop Zone services, Rigger support, Vertical Wind Tunnel (VWT) services, VWT coaching, and Videographer services. Description and Location of Required Work. The required services are described below. Locations of service requirements include Headquarters USSOCOM, and the TSOCs. There is the potential for multiple events per day conducted simultaneously across CONUS. Representative locations include but are not limited to: San Diego, CA; Seattle, WA; Colorado Springs, CO; Yuma, AZ; Abilene, TX; Tampa, FL; Charleston, WV; Fayetteville, NC; Virginia Beach, VA; Portland, ME It is anticipated the annual aircraft hour requirement will be up to 19,610 wet hours. Total contracted airborne instruction and instructional support hours will be up to 42,356 hours. Aircraft hours are anticipated to consist mainly of medium twin-engine turbo prop aircraft with some requirement for helicopter, single engine turbo prop, and jet aircraft. Tentative Milestone Dates. Anticipated date of future solicitation release is not available currently. Anticipated Period of Performance. None at this time. The Government is soliciting this information as Market Research to inform potential future acquisitions for a long-term Enterprise acquisition vehicle. Anticipated NAICS/Service Code: North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 481219 Other Non-Scheduled Air Transportation. Contracting Office Address. USSOCOM SOF AT&L-KH, 7701 Tampa Point Blvd., MacDill AFB, FL 33621. Contracting Officer, Ashley Farrier, ashley.farrier@socom.mil Request for Information. USSOCOM is requesting that industry submit a 15-page (maximum) technical document which will demonstrate the vendor's ability to provide air lift and military free fall services. Each submission should address the following Technical Service requirement (12 Pages) and General / Administrative areas (3 Pages) below: The purpose of this combined Request for Information (RFI)/Sources Sought Notice is to identify potential sources to provide air lift and military free fall training services. Respondents are requested the following question in their response: TECHNICAL 1) How many FAR 135 J31 inspected AMC approved aircraft do you currently have available for paratroop operations; please provide type of craft and tail number. a) Are you part 135 certified, b) Currently on the AMC CARB listing, and c) Currently on the USSOCOM Paratroop list 2) What types of FAR 135 J31 inspected AMC approved aircraft do you currently have available for paratroop operations? a) How many medium fixed wing aircraft that have a rear ramp does your company own/operate under Part 135? b) How many of these would be available for this effort? 3) If you do not currently have any FAR 135 J31 inspected AMC approved aircraft, do you intend to pursue a FAR 135 certification and if not, what are the reasons? 4) If you are currently pursuing a FAR 135 certification, where is your company at in the approval process and when do you anticipated being able to provide services in support of paratroop operations? 5) Could you and your potential teammates support concurrent, east, and west coast, training events? 6) Where is your drop zone(s) (DZ) located and are the DZ(s) identified on the United States Parachute association (USPA) website? 7) Can your company not only provide the aircraft but also the instruction and instruction support? a) Instruction - Free-Fall instructor, Free-fall examiner, Canopy control instructor, Tandem instructor, Wind Tunnel instructor b) Instruction support - Parachute rigger, free-fall videographer 8) What kind of Program Management Overhead (PMO) would you have to add to your company? a) Would you be willing to - grow to meet more of the requirement? b) Under what parameters and How long would it take you to grow to satisfy the requirement? 9) Can you provide any feedback on the following acquisition solutions in support of SOCOM Enterprise Military Free Fall (MFF) operations: a) Single Offeror Solution b) Multiple Award Contract (MAC) Solution c) Regional Approach (East Coast, West Coast) Solution d) Industry - propose a solution back to the Government 10) What are your security clearance capabilities/limitations? 11) What are your OCONUS training and cargo transport capabilities? Are there any certification restrictions? 12) Do your personnel (Pilots, MFF Instructors, Riggers, etc.) also support other vendors (free-lance supporting; multiple vendors)? Or, are they your full-time employees? 13) Are there any known certification or regulatory requirements that would interfere with CONUS wide support? Force you to either a regional or state by state support only? General /Administrative Vendors company name and address, Point of contact, to include telephone number and email address, CAGE code and DUNS identification number. Identify your business size status and any other socio-economic status under NAICS code XXXXXX. If you are under the 8(a) program, please identify when you will graduate from the program. Does your company have previous experience supporting Airlift and Military Free Fall training services (Yes or No)? If so, did your company serve as the prime or subcontractor? (Prime or Subcontractor) USSOCOM desires price predictability through any long-term enterprise vehicle. Do you have any suggestions regarding contract structure(s) to help achieve this objective? What lessons can you share from your experiences regarding this effort or similar efforts for other customers? Where would you go for teammates/partners to satisfy this Enterprise training Requirements? If there was on - on ramping provision, how would that influence your decision to provide an offer or seek to - on ramp later? What lessons, recommendations can you provide, with respect to pursuing an SOF Enterprise Air Lift and MFF training services contract supported exclusively by FAA Subpart 135 aircraft identifies on AMC CARB listing and authorized from USSOCOM paratroop operations? If you are a small business, what % of workload could you handle given the historical tasks for this effort? In your experience, are there specific ways to improve the way we solicit for such support?