Contractor Operated Primary Training - Rotary (COPT-R)

Contractor Operated Primary Training - Rotary (COPT-R) Sources Sought Announcement The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to determine the interest, availability, and capabilities of potential offerors to provide the required services described herein. INTRODUCTION & PROGRAM BACKGROUND: Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) requires contractor services, supplies and tasks for the operations and support for a Contractor Operated Primary Training - Rotary (COPT-R) program that will be conducted near Training Air Wing FIVE (TW-5) at Milton, FL for the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). The critical objective of the effort is for a contractor, that has been certified by the FAA under 14 CFR Part 141 as a pilot school, to train naval flight students (NFSs) in a CNATRA approved rotorcraft syllabus (modified from an existing FAA approved rotorcraft Training Course Outline (TCO)) such that the students achieve flight proficiency in basic rotorcraft operation prior to returning to CNATRA for intermediate and advanced rotorcraft flight training in military aircraft. NFSs will be expected to receive approximately 50 hours of ground instruction and approximately 50 hours of flight instruction, with appropriate briefings before, and debriefings after, each flight. NFSs will be expected to conduct at least one solo day flight event inside the 50 hours of flight instruction. Because of the lack of solo time, the government recognizes that FAA minimums for graduation will not be met. The total time in training, for each NFS, should be approximately 60 training days over the course of approximately 3 months. Weekends and holidays would not be considered to be normal training days. All flight training should be conducted in a single-engine turbine rotary-wing aircraft with a glass/digital cockpit display capable of VHF Omnidirectional Receiver (VOR) and Instrument Landing System (ILS)/Localizer approaches as well as terminal area RNAV (area navigation) operations. The aircraft does not require IFR certification. The scope of work requires the contractor to provide sufficient certified flight instructors (CFI) and identically configured aircraft to both input and graduate (nominally) 8 NFSs per month. The required home airfield (or airfields) must be located no further than 50 statute miles driving distance from NAS Whiting Field, FL - as displayed on the Google maps website. The contractor's facilities at, or near, those airfields shall support the full volume of NFSs in training at any one time - nominally 24. The government is also interested in contractors ability to shift resources to potentially input and graduate as many as 50 students per month. The contract period of performance is expected to be one year with four additional one-year option periods for a total of 5 years. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Performance will be within 50 statute mile driving distance from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field, Florida. OFFER CAPABILLITY SUBMISSION DETAILS: Businesses who are interested in the subject effort and who have the necessary capabilities and facilities to accomplish this effort are requested to submit a brief written response of your company's interest including Company Name, Company Address, CAGE Code, and Points of Contact (POC) including name(s), phone number, fax number, and email address. Respondents to this notice must also indicate whether they are a large business or qualify as a Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), , Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), 8(a), HUBZone Small Business, or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concern under North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code 611512 (Flight Training). Please also provide the following information requested in items 1-6 below with your submission: 1. Provide a copy of the contractor's currently effective Air Agency Certificate (FAA Form 8000-4), a copy of its Letter of Authorization (LOA) (stating its currently approved pilot school rating(s) and courses), a copy of its current and approved Rotorcraft TCO (that it would alter to meet this requirement), and its points-of-contact at its jurisdictional Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). The requested documents are exempt from the page limitation. 2. Describe your firm's access to, and existing facilities at (or near), airfields within 50 miles of NAS Whiting Field, FL. (a) Discuss whether existing facilities would be sufficient, as is, to support the minimum throughput required or whether some other facility solution would be needed (b) Discuss the type of airfield access (ownership, long-term lease, etc.) 3. Describe your firm's current inventory of rotorcraft training aircraft and its general approach to meet minimum throughput (8 input and 8 graduate students per month) 4. Describe your firm's prospective approach, should the government desire to increase throughput. 5. It is anticipated that this contract type for this effort will be Firm Fixed Price. Any feedback regarding contract type is welcome. 6. The applicable NAICS code for this requirement is 611512, Flight Training, with a size standard of $34 million. The applicable Product Service Code (PSC) is U099, Education/Training - Other. *NOTE 01: The current SBA Table of Small Business Size Standards was updated 17 March 2023; since the beginning of 2022, the SBA has regularly updated the table to account for inflation. Businesses must update their SAM.gov profiles in order to have their small business status reflect the most current small business size standards. Until updated, the SAM profiles will continue to display the small business status under outdated size standards. *NOTE 02: In accordance with 13 C.F.R. 121.104, the current calculation for dollar (monetary) value based NAICS codes is average total receipts over the last five (5) completed fiscal years *NOTE 03: In accordance with 13 C.F.R. 121.106, the current calculation for employee based NAICS codes is average number of employees used for each pay period for the preceding completed 24 calendar months. State whether your firm is interested as a Prime or Subcontractor. Provide any anticipated partnering agreements. Identify elements of this effort that your firm believes could reasonably be performed by small business concerns, including an estimated percentage of the total contract value of anticipated small business workshare. Should this effort be competed on a full and open basis, the provided percentages may factor in the development of the solicitation's small business participation goals. If you are a small business interested in being the prime contractor for this effort, please be advised that the FAR 52.219-14, - Limitations on Subcontracting, Class Deviation 2021-O0008, Revision 1, is now in effect which includes the definition of - Similarly Situated Entity and provides a methodology for the 50% calculation for compliance with the clause. Small business primes may count - first-tier subcontracted work performed by Similarly Situated Entities as if it were performed by the prime itself. Please read the full text of Class Deviation 2021-O0008, Revision 1 - Limitations on Subcontracting for Small Business, dated 15 February 2023, at [https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/USA000277-23-DPC.pdf]. To assist in our market research and determination for this effort, if you are a small business interested in priming this effort and plan to utilize - Similarly Situated Entities to meet the Limitations on Subcontracting, please identify the name, Unique Entity ID, and CAGE Code of the specific company(s) you intend to partner/subcontract with to meet the requirements as well as their small business size status under the NAICS Code that you as the prime would assign for their workshare. Information regarding any planned - Similarly Situated Entity should be included in answering any questions outlined in the SSN in order to assist the Government's capability determination. If you plan on subcontracting to other companies in order to deliver technical capability, please provide details on exactly which tasks will be assigned to those subcontractors; in addition, provide the names of those anticipated subcontractors, and list the anticipated percentage of small business subcontracting. Written responses should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document, limited to 5 pages (8.5'x11), single-sided, and 10 point Times New Roman font size, via email to no later than 11:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 03 December 2024. Responses and questions regarding this source sought are to be sent via email to Lynn Carlson, Contract Specialist at lynn.a.carlson4.civ@us.navy.mil. Should you need to reach Ms. Carlson by phone please call her at 407-694-6394. DISCLAIMER: This sources sought announcement is published for informational purposes only. This is not a solicitation. It does not constitute a solicitation and shall not be construed as a commitment by the Government. Responses in any form are not offers and the Government is under no obligation to award a contract as a result of this announcement. No funds are available to pay for preparation of responses to this announcement. Any information submitted by respondents to this notice is strictly voluntary. No site visit will be permitted during the period of response to this announcement. Firms responding to this announcement will not be individually notified if the requirement is solicited. The Government will use the responses to this announcement to make an informed decision concerning the strategy it will pursue to meet its objective, including determining set-aside opportunities.