Management, Engineering & Research Concepts - Geophysical (MERC-G) (SSEAMS Follow-On)

1.0 Description 1.1 The Air Force Applications Center (AFTAC) TT Directorate and AFISRA/A7KR are conducting Market Research for non-personal services to provide Management, Engineering and Research Concepts - Geophysical services (SSEAMS follow-on). This sources sought is one element of our Market Research, and it will be used to determine the acquisition approach. 1.2 This Sources Sought Notice does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quote (RFQ) or an Invitation for Bid (IFB). The Government may use the information obtained from responses to this notice in determining its acquisition approach, but the issuance of this notice does not restrict the Government acquisition approach. The Government contemplates award of a three (3) to five (5) year contract. 1.3 The capabilities package should describe relevant contract experience offered to Government and commercial customers. Include a reference to the contract number, magnitude, place of performance, and points of contact for each example provided (name of the point of contact, address, e-mail, telephone number, fax number, and the company's web page, if applicable). Submitted information shall be UNCLASSIFIED. 1.4 The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541690. The small business size standard is $14.0M. 2.0 Background MERC-G is anticipated to be an Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) services contract, providing both Operations and Maintenance (O&M) and Research and Development (R&D) services. The contractor must be able to effectively and efficiently perform technical studies and analyses to support treaty monitoring strategies. This effort supports AFTAC in the following three areas: (1) performing research, studies and analyses in the disciplines of geophysics and seismology, (2) performing research, studies, analyses, and operational support to the center's United States National Data Center (USNDC), (3) providing engineering services related to all aspects of acquisition, maintenance, and sustainment for existing fielded and new sensor systems, (4) providing program/project management and acquisition support, (5) providing key research and operational support to the National Technical Nuclear Forensics (NTNF) program, the United States International Monitoring System (USIMS), and additional missions related to the discipline of geophysics as required, and (6) providing limited procurement support for the purchase of O&M mission related equipment. This support shall be comprehensive of all six areas previously listed and includes, but is not limited to, engineering support to field installations, support to field troubleshooting, system analysis of near real-time seismic array processing systems, geophysical data analysis support for research projects, engineering, general systems support to all phases of the United States National Data Center (USNDC) lifecycle, and generalized acquisition support to include scheduling and project/program management tasks. Performance is on site in Bldgs. 989 and 10989, Patrick AFB, Florida. Contractor personnel may also be required to travel to both CONUS and OCONUS field stations on an as needed basis. Successful performance on MERC-G requires: a. The ability to recruit and retain a diversified mix of professionals in the defined areas of interest (i.e. electrical/mechanical engineering, geophysics, geology, system/software engineering, project management). b. Experience in dealing with high-level political/military contracts in the international arena and the negotiating of bilateral agreements necessary to meet U.S. requirements. c. Experience with specific seismic software suites and tools to include: (1) Analyst Review Station (ARS); (2) Special Event Analysis Tools (SEAtools); (3) GeoTool; (4) Seismic Analysis Code (SAC); and (5) SQL queries against Oracle relational databases. d. System experience with SUN, Solaris, UNIX workstations and servers. e. Working knowledge of a multi-location seismic, infrasonic, and hydroacoustic data acquisition and data analysis (or similar) processing system to include hardware and software requirements, research and operational elements. f. Data management experience in handling and managing seismic, infrasonic, and hydroacousticdata. g. Ability to create, manipulate, and manage both high level and detailed project schedules for engineering and research projects h. Ability to perform systems engineering functions to include, but not limited to, reliability modeling and analysis, engineering analyses, and maintenance analyses and functions. 2.1 Estimated Period of Performance: 1 Oct 2014 - 30 Sep 2017 or 1 Oct 2014 - 30 Sept 2019 2.2 Security Requirements: Personnel clearance to support classified work must be at a level commensurate with the requirements - Contractor personnel will require DoD security clearances at the TOP SECRET/SCI level for all personnel. Handling of material up to TOP SECRET/SCI is required. TOP SECRET Facility Clearance is required. US Citizenship is required. All personnel supporting classified work in Bldgs. 989 and 10989, Patrick AFB, Florida must possess a Secret Clearance on day one of contract performance; all key personnel must have a TOP SECRET clearance with SCI eligibility on day one of the contract; all remaining contract personnel must have a TOP SECRET clearance with SCI eligibility within 90 days of contract award (90 day phase-in period). Contractor must have appropriate facility access and must have a facility, local or otherwise, cleared for the storage of SECRET material; Visitor Group Security Agreement is required. 3.0 Requested Information 3.1 Your capability statement shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 3.2 Name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 3.3 The facility security clearance of the offeror. 3.4 Firms responding must state whether they are a Small Business (SB), Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), HubZone Small Business (HSVB), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Business (EDWOSB), Historically Black College or University or Minority Institution (HBCU/MI), an 8(a) firm, an Indian Tribe or Alaskan Native Corporation, or a large business based on the size standard in paragraph 1.4 above. 4.0 Responses 4.1 Please submit your capabilities packages Mr. Carl Schneider and Ms. Patricia Bosinger via e-mail: carl.schneider.3@us.af.mil and patricia.bosinger@us.af.mil. Any questions may be directed to Mr. Carl Schneider. Responses must be submitted no later than 3:00 P.M. ET on 25 July 2013. No facsimile responses will be accepted. The Government will not award a contract solely on the basis of this Sources Sought, nor will it reimburse the contractor for any costs associated with preparing or submitting a response to this notice. 4.2 Responses shall be limited to 12 pages excluding resumes. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 4.3 It is the submitter's sole responsibility for verifying package delivery or e-file receipt and readability. 5.0 Industry Discussions AFTAC representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially to clarify any identified risks or apparent capability gaps in an offeror's otherwise acceptable submission. Industry discussion requests will be considered no later than 3:00 P.M. ET on 25 July 2013, however, the decision to conduct industry discussions and the format in which they will be held will be at the sole discretion of the government. 6.0 Ombudsman Clause, Nov 2012 (a) An ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and others for this acquisition. When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. The existence of the ombudsman does not affect the authority of the program manager, contracting officer, or source selection official. Further, the ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of proposals, the source selection process, or the adjudication of protests or formal contract disputes. The ombudsman may refer the interested party to another official who can resolve the concern. (b) Before consulting with an ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, and/or recommendations to the contracting officer for resolution. Consulting an ombudsman does not alter or postpone the timelines for any other processes (e.g., agency level bid protests, GAO bid protests, requests for debriefings, employee-employer actions, contests of OMB Circular A-76 competition performance decisions). (c) If resolution cannot be made by the contracting officer, the interested party may contact the Center/MAJCOM/DRU or AFISRA ombudsmen, Ms. Veronica Solis, AF ISR Agency/A4-7, 102 Hall Street, Ste 258, San Antonio, TX 78243-7091 (P) 210-977-4505, (F) 210-977-6414, e-mail: veronica.solis@us.af.mil. Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the Center/MAJCOM/DRU or AFISRA level, may be brought by the interested party for further consideration to the Air Force ombudsman, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (ADAS) (Contracting), SAF/AQC, 1060 Air Force Pentagon, Washington DC 20330-1060, phone number (571) 256-2397, facsimile number (571) 256-2431. (d) The ombudsman has no authority to render a decision that binds the agency. (e) Do not contact the ombudsman to request copies of the solicitation, verify offer due date, or clarify technical requirements. Such inquiries shall be directed to the Contracting Officer. (End of clause) 7.0 Questions Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting Officer's and Contracting Specialist's, email addresses. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers on the FedBizOpps website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 25 July 2013 will be answered. 8.0 Summary THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT to identify potential contractors that can provide Management, Engineering and Research Concepts - Geophysical services. The information provided in this announcement is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. AFTAC has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this Sources Sought 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.