SPAWAR Commercial Area Announcement (CAA) Process 1.0 DESCRIPTION 1.1 The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in support of the Program Executive Officer ? Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence and Space (PEO-C4I) is submitting its developed Commercial Area Announcement (CAA) process for public review and comment. The CAA process is a means of requesting technical concept papers/product capability statements and demonstrations, as applicable for commercial state of the art technology. In some cases it will consists of an announcement combined with a FAR Part 12 solicitation. The purpose of this process is to expedite the acquisition of the latest commercial and demonstrated technology. 1.2 In the CAA process, there are two potential acquisition paths, based on the maturity of the commercial technology. After issuance of the CAA, industry will be allowed to demonstrate its technology. Then for technology requiring development, or intense testing/demonstration before fleet introduction, SPAWAR may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP), in accordance with FAR Part 15, based on the program of record. For commercial technology that has been tested in the market place and may only require minimal testing for fleet readiness, SPAWAR may issue a CAA/Request for Commercial Offering(RCO)/Request for Quotes (RFQ). The RCO will represent an open solicitation and contracts will be awarded via RFQs in accordance with FAR Part 12 or Part 13 procedures. 1.3 The CAA will be open for one year based on an area of interest. Topics can be added during that year. SPAWAR will notify industry of potential opportunities through the issuance of the CAA, the addition of topics to the CAA, and the issuance of any subsequent RFP/RFQs. 2.0 BACKGROUND The attached brief outlining our CAA process was presented at the National Defense Industry Conference held in San Diego, CA on 24 October 2003 by Captain Basil Gray. Comments from industry on the process were solicted at the conference for SPAWAR?s consideration. The command has implemented this process in two test cases: (1) Headquarters for the 21st Century (HQ 21), (N00039-03-R-0006) and (2) a CAA for distributed services (N00030-R-0030). SPAWAR has incorporated lessons learned from those efforts into the process, but request industry input on the process outlined in the brief as well as its lessons learned from either test case described above. 3.0 Requested Information The purpose of this Request for Information is to inform industry of SPAWAR?s CAA process and request comment on the process (see attached document). Companies are encouraged to identify perceived advantage, disadvantages and risk of the CAA process, to include both the CAA/Demonstration/RFP process and the CAA/RCO/RFQ. For any perceived risks, companies are also encouraged to explain how SPAWAR or industry could mitigates these risks, to include any suggested alterations to the process outlined in the attached briefing slides. 4.0 Responses 4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper. 4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word for Office 2000 compatible format are due no later than 1 December 2003, 14:00 PST. Responses shall be submitted via e-mail only to
contact@example.gov. 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 will not be returned. 4.3 Section One of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include as a minimum: 4.3.1. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 4.4 Section Two of the white paper shall provide a response to Section 3 of this RFI. 6.0 Questions. Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing only by e-mail to
contact@example.gov or
contact@example.gov. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered via posting answers to the SPAWAR E-Commerce Central website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary information or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 1 December 2003, 14:00 PST will be answered. To access the SPAWAR E-Commerce Central website, go to https://e-commerce.spawar.navy.mil. Click on Headquarters; then Future Opportunities; then click on the yellow folder to the left of N00039-04-R-XXXX to view other important information related to this RFI. Interested parties are invited to subscribe to the SPAWAR website to ensure they receive any important information updates connected with this RFI. To subscribe, click on N00039-04-R-XXXX; then click on ?Subscribe? near the top of the screen, and follow the directions provided. 7.0 Summary. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. This RFI should not be construed as such a commitment, or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party?s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website and the SPAWAR E-Commerce Central website at https://e-commerce.spawar.navy.mil. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information or any upcoming requirement.
