Surface Ship Design & Engineering Workforce Request for Information

NOTE: This notice is for market research purposes only and does NOT constitute a request for proposal. This notice shall not be construed as a contract, a promise to contract, or as a commitment of any kind by the Government. The Government is NOT seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. This RFI notice is issued by the Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Program Executive Office Ships (PEO SHIPS) for the purpose of conducting market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 to determine if sources exist that are capable of satisfying the Navy's anticipated program requirement. Following a review of the responses received, NAVSEA may elect to schedule one-on-one meetings with some respondents or ask follow-up questions to gain additional information about the proposed solution(s). In addition, NAVSEA may elect to hold an Industry Day. Only those companies that respond to the RFI will receive an invitation to such Industry Day. FURTHER DETAILS: The Navy is compelled to understand, assess, sustain, and stabilize the Nation's technical competencies associated with surface ship design and engineering. The information and discussions conducted will inform potential Navy investments and data requirements on future contracts. Major stakeholders of this effort include NAVSEA, Program Executive Offices, Naval Warfare Centers, shipbuilders, and the primary contracted design agents from industry. The Navy's objective with this RFI is to initiate a collaborative method for sharing status, concerns, and ideas within a structured fashion to ensure standardization of data. This effort is heavily nuanced and will take an escalating series of phases to achieve success. Definition and bounding of the workforce will be required. It will also require standardization by the Navy to understand each performer's use of terms and breakdown structures to manage their respective workforce. Using the Navy's annual 30 year shipbuilding plan and to be determined data capture methods, it will require recurring assessments to understand a strategic look at the Navy's demand to the supply of design and engineering workforce. In supporting the first phase of this effort, the Navy requests industry responses to the following questions. These questions are intended to be received in written form (outlined below) and will form the foundation for potential future one-on-one engagement sessions and a potential Industry Day (invitations sent only to respondents of the RFI). The Navy is interested in bounding the definition of the design & engineering workforce such that it can be uniquely managed as a supplement to management, production, purchasing, and testing. The initial perspective of the Navy is that the scope of interest should be centered on engineering products and defined as those personnel directly developing or reviewing engineering products, whether drawings, reports, or analyses. This may include drafters, designers, engineers, and design integration planners and is not restricted to personnel with engineering degrees. Please provide your organization's perspective on this initial scope of interest definition of the workforce, to include specific areas where there may be seams or nuances when considering a definition centered on engineering products. The Navy's assessment to date acknowledges that each organization will have a unique method of categorizing labor, managing associated resources, and executing work as part of larger organizational or work breakdown structures. Please provide your organization's authoritative terms for the labor categories or positions that are associated with the workforce definition above. Please highlight nuances that may exist, e.g. where positions execute across domains such as engineering and test. Please provide information on how your organization tracks costs associated with the work executed by these labor categories, e.g. are they bundled as one cost account, or are there percentages applied to production hours based on corporate history? The Navy relies on historical ship design data relevant to types of ship and production hours to form a basis of design and engineering hours. This data is mostly informed by programs over two decades old and has not considered efficiencies, complexities, or modern tools. Please provide information on how your organization would estimate the design and engineering hours associated with preliminary and detail design phases. ANSWERING THIS NOTICE: Respondents should provide a company profile to include, at a minimum, the following: - Full Business Name - Business Address (include mailing address if different) - Cage Code - At least two points of contact with name, email address, classified email address, mailing address, and telephone number to contact for any necessary clarifications, to receive additional information, for additional data required by the analysis, and for information on any necessary non-disclosure agreements. - Business size status (i.e., LB, SB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone SB, SDB, WOSB) for the identified NAICS Code(s). The desired format for submissions is white paper or similar narrative (contractor's format). The response should be in 12-point font with no less than 1-inch margins. Submissions shall be in Microsoft Word 2010 or searchable Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). In order to be considered in this market survey, your response must be received on or before 14 July 2023. Offerors are encouraged to submit prior to the closing date. Proprietary information, if any, must be clearly marked. To aid the Government in its review and evaluation, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Respondents shall mark any data included in its submissions that they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose. All responses must be sent via electronic mail to the following addresses: TO: Jamie Oppenheimer, Jamie.e.oppenheimer.civ@us.navy.mil CC: Cory Emmons, cory.m.emmons.civ@us.navy.mil SUBJECT LINE: Surface Ship Design and Engineering Workforce RFI Response Inclusion of a delivery receipt with an email submission will be the only indication of successful receipt of RFI Response. File size is limited to 12 Megabyte (MB) per email. Vendors are responsible for ensuring their email size does not exceed the 12MB limitation. File sizes larger than 12MB and .zip file extensions will be stripped by the Navy email system. Modifications, amendments, or withdrawal of a response should also be made to the above email addresses. One email is acceptable as long as it does not exceed 12MB. If it exceeds 12MB, Offerors may separate their submission among multiple emails and should number them email 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3, etc. NO CLASSIFIED MATERIAL SHALL BE SUBMITTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. DISCLAIMER AND IMPORTANT NOTES: This notice is not a request for proposals and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation. This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. Sources choosing to respond to this notice are wholly responsible for any costs/expenses associated with submitting a response. Therefore, any cost associated with the market survey submission is solely at the interested vendor's expense. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. Respondents will not be notified of the results of this notice. The information obtained from submitted responses may be used in development of an acquisition strategy and a future solicitation. Submissions will not be returned. No reimbursement will be made for any costs to provide information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. Information contained herein is based on the best information available at the time of publication, is subject to revision, and is not binding upon the Government.