The Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE)

SOLICITATION AMENDMENT 4: The purpose of the amendment is to: Extend proposal due date from 20 November 2020, 1:00 p.m. MST to 23 November 2020, 1:00 p.m. MST. Solicitation - Amendment 4 attached to this notice. SOLICITATION AMENDMENT 3 The purpose of the amendment is to: Revise Section L: Correct clerical errors; see page 5 for document revisions. SecL_20R0002_v2 attached to this notice Revise Solicitation Section J - List of Attachments; Atch_9_SecL_20R0002_v2 attached: Solicitation - Amendment 3 attached to this notice SOLICITATION AMENDMENT 2 The purpose of the amendment is to: Remove FAR clause 52.219-14: the Contract has not been set aside for small business concerns. Solicitation - Amendment 2 attached to this notice Revise Scenario Work Statements: removes the requirement for the offeror to propose travel for all three scenarios. ScenarioWorkStatement_v1 attached to this notice Revise Section L: Correct Prior Experience Appendix reference. SecL_20R0002_v1 attached to this notice SOLICITATION AMENDMENT 1: IAW FAR 15.206(g)(7) The purpose of this amendment is to correct the due date on the solicitation SF 33, block 9, from 12 November 2020, 2:00 p.m. MST to 20 November 2020, 1:00 p.m. MST. The CAStLE QA Responses document includes all questions from industry and the responses from government. The document is included with this notice. SOLICITATION CLARIFICATION 10 November 2020: Industry has submitted requests to extend the proposal due date because the COVID-19 pandemic impacts have caused proposal preparation delays. In accordance with (IAW) FAR 5.203(e) agencies must allow at least a 45-day (IAW FAR 2.101 Day means a calendar day) response time for receipt of proposals from the solicitation publication notice. Solicitation FA700020R0002 has allowed for a 65-calendar day response time. The government's position is that 65 calendar days (20 additional days) is fair consideration for proposal preparation. The government has considered the COVID impacts for industry, impact to acquisition schedule, proposal quality, and current award period of performance. In order to accomplish a timely award the schedule only allows for two additional days. Amendment 4 will be issued to extend proposal due date from 20 November 2020, 1:00 p.m. MST to 23 November 2020, 1:00 p.m. MST. The CAStLE QA Responses_v3 document includes all questions from industry and the responses from government. The document is included with this notice. 4 November 2020: The Government has considered the request for an extension to the proposal submission date; however, no compelling rationale was found to approve the request. Amendments 1, 2, and 3 were generated to correct clerical errors, which did not change the technical aspects of the solicitation. A compare report generated through Adobe is provided as a reference showing the corrections/revisions from the initial solicitation to Amendment 3. Please note: the compare report did not pick up the date change on Amendment 1. Also attached are compare reports for Section L and the Scenario Work Statements. Proposal should be submitted using the latest revision of the Solicitation (Amendment 3) and attached documents. 15 October 2020: Notification. IAW with Section L para 1.5.2 offerors were instructed to immediately notify the contracting officer (CO) in writing of any discrepancies, errors, and omissions. The CO has determined that the intent for an offeror to notify immediately has been met and that the period for notifications is concluded. A final solicitation amendment, to incorporate the clarification notices received during the notification period, will be issued by 21 October 2021. Reference CAStLE QA Responses version 1 document. The proposal submission date remains unchanged. 21 September 2020: Proposal due date clarification. The due date on the solicitation SF 33, block 9 is 12 November 2020 at 2 pm MST is incorrect. The correct proposal due date posted in beta.SAM is 20 November 2020 at 1 pm MST. Total Evaluated Price(TEP) Template. System restrictions prevent the posting of the Excel macro-enabled Atch_6_Total_Evaluated_Price_(TEP). Interested parties should contact Doris Jeffers to obtain the macro-enabled document . The document will be delivered through DoD SAFE (Secure Access File Exchange). GENERAL INFORMATION Document Type: Solicitation Solicitation Number: FA700020R0002 Acquisition: Full and Open NAICS: 541715 PSC Code: AJ12 CONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESS Department of the Air Force, USAF Academy - 10th Contracting Squadron, 10 CONS/PKC, 8110 Industrial Drive, Suite 200, USAF Academy, CO, 80840-2315 DESCRIPTION This synopsis, in accordance with (IAW) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.2, is a solicitation notice for The Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension (CAStLE) engineering and research activities support at the U.S. Air Force Academy, CO. CAStLE is located in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DFME) at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). The mission of CAStLE is to provide analysis, tools, solutions and expertise to support the safe and economic sustainment of systems and structures. This support is provided to Department of Defense (DoD) as well as non-DoD and non-Government entities through the use of appropriate formal agreements. CAStLE also supports the Dean's mission by bringing Air Force-relevant research and engineering activities into the classroom. The contractor shall perform engineering and research activities related to the degradation of systems and materials due to operational use, often referred to as - aging, initiated by external customers, or by CAStLE itself. External customers are primarily from the DoD but may also be from other Government agencies or non-Government entities. In general, the research and engineering activities performed by CAStLE cover a variety of work that follows aircraft and other systems through their life-cycle from - cradle to grave. CAStLE efforts span a wide range of topics related to the aging of systems including: - basic design, development, and characterization of materials - design, analysis, development, and qualification of structural systems - mechanical testing of structure from laboratory specimens to full-scale systems - computer modeling, and finite element analysis - material corrosion susceptibility and mitigation - development and implementation of nondestructive analysis/inspection - flight data acquisition and analysis - structural teardown analysis - life-cycle management - condition based maintenance, including the development and maintenance of associated data management systems - development and execution of certification and force management methods and systems - analysis of damaged, failed and/or degraded structure(s) and systems - development of specifications and standards - preparation of written reports, preparation and delivery of briefings - development and delivery of education and training content and curriculum systems - laboratory facility deployment, maintenance, and update; and other related activities. CAStLE activities may be executed on systems from specimen level up through fully deployable operational systems. The contractor may be required to perform efforts related to the above listed CAStLE activities. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is 541715 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) and the size standard in number of employees is 1,000. The Product Service Code (PSC) is AJ12. Offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) or may not be considered for award. Registration can be accomplished at https://beta.sam.gov/. The FAR requires the use of electronic annual representations and certifications in Federal solicitations as part of the proposal submission process. Representation and Certification are to be accomplished at https://beta.sam.gov/. Registration requires applicants to have a DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet, which can be obtained at http://www.dnb.com/. It is incumbent upon the interested parties to review this site frequently for any updates or amendments. 5352.201-9101 OMBUDSMAN (OCT 2019) (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 ombudsman, James Anderson 8110 Industrial Drive, STE 103 USAFA, CO 80840 Telephone number 719-333-3829 FAX 719-333-9018 Email: james.anderson.72@us.af.mil Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations that cannot be resolved at the Center/MAJCOM/DRU/SMC ombudsman 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) 256-2395, 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) POINT OF CONTACT Questions and responses should be addressed to the primary contact, Doris Jeffers, Contracting Specialist, at doris.jeffers@us.af.mil, or the alternate point of contact, Sarah Vollbracht, Contract Officer, at sarah.vollbracht@us.af.mil.