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Update 5 - 28 Jan 2021: The system only allows one NAICS code per notice; therefore this notice is focused on the maintenance training portion of the requirement. This notice is intended to supplement... Update 5 - 28 Jan 2021: The system only allows one NAICS code per notice; therefore this notice is focused on the maintenance training portion of the requirement. This notice is intended to supplement notice FA3002-21-AMT. The 338 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (338 ESS) is seeking information concerning the availability of capable contractors to provide non-personal services for Aircrew and Maintenance Training as required for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and United States Government (USG) students. Place of performance is to be recommended by the offeror(s) or as requested. This Sources Sought Notice/ Request for Information (RFI) is issued and intended for market research and planning purposes only. The information obtained in response to this RFI will be used to help locate and identify qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources in addition to commercial practices in the support service sought. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). It is not to be construed as a formal solicitation or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. The information requested by this RFI will be used within the Air Force to facilitate decision making and will not be disclosed outside the agency. Any information provided to the Government is strictly voluntary and to be provided at no cost to the Government. For purposes of this RFI, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes are 611512 and 611513. The small business size standard for NAICS 611512 is $30M. The small business size standard for NAICS 611513 is $7.5M. Description of Services Note: The description herein is a summary of anticipated services and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Training is required for multiple types of aircrew positions (i.e. pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmaster and mission sensor operators) with Initial, Recurrent and Seasoning training, and to provide maintainer maintenance training on the following aircraft but not limited to: Cessna 208, MD-500 series, A-29, AT-6, S-70, King Air series, Mi-17, PC-12, Bell 200 series, Bell 400 series, T-6, Cessna 172 and Cessna 180. Proposed training will be commercial. All instruction and technical information shall be in the English language. Contractor shall provide training at the contractor’s CONUS location in accordance with (IAW) objectives to provide necessary skills to aircrew personnel to support their flying mission. Maintenance training may be performed at OCONUS location. Basic Maintenance Course Basic courses to provide but not limited to basic academic and maintenance training skills in power plant, airframe, and aircraft systems. Basic courses should allow students to successfully complete basic maintenance on various aircraft types. The training shall be accomplished in accordance with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) technical guidance. Students should be able to perform all facets of aircraft maintenance and repair to FAA regulations and manufacturer specifications. Intermediate Maintenance Course Intermediate courses to provide but not limited to intermediate academic and maintenance training skills in power plant, airframe, and aircraft systems. Intermediate courses should allow students to successfully complete intermediate maintenance on various aircraft types. The training shall be accomplished in accordance with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) technical guidance. Students should be able to perform all facets of aircraft maintenance and repair to FAA regulations and manufacturer specifications. Advanced Maintenance Course Advanced courses to provide but not limited to advanced academic and maintenance training skills in power plant, airframe, and aircraft systems. Advanced courses should allow students to successfully complete advanced maintenance on various aircraft types. The training shall be accomplished in accordance with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) technical guidance. Students should be able to perform all facets of aircraft maintenance and repair to FAA regulations and manufacturer specifications. OCONUS Maintenance Training OCONUS training is performed at the host nation site using host nation supplied equipment. The training requirements will be spelled out at the TO level. OCONUS training includes all training identified on individual TOs, and travel costs (listed below and in Appendix B) with the exception of labor for contractor personnel in support of the contract. After review of the attached Draft PWS, Draft CLIN Structure, and Draft Aircraft Categories, please provide a capability statement and address the following questions: The Capability Statement should include general information and technical background describing your firm's experience in contracts requiring similar training efforts to meet the program objectives. Please limit the capability statement to no more than 20 single-sided, type-written pages using font size 12. Published literature may be any number of pages. At a minimum the following information is requested: (1) Organization name, address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number; (2) Approximate annual gross revenue; (3) Business size (large business, small business). Note: The Government reserves the right to determine whether or not a small business set-aside would be appropriate based on responses to this notice. (4) If you indicated your business size as “small business”, if applicable, specify small business socioeconomic program status –[Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), woman-owned small business (WOSB)]; (5) The contract clause at FAR 52.219-14, states that for contracts for services (except construction), at least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the small business or with similarly situated entities (A similarly situated entity is a subcontractor that has the same small business program status as the prime contractor, and is small for the NAICS code that the prime contractor assigned to the subcontract). Based on the clause information how does your firm plan on meeting this requirement. (Self (Prime), Joint Venture Agreements, Teaming Arrangements and Letters of Intent for first-tier subcontractors for performing as a team.), specify the functions for which you plan to use subcontractors to include rationale on meeting the clause. (6) The requirement is comprised of aircrew and maintenance training; please address the following questions related to the structure of this requirement: (a) Is your firm interested in, and capable of, performing aircrew and maintenance training? (b) What are the relative advantages/disadvantages to separating the requirement into two segments ((1) aircrew and (2) maintenance)? Vendors would be allowed to choose between proposing on either segment or on both. (c) What are the relative advantages/disadvantages to keeping the maintenance and aircrew training requirements together, ensuring that all vendors are capable of performing the entire scope of work? (d) If the requirement were separated into two parts, would your firm be interested in one or both parts? Please specify either aircrew or maintenance training if you indicate that you would be interested in one part. (e) If the requirements were separated into two parts, which areas (PWS paragraphs or CLINs) would you consider set-aside for Small Business? (7) Does the current PWS language provide sufficient flexibility to include all possible COTS solutions to include virtual reality (VR) or other alternative training methods? (8) For maintenance training, please provide an example of what would be considered “Basic”, “Intermediate”, and “Advanced”. (9) Please provide any recommendations/feedback regarding the Draft PWS, Draft CLIN Structure, and Draft Aircraft Categories. END UPDATE 5 Update 4 - 17 Dec 2020: This update is only to add the list of vendors that attended one-on-one meetings (see attachments). Update 3 - 20 Nov 2020: This is an update to the 338 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (338 ESS) Request for Information (RFI) posted 08 May 2020, which is seeking information concerning the availability of capable contractors to provide non-personal services for Aircrew & Maintenance Training requirements to Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and United States (US) students. Place of performance is to be recommended by the offerors (s) or as requested. This updated Sources Sought Notice/ RFI is issued and intended for market research and planning purposes only. The information obtained in response to this RFI will be used to help locate and identify qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources in addition to commercial practices in the support service sought. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). It is not to be construed as a formal solicitation or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. The information requested by this RFI will be used within the Air Force to facilitate decision making and will not be disclosed outside the agency. Any information provided to the Government is strictly voluntary and to be provided at no cost to the Government. For purposes of this RFI, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code in 611512, Flight Training and the small business size standard is $30M. Description of Services Requirement. (Note: The description herein is a summary of anticipated services and is not intended to be all-inclusive.) Training is required for multiple types of aircrew positions (i.e. pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmaster and mission sensor operators) with Initial, Recurrent and Seasoning training, and provide maintenance training may include familiarization, initial, recurring and advanced on the following aircraft but not limited to: Cessna 208, MD-500 series, A-29, AT-6, S-70, King Air series, Mi-17, PC-12, Bell 200 series, Bell 400 series, T-6, Cessna 172 and Cessna 180. All instruction and technical information shall be in the English language. Contractor shall provide training which is USG provided or Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) standard for, off-the-shelf configured at the contractor’s CONUS location for Aircrew and Maintenance or as requested OCONUS Maintenance location to provide necessary skills to Aircrew & Maintenance personnel to support their flying mission. Training shall include combinations of formal classroom instruction and necessary performance (hands-on) exercises to provide proficiency. The primary emphasis shall be “hands-on” practical experience allowing students to complete all trained tasks unsupervised by using approved aircraft procedure. The Capability Statement should include general information and technical background describing your firm's experience in contracts requiring similar training efforts to meet the program objectives. Please limit the capability statement to no more than 20 single-sided, type-written pages using font size 12. Published literature may be any number of pages. (NOTE: If you DID NOT respond to the original RFI, please answer all questions below. If you DID respond to the original RFI, please update questions 1- 11 as necessary and address questions 12-26.) At a minimum the following information is requested: (1) Organization name, address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number; (2) Approximate annual gross revenue; (3) Business size (large business, small business). Note: The Government reserves the right to determine whether or not a small business set-aside would be appropriate based on responses to this notice. (4) If you indicated your business size as “small business”, if applicable, specify small business socioeconomic program status –[Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), woman-owned small business (WOSB)]; (5) Describe the service provider role your organization will play in the performance of the support service sought (Prime Contractor, Subcontractor, Other: please explain); (6) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Prime Contractor" please provide information demonstrating the capability to mobilize, manage, and finance the support service sought; (7) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Prime Contractor", specify the functions for which you plan to use subcontractors to include estimated small business subcontracting goals and rationale; (8) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Subcontractor", please indicate which functional areas you intend to cover; (9) Specify whether your organization primarily conducts business in the commercial or Government sector; (10) Provide information on any commercial or Government sector support services your organization has performed that are similar to the support service sought; (11) Identify which NAICS code(s) your organization usually performs under; To help with determining capabilities the USG has provided five different samples of Statements of Work for possible requirements on the Aircrew & Maintenance Training contract. Provide a brief paragraph for each explaining your capabilities for these requirements. (12) Does the proposed CLIN structure in Attachment 1 adequately reflect the aircrew and maintenance requirements from the PWS? If not, how could the CLIN structure be changed to better reflect the requirements? (13) What would be the best Unit of Issue for the CLINs? Please explain if different CLINs should have different Units of Issue. For example: (14) Scenario: Primary training utilizes the T-6A aircraft and consists of approximately 140 academic hours, 75 aircraft flight hours, and 40 simulator hours. Advanced training utilizes the T-38C aircraft and consists of approximately 90 academic hours, 80 aircraft flight hours, and 90 simulator hours. Without access to USG T-6A and T-38C aircraft or simulators, what aircraft would industry use and how would the simulator training be accomplished? Given the requirements above, does industry have the capacity to accommodate training for 20 students per year in groups of 4-6? Does the PWS and proposed CLIN structure support this type of training? What, if any, support (GFP) would you require from the USG? (15) Is there a commercial equivalent for military formation flying? If not, is there a commercial standard for formation flying? What, if any, are Contractor limitations or restrictions to conduction aerial formation flying? (16) Does the OCONUS CLIN, 0011, cover all topics and or expenses that would be needed for a team to go in-country and provide training? (17) CLINS 0008 (Basic MX), 0009 (Intermediate MX) and 0010 (Advance MX) are broad by design, so that we could provide; training to different experience levels of maintainers (no experience to moderately experienced) and training on multiple types of aircraft. Does this type of CLIN structure present a problem or do you have an idea as to how it could be broken out or described better? (18) Do the suggested CLIN structure and airframe categories provide the flexibility to propose a different aircraft or to ask for similar aircraft that are not listed? If not, how could this be structured to provide greater flexibility? (19) Are you familiar with International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) guidance/process? (20) How will you manage care and feeding for groups of students with varied dietary restrictions? (21) Have you trained international students in the past? If not, please explain why you are confident in your capability to support this requirement. (22) What is your instructor pilot credentialing process? (23) How do you plan on meeting the requirements of FAR clause 52.2019-14-Limitation of Subcontracting? (24) What areas, if any, do you recommend be set aside for just SB? (25) What areas, if any, do you recommend be set aside just for Large Business? (26) Recommendations to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the anticipated solicitation and resulting contract, to include effective assessment methods, techniques, and best commercial practices in performance of the requirement as outlined above, are welcome. Please provide your responses to the above questions via email no later than 4 Dec 2020. The Government will be hosting “One-on-One” telephone meetings to discuss your responses to the above questions. Meetings will be held on 9 Dec 2020. Interested parties will be required to provide a call in number. Meetings will be 45 minutes to discuss Reponses to the above questions. If you wish to participate please contact the below POCs through email for a time. RSVP: NLT than 4 Dec 2020. Please do not call the contracting office for information; email any questions to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion. We hope to eliminate duplicate questions by posting any and all questions on the www.beta.sam.gov website. If any questions contain proprietary information such information must be identified. Additional information or updates will be posted at the www.beta.sam.gov website. It is the responsibility of interested parties to check this website regularly for any changes or updates. Request responses are provided NLT 4 Dec 2020. If your firm is capable of providing the requirements described above, please provide a Capability Statement to Lori Robarge at lori.robarge@us.af.mil and Thayer Riley at thayer.riley@us.af.mil by 4 Dec 2020 @ 1400 CST. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Update 2 18 May 2020: Additional questions to be answered: (25) Is your company registered as a Small Business with the Small Business Administration? (26) If your company is registered as a Small Business, are you certified under any of the Small Business Administration Socioeconomic programs (e.g., Small Disadvantaged Business, 8(a), Women-Owned Small Business, Service Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business), Veteran-Owned Small Business, etc.)? (27) Has your company ever participated in or are you currently in a formal Mentor-Protégé agreement, Joint Venture or teaming arrangement with a Small Business? END UPDATE - 18 MAY 2020 Update 1 13 May 2020: One-on-One date changed to 27 May 2020. Proposed training will be Contractor, Type I Special Training, procured by the Air Education and Training Command and presented under the auspices of the Security Assistance Training Program. (AETCMAN 36-2601 and AFI 36-2651, Table 2.1 and paragraph 2.11) Training shall include combinations of formal classroom instruction, necessary performance (hands-on) exercises to provide proficiency and virtual training. Student Support Services: The Contractor shall provide or arrange suitable housing only for FMS students during CONUS training. Housing shall include two days prior to class start and one day after class ends. Officers shall be quartered separately in single rooms. Two enlisted of the same sex usually share one room. Cooking facilities are desirable. Housing shall not be provided for accompanying dependents unless specifically authorized, in writing, by the contracting officer. The Contractor shall also provide transportation to and from the airport and daily transportation between the training facility and the student’s quarters. If other transportation is required by the contractor to conduct training (i.e. requirement to attend training in restricted areas where POVs (Privately Owned Vehicles) are not permitted, it shall be the responsibility of the contractor. NOTE: Students are not allowed the use of rental vehicles obtained under, or as part of, this contract. The Government will also being hosting “One-on-One” telephone meetings. Meetings will be held on 27 May 2020. If you wish to participate please contact the below through email for a time. RSVP: NLT than 20 May 2020. Please provide your suggestions to include contract type, contract length, source selection techniques, quality assurance, etc. via email no later than 20 May 2020. Please do not call the contracting office for information; email any questions to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion. We hope to eliminate duplicate questions by posting any and all questions on the www.beta.sam.gov website. If any questions contain proprietary information such information must be identified. Additional information or updates will be posted at the www.beta.sam.gov website. It is the responsibility of interested parties to check this website regularly for any changes or updates. Request responses are provided NLT 20 May 2020. One-on-One date changed to 27 May 2020. Proposed training will be Contractor, Type I Special Training, procured by the Air Education and Training Command and presented under the auspices of the Security Assistance Training Program. (AETCMAN 36-2601 and AFI 36-2651, Table 2.1 and paragraph 2.11) Training shall include combinations of formal classroom instruction, necessary performance (hands-on) exercises to provide proficiency and virtual training. Student Support Services: The Contractor shall provide or arrange suitable housing only for FMS students during CONUS training. Housing shall include two days prior to class start and one day after class ends. Officers shall be quartered separately in single rooms. Two enlisted of the same sex usually share one room. Cooking facilities are desirable. Housing shall not be provided for accompanying dependents unless specifically authorized, in writing, by the contracting officer. The Contractor shall also provide transportation to and from the airport and daily transportation between the training facility and the student’s quarters. If other transportation is required by the contractor to conduct training (i.e. requirement to attend training in restricted areas where POVs (Privately Owned Vehicles) are not permitted, it shall be the responsibility of the contractor. NOTE: Students are not allowed the use of rental vehicles obtained under, or as part of, this contract. The Government will also being hosting “One-on-One” telephone meetings. Meetings will be held on 27 May 2020. If you wish to participate please contact the below through email for a time. RSVP: NLT than 20 May 2020. Please provide your suggestions to include contract type, contract length, source selection techniques, quality assurance, etc. via email no later than 20 May 2020. Please do not call the contracting office for information; email any questions to avoid any misunderstanding or confusion. We hope to eliminate duplicate questions by posting any and all questions on the www.beta.sam.gov website. If any questions contain proprietary information such information must be identified. Additional information or updates will be posted at the www.beta.sam.gov website. It is the responsibility of interested parties to check this website regularly for any changes or updates. Request responses are provided NLT 20 May 2020. END UPDATE - 13 MAY 2020 The 338 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (338 ESS) is seeking information concerning the availability of capable contractors to provide non-personal services Multiple Aircrew Training and Multiple Airframe Maintainer Training requirements to Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and United States (US) students. Place of performance is to be recommended by the offeror(s) or as requested. This Sources Sought Notice/ Request for Information (RFI) is issued and intended for market research and planning purposes only. The information obtained in response to this RFI will be used to help locate and identify qualified, experienced, and interested potential sources in addition to commercial practices in the support service sought. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP). It is not to be construed as a formal solicitation or an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. The information requested by this RFI will be used within the Air Force to facilitate decision making and will not be disclosed outside the agency. Any information provided to the Government is strictly voluntary and to be provided at no cost to the Government. For purposes of this RFI, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code in 611512, Flight Training and the small business size standard is $30M. Description of Services Requirement. (Note: The description herein is a summary of anticipated services and is not intended to be all-inclusive.) Training is required for multiple types of aircrew positions (i.e. pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmaster and mission sensor operators) with Initial, Recurrent and Seasoning training, and provide maintainer maintenance training on the following aircraft but not limited to: Cessna 208, MD-500 series, A-29, AT-6, S-70, King Air series, Mi-17, PC-12, Bell 200 series, Bell 400 series, T-6, Cessna 172 and Cessna 180. Proposed training will be Contractor, Type I Special Training, procured by the Air Education and Training Command and presented under the auspices of the Security Assistance Training Program. (AFI 36-2201paragraph 2.1.4.1.1.1) All instruction and technical information shall be in the English language. Contractor shall provide training at the contractor’s CONUS location in accordance with (IAW) objectives to provide necessary skills to aircrew personnel to support their flying mission. Training shall be based USG provided or FAA standard for, off-the-shelf configured, but not limited to, Cessna 208, MD-500 series, A-29, AT-6, T-38, L-39, S-70, King Air series, Mi-17, PC-12, Bell 200 series, Bell 400 series, T-6, Cessna 172 and Cessna 180. Training shall be to the level necessary to allow students a thorough understanding of their specialty so that at the end of their training they can perform all tasks IAW applicable technical data with minimal supervision. Courses shall be identified and presented separately as academics, simulator training and flight training. Academic training may consist of lecture, discussion, and/or demonstration. Simulator consist of hands-on and/demonstration of aircraft normal, instrument and emergency procedures. Flight training consist of inflight instruction in normal, instrument, emergency and navigation procedures. Contractor shall provide training derived from approved course documents reflecting the training course content and duration. Course length instruction hours are based on the actual student interface hours with the instructor in the learning environment. Training shall include combinations of formal classroom instruction and necessary performance (hands-on) exercises to provide proficiency. The primary emphasis shall be “hands-on” practical experience allowing students to complete all trained tasks unsupervised by using approved aircraft procedures. Seasoning Training Definition: Seasoning training is post initial qual training, that is mission oriented like CASEVAC, ISR, short field landings, NVGs, airdrop, aerial gunnery, and mountain flying. This list is not all inclusive and could entail other mission related training. Maintenance Training may also be conducted OCONUS. Student Support Services: The Contractor shall provide or arrange suitable housing only for FMS students during CONUS training. Housing shall include two days prior to class start and one day after class ends. Officers shall be quartered separately in single rooms. Two enlisted men usually share one room. Cooking facilities are desirable. Housing shall not be provided for accompanying dependents unless specifically authorized, in writing, by the contracting officer. The Contractor shall also provide transportation to and from the airport and daily transportation between the training facility and the student’s quarters. If other transportation is required by the contractor to conduct training (i.e. requirement to attend training in restricted areas where POVs (Privately Owned Vehicles) are not permitted, it shall be the responsibility of the contractor. NOTE: Students are not allowed the use of rental vehicles obtained under, or as part of, this contract. The Capability Statement should include general information and technical background describing your firm's experience in contracts requiring similar training efforts to meet the program objectives. Please limit the capability statement to no more than 20 single-sided, type-written pages using font size 12. Published literature may be any number of pages. At a minimum the following information is requested: (1) Organization name, address, point of contact, telephone number, e-mail address, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code and Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number; (2) Approximate annual gross revenue; (3) Business size (large business, small business). Note: The Government reserves the right to determine whether or not a small business set-aside would be appropriate based on responses to this notice. (4) If you indicated your business size as “small business”, if applicable, specify small business socioeconomic program status –[Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB), woman-owned small business (WOSB)]; (5) Describe the service provider role your organization will play in the performance of the support service sought (Prime Contractor, Subcontractor, Other: please explain); (6) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Prime Contractor" please provide information demonstrating the capability to mobilize, manage, and finance the support service sought; (7) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Prime Contractor", specify the functions for which you plan to use subcontractors to include estimated small business subcontracting goals and rationale; (8) If you indicated your organization’s role as "Subcontractor", please indicate which functional areas you intend to cover; (9) Specify whether your organization primarily conducts business in the commercial or Government sector; (10) Provide information on any commercial or Government sector support services your organization has performed that are similar to the support service sought; (11) Identify which NAICS code(s) your organization usually performs under; (12) Describe how the requirement needs to be requested from the Government. By specific airframe? By airframe type—prop, jet, fixed wing, rotatory wing? Recommendations? (13) What is the best way to price this requirement? Hourly, by class, etc. (14) What CLIN structure would you suggest? (15) Is it commercial practice to include maintainer training and aircrew training on the same contract? What recommendations do you have for maintenance training? (16) Describe your organization’s capability to provide expertise in appropriate courseware update, development, production and deliver; (17) Describe your organization’s capability to provide inflight instruction in Seasoning type training; (18) Describe your organization’s capability to provide aircraft flight simulation training that replicates aircraft flight characteristics and capabilities using your organization’s training devices; (19) Describe a plan to recruit, hire and provide trained and qualified instructor pilots with a desired military flying background; (20) Describe your organization’s past experience with training military aircrew. (21) Describe any recommendations for the attached current contracts’ Performance Work Statement. (22) What...