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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR MARKET RESEARCH TECHNICAL SURVEILLANCE FIELD SUPPORT AND TRAINING The purpose of this RFI is to gather Industry’s input regarding an upcoming Source Selection support... REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR MARKET RESEARCH TECHNICAL SURVEILLANCE FIELD SUPPORT AND TRAINING The purpose of this RFI is to gather Industry’s input regarding an upcoming Source Selection supporting the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for sources does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred; and the government will not be providing responses to any questions. The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to: 1) Provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated 2) Secure and apply the full range of corporate financial, human capital, and technical resources required to successfully perform similar requirements 3) Implement a successful project management plan that includes: compliance with tight program schedules; cost containment; meeting and tracking performance; hiring and retention of key personnel and risk mitigation 4) Provide services under a performance-based service acquisition contract. The following paragraphs describe the (1) Background/Need, (2) Tentative Government Key Acquisition Strategy Data Points, (3) Questions, (4) Projected Milestones, and (5) Submission Instructions. Background/Need: The United States Special Operations Command is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support the requirement for technical surveillance field support representative and equipment trainers. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. USSOCOM SOF AT&L’s PEO-Services focuses on three “imperatives” in providing the command with professional services support: Stability, Agility, and Reach. The Command considers these qualities to be essential in accomplishing requirements. In a “Ways / Means / Ends” paradigm, these imperatives are “Ends”. These imperatives are defined as follows: STABILITY is primarily about mission continuity. While there are multiple ways to achieve and sustain continuity, USSOCOM is specifically interested in retaining high quality and applicable institutional knowledge and minimizing workforce turbulence. Stability is catalyzed by respectable and credible management and leadership and is enabled by discrete and dedicated resources in support of any contract/task-order transition. It requires competitive compensation plans that incentivize on-the-job performance and loyalty to mission support. It includes an ability to solve personnel issues efficiently and effectively and enables opportunities for individual growth and development. Stability with respect to the personnel supporting this contract is critical. The FSR and Operational Planners are expected to provide continuity during the mission planning and execution phases. Personnel turnover during the contract execution will directly impact support to operations and create undue burden on the government. AGILITY is the ability to manage a professional workforce in USSOCOM’s dynamic environment that evolves at the “speed of SOF”. It includes an ability to surge capacity, manage change, and respond to issues. It requires a balance between simplicity and complexity that ensures necessary complex tools are available, but simple to find and apply. Agile management is available to the customer, and proximate to issues to which it must respond. Such management has organic resources that can be directly applied in support of the mission, with minimal need to secure additional permissions to apply them. Due to SOF’s everchanging global presence, surge requirements for forward deployed FSRs may arise. The contractor shall be capable of providing qualified personnel within 30 days of notification. REACH is manifested by applying the network and knowledge of the entire enterprise(s) of the team. It includes a demonstrated ability to place and care for employees in multiple locations, and access to established nodes that holistically interconnect USSOCOM’s global tasks. Reach can positively impact and contribute to an “elite workforce”, as well as provide external perspectives that contribute to solution development. As stated below, personnel supporting this contract will be deployed throughout the world to include in hazardous duty areas. The contractor shall have the ability to rapidly support personnel movements which may require working with the US and foreign governments to ensure personnel are authorized entry to foreign countries, have the proper insurance, and access to commercial travel resources. Tentative Government Key Acquisition Strategy Data Points: Contract Type: Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), Full and Open Competition. Cost type will be cost plus fixed fee. Solicitation, when issued and the resulting contract are anticipated to be Classified. Tentative NAICS: 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, Size standard is $15 million. Ceiling Value: The anticipated ceiling is estimated at $90M over 5 years. Contract Period: Anticipated period of performance is one base year, with 4 one-year ordering periods. Scope: The scope of this effort is to provide technical support in the form of Hostile Forces - Tagging, Tracking, and Locating (HF-TTL) and Tactical Video System/Remote Surveillance Target Acquisition (TVS/RSTA) Field Service Representatives (FSRs), Operational Planners (OPs), and New Equipment Training (NET) to USSOCOM forces. This involves advising and training on the employment of specialized tactical surveillance equipment support to Special Operations Forces (SOF) military units, SOF Component Headquarters, and Theater Special Operations Commands (TSOC). This technical support also includes providing direct lessons-learned, operational training and technical support personnel to Continental United States (CONUS)-based operators and deployed SOF units for the duration of their rotations, quick-reaction support, and general technical support to the USSOCOM Program Office. This effort will require the Contractor to manage a large, geographically dispersed work force and respond rapidly to emergent requirements. The personnel supporting this task shall be subject matter experts in technical surveillance equipment and operations, including operational planning and implementation. This effort requires providing personnel in the form of field service representatives, operational planners and new equipment training teams. The FSR and Operational Planner personnel supporting this effort will be required to be familiar with all the devices and systems and Subject Matter Experts (SME) on the devices fielded to their respective units. The training teams will be required to be familiar with all the devices and SMEs on the equipment they are training to unit personnel (equipment will be identified by the unit, 60 days prior to training execution). Personnel are expected to be proficient in and/or have a detailed understanding of: The government is familiar with the significant challenges and risks associated with supporting this effort. Among them are: Personnel Locations & Qualifications: It is anticipated that approximately 79 contractor personnel will be required to provide on-site support at various locations throughout the world. Contactor personnel shall possess, at a minimum, 10 or more years of real-world operational experience and familiarity with operational procedures within SOF. Additional qualifications are stated in the CUI Sources Sought/RFI and envisioned for the Statement of Work. The contractor shall ensure qualified personnel are in place on day one of the start of performance. The contractor shall ensure no interruption of mission occurs. Throughout phase-in/phase-out period(s), if required, it is essential that attention be given to minimize interruptions or delays to work in progress that would impact on-going missions. The contractor shall plan for the transfer of work control, delineating the method for processing and assigning tasks during phase-in/phase-out period(s). The contractor shall provide weekly updates during phase-in/phase-out period(s) to ensure the Government is fully informed of a transition status and any issues that may be identified. Security Considerations - Personnel. All contractor team individual(s) supporting this task will be cleared at the TS/SCI level at the start of the task. At the discretion of the government, selected individuals supporting this task order will require Counter-intelligence Polygraph and access to Special Access Program (SAP) information. Access to SAP information requires the requisite security clearance based on a security investigation with a date less than 5 years old and requires employees to undergo additional personnel security screening meeting the DoD SAP-accessing directives and policies. Facility. The Contractor facility shall be cleared to the Top Secret level at the start of this task. The Contractor shall ensure requirements for safeguarding classified information and classified materials; for obtaining and verifying personnel security clearances; for verifying security clearances and indoctrination of visitors; for controlling access to restricted areas; for protecting government property; and for the security of automated and non-automated management information systems and data; are fulfilled. The Contractor’s management system shall prevent unauthorized disclosure of any sensitive unclassified information. In addition, the Government shall be notified upon any indication of potential unauthorized disclosure of sensitive unclassified information, or any compromise of sensitive unclassified information. Furthermore, the contractor shall comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), as applicable. Also see contract clauses 5652.204-9003, Disclosure of Unclassified Information (2007), and DFARS 252.204-7000, Disclosure of Information. Proprietary Information (PI) Protection. This effort will require the contractor to be responsible for a significant amount of technical documentation that is proprietary to hardware device and software manufacturers. Past contracts heavily relied on the contractor being provided with proprietary technical documentation in order to develop new equipment training documentation and in support of the operational employment of devices. The contractor will be required to ensure they have implemented the necessary procedures to ensure device OEM’s PI is properly safeguarded. Questions for Industry. If your organization has the potential capability and capacity to perform these contract services, please assist the government by providing the following: Please include Full name of your firm, Points of Contact, contact numbers/emails, CAGE code, and address Business Size of the company (Small or large, and any socio-economic qualifications i.e. woman owned, Veteran Owned) Capability statement reflecting that the company’s stability, agility, and reach in regards to the particulars of this effort with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. Describe corporate experience with delivering this type of specialized support on past or present contracts. Describe the company’s experience with staffing and transitioning a ~79 FTE contract with similar scope and provide documentation supporting this claim, Identify challenges and risks from an industry perspective that are associated with performing a similar effort with which your company has experience. From a high level, what approach would your company take to deliver the services to SOF? From your corporate experience, what other considerations should the government account for when developing requirements for these services? Provide U.S. Personnel clearance levels and facility clearance levels in place at the start of the task. Submission Instructions: Please note, telephone inquiries will not be accepted or acknowledged, and no feedback or evaluations will be provided to companies regarding their submissions. Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the above-listed services are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice by 27 April 2021 5pm EST. All responses should be limited to 5 pages and any questions under this RFI must be emailed to christina.m.mcmurtry.civ@socom.mil and joshua.t.myers.civ@socom.mil.