Inactive 8(a) Set-Aside (FAR 19.8)

Amendment 001: The purpose of this amendment is to provide Industry Day Information. See attached document. 1. introduction The Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, Amphibious Vehicle Test ... Amendment 001: The purpose of this amendment is to provide Industry Day Information. See attached document. 1. introduction The Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch is issuing this RFI as a means of conducting strategic market research to identify responsible, qualified entities having an interest in and the resources to support the AVTB Operations Maintenance and Technical Services (OMTS) requirements. The AVTB preference for satisfying the requirements is through the utilization of certified 8(a) small business concerns. However, the Government is also interested in receiving information from all interested, responsible and qualified business entities. The anticipated acquisition strategy for the AVTB OMTS requirements is to utilize a Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC). The anticipated Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract will have a 5-year ordering. 1.1 Program Description The United States Marine Corps (USMC) Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch is a Department of Defense (DoD) certified test facility that offers year-round testing of military and private industry watercraft, amphibious vehicles, and non-amphibious vehicles. AVTB provides Test and Evaluation (T&E) of amphibious and ground combat vehicles to Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) and Program Executive Officer Land Systems. AVTB is responsible for the T&E of combat vehicles throughout the vehicle lifecycle. AVTB applies deliberate, documented processes in the execution of combat vehicle tests, which are continuously under development and improvement. T&E projects at AVTB follow a standardized business process. This process consists of seven phases: Initiate, Plan, Prepare, Execute, Analyze, Report, and Close. The contractor will assist with all phases, depending on project scope, duration, and technical requirements. 1.2 Requirements AVTB requires the contractor to support both water and land testing of military and private industry watercraft, amphibious vehicles, and non-amphibious vehicles at Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, California, and other locations, as required. Testing requires scuba diving, emergency medical support (EMTs and Medics), watercraft operation and maintenance, heavy equipment operation and maintenance, communications equipment operation and maintenance, and welding and machining services necessary to support personnel and assets organic to AVTB. In addition, AVTB requires services that support and augment engineering, electronics, media (digital and analog), data collection, information technology, and technical editing services for AVTB day-to-day operations and test events. The following Paragraphs 1.2.1 through 1.2.12 address the specific AVTB OMTS requirements that are delineated in the draft AVTB Performance Work Statement (PWS): 1.2.1 Scuba Diving Services The contractor shall provide an OSHA-compliant four-person dive team to support AVTB during testing to execute surface and subsurface rescues of amphibious vehicle crew down to approximately 90 feet of water depth. The contractor shall provide underwater equipment for cutting or burning through aluminum composite and steel metal hatch handles and hinges of approximately three inches thickness to support rescue efforts. The contractor shall perform underwater inspection of vehicles, cleaning of the vessel hull, replacement of any corroded parts, exterior cleaning of the AVTB wave buoy, and advising and instructing of AVTB staff on dive equipment and underwater rescue tools and procedures. 1.2.2 Emergency Medical Treatment Services The contractor shall provide medical personnel to dispense emergency medical treatment during testing on land and water, including rugged terrain, shore, and open ocean. Under the supervision of the cognizant medical authority, the contractor shall treat injuries, triage treatment of individuals, manage emergency medical situations, and prepare personnel with injuries for transfer to the appropriate medical facility, if necessary. (Government will provide transportation for all injured personnel.) The contractor shall comply with the California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Divisions 2.5 and 9, and the San Diego County EMS policies, procedures and protocols. The contractor shall ensure that all employees or subcontractors directly performing the emergency medical services under this contract possess current National EMS Certification, California state certifications/licensure, and San Diego County EMS certifications and accreditation for the role they are performing. 1.2.3 Watercraft Operation and Maintenance Services The contractor shall provide full time support watercraft personnel capable of simultaneously operating any combination of at least six AVTB watercraft (six Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs), one 64-foot Workboat, and two jet skis) in support of military maritime operation and testing. The contractor shall be able to understand military communications and be able to operate radar, Global Positioning System (GPS), night vision equipment, and pyrotechnical signaling. The contractor shall perform maintenance of the AVTB watercraft in accordance with commercial best practice and in a manner not to interfere with daily scheduled operations. A weekly operational and testing schedule will be provided. The contractor shall serve as Subject Matter Expert (SME) on watercraft operation and maintenance on boats with on-board and out-board diesel and gasoline powered engines, that range in size from 25ft to 70ft in length; provide detailed maintenance plans in accordance with manufacturers’ specifications, including the parts needed and the cost estimates; and prepare weekly status reports. 1.2.4 Heavy Equipment Operation and Maintenance Services The contractor shall supply operators with eligibility for a Secret Clearance, capable of simultaneously operating three military tactical vehicles, either wheeled or tracked, with the ability to surge support for up to an additional two vehicles, providing three crew personnel per vehicle, for 8 hours a day 90 percent of the time, and periods of up to 12 hours a day 10 percent of the time, as determined by the Government. The operators shall be capable of passing all swimming and physical fitness events, in accordance with Marine Corps training and physical fitness standards. These events must be successfully completed prior to attending tactical vehicle licensing courses. The personnel must also be able to safely operate weapons associated with the vehicle, in accordance with Marine Corps Technical manuals ™, whether they are medium or heavy crew-served weapons. The contractor shall provide technical input (verbally or in a written report) regarding the operational and maintenance status of amphibious and land-based tactical vehicles, and tactical vehicle support equipment such as cranes, winches, air compressors, generators and all ancillary equipment as identified Marine Corps Technical manuals ™ and OSHA standards and regulations as it applies to the various equipment. The crew personnel shall possess the skill set of the USMC, MOS 2141 Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) Repairer/Technician and be capable of executing a maintenance workload plan based on maintenance level authorized, priority, and availability of parts, tools, equipment, and at least 4 years of operator/ maintainer experience. 1.2.5 Communications Equipment Operation and Maintenance Services The contractor’s employees to provide Communications Equipment Operation and Maintenance Services shall possess the skill set of the USMC, MOS 2841 Marine Corps Ground Radio Repairer. Those employees shall maintain radio equipment and maintain voice systems in operational condition ia accordance with Marine Corps Technical manuals ™. The contractor shall plan, coordinate, and supervise the organizational maintenance management plan for all communications equipment and ensure proper inventory accountability of all communications equipment, tool sets, chests, and kits. The contractor shall be able to provide technical guidance to the Maintenance Officer on all matters pertaining to communications equipment readiness and provide up to five formal instructions per year for groups up to 30-42 students at a time, and informal “familiarization” one-on-one training to members of the test team, as needed, on the proper use of tactical vehicle communication systems. 1.2.6 Welding and Machining Services The contractor shall possess the skill set of the USMC, MOS 2161 Machinist capable of examining drawings and work orders and determining the sequence of operations, materials, tools, equipment, time, and personnel required to fabricate or repair parts. The contractor shall install, operate, maintain, and repair metalworking and welding equipment. The contractor shall be able to design, fabricate, modify, repair, and otherwise manufacture parts and items of equipment using conventional machine tools such as lathes, milling machines, grinders, drills, jig borers, etc. The contractor shall be able to independently complete assigned work orders and drawings whose dimensions, tolerances, types of fit and finish information may be incomplete. The contractor shall maintain accountability of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), calibrated items, and other assigned tools, and create and maintain detailed logs and files of manufactured items and parts, as needed. 1.2.7 Technical Editing The contractor shall provide technical writing and editing services involved in generating AVTB-specific technical documents (up to 240 documents per year utilizing MS Office) such as Detailed Test Plans, Quick Look Reports, Final Test Reports, Amphibious Vehicle Test Branch Test and Evaluation Process (ATEP) Forms and ATEP Process sheets (using MS Visio). Documents must be technically accurate and grammatically correct. Data tables, figures, graphs, and diagrams must be uniformly formatted in an acceptable style. The contractor shall have experience and knowledge with writing style guides to include Gregg Reference Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, and Navy Correspondence Manual; knowledge of DoD distribution statements; expert knowledge of MS Word and SharePoint. Additionally, the contractor shall be able to upload, download, and distribute data, files, lists, forms, and media using SharePoint. 1.2.8 Electronics Support Services The contractor shall support 10 to 25 test-planning events per year by coordinating lab resources, gathering required information, solving instrumentation issues, and furnishing technical advice to Engineering, HQ, and Operations. The contractor shall communicate with various functional areas of AVTB concerning instrumentation specifications, measurement capabilities, and data collection and processing methods. The contractor shall prepare, align, calibrate, and bench test instrumentation in accordance with instructions prior to installing instruments in test vehicles. The contractor shall make observations and test to detect malfunctions to ensure the electronic data being collected is complete, valid, accurate, and sufficient to characterize the system under test. The contractor shall retrieve and process instrumentation data using custom software. The contractor shall support lab inventory reviews on a quarterly basis, assemble component parts of a system or prototype, prepare documentation on test results, evaluate engineering proposals, and troubleshoot and identify solutions to problems. 1.2.9 Media Support Services The contractor shall provide video editing services to compile testing footage into continuous video according to instructions; trim film segments to specified lengths to reassemble segments in sequences; and operate computer-editing systems to add video effects, music, and speech to produce a final product. Also, the contractor shall provide advice and technical expertise to AVTB staff on all matters relating to illustration, printing (lithography), photography, and videography. The contractor shall test, clean, and maintain cameras and recording equipment, including testing microphones, in accordance with manufacture’s recommendations. The contractor shall compress, digitize, duplicate, and store audio and video data. 1.2.10 Engineering Support Services The contractor shall perform duties as the engineering section representative as required on Project Management Teams, attending planning meetings (on a weekly basis), providing project status updates (on a weekly basis), and participating in after action meetings (as needed). The contractor shall review program documents (5 to 15, 50-page documents per year, on average) related to a project; parse test objective and threshold requirements from performance specifications and requirements documents, etc., into testable criteria; use design of experiments and other statistical methods to determine sample sizes and trial sequences. The contractor shall assist in estimating costs of projects that AVTB plans to perform; support planning conferences and test readiness reviews; supervise test execution; analyze data to make summary tables and charts as required; and draft Detailed Test Plans, Quick Look Reports, and Final Test Reports. 1.2.11 IT Support Services The contractor shall test computer systems and network operations to ensure proper functioning; analyze data to identify and resolve operational problems; and assist users in filling out and tracking status of Information Technology Procurement Review (ITPR) waivers for procurement of IT equipment. The contractor shall have experience writing code using programming languages such as VBA, MATLAB, or Python or be capable of learning them to be able to modify existing code. The contractor shall install various computer software, configure settings, and provide technical support for computer network issues, computer applications, or systems. The contractor shall identify and evaluate industry trends in database systems to serve as a source of information and advice for upper management. The contractor shall plan, coordinate, and implement security measures to safeguard information in computer files against accidental or unauthorized damage, modification, or disclosure; and develop standards and guidelines to instruct in the use and acquisition of software and the protection of vulnerable information. 1.2.12 Data Collection Services The contractor shall provide accurate and detailed Test Incident Reports (TIRs) during testing events, of which there are 10 to 25 per year; record results and observations for lab and field testing; and archive data to support all Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E), Development Test (DT), and Operational Test (OT) events. The contractor shall manually enter test data relevant to the completed test event into the government designated databases and maintain the data collector binder, logbook, TIRs, and information when a test article fails to perform in a consistent manner with the operational mission profile or parameters established in the Detailed Test Plan. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS This RFI is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Quotations (RFQ), Request for Proposals (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFQ or RFP in the future. It is not a notice of solicitation issuance. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract, and do not otherwise commit the Government to a contract for any supply or service whatsoever. At this time, the Government is not seeking quotations or proposals and will not accept unsolicited quotations or proposals in response to this RFI. Submission of any information in response to this RFI is purely voluntary and the Government assumes NO responsibility for any costs incurred by entities that respond to this Sources Sought Notice. Businesses that are certified 8(a) small business concerns under NAICS code 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) with the capabilities to deliver the requirements stated within are encouraged to reply to this RFI. A decision to refrain from responding to this RFI will not preclude a party from participating in any future RFQ or RFP, if any is issued. 2.1 Response Requested The North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code contemplated for use during any future acquisition of the AVTB OMTS is 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services) with a small business size standard of $16.5M in annual receipts. The Marine Corps requests that entities provide the following information in any response to this RFI in no more than 15 pages: 1. Provide your entity’s Point of Contact (POC) for this RFI, including their name, email address, and phone number; 2. Provide the legal name for your entity. Please list any “Doing Business As” (DBA) or fictitious business names used or operated by your entity, if applicable; 3. Provide your Dun and Bradstreet (DUNS) number(s) for your legal entity(ies) and the Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code(s) for each legal entity for all specific locations; 4. Provide your entity’s business size (large or small) as it pertains to NAICS code 541690 (Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services); 5. For small businesses, please identify any socioeconomic status that pertains to your entity such as: Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB); Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB); Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) Small Business; Economically Disadvantaged Women Owned Small Business (EDWOSB); Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB); and/or a Small Disadvantaged Business (i.e., the 8(a) Business Development Program) concern. Moreover, please indicate if your entity is owned by a tribe, Alaskan Native Corporations (ANC), or Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHO); 6. Provide the entity’s specific experience/capability in relation to the AVTB OMTS requirements identified in Paragraph 1.2 of this Source Sought Notice; 7. Provide a statement which confirms that the entity would pay no more than 50 percent of the amount paid by the Government for contract performance to subcontractors that are not similarly situated entities. (Any work that a similarly situated entity further subcontracts will count toward the 50 percent subcontract amount that cannot be exceeded.); 8. Provide a reference list of contracts that were awarded to the entity within the past 3 years for services similar to those identified in Paragraph 1.2 of this RFI, to include contract number, dollar value, and a brief description of services. (Entities shall identify any terminations for default that were issued by the Government for any contract regardless of when the termination occurred.). RESPONDENTS MUST NOT INCLUDE CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IN THEIR RESPONSE TO THIS RFI. Moreover, entities responding to this Source Sought Notice must identify any data submitted that must not be disclosed outside the Government or that must not be duplicated, used, or disclosed - in whole or in part - for any purpose other than for the purposes set forth herein. Entities that consider themselves to be qualified to perform any of the above referenced AVTB OMTS services are encouraged to submit their responses to this RFI via email with the Subject line: Response to RFI M68909-20-I-7905 to marina.a.simmons@usmc.mil by 30 June 2020. Telephone inquiries will not be permitted, entertained, accepted, or acknowledged, and respondents should not expect feedback regarding their capability submissions. However, entities may be invited to participate in a follow-on meeting with the Government for a question/answer session to further assist in the overall market research for this requirement. Furthermore, AVTB anticipates hosting an Industry Day and Industry Day one-on-one meetings to further allow for the free exchange of information between industry and the Government, and to answer any questions that may arise as a result of this RFI. Additional information pertaining to a forthcoming Industry Day will be communicated via an announcement posted to the Government-wide Point of Entry located at: https://beta.SAM.gov/. To that end, the Government anticipates the Industry Day to occur on or about 13 July 2020. This will allow the Government time to review all of the responses received in to the RFI and will facilitate discussion during the one-on-one meetings.