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PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE

AJW-124 Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Operations Program

1. Purpose

This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice for the AJW-124 Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Operations program.

The purpose of this Pre-Solicitation Notice is to:

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  • Survey the marketplace to assess the level of interest, and identify potential vendors and capabilities among qualified providers of the required services identified in the draft Statement of Work for sUAS (Attachment A to this Pre-Solicitation Notice);
  
  
  • Determine whether sufficient qualified and eligible small businesses, socially and economically disadvantaged businesses (SEDBs), and/or Service-Disabled Veteran- Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs), and HubZone concerns can participate as prime contractors. Respondents are requested to identify their small business status in their response to this notice;
  
  
  • Request comments on the draft Statement of Work for sUAS and responses to the questions contained in Section 4 of the Pre-Solicitation Notice. The FAA will consider and may utilize industry inputs in the application of support services for a potential sUAS Qualified Vendors List (QVL) and any associated solicitations; and
  
  
  • Utilize inputs from the Pre-Solicitation Notice to finalize the sUAS acquisition strategy.
  
  
  
  

2. General Information

This Pre-Solicitation Notice is being issued in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acquisition Management System, Section 3.2.1.2.1. Interested parties are advised that:

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  • This is not a Screening Information Request (SIR) or Request for Proposal (RFP);
  
  
  • The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals;
  
  
  • The FAA will not pay for any information received or costs incurred in preparing the response to the Pre-Solicitation Notice;
  
  
  • Any costs associated with responding to this Pre-Solicitation Notice are incurred solely at the interested party’s expense;
  
  
  • FAA, at its sole discretion, may contact one, some, all, or none of the respondents to the Pre-Solicitation Notice to request additional information; and
  
  
  • Vendor responses to this Pre-Solicitation Notice and any follow-up inquiries by the Government are for informational purposes only do not constitute a promise or obligation of future business with the FAA.
  
  
  
  

Interested parties are advised that, if a QVL is awarded for the sUAS requirement, it will contain a requirement to implement Executive Order (EO) 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors as adopted by the FAA via AMS Contract Clause 3.2.1.5-5 (INTERIM) Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (October 2021).

3. Background

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Operations Team, AJW-124 is responsible for evaluating the viability of utilizing sUAS technologies to augment maintenance operations, troubleshooting, restoration, emergency response activities, as well as evaluating potential risks and impacts in/around NAS facilities and infrastructure. AJW-124 is leading operational concept development and testing in order to complete a variety of sUAS operations On and Off airports and document requirements for scaling the use of these technologies in a safe and repeatable manner.

These efforts require a contractor to provide sUAS services to the FAA. The contractor must operate under Part 107 using NDAA and EO 13981 compliant sUAS to perform required mission services. The contractor shall furnish and make available all necessary professional, technical, administrative, and management services to accomplish the requirements set forth in the Statement of Work (SOW). Such services will support the FAA’s goal to integrate sUAS operations on and off airports in a safe and repeatable manner.

Scope

The sUAS service provider will assist the FAA in testing, planning, capturing, transferring, and assessing datasets of several types (i.e. standard and high definition 2D/Red Green Blue (RGB), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Thermal) in order to develop methods to inspect and survey National Airspace System (NAS) facilities and infrastructure.

The attached draft Statement of Work (SOW) describes the FAA’s requirements for a sUAS Qualified Vendor List (QVL) type of Contracting tool. The Government anticipates issuing individual Mission orders, which may be either Firm Fixed Price or Time and Materials, to meet specific needs for support services. Each Mission order will have a distinct SOW and identify project-specific requirements such as programs to be supported, the place of performance, deliverables, and other pertinent information.

The FAA may make a QVL, or no award for the sUAS requirement, based upon what is in the government’s best interests.

4. Questions

Respondents to this Pre-Solicitation Notice are requested to provide responses to the following items:

1. The draft sUAS SOW identifies the requirement for sUAS services to the FAA. Provide a detailed narrative explaining if your firm (not team) is able to provide and/or satisfy the requirement and how they would fulfill the requirements they can complete/satisfy as identified in the draft sUAS SOW.


2. Describe your experience providing similar support to other Federal clients or otherwise. For those PRIME contracts, please provide the nature of the support, information on the size of the effort (in terms of Full Time Equivalents and total contract value), and the duration of the support. Describe any approaches you have used to provide integrated support across an enterprise. The narrative should demonstrate YOUR firm’s capabilities to perform the work, not merely state that your firm can provide the services and the number of FTE’s qualified are employed with your firm currently.


3. Are the work areas in the draft sUAS SOW clearly defined? Are there any changes, additions, updates, or clarifications your company would suggest for improvement or clarity? Are there work areas in the SOW that you believe are candidates to be provided on a Firm Fixed Price basis? If so, please identify those candidate areas.


4. The FAA anticipates that there will be multiple concurrent Mission Orders that require specialized capabilities in wide-ranging areas of expertise. Please briefly describe your firm’s capability to staff and manage a project of this magnitude and complexity. Please discuss your approach to obtain and retain technical expertise across wide-ranging fields, and describe any certifications (e.g., ISO or CMMI or NIST) that demonstrate proven management and quality outcomes.


5. The FAA is considering using NAICS code of 541330; Engineering Services as this work requires support technologies. Please provide feedback on the possible use of these two NAICS codes and whether there are other NAICS codes that should be considered. If suggesting other NAICS codes, provide the rationale for its use including the advantages over the two NAICS codes identified by the Government.


6. The FAA requires any Vendor to be able to satisfy sUAS Vendor Qualification Requirements

5. Pre-Solicitation Notice Response Submission Instructions

The following instructions apply to the submission of responses to this Pre-Solicitation Notice:

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  • Pre-Solicitation Notice responses must be submitted via electronic mail “only” (e-mail) to the Contracting Officer, Edward (Jr) Mitchell at Edward.J.Mitchell@faa.gov no later than 3:00 PM Eastern Time on November 16, 2022.
  
  
  • Vendor responses should contain “sUAS Pre-Solicitation Notice Response” in the subject line of the e-mail.
  
  
  • Vendor responses should provide answers to each of the questions listed in Section 4 of this Pre-Solicitation Notice.
  
  
  • Files comprising the response to the Pre-Solicitation Notice must not exceed ten (10) pages in total.
  
  
  • Subject to the stated page limit, vendor responses may provide additional feedback on the draft sUAS SOW in addition to the responses to specific questions in Section 4 of this Pre-Solicitation Notice.
  
  
  • Files comprising the response to the Pre-Solicitation Notice must be compatible with MS Office 365 or be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. No other form of submission will be accepted.
  
  
  • If any of the information submitted is considered to be proprietary, the respondent is responsible for marking it accordingly.
  
  
  • Submissions must include the following information for one or more points of contact for the respondent: name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address.
  
  
  
  

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  • Identify your company’s business size (i.e., Small or Large Business) based on the potential NAICS codes identified in the above, as well as for any NAICS codes you suggest. For small businesses, also identify your socio-economic status (e.g., Service- Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business), as applicable.
  
  
  
  

Please direct any inquiries regarding this matter to the FAA Contracting Officer, Edward (Jr) Mitchell via e-mail at Edward.J.Mitchell@faa.gov.

6. Government Use of Pre-Solicitation Notice Responses

The FAA may or may not provide feedback on any of the submitted materials. The Government does not intend to release or distribute any of the information contained in the Pre-Solicitation Notice responses.

Vendor responses to this Pre-Solicitation Notice will not be viewed by the FAA as a commitment by the respondents to submit a proposal for any competitive solicitations initiated by the FAA in relation to the services described in this Pre-Solicitation Notice.

7. Attachments

Attachment 1 – sUAS Draft Statement of Work.docx (End of Announcement)

Attachment 2 – sUAS Vendor Qualifications Requirements

Attachment 3 – Facility Work Plan

Attachments/Links