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DISCLAIMER

THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. IT IS A MARKET RESEARCH TOOL BEING USED TO DETERMINE POTENTIAL FIRMS CAPABLE OF PROVIDING THE SERVICES & SUPPLIES DESCRIBED HEREIN PRIOR TO DETERMINING THE METHOD OF ACQUISITION AND ISSUANCE OF A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT OBLIGATED TO AND WILL NOT PAY FOR ANY INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM POTENTIAL SOURCES AS A RESULT OF THIS SOURCES SOUGHT. THIS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.

INTRODUCTION

The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Program Executive Office for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons (PEO (U&W)), Multi-Mission Tactical Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) Program (PMA-266) at Patuxent River, MD announces its intent to procure United States Marine Corps (USMC) unique supplies and services, described herein, including: Engineering Logistics Support (ELS), MUX MALE capability development and procurement for the MQ-9 system over the course of five (5) years. The scope includes all required activities to ensure all operational systems, operational system mission kits, payloads, mission systems, avionics, aircraft equipment, and support equipment are mission capable and ready for tasking.

This effort is for severable supplies and services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under authority of FAR 6.302-1.

The Government does not have data rights to the MQ-9A UAS. As the sole designer, developer and manufacturer of the MQ-9A UAS, the Government believes that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) is the only source that currently possesses sufficient requisite knowledge, engineering expertise, tooling, and technical data required to perform these efforts. No other source has the technical qualification and necessary resources to perform the work described herein, nor will any other supplies or services satisfy the Government's requirements.

The result of this Sources Sought will be utilized to determine if the required supplies or services exist in the marketplace and if any Small Business Set-Aside opportunities exist. All Small Business Set-Aside categories will be considered.

THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. It is a market research tool being used to determine whether there are potential and eligible businesses capable of providing the services and supplies described herein prior to determining the method of acquisition and issuance of a Request for Proposal. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of this synopsis.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND

The USMC directed PMA-266 to field MQ-9As to support Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) services. MQ-9A aircraft are equipped with Electro-Optical/Infrared, Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) ISR sensors, and VORTEX video and data transceivers and are deployed at remote locations Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS).

ANTICIPATED PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The anticipated period of performance will be from FY23 through FY26.

REQUIREMENTS

The required support will increase over time as additional aircraft, Ground Control Stations (GCSs), and associated support equipment are added to the fleet inventory eventually totaling 20 aircraft. The flight schedule is expected to surge and may be tailored as required. It is expected that each deployed location will eventually increase to 2 aircraft airborne, 24 hours/day, 7 days per week.

The effort shall be performed at:

• Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 1 (VMU-1) (CONUS), Yuma, AZ


• VMU-1 Deployed Location (OCONUS), United States Naval Forces Central Command (CENTCOM)


• VMUT-2 (CONUS), Cherry Point, NC


• VMU-3 (OCONUS), Kaneohe, HI


• UX-24 (CONUS) Patuxent River, MD


• United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) (OCONUS) (Option)

The contractor will be required to procure and support the following components:

• Qty #20 MQ-9A Block 5 air vehicles, in UHK97000-15, -20, and -25 configurations


• Block 30 GCS


• Intelligence Community Directive (ICD 705) compliant GSC located at CONUS and OCONUS sites.


• SkyTower I system


• SkyTower II Airborne Network Extension (ANE)


• Proliferated Low Earth Orbit (PLEO)


• Smart Sensor


• Detect and Avoid system (DAAS)


• Electronic Warfare (EW) capability pod payload system


• Airborne Early Warning (AEW) battlespace awareness pod payload systems

The contractor shall provide common hand tools and routine consumable material required to support unique Marine requirements

The contractor shall provide (USMC unique) engineering and logistics support, transportation, supply chain management, spares management, spares analysis, supply support, site stand-up and repositioning (e.g. Deployment/Redeployment), management, support equipment and government Furnished property (GFP) management, sustainment services, and data dissemination, to include configuration status accounting, readiness metric reporting, recording and submitting data required for Government maintenance reporting. The requirements include engineering support, networking and cyber-security, for resolution of USMC MQ-9 issues and standard engineering assessments. This will require access to technical data, drawings, engineering reports and functional diagrams.

REQUIRED CAPABILITIES

The Government requires the MQ-9A aircraft have the capability to interface with other intelligent platforms and control payloads during missions. The system must meet the following operational and program requirements: Ability to send and receive real-time SECRET and below mission critical (non-voice) information [e.g., imagery, Full Motion Video (FMV), intelligence updates, Isolated Personnel Report (ISOPREP) files, Position Location Information (PLI) with Higher Headquarters (HHQ)]

ELIGIBILITY

The applicable NAICS code is 336411 and number of employees 1,500 and 488190 with a Small Business Size standard of $35M . The Product Service Code (PSC) is 1550 Unmanned Aircraft and J016 . Businesses of all sizes are encouraged to respond; however, each respondent must clearly identify their business size in their capabilities statement.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Interested parties may submit a capability statement package identifying their interest and capability in response to this notice no later than the response date listed. The requested information is to assist the Government in conducting market research to determine potential business sources that have the assets, skills, experience, financial stability, qualifications, rights to technical data, and requisite knowledge required to support the requirement. A determination not to compete this proposed contract action based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

It is requested that interested businesses submit to the contracting office a brief capabilities statement package (no more than 10 pages in length on 8.5 x11 inch paper with one-inch margins, single-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font minimum) demonstrating ability to satisfy all requirements, and perform the taskings listed under the required capabilities. This documentation must address, at a minimum, the following:

1. Notice number from the SAM.GOV posting to which you are responding.

2. Company Name; Company Address; CAGE Code; and Points-of-Contact (Primary and Secondary) name, phone number, fax number, and e-mail address;

3. Company profile to include number of employees, annual revenue history, office location(s), DUNS number, business size, and a statement regarding current small/large business size status;

4. Prior/current corporate experience performing efforts of similar size and scope within the last three years, including contract number, organization supported, indication of whether as a prime or subcontractor, contract values, Government point of contact with current telephone number, and a brief description of how the referenced contract relates to the product/services described herein;

5. Type of work your company has performed in the past in support of the same or similar requirement.

6. Can or has your company managed a task of this nature? If so, please provide details.

7. Company's ability to begin performance upon contract award without the requirement for additional negotiations or contract awards to procure rights to start performance for any resultant effort.

8. If qualifying as a small business, provide an explanation of your company's ability to perform at least 50% of the tasking described herein within the period of performance.

All responses, including capability statements, shall be submitted no later 26 October 2022. Responses shall be submitted electronically to the designated Contract Specialist, Jennifer Reeder, in Microsoft Word format or Portable Document Format (PDF) at the following email address: jennifer.l.reeder8.civ@us.navy.mil.

No phone calls will be accepted. The Government may contact RFI respondents in order to seek clarification of submitted information or gain additional input.

All questions must be submitted via e-mail. The Government is not committed nor obligated to pay for the

information provided, and no basis for claims against the Government shall arise as a result of a response to this sources sought.

DOCUMENT MARKINGS

It is incumbent upon sources providing responses to this Notice to accurately mark all data with all appropriate data rights, distribution and classification markings. All information submitted will be adequately safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 15.207. All submissions shall be clearly marked with the following caption: Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Releasable to Government Agencies for Evaluation Purposes Only. Responses that fail to comply with the above instructions or present ideas not pertinent to subject, may not be reviewed. All information received in response to this Notice that is marked proprietary will be handled accordingly. Information submitted in response to this Notice is submitted at no cost to the Government and will not be returned. The Government is under no obligation to provide responses or comments to information received from interested persons but may request additional information following review. Note: If an interested person is a foreign concern or if a U.S. interested person has a team member or partner who is a foreign entity, adherence to all International Traffic and Arms Regulations (ITAR) is required.

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