Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF OCTOBER 20, 2002 FBO #0322
MODIFICATION

70 -- More answers to questions CHS-3

Notice Date

10/18/2002
 

Notice Type

Modification
 

Contracting Office

US Army Aviation and Missile Command DAAH01, ATTN: AMSAM-AC, Building 5303, Martin Road, Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5280
 

ZIP Code

35898-5280
 

Solicitation Number

DAAH0102R0225
 

Response Due

12/30/2002
 

Archive Date

2/28/2003
 

Point of Contact

Roderick Matthews, 256-842-7693
 

E-Mail Address

Email your questions to US Army Aviation and Missile Command DAAH01
(rod.matthews@redstone.army.mil)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

NA 77. Q: Is the Government open to entertaining and evaluating alternative proposals? Would you award an alternative proposal assuming the contractor bid a compliant approach as well? A: No. The Government will evaluate one proposal from each contractor. Award will be made based on the proposal that is compliant and has the best value to the Government. 78. Q: What ordering and funds authorization process is anticipated on CHS-3? Is an expansion of the e-business capability desired? A: A web based automated ordering system is required as stated in the SOW; This e-business capability would provide a means of expediting the ordering process and ensuring technical accuracy and completeness of each order. An automated means of electronic funds transfer capabilities will be used if feasible. Yes; an e-business model similar to major computer OEMs web based ordering systems is envisioned. 79. Q: Is the existing CHS-2 website considered GFE/GFI or should bidder provide similar e-enabled capability? Would new bidder?s capability need to be integrated to existing databases? A: No, the CHS-2 website is not GFE/GFI. A new e-business model is required and will not be integrated into the CHS-2 databases. 80. Q: How many people are authorized to buy on this contract? How many orders does Contracts process each month? A: The AMCOM PCO is the only person authorized to obligate the government by issuing orders on this contract. Approximately 40 orders are processed each month for the CHS-2 contract. 81. Q: Will CHS-3 have its own funding line in the Army?s budget or is it funded under individual programs annual budgets? A: The CHS-3 Program is funded by the individual systems PMs and other customers? annual budget. 82: Q: Do other Army programs have the option of buying systems and components off of this contract? For the purposes of having a common global infrastructure and reducing total ownership cost, are other programs encouraged to buy off this contract? A: Contract is open to all Army Program Managers, other DOD and Federal Agencies. Army Program Managers are encouraged to use CHS-3 items. The objective of the CHS-3 program is to promote equipment commonality and to reduce life cycle ownership cost. 83. Q: What capabilities developed under the CHS-2 contract will be made available for CHS-3. Example: If existing transit cases are usable with CHS-3 items will they be made available to all bidders? A: None 84. Q: Does the Army own the rights to all the items on the CHS-2 contract? A: No. 85. Q: When will the technical data package be available? A: See question 84 above. 86. Q: If CHS-2 items can be used, does the level of detail in the TDP enable procurement of lower level items (i.e. ruggedization mechanical items)? A: N/A. See Above. 87. Q: Are the CHS-3 specification requirements at a performance based, functional or detailed level? A: The CHS-3 specification requirements are provided in the Statement of Work and are performance based. 88. Q: Will the specification be available prior to RFP? A: The specification requirements are contained in the Statement of Work and will be posted to the AMCOM Acquisition Center web-site as a draft document prior to formal release of the RFP. 89. Q: What is the table of equipment for each organization level in the Army? How will CHS-3 play into that table at each level of organization? A: Product Manager Common Hardware Systems does not field systems to the Army units. Individual PM integrates CHS-3 products for system development and fielding to units. Both questions are not applicable to this program. 90. Q: Are the CHS-3 software requirements at a performance based, functional or detailed level? (i.e. is software a functional requirement or a specific software brand?) A: Some of the CHS-3 software is performance based requirements, some are standards based and some are brand name. 91. Q: How are so ftware licenses managed and delivered? Will license management be part of the SOW? A: All software products are to be delivered with licenses. Software license is not tied to a particular machine. Licenses management will be part of the contract. 92. Q: Will software updates to be downloaded from the network or distributed via CD? A: Both. Depending on customer needs. 93. Q: Is hardware/operating system change isolation middleware part of this procurement? A: No. 94. Q: Is there a table of equipment for software for each organization level in the Army? How will CHS-3 play into that table at each level of organization? A: Both questions are not applicable to this program. 95. Q: What are your expectations regarding interoperability and backward compatibility with existing applications? A: It is the goal of the CHS-3 Program to achieve backward compatibility with the existing application to the maximum extent possible. The SOW defines hardware requirements intended to maximize the portability of the existing CHS-2 mission software (much of which is Solaris based) to CHS-3 products with minimum or no breakage. It is also a goal of the CHS-3 Program to achieve interoperability between fielded mission software running on CHS-2 and fielded mission software running on CHS-3 equipment. 96. Q: How are capability enhancements released? (i.e. will a block releases approach be used?) A: Block release approach is not applicable to this program. Upgrades and new equipment will be accomplished through the engineering change proposals (ECP) process. 97. Q: Describe historic and planned testing requirements. At what level is testing required and under what circumstances is testing initiated? A: All V2 and V3 items will be subject to FAT, environmental tests, and reliability tests. Existing test data and analysis can be used if acceptable to the Government. 98. Q: Is there a required qualification methodology specified on new products and technology refreshments? A: Yes, First Article Testing requirements are defined in Section 3.9. 99. Q: How, if at all, do you see any test, evaluation and validation program changing or evolving? A: See answers above. 100. Q: Would it be possible to provide a brief discussion on the projected CHS-3 change management approach? A: Upgrades and new technology will be introduced through the ECP process on an as required basis. Historically there have been on the average 40 changes per month for the CHS-2 Program. 101. Q: What is the technology refresh philosophy for this program? How do you see this philosophy varying, if at all, within product categories? A: See above answers. 102. Q: At what rate do you anticipate deployment of new technology across the Army? A: CHS-3 products are acquired by responsible PMs for system development and fielding. New technologies will be acquired as they become available to meet the user?s need. 103. Q: Who determines when new or enhanced capabilities are required and added to the contract? A: See above answer. 104. Q: Who is authorized to initiate an engineering change order? A: Either the Government or the contractor can initiate the ECP. 105. Q: Should the cost of interoperability testing and integration testing be included in the ECP multiplier? A: The ECP multiplier is being deleted. 106. Q: In order for any bidder to provide the best value, we feel the historical demand/trend data will be important to the process. To what extent will you be able to provide bidders access to the level of data? A: It is not the Government?s intent to provide detailedhistorical/trend data on the CHS-2 Program. 107. Q: What is the average yearly $ value of purchases against this contract? A: Approximately $160 Million per year based on historical CHS-2 data and customer projections. 108. Q: What input does the end user community have in requesting new items? Who are the present e nd users for CHS-2? Who are the projected User programs for CHS-3? A: The CHS-3 Program provides items to Project Managers who integrate them into their systems. There is no direct end user involvement with the CHS-3 Program. The PEO C3T PMs are the majority of the CHS-2 Program customers. CHS-3 Program projected users in clude the CHS-2 customers and other Army, Joint and Government Agencies. 109. Q: Will the army identify a select organization for the contractor to do beta test and evaluation of products prior to field deployment? Will we have an opportunity to talk to them one-on-one similar to this prior to the RFP being published? A: No to both questions. 110. Q: What is maintenance philosophy? How is service provided today? Will a central depot be provided? Is service provided by a contractor or vendor? A: A three level maintenance/supply structure (unit level, Direct Support (DS), contractor depot), with a contractor warranty program will be utilized. The user will fault isolate systems to the faulty Line Replaceable Unit (LRU) utilizing maintenance and diagnostic software and exchange the faulty LRU with a spare from the Direct Support Supply Activity (DSSA) Authorized Stockage List (ASL). The DSSA will then turn the faulty LRU into Forward Repair Center (FRC) for repair and replacement. The warranty wil l cover a minimum five years period from the date of delivery to the Fielding Product Manager. The contractor shall repair or replace the failed LRUs coved under warranty within 3 business days, two business days desired. The contractor will provide a mini mum of four FRC, a minimum of three within CONUS and one in Germany. The contractor shall maintain a toll free Hotline number and web site in response to CONUS and OCONUS maintenance service or technical assistance calls. The contractor is strongly encou raged to form a partnership with a DoD Repair Depot with goal of developing an organic support capability for CHS-3 out of warranty hardware repair and post contractor support. 111. Q: Who provides asset management and configuration management? A: In all cases, the Contractor will perform asset and configuration management functions with the Government exercising management approval of all actions. 112. Q: Are there ILS tasks other than warranty that need to be built into unit HW item pricing? A: All ILS tasks, identified in the SOW with the exception of TASS, will be part of the HW item price. 113. Q: (a) Briefly describe the objectives and composition of the Technical Assistance and Support Services contract. (i.e. what is the role or purpose of TASS?) (b) What Systems Engineering and System Integration tasks would typically be funded via T& M versus being considered part of the basic contract? (c) What types of tasks will be contracted? A: The contract will also include a Time and Materials (T&M) portion for Technical Assistance and Support Services (TASS). This assistance will include, but not be limited to, analysis of CHS-3 hardware and software requirements, integration of the hardwa re and software into new or existing systems, ?out of warranty repairs? (including other than fair wear and tear), and support for the materiel fielding of assembled systems. 114. Q: Warranty discussions ? What constitutes warranty coverage? What specifically is not covered? A: For V1/ V2 items, warranty is for a minimum of 5 years and covers failures from normal wear and tear and inherent defects. For V1/V2 items, what is not covered is other than fair wear and tear. For the V3 item, the requirement is for an extended condit ional warranty for a minimum of 5 years (see question 33 above). Longer warranty periods are desired. 115. Q: When will the draft Terms and Conditions be available? Section L & M? A: Draft sections L and M have already been posted, however; it is anticipated that sections L and M will be revised. 116. Q: What is the anticipated acquisition schedu le? A: The acquisition schedule is being revised to reflect at least a 30 day slip to the RFP date. 117. Q: When are the key program events? A: Program events provided during Industry Day should reflect a 30 day slip of the RFP. 118. Q: When will first orders be received? A: It is anticipated that the initial delivery order will be placed at contract award. 119. Q: When is the first delivery under CHS-3 scheduled? A; Actual schedules will be determined at award. However current planning is that V2 products will be delivered 8 months after contract award, V3 products will be delivered 9 months after award and V1 products will be delivered 90 days after award. 120. Q: Why has the Army elected to cancel one on one sessions? A: After careful review the government has determined that one on one sessions were not necessary for this competitive solicitation. 121. Q: What is the historical basis for the quantities provided in Table 1 in Section M? A: These quantities are based on the projected average yearly requirement as provided from our potential PM customers of CHS-3 equipment. 122. Q: Will deviations or waivers be allowed on the CHS-3 contract? A: See paragraph 3.5 for complete description of the Configuration Management requirements on this program. 123. Q: Will potential bidders be given access to CHS-2 libraries to include Test Plans and reports, Deviations and waivers, CHS-2 technical data packages/drawing packages, and field reliability data and ILS support data? A: CHS-3 library is being established to provide potential bidders access to all information required to submit a proposal. This library will be operational prior to formal release of the RFP. However based on the nature of this program to procure COTS/N DI equipment, specific CHS-2 information will not be provided to eliminate the potential to limit potential bidders from proposing new and innovative solutions to our requirements. CHS-2 test plans and reports, technical data packages/drawings, field reli ability data and ILS support data will not be part of the CHS-3 library.
 

Place of Performance

Address: US Army Aviation and Missile Command DAAH01 ATTN: AMSAM-AC, Building 5303, Martin Road Redstone Arsenal AL

Zip Code: 35898-5280

Country: US
 

Record

SN00190463-W 20021020/021018213430 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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