Powered Flight Program (PFP) United States Naval Academy
Sources Sought Announcement
Disclaimer:
THIS SOURCES SOUGHT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. IT 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.
Purpose:
The purpose of this sources sought is to determine the technical and industry capability of potential offerors to provide the required products and determine the method of acquisition prior to the issuance of the solicitation. This market research tool is being used to identify commercial solutions to satisfy the Navy’s requirement. The Government is interested to hear from firms of all sizes. The responses to this Sources Sought will be utilized to determine if any Small Business Set-aside opportunities exist.
Any resultant solicitation will be released to https://sam.gov. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement.
Requirement Description:
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) has a requirement for contractor services, supplies, and tasks for the operation and support of the Powered Flight Program (PFP) program to be conducted near the United States Naval Academy (USNA) in Annapolis, MD. The critical objectives of this effort are to introduce military procedures-based flight training and performance standards; to screen students for aeronautical adaptability; to decrease future drop on request (DOR) and attrition at follow-on flight school; and to improve performance in follow-on primary flight training. The scope of work includes contractor-provided certified flight instructors (CFI), contractor owned and operated PA-28 Piper Warrior IIs, spare aircraft to ensure sufficient aircraft are available for each successive wave during the day at the home airfield in Annapolis, MD, training aids, materials, maintenance, publications, equipment, and services necessary to perform flight screening.
The contractor shall execute the PFP training requirement at a home airfield in the Annapolis, MD area to meet the cadet student throughput requirements. The required home airfield must be located no further than 40 statute miles driving distance from the USNA in Annapolis, MD. The contractor’s daily flight operations shall provide flight training for approximately 130 total students consisting of 3 training blocks, each being 4 weeks in duration, during the summer beginning on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Government Flight Instructors shall also conduct flight training, as required by the PFP Syllabus.
The anticipated PSC code is U099 - Education and Training Services: Other Education and Training Services. The anticipated NAICS code is 611512 - Flight Training.
The contract period of performance is expected to be one year. Responses to this notice should include a brief synopsis of the contractor’s experience in providing flight-training services.
Describe the following:
- Number of Certified Flight Instructors you employed on past contracts for flight training.
- The number and location of airfields you simultaneously used to support past contracts.
- Your firm’s access to airfields within 40 miles of Annapolis, MD:
- Discuss whether existing facilities would be sufficient, as is, to support the minimum throughput required or whether some other facility solution would be needed
- Discuss the type of airfield access (ownership, long-term lease, etc.)
- Your firm’s ability to provide sorties equal to the number of students participating in the training block divided by two. To meet this sortie rate, the normal flight schedule will consist of 5 waves of a maximum of 8 to 9 sorties each, beginning with a 06:30 first brief time for Wave 1 and ending with a 20:00 land time for Wave 5 in the Annapolis, MD area using contractor-owned and operated, identically configured general aviation aircraft (PA-28 Piper Warrior IIs).
- Your firm’s access to facilities to support up to 40 personnel during peak flight operations.
- Your firm’s past experience with flight training using a Firm Fixed Price type of contract.
- Provide a copy of the contractor’s currently effective Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Agency Certificate (FAA Form 8000-4) and Letter of Authorization (LOA), and points-of-contact at the jurisdictional Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). The requested documents are exempt from the page limitation.
Response Submission Instructions:
Firms that believe they can demonstrate the capabilities required to be considered for this opportunity must submit an electronic response to the Contract Specialist, Gabriella Hinds at gabriella.h.hinds.civ@us.navy.mil, no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 24 March 2025 including a reference to “[Enter Your Company’s Name] Response to Powered Flight Program (PFP) United States Naval Academy Sources Sought Notice” within the subject line of the e-mail. Please use this subject line format for ease of internal configuration control. Courtesy copy shall be provided to virginia.l.marquez.civ@us.navy.mil, the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO).
The capabilities statement package should include:
- Company Name, CAGE Code, Company Address and Points-of-Contact (POC) including full name, phone number, fax number, and email address.
- Company Business Size under the mentioned NAICS code. Respondents to this notice must also indicate whether they are a large business or qualify as a Small, Small Disadvantaged, Small Disadvantaged Veteran Owned Small Business, Women-Owned, 8(a), Hub Zone or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Concern. Identify any certifications. If your company is in the 8(a) program, provide graduation date.
- For Small Businesses: If you are a small business interested in being the prime contractor for this effort, please be advised that the FAR 52.219-14 Limitations on Subcontracting clause has changed. Deviation 2020-O0008 is now in effect which adds the definition of “Similarly Situated Entity” and changes the 50% calculation for compliance with the clause. Small business primes may now count “first tier subcontracted” work performed by similarly situated entities as if it were performed by the prime itself. Please read the full text of the clause.
To assist in our market research and determination of any applicable small business set-aside for this effort, if you are a small business interested in priming this effort and plan to utilize “similarly situated entities” to meet the Limitations on Subcontracting, please identify the name & CAGE Code of the specific firm(s) you intend to partner/subcontract with to meet the requirements as well as their SB size status under the NAICS that you as the prime would assign for their workshare. Information regarding any planned similarly situated entity should be included in answering any questions outlined in the notice in order to assist the Government’s capability determination.
If you plan on subcontracting to other companies in order to deliver technical capability, please provide details on exactly which tasks will be assigned to those subcontractors; in addition, provide the names of those anticipated subcontractors, and list the anticipated percentage of small business subcontracting. Written responses should be submitted as a Microsoft Word document, limited to 5 pages (8.5”x11”), single-sided, and 10-point Times New Roman font size.
For information or questions regarding this Sources Sought Notice, contact the cognizant Contract Specialist, Gabriella Hinds at gabriella.h.hinds.civ@us.navy.mil, or the PCO, Virginia Marquez at virginia.marquez.civ@us.navy.mil.
