U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command, Attn: SMDC-CM, 106 Wynn Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805-1990

A -- SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (SETAC) DUE 092100 POC Lynne Washburn, Contract Specialist, 256-955-4160, Contracting Officer -- Lynne Washburn E-MAIL: CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE ATTENDANCE AT BREAKOUT SESSION, DANNY.GARRETT@SMDC.ARMY.MIL. This special announcement has three purposes: (1) to obtain expressions of interest from the small business community in the SMDC SETAC recompetition at the prime contractor level, (2) to roughly gauge the capability of those interested small business firms or teams as viable contenders at the prime contractor level, and (3) to obtain the expressions of interest from all businesses in further discussions. The briefings and associated evaluations discussed in this notice do NOT replace the in-depth evaluation of a firm's or team's ability to perform; that evaluation will be part of the formal source selection process. As the Government is unsure of the extent of anticipated small and small disadvantaged business participation, it is undecided as to how many and/or what types of set-aside awards to target during the development of its acquisition strategy. The extent of small business participation is made more complicated by the new Small Business Administration (SBA) rules on affiliation, teaming, andlimitations on subcontracting. Briefly, small businesses may now team together (or even affiliate) and be eligible for award of a set-aside contract, providing that each team member meets the SIC/NAICS code small business definition. Prior to the rule change, a contracting officer could set aside an acquisition when there was an expectation of two or more competitive offers from small business prime contractors who would perform at least 50% of the work. The new rules allow a set-aside when there is an expectation of two or more competitive offers from small business teams when at least 50% of the services will be performed by the collective efforts of all small business members of the team. Further, the new SBA 8(a) affiliation rules allow joint ventures or teams when each team member is small according to the applicable SIC/NAICS Code and the 8(a) concern performs a "significant amount" of the work with its own employees. Such teams and/or joint ventures require the prior approval of the SBA. Small Businesses should note the FAR 19 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code and size standard for the SETAC is 8731/1000 employees and the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code and size standard is 54171/1000 employees. The contractors will be expected to provide non-personal services for systems engineering and technical assistance in support of the Mission and Function Statements for the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville and Washington DC; Program Executive Office -- Air and Missile Defense; and Other Government Agencies related to space, air, and/or missile defense. This support is both broad ranging and ever changing. The current SETAC scope of work (SOW) has six functional areas: Requirements Definition, Integration, and Planning; Technology Development, Assessment, and Validation; Threat Estimation/Projections; Weapons Lethality and Effects Estimation; Engagement Simulation and Interfacing; and Program/Project Analysis, Evaluation, and Support. This follow-onacquisition is anticipated to have the same or similar functional areas. This acquisition will result in multiple awards with identical SOWs and numbers of person-hours. The contracts will consist of fixed-price labor categories and cost reimbursable travel and materials line items. The Government does not intend to limit either the number or types of teaming arrangements entered into by the potential offerors (i.e., any given contractor could propose as a prime contractor as well as participate as a subcontractor on one or more other proposing teams). Further, we do not intend to impose any restrictions on team membership after award. The resultant contracts will contain an organizational conflict of interest (OCI) clause that could limit a successful proposer from participating in any other U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Program Executive Office -- Air and Missile Defense (PEO-AMD), and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) contracts. To the greatest extent possible, while still protecting the Government's interests, the OCI clause will be applied only for the supported technology areas of the contractor's actual SETAC performance. Any small business firms, including 8(a) firms, intending to propose as a prime contractor (especially those planning to use the new affiliation and teaming rules issued by the SBA) are invited to give a capability presentation to the Government (limited to one hour). Interested firms should submit an email stating your interest in presenting such a briefing to the Government within 30 days after the date of this announcement to danny.garrett@smdc.army.mil (title email "SETAC Capability Briefing"). Large business requests for capability briefing opportunities as a prime contractor are not desired at this time. The capability presentations/briefings will not be scheduled earlier than 45 days from the date of this synopsis. The capability presentations should focus on issues that affect the decision as to number/types of set-aside awards such as: (1) the breadth and depth of technical and management expertise to successfully execute their SETAC roles, (2) the capability to quickly ramp up qualified and trained personnel at the onset of the contract, (3) the capability to administer and manage an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, task order contract (expected as a minimum to be $100M per year for the total program) with numerous subcontractors, (4) assurance that the small business firm or small business team will perform 50% of the work, (5) capability to perform realistic cost and schedule projections for complex technical and integration efforts, (6) a contract management structure that allows for an integrated organization accountable for total performance responsibility, and (7) an understanding of Army, DoD, and Government Agencies with whom USASMDC and PEO-AMD interface. In order to further explore issues related to potential small business prime contractor offerors; the effect of such on potential large business offerors; and other SETAC-related issues, the SMDC CAMO and SADBU will host "break out" meetings with all interested 8(a), Small Business, and Large Business firms individually over the next 90 days; these meetings will not replace the overall Industry Conferences planned for FY01. Tentative dates for the "break out" sessions are September 25-27, 2000. If you are interested in attendance at one of these "break out" sessions, please email your company name and address, POC name, telephone number, email address, business size, anticipated number of attendees, and whether you are primarily interested as a prime contractor or a subcontractor to danny.garrett@smdc.army.mil (title email "SETAC Break-out Sessions"). This acquisition is not open to participation by foreign firms at either the prime or subcontract level. Posted 08/17/00 (W-SN487448). (0230)

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