Note: At bottom a path is shown where a qualified small business could win this contract.

The new Program Management Contractor Support Services (PM CSS), Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ), Multiple Award Contract (MAC) may be your opportunity to enter or expand your NAVAIR business. The draft Request for Proposal (RFP) released for the NAVAIR PM CSS contract is based on the GSA OASIS solicitation construct. If you’re not familiar with the GSA OASIS solicitation, it had a non-conventional proposal format based on an objective quantitative and qualitative scoring system. Scoring for the PM CSS is a point system derived from your past experience and past performance across a maximum of five prime contracts within the past five years; with additional points for any company financial systems, certifications, and security clearances. Like OASIS, allowable contracts are selected by assigned NAICS or Product Service Category (PSC) codes.

NAVAIR PM CSS is a Non-Traditional Solicitation
RFP mirrors the GSA OASIS construct.

  •  No Offer Design is required
  •  No Technical Solution is required
  •  No Management Solution is required
  •  No Resumes are required
  •  No NAVAIR experience is required
  •  No Customer Relationships are required

Source selection is based solely on an objective point system.

Although arriving after the Air Force and Army to the OASIS ball, the Navy is on the dance floor. Last year NAVAIR signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with GSA that joined the Navy Supply System MOU that committed $500M in funding to the OASIS contract vehicle. Late last year NAVAIR awarded a $145M Task Order to Booz Allen Hamilton. No slow dancing here.

Goal of NAVAIR PM CSS
To establish a rapid-response FAR 16.5 Task Order contract that can support PEOs and PMAs in responding to urgent and “Speed to the Fleet” sustainment needs.

NAVAIR has decided to copy the GSA OASIS dance moves to improve the response time and flexibility of its acquisition processes. The goal is to reduce the IDIQ Task Order (TO) cycle time from 18 to 24 months (as seen on Seaport-e) to 4 months on this new IDIQ. With serious fleet readiness issues, NAVAIR feels the need for speed. These readiness issues include 53 percent of Navy and Marine Corp aircraft unfit to fly, as reported by the Department of Defense in February this year. So, there is earnestness in their efforts. The PM CSS IDIQ is intended to provide a rapid-response solution to help the Program Executive Offices (PEOs) and Program Management Offices (PMAs) in responding to urgent and “speed to the fleet” requirements. The contract scope covers overall management of NAVAIR weapon systems through the entire acquisition and sustainment lifecycle. But, this is only the first dance. The NAVAIR dance card holds future OASIS-type solicitations for its other core competencies in delivering rapid-response services and solutions to the fleet; such as research and engineering, and logistics and industrial operations.

If you want to get on the dance floor, you better know the right dance moves. There is an art and science to submitting a winning proposal. This includes understanding the 42 scoring element, the scoring algorithm to maximize your scoring potential, and having detailed knowledge of all 24 substantiating documents to build a compliant audit trail. This includes knowing how you can gain points, and how you can lose points. The winning companies will likely leverage expertise gained from submitting proposals under other non-traditional solicitation; such as the GSA OASIS, ALLIANT 2, VETS 2 and HCaTS IDIQ proposals.

The Opportunity and Challenge before the Bidders

The final RFP for PM CSS is scheduled to be released in Sept 2017, with awards made in April 2018. It’s not too late to evaluate this opportunity. NAVAIR intends to make 20 awards on this small business set-aside. There is no competitive advantage for those who have been watching this opportunity since it was announced in Jun 2017. With the right contracts and expertise, a winning proposal can be packaged in 30 days.

However, there is a challenge facing bidders who are not already adept at preparing a proposal in response to a GSA OASIS / ALLIANT style solicitation or have not previously worked for NAVAIR. It is tricky to know how to prepare the various proposal elements in a way that will score enough evaluation points to win.

The Winning Edge

OCI is offering to help provide the winning edge to qualified small business.
We can provide SME talent with deep experience in NAVAIR / the OASIS – ALLIANT proposal model as follows:

1. Preliminary assessment of company’s capability to win – No charge
2. Detailed assessment of your scoring potential, and specific recommendations on how to increase your score
3. Assistance preparing the proposal if needed

With the final RFP expected in September, those companies planning to win need to move forward ASAP.

If you have questions, please call us at 703-689-9600 and mention the PM CSS program or contact us here.