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Contract Opportunity

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products or commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; quotes are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The solicitation number W913E524Q0010 is being issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ).

This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 2022-06.

The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 7481219 – Other Nonscheduled Air Transport which has a small business size standard of $25M.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL)’s Terrestrial & Cryospheric Sciences Branch (TCSB) requires the services of an aircraft during 16 April 2024 through 1 May 2024 to support sea ice research on floating ice masses located offshore from Northern Canada and Greenland. The aircraft shall land on unimproved drifting sea ice located up to 300nm (nautical miles) from base locations in Eureka, Canada, CFS Alert Canada, and Nord, Greenland to permit CRREL DoD personnel to deploy research buoys and collect samples and measurements. Unimproved landing sites are typically refrozen leads with little snow and ice over 80cm thick. On-ice time can vary from 15-minutes to 4-hours to deploy the buoy and collect necessary site data.

Performance Specifications: The Contractor shall provide aircraft services under a Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB)-certified (DoD-Approved Carrier) operation. The aircraft must operate out of base locations in Eureka, Canada and Nord, Greenland. Operations out of Eureka will feature landing and refueling at CFS Alert to access the area of interest within 300nm of Alert.

Aircraft. Contractor's quote must explain the exact kind of aircraft and landing gear to be used.

Short field capability: Aircraft to be used must be capable of short field landings on un-improved sea ice at a radius of up to 300nm from each base location. Short field landing capability is defined as 1200 ft or less takeoff and landing over a 50 ft object at maximum gross weight as listed in the aircraft POH.

Fuel: The only fuel available at these locations is JetA/JP8/JetA1 and variants. Aircraft must be able to burn the variant available. There are no alternate supplies. 100LL Avgas is not available. Government will coordinate access to supplies at Eureka, Alert, and Nord. Contractor is responsible for paying for all fuel. Government will not coordinate fuel supplies at any other location.

Payload/Range: Aircraft must accommodate three passengers and the pilot/crew, up to 400 lb. of scientific equipment including 3 buoys which measure 8'x1'x2' each, and sufficient fuel load (possibly including auxiliary tanks) for deployment to the maximum range of 300 nm (one way), takeoff/landing 15 minutes of circling, and return with a safety margin of 1 hour of flight time or more. Aircraft must also accommodate safe transit between all points on the itinerary, Resolute Bay-Eureka-Alert-Nord and back.

DoD Approval: Contractor and aircraft must be certified through the CARB process and have current status as a DoD Approved Carrier. The CARB approval must be provided with the Contractor's quote for review.

Safety Equipment, Instrumentation: In addition to all equipment required by pertinent aviation regulation and DoD Approved Carrier certification, aircraft shall also be equipped with a radar altimeter, a satellite phone hard-wired into the radio and another portable satellite phone, and winter survival gear for persons onboard. The quote shall also include the Contractor’s safety check-in procedure that involves flight tracking and two-way communications with a base before and after every phase of flight operations. The pilot must have communication equipment onboard to communicate with CRREL staff on-land to confirm the buoy is operational prior to departure.

Regulatory Compliance: Operations must be in compliance with all relevant regulations in Canada and Greenland and regulations of Villum/Nord and Alert stations, respectively. Operator is responsible for complying with all customs clearance regulations to transit the international boundary and all other regulations to complete the flight activity portion of the mission. The science team will be responsible for permitting the scientific data collection.

Please reference the attached RFQ for full details of the requirement as well as all applicable provisions and clauses.

Award will be made to the responsible offeror whose offer represents the Best Value to the Government, in consideration of all factors. The following factors will be used to determine the most advantageous offeror to the Government: 1) technical capability to provide the requested services and materials in its entirety; 2) relevant experience; and 3) total price.

A technically acceptable quote is one that clearly represents the ability to satisfy the minimum specified requirements outlined in Section C, Performance Work Statement (PWS), and the quote submission Instructions to Offerors outlined in Section L of the attached RFQ. The basis for award will be an acceptable offer, the price of which may not be the lowest.

FOB Destination: CRREL, Fort Wainwright, Alaska 99703.

Payment Terms: Net 30

Please provide responses to this notice, no later than Wednesday, 13 March 2024, 12:00 PM, Central Standard Time (CST) to:

Kim.D.Roberson@usace.army.mil

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

*Note: To be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete representations and certifications. For more information, review the SAM website at https://www.sam.gov.

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