Contractor Operated Primary Training - Rotary (COPT-R) Revised Sources Sought Announcement

The purpose of this Sources Sought Notice is to determine the interest, availability, and capabilities of potential offerors to provide the required services described herein.

INTRODUCTION & PROGRAM BACKGROUND:  Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) requires contractor services, supplies and tasks for the operations and support for a Contractor Operated Primary Training - Rotary (COPT-R) program that will be conducted near Joint Reserve Base (JRB) Fort Worth, TX for the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA).

The critical objective of the effort is for a contractor, that has been certified by the FAA under 14 CFR Part 141 as a pilot school, to train naval flight students (NFSs) in a CNATRA approved rotorcraft syllabus (modified from an existing FAA approved rotorcraft Training Course Outline (TCO)) such that the students achieve flight proficiency in basic rotorcraft operation prior to returning to CNATRA for intermediate and advanced rotorcraft flight training in military aircraft.  NFSs will be expected to receive approximately 50 hours of ground instruction and approximately 50 hours of flight instruction, with appropriate briefings before, and debriefings after, each flight.  NFSs will be expected to conduct at least one solo day flight event inside the 50 hours of flight instruction.

Because of the lack of solo time, the government recognizes that FAA minimums for graduation will not be met.

The total time in training, for each NFS, should be approximately 60 training days over the course of approximately 3 months.  Weekends and holidays would not be considered to be normal training days.

All flight training should be conducted in a single-engine turbine rotary-wing aircraft with a glass/digital cockpit display capable of VHF Omnidirectional Receiver (VOR) and Instrument Landing System (ILS)/Localizer approaches as well as terminal area RNAV (area navigation) operations.  The aircraft does not require IFR certification. 

The scope of work requires the contractor to provide sufficient certified flight instructors (CFI) and identically configured aircraft to both input and graduate (nominally) 8 NFSs per month.  The required home airfield (or airfields) must be located no further than 50 statute miles driving distance from JRB Fort Worth, TX – as displayed on the Google maps website.   The contractor’s facilities at, or near, those airfields shall support the full volume of NFSs in training at any one time – nominally 24.

The government is also interested in contractors’ ability to shift resources to potentially input and graduate as many as 50 students per month.

The contract period of performance is expected to be one year with four additional one-year option periods for a total of 5 years.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE: Performance will be within 50 statute mile driving distance from JRB Fort Worth, TX.

OFFER CAPABILLITY SUBMISSION DETAILS: Businesses who are interested in the subject effort and who have the necessary capabilities and facilities to accomplish this effort are requested to submit a brief written response of your company’s interest including Company Name, Company Address, CAGE Code, and Points of Contact (POC) including name(s), phone number, fax number, and email address. Respondents to this notice must also indicate whether they are a large business or qualify as a Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), , Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), 8(a), HUBZone Small Business, or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) concern under North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) code 611512 (Flight Training).  Please also provide the following information requested in items 1-6 below with your submission:

1.  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), a copy of its current and approved Private Pilot Rotorcraft/Helicopter Training Course Outline (TCO), and its points-of-contact at its jurisdictional Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).  The requested documents are exempt from the page limitation.

2.  Describe your firm’s access to, and existing facilities at (or near), airfields within 50 miles of JRB Fort Worth, TX.

(a) Discuss whether existing facilities would be sufficient, as is, to support the minimum throughput required or whether some other facility solution would be needed

            (b) Discuss the type of airfield access (ownership, long-term lease,