INL Bogota Medium Lift Helicopter Wet Lease IDIQ

PURPOSE

This RFI is issued for market research purposes only. The purpose of this notice is twofold:

1. To obtain industry feedback on the Statement of Work (SOW) and proposed acquisition strategy. Feedback is requested from both U.S. small business concerns and other than small business concerns.

1. To identify U.S. small business concerns having an interest in and capability to provide support for INL Bogota’s helicopter wet lease program. Responses to this notice will be considered in selecting the acquisition strategy and to determine the appropriateness of setting aside this requirement for any one of the small business programs described in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 19.

Information contained in this notice is preliminary in nature and subject to change. This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposals (RFP), Request for Quotations (RFQ), Invitation for Bids (IFB), or a commitment on the part of the government to conduct a solicitation in the future. All information provided is strictly voluntary. The Government will not reimburse contractors for the costs of responding to this notice or otherwise participating in market research activities. Further, the US Department of State offers no assurance that a solicitation will result from this notice.

REQUIREMENTS

The Department is looking for sources to providing safe, operable helicopters to support INL Bogota helicopter wet lease requirements. Contractors must have a Colombian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licensed fleet of helicopters based and maintained in Colombia for the transport of passengers, equipment and/or supplies of Class I-X. All aircrew personnel must be fluent Spanish speakers and certified in their positions by the Colombian CAA.  Civil Airlift Review Board (CARB) certification, while not required, is preferred. Both internal and external lift operations are required. The Government is interested in obtaining information on US or allied-nation airframes available for use in Colombia.

A draft SOW is included in attachment A. The draft SOW does not represent the totality of requirements the Government expects to fill via the IDIQs. Submission of additional helicopter wet-lease capabilities (i.e., larger or smaller payload, passengers, etc.), while not required, is welcomed.

EXPECTED CONTRACT TYPE

The Department expects to award one or more IDIQ contracts with a 5-year effective (e.g., ordering) period. Flight hours are to be priced on a FFP basis and a minimum amount of flight hours per month are not guaranteed.

RESPONSE

To be considered, a response to this notice must be submitted to FernandezJM@state.gov no later than 4:00 pm ET on April 11, 2023.

The Government will only consider responses submitted in the attachment B format. The format is required to facilitate the Government’s analysis of responses. Responses providing partial information may not be considered by the Government.

Telephone inquiries will not be accepted nor acknowledged. Questions, if any, must be directed via email to FernandezJM@state.gov.

The Government reverses the right to conduct one-on-one interviews with any of the respondents to this notice. Depending on the number of responses received one-on-one interviews may not be conducted with each respondent.