Volume 18

Volume 18

In This Week’s Newsletter: 03/07/24

  • Culture Corner: Real Results
  • Competitive Intelligence & Pricing: Outside Continental U.S. (OCONUS) Travel Pricing
  • Opportunity Spotlight of the Week: USSOCOM Special Operations Forces Intelligence Support Services III (ISSJ III)
  • AI Corner: Proposal Evaluations & Generative AI
  • Four To Follow: Get the lowdown on four interesting pursuits!
Culture_Corner__1_

Real Results

Contact Angela: angela.marsh@hinzconsulting.com

How do you know that you’re making an impact? Our latest proof came in the form of a beautiful gift basket for one of our Hinzers, Katie Clatterbuck! It’s unusual for a consultant to get that kind of a treat at the end of an assignment. Kudos to both Katie and her client! Check out the LinkedIn post here.

Other ways we see real results:

  • Hinzers often get requested by name
  • Hinzers are asked for additional support from our company
  • Hinzers are engaged in companywide events at a very high rate

Does your company’s culture have that kind of impact?

Tom_CI

Outside Continental U.S. (OCONUS) Travel Pricing

Contact Tom: thomas.hudgins@hinzconsulting.com

You are preparing to price a contract and you see requirements for labor, Other Direct Costs (ODCs), Direct Materials (DMs), and Subcontractors (Subks). All good, but in ODCs you see requirements for OCONUS travel. At first thought, you assume that all you need are quotes for airfare, hotel, and per diem, but OCONUS travel brings many additional considerations.

The below is for purely OCONUS locations (not including Alaska, Hawaii, and US Territories and Possessions):

  • Danger pay
  • Hardship pay
  • Cost of Living Allowance (COLA)
  • Housing Allowance (HOLA)
  • Education allowance
  • Additional allowances/costs (non-DoS)

Key Takeaways:

  • OCONUS travel is more than airfare, hotel, and per diem; there are many other considerations, both from DoS and non-DoS
  • Know the DoS Office of Allowances; it contains amounts and other data by location, as well as additional guidance and regulations.
  • Know the # of independents the employee is taking; needed to estimate all applicable costs.

Bid_Spotlight

USSOCOM Special Operations Forces Intelligence Support Services III (ISSJ III)

Contact Len: len.miller@hinzconsulting.com

SOCOM posted a special notice for Industry Engagement to SAM.gov on 28 Feb 2024 about the recompete of ISSJ called ISSJ III.  USSOCOM is hosting an Industry Engagement Event on 9-12 April 2024 at the Systems Planning and Analysis (SPA) Crown Center Conference Facility at 8211 Terminal Road, Suite 1000, Lorton, VA 22079. Day 1 will be two Information Sessions provided by the Government with Q&A.  Days 2 through 4 (if needed) will be a series of one-on-one sessions between the Government and Companies who intend to Prime and hold the required facility clearances.

It is currently estimated that this could continue to be an SDVOSB set aside with Draft RFPs being released around 26 March 2024 so those are available before the Industry Engagement days.  These are to be posted to SAM.gov.

AI_Corner

Proposal Evaluation & Generative AI

Contact Josh: josh.thiel@hinzconsulting.com

Public Sector organizations are beginning to show interest in using Generative AI tools for proposal evaluation. The technology has matured to the point in which it can analyze multiple proposal evaluations and generate a summarized consensus review.

Highlights:

  • AI algorithm analyzes various evaluations of a proposal.
  • Identifies common themes, strengths, and weaknesses mentioned by evaluators.
  • Synthesizes this information into a succinct and informative summary.
  • Allows decision-makers to focus on adding value and insights that help win.

By doing so, generative AI can help streamline the decision-making process by providing a clear and concise overview of the key points from multiple evaluations.

Opportunities

Four to Follow:

  1. USSOCOM Global System Support Engineering (GSSE)USSOCOM issued an updated RFI on 27 Feb with responses due 19 March. The estimated RFP release is sometime in April 2024 for this estimated $250M program which is being recompeted. There are two incumbent contractors and a new contract is expected to commence in July 2024.
  2. Contract Field Teams Program Labor Augmentation Support Requirements (CFT) This recompete is expected to occur this spring with the final RFP being released in April. Q&A on draft RFP was released on 28 Feb. Again expecting multiple awards across Unrestricted and partial SBSA with awards occurring in May 2025.
  3. GSA ASCEND BPAThe Industry Day materials were made publicly available on 28 Feb and were posted to both GSA eBuy and SAM.gov. These postings contain the slides and transcript. We still believe the first RFP will be released in the Summer of 2024 with awards in Nov/Dec 2024.
  4. NAVAIR IT Enterprise Engineering Operations and Hosting Support Services NAVAIR provided Q&A to the draft RFP on 22 Feb. The final RFP is still estimated for released before the end of March 2024 for the recompete for this estimated $500M SBSA IDIQ program.

About Hinz Consulting

Hinz Consulting provides services across the full business development cycle:

  • Proposal Consulting
  • AI Services
  • Strategic Pricing
  • Training
  • Capture
  • Competitive Intelligence
  • BD Transformation Consulting
  • Process/Methodology Consulting
  • Tools and Templates
  • Production Services
  • Small Business