1) On the one hand, you've correctly identified something that'll require some working, but I disagree with why. Everything you need is in Edge of the Empire (or rather Age of Rebellion as it's the military themed game on the same system). It outlines Force use and offers a couple of powers. Since you'll end up making your own anyway, it doesn't really matter that it's somewhat limited.

The problem I'd see is that the Dark Side is baked into the system. Since there isn't a Dark Side to biotics, it'd take a bit of fiddling to get something you're happy with. I imagine a system that works something like: When activating a Power Check you may either use your Force Rating as your result or you may roll dice equal to your Force Rating. If you roll, count all pips as Light Side Points regardless of what color they are but take a number of wounds equal to the number of black pips rolled. (Obviously, that doesn't mean anything to you if you don't know the rules yet, but just illustrating there are solutions)

This would include some of the "biotics are dangerous" stuff that you get in Kaidan's back story. It gives a "health for power" trade-off that was part of the different models of Biotic Amps. But I have neither play tested this nor done the math on it. It may be a straight buff to Biotics, causing imbalance (I doubt it, but it's possible).

But worst case, scrap the whole Force system. Make a Talent Tree full of active talents to represent the biotic powers (use things like Scathing Tirade as an example if you end up trying this) and in so doing, you've baked biotic use back into the standard resolution mechanic. So it should definitely be manageable.

2) I can't tell you what will happen with your group, but I can tell you that nearly two years of play later, our group still loves the dice. Were they strictly necessary to get the results the developers wanted: maybe not. Are they a gimmick: I certainly don't think so, and neither do my players.