00. ARTS DRFP Cover Letter - Signed.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000

February 5, 2024

ARC-JAI

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80ARC024R0001 for

Aerospace, Research, Technology, and Simulation (ARTS)

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center’s (ARC) Aerospace, Research, Technology, and Simulations (ARTS) solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to provide support to NASA ARC in the performance of aeronautics and technology mission objectives, particularly the engineering services to operate, maintain, and upgrade the simulation facilities and the persistent software facilities located at ARC and the Flight Simulation Facilities at Langley Research Center (LaRC).

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work.

Potential offerors should identify any unnecessary or inefficient requirements, and are also encouraged to comment on the DRFP Contract Line-Item Number (CLIN) structure, any unique terms and conditions, the clarity of the Hypothetical Case Studies, and the Section L&M Evaluation Criteria.

This competitive acquisition will result in hybrid contract consisting of Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) CLINs for Phase-in and Core Contract Management with Cost-Plus-Fixed Fee (CPFF) CLINs for Core Technical Requirements. The Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) component may issue FFP or CPFF task orders. The contract will have an effective IDIQ ordering period of five years from the contract effective date, and Core requirements with a total potential period of performance of 5 years, consisting of a 12-month Base, four 12-month Options for both Core Contract Management and Core. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541330 and the small business size standard is $25.5M.

Potential offerors should ensure its company is listed in the online database(s) for the following:

(1) System for award management: https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

(2) U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, VETS-4212 Reports: https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/

(3) Date Universal Numbering System (and the transition to the US Government’s unique https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/ entity identifier (UEI)): https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

The successful offeror must pass an Equal Opportunity (EEO) clearance before contract award (See FAR 22.805).

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about March 6, 2024, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days later.

The anticipated contract award date is approximately September 22, 2024, with a contract effective date of approximately October 11, 2024. The contract will be performed primarily onsite at NASA ARC and NASA LaRC.

The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding this acquisition:

1. A phase-in period will be conducted. The period of performance of the phase-in shall be 45 days starting on the effective date of the contract and will be acquired under FFP CLIN 0001 of the resultant contract.

2. The Government will make available existing Installation-Accountable Government Property (IAGP) for onsite contract performance as described in the DRFP.

3. The ARTS Presolicitation conference is anticipated to be held on February 13, 2024. The

ARTS Presolicitation conference slides will be posted prior to the meeting. Notice will be posted on the acquisition website noted below.

4. There is no Site Visits planned.

5. NASA has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI). Offerors should refer to NFS clause 1852.209-71 Limitation of Future Contracting, for a description of the potential conflict(s) and any restrictions on future contracting.

6. Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s Enterprise

File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform.

Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box.

Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there are firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy requires all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

Document Format (PDF).

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments and links to online reference/technical/bidders library will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at the following link:

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate- Listing.pdf.

This DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA is not requesting proposals. This DRFP does not commit NASA ARC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA ARC to procure or contract for this requirement. This request is not an authorization to proceed, and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to Erik Whitehill, Contracting Officer, at erik.c.whitehill@nasa.gov and Shane Chapman, Contract Specialist at shane.p.chapman@nasa.gov, within 14 calendar days after the release of this DRFP.

If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a Government response. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP. Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the GPE if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

Erik Whitehill Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

Draft RFP 80ARC024R0001 Template for Submission of Comments https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf mailto:erik.c.whitehill@nasa.gov