00. ARTS RFP Cover Letter - signed.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Ames Research Center

Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000

March 15, 2024

ARC-JAI

TO: All Prospective Offerors

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP), Solicitation No. 80ARC024R0002 for Aerospace, Research, Technology, and Simulations (ARTS)

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to 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).

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a small business set-aside competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541330 and the small business size standard is $25.5M.

This competitive acquisition will result in a 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 and four 12-month Options for both Core Contract Management and Core Technical Requirements.

The anticipated contract award date is approximately September 19, 2024, with a contract effective date of approximately October 11, 2024. The contract will be performed primarily onsite at NASA ARC and NASA LaRC.

Potential offerors should pay close attention to all solicitation instructions; however, the following requirements list is summarized to assist in proposal development. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and the solicitation terms and conditions and provisions in sections L and M take precedence:

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 RFP.

3. There are no Site Visits planned.

4. 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.

5. NASA ARC appreciates the comments received in response to the release of the Draft

RFP. These comments resulted in improvements to the quality and content of the overall RFP. Offerors should review the RFP in its entirety, as its content has changed from the Draft RFP version. The following list identifies some areas where significant changes or clarifications have been made from the Draft RFP to this final RFP that may not have been addressed in the Draft RFP questions and responses.

• The RFP number has changed from the Draft RFP number 80ARC024R0001 to the released RFP number 80ARC024R0002.

• For past performance definitions, the threshold to be considered a major subcontractor was reduced from $20,000,000 to $10,000,000 or more for performance of requirements over the five-year performance period of this contract and from $4,000,000 to $1,500,000 or more in any one year of this contract.

• The page limitation for the Past Performance Narrative portion of Proposal Volume

III has been clarified.

This list is not intended to cover all changes nor describe all RFP requirements. Offerors should carefully review the RFP in its entirety.

6. Be advised, in accordance with provision L.3.B(5), Offerors need to encourage their references to submit their Past Performance Questionnaires directly to the Contracting Officer prior to proposal due date.

7. Offerors are required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code that matches the corporate address submitted with its proposal.

Offerors are encouraged to refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.215-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION, in particular paragraph (f)(4) which discusses the Government’s right to award a contract without discussions.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy required all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). While the RFP’s Cost Volume exhibits are in PDF format, the

Offeror’s Cost Volume proposal shall include completed Cost Volume exhibits in Microsoft Office Excel format with working cell formulas.

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 Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub library/Omb.html.

This RFP does not commit NASA ARC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA ARC to procure or contract for these services. 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.

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation shall be due no later than April 15, 2024, 2:00 PM Pacific Time. 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 accordance with NFS 1815.201(f), a “Blackout Notice” has been issued to NASA personnel.

All inquiries/communications pertaining to this acquisition shall be directed only to the Contracting Officer listed below.

All questions regarding this RFP should be submitted in writing, electronically to Erik Whitehill, Contracting Officer, at erik.c.whitehill@nasa.gov and to the Contract Specialist Shane Chapman at shane.p.chapman@nasa.gov on or before March 22, 2024. Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Erik Whitehill Contracting Officer