140G0125R0001_LST_Q_A_11-1-2024_0002.pdf

US Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Science Team Solicitation 140G0125R0001 – Q&A (11/1/2024)

# QUESTION ANSWER

1 Are Co-PIs allowed, assuming there is a clear indication who the LST member will be?

Yes. Note however that the USGS contract is issued to only the lead PI’s organization.

2 Past Performance: Is this focusing on the lead PI or the institution submitting the proposal? If there are no prior

USGS contracts should contracts with other relevant agencies be included (eg NASA)? If it is institutional performance should the CPARS site be used?

Past performance is removed as an evaluation factor. Offerors no longer need to submit past performance information. All other evaluation factors remain unchanged. Reference RFP

Sections L and M.

3 Is there any template \ clear guidelines for the proposal requirements? Number of pages? Content? Etc?

Yes, this information can be found in

Section L of the RFP.

4 I understand that government employees cannot propose to this RFP. Is it allowed to include them as non-funded

Co-I?

No. Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) 3.601 prohibits knowingly awarding a contract to a government employee. A non-funded Co-I would be considered part of the funded contract due to involvement in proposal preparation and performance. Reference

FAR 3.601 and RFP provision GS2112 for more information on involvement of current or former government employees.

5 One question that came up was a clarification in Section

C on Page 9 of 48 of the RFP, Required Topical

Expertise, paragraph 3: “Landsat Science Team proposers are encouraged to group around joint and complementary objectives by science discipline, with a designated PI, supporting Co-Investigators, Post-Doctoral staff, students and/or technical support staff across multiple institutions if appropriate.”

When you say "science discipline", do you mean for example: cryopshere, and the complementary objectives could be snow albedo, SWE, snowmelt modeling, glaciers, sea ice, etc? Or do you mean for example forming teams like snow, vegetation, and fire which all interact with each other?

Under this RFP, the organization is considered the contractor. Proposing organizations are encouraged to provide a

Landsat Science Team membership structure that best suits the proposed scope work and its application. "Science discipline" may include either one broad discipline that establishes an organizational framework that links multiple sub-disciplines, or a broader level application that examines the interactions among multiple broad science disciplines (snow, vegetation, fire as noted in example).