140G0125R0001_LST_Q_A_11-12-24_0003.pdf

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

# 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 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).

6 For this USGS proposal, is there an IDC cap (like some other USGS award types), or is the IDC rate the full rate set by the institution?

There is no IDC rate cap set by USGS under this RFP.

7 It is known that Co-Is and Key Technical Personnel can be listed in the proposal, but are unpaid collaborators also allowed?

It is up to the offeror to propose the composition of the team. The USGS contract is issued to only the lead PI's organization. The organization is considered the contractor. Unpaid work

(labor) is not permissible under the resulting contract. Any/all allowable costs associated with the team members

US Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Science Team Solicitation 140G0125R0001 – Q&A contributing to the government's requirements under this contract shall be accounted for and paid (reimbursed) by the government under the contract award.

As a reminder, this is not a grant solicitation (federal funding opportunity).

This is a solicitation for a contract award

(acquisition).

8 Please confirm if your office has a preferred Cost

Proposal Template for the above referenced request for proposal.

There is no preferred template beyond what's stated in Section L of the solicitation which specifies formatting and information required. Section L.8 specifically outlines cost proposal instructions.

9 I am having trouble finding “Standard Form 33 cover page”, as referenced in L.5 of the RFP- can you point me in the right direction?

This should read Standard Form 1447.

Correction made.

10 L.6 states “Each resume must indicate the applicable contract labor category under which that individual will be assigned for work performed under the contract”. As a professor, I am not sure which contract labor category I fall into, do you know this information, or do you know where I can look this up? Also, do you which categories a university Research Scientist and a university Postdoc should be listed as?

Labor category to reflect the role the individual assumes under performance of the contract. Generally, professor would be “PI”. Example as follows:

Labor

Category/Title

Fixed Burdened

Rates

PI $

Co-I $

Post-Doc $

Research Scientist $

11 I see that "past performance" has been completely removed as an evaluation factor. Related to this, should we include a "current and pending" grants document from the investigators? Most programs I have applied for require this document, but I didn't see it mentioned in the

RFP.

No, that document is not required. This

RFP not a grant solicitation (federal funding opportunity). This is a solicitation for a contract award

(acquisition). Please do note the remaining evaluation factors in Sections

L and M, which includes research team experience.