140G0125R0001_LST_Q_A_11-25-24_0004.pdf

US Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Science Team Solicitation 140G0125R0001 – Q&A (11-25-2024)

# 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 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 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.

12 Will the science team receive any funds to conduct research, or just travel reimbursements? If I understand correctly, the target annual cost (budget) for each contract award is $150,000.00 to $250,000.00. Does this include proposals from international people?

The resulting awards (contracts) from the

RFP will be cost reimbursement contracts. No profit or fee to be included.

The science team member contractors

(awardees) under this RFP will receive funding for reimbursement of allowable costs. That includes direct labor, direct travel, and other allowable costs as specified under RFP and contract clause

FAR 52.216-7.

Yes, the target annual cost per contract award is $150,000.00 to $250,000.00.

International organizations are eligible to submit a proposal under this RFP.

13 Could USGS please confirm that the "Supporting and

Other Information" section is not included in the page count?

"Supporting and Other Information" is included in the page count. For "reprints of any published papers" hyperlinks are preferred to keep file sizes and page counts to a minimum.

14 Is it possible to include Letters of Support in the submitted documents for the complete proposal? Are letters of any kinds allowable?

In addition to the information/documentation required for submission (as specified in Section L of the solicitation), supporting documentation/information may be submitted as well. Unless expressly prohibited in the solicitation, the proposing organization may submit any supporting information/documentation it deems relevant and appropriate to address the evaluation factors specified in the solicitation.

15 From Item 7 in the most recent Q&A document, I understand the following: “Unpaid work (labor) is not permissible under the resulting contract. Any/all allowable costs associated with the team members contributing to the government's requirements under this contract shall be accounted for and paid (reimbursed) by the government under the contract award.” Can you please confirm that unpaid technical assistance is not allowed?

The government cannot accept unpaid services that directly support (e.g. direct labor) its requirements under this funded acquisition. Unpaid technical assistance that is not considered direct labor is acceptable.

16 For item 6, I’m not sure what does “it should also demonstrate the relationship of this program to overall company structure” mean. Could you please clarify here? For organizational chart, do you mean a chart on schools and departments (or just the proposal team, such as PI, Co-I, Postdoc, and student)? Shall I put this in the technical proposal and does this also counted as the 25 pages?

Information (organizational chart) submitted for item 6 should include information on the team itself and any relevant information on the firm/organization (institution

(schools/departments)) that aligns with

(or supports) the team’s activities. This information should be included in the technical proposal and is included in the page count.

17 For item 7, is this asking for information on what resources we have (e.g., HPC) and what are our team expertise are?

Yes. Information submitted for item 7 should include information on the team itself, and any relevant information on the firm/organization (institution) that supports and/or aligns with the team’s activities. Information to include experience, expertise, capabilities, and resources.

18 In the RFP document, it was mentioned (Topical

Expertise section) that Academic, industry, and non-governmental organization scientists and engineers are eligible to serve on the Landsat Science Team. It didn’t mention that federal employees are not eligible but I would like to know if there is any restriction for federal employees to submit a proposal to this solicitation. Also wonder if USGS employees can be primary investigator/co-investigator. Please provide this information.

No, federal government employees cannot be awarded a contract under this solicitation. Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) 3.601 prohibits knowingly awarding a contract to a government employee. Please reference FAR 3.601 and RFP provision

GS2112 for more information on involvement of current or former employees.

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