Industry Day Questions and Answers.pdf

No. Question Response to ALL

If not awarded, can industry seek non-reimbursable Space Act Agreements or other contractual mechanisms to take advantage of NASA facilities and expertise?

Yes, SFD is a single purpose project focused on the development and test of flight demonstrator(s) supporting the SFD goals. Industry is always able to seek out SAA's (reimbursable or non-reimbursable) to pursue use of NASA facilities and expertise.

Can industry propose a later first flight date to control risk and annual expenditures?

It is Industry's responsibility to determine what it proposes to meet the solicitation requirement.

What length of time does NASA anticipate for spiral development after the initial flight test campaign?

There is not designated time for spiral development. No commitment is made by the government for any follow-on partnerships.

Will NASA provided equipment and instrumentation be provided as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) and tracked as such? Unless otherwise stated, GFE will not be provided.

Can NASA clarify “not expecting large infrastructure or operational change in the market”? We understand the context of this question to be directed at the explanation given during the public meeting for the slide with the title “Definitions & Vision Vehicle Requirements” and pertaining specifically to the description we outlined of our view of Single-aisle seat class in terms of mission and physical characteristics. The description given matches the current fleet and we specified the vision system should operate within the currently available infrastructure. It is easy to see how new vehicles could easily replace the current fleet and one of our main objectives is to promote fleet turnover in this segment to achieve the national goals for emissions reduction. We recognize there is excitement in the aviation community for alternative power source approaches for commercial aircraft such as using on-board electric storage or hydrogen as a fuel. In our assessment, for the time frame we are targeting, there is significant risk in assuming the airport infrastructure will be altered to allow widescale adoption of such vehicles. Likewise we see significant risk assuming the availability of energy storage technology or green hydrogen will be sufficient to meet demands. Similar thinking was applied to specify the expectation for the vision vehicles to operate in the existing Group 3 infrastructure.

The cruise Mach guideline corresponds to the design mission range to fit existing routing for this large class of vehicles so vehicles with these characteristics will be easily incorporated into the fleet. If the participant’s proposed vision system meets these criteria there will be no need to explain how the market forces will change to accommodate it in the airlines’ inventory. We recognize markets can and do change so we give the opportunity for participants to explain in their proposal how their vision system will be able to infiltrate the market to provide a large reduction in overall fleet emissions.

Will SAFs and other drop-in fuels be counted towards emissions reduction targets, or only technology (e.g., airframe, propulsion) improvements be counted?

Proposals will be evaluated based on the criteria specified in the solicitation

Understanding the for scoring the following program elements:

1. Payment milestones

2. Schedule for SFD first flight, FAA Certification Flight Testing start, FAA Type Certification, and Entry-into-Service

3. Likelihood of transition to market

4. Methods for measuring fuel burn and CO2 emissions

The evaluation criteria for the SFD project will be released with the solicitation.

What are the requirements for the Flight Simulator to be hosted at NASA AFRC? What are the requirements for the ground and flight test data needed to validate the configuration and associated technologies?

We are not expecting a requirement for NASA to host the primary flight simulator for the project. NASA support for a flight simulator may be requested in industry's proposal as part of NASA's technical contribution to the project. Even when NASA does not host a partnership's primary simulation, it is very common for NASA to have a simulator (often lower fidelity) for control law development or V&V activities; flying qualities eval; cockpit layout design and validation; emergency procedure development and on-going training; flight test card development, optimization, and practice; failure modes and effects testing; rapid troubleshooting of in-flight or ground test anomalies; flight test data analysis; software update V&V;

control room training; and many others.

Clarify whether the contracting strategy, specifically the selection of a Funded Space Act Agreement (FSAA), will affect the proposal timeline (i.e., draft RFP followed by a final RFP 30 days later, and a 45-day proposal window). If an FSAA is chosen, there is limited FSAA guidance available and such an agreement has not been widely used. Industry could greatly benefit from being able to review the proposed FSAA terms along with the draft RFP and ask any clarification questions to NASA during the proposed 30-day draft RFP review period proposed for an acquisition contract.

The additional review time will also provide additional time to review the draft RFP so that industry can ask clarifications and provide feedback before a Final RFP is released. Such additional review would not require a greater proposal timeline than an acquisition contract but would be expected to increase the overall likelihood of program success with in FSAA.”

NASA is considering industry's input. Proposal due date will be in accordance with NASA project requirements.

Will NASA centers be available for discussions during the proposal phase? Could designated NASA center contacts, not associated with the source selection team, be provided who are for purposes of answering questions around capability, interest and availability of NASA resources as proposals are being developed?

Once the solicitation is released, all questions will need to go to the Contracting Officer who will coordinate a response. We will not have designated center contacts.

Is NASA contemplating the 3-hour orals as done on previous efforts?

It is possible that NASA may request oral presentations from regarding one or more highly rated proposals.

Do large OEM’s that pursue this opportunity would have any incentive to team with small businesses to support the SFD program. Does NASA have any specific guidance on that?

No, Industry will be responsible to propose partnerships and subcontractors

For questions asked during our one on one session today, will those be shared with the other companies also?

Yes, unless proprietary data is involved.

Contracting mechanism – an SAA and procurement contract are mentioned in the pre-read, are other options still a possibility?

Currently NASA is only assessing a FSAA and a FAR Contract, however other options may still possible.

Are multiple awards possible and how would that be managed?

NASA reserves the right to award one or more agreements/contracts. Management of agreement/contract will be performed by the NASA project team.

16 Award criteria Awards criteria will be released in the solicitation

Payment/milestones and how they are defined Under an FSAA or Contract, Industry will propose the payment milestone events.

Milestones events must include a definition, entrance criteria, success criteria, and funding amount. The milestones may be negotiated and adjusted prior to award.

18 Credit for work already performed Previous work will not be counted as a financial contribution.

Defining Conceptual Design Maturity NASA subject matter experts will aid the evaluation board in the technical assessment of the proposals. Design maturity will involve a combined technical assessment across a number of factors.

Use of NASA facilities during execution Industry may propose the use of NASA facilities in their proposal. Further details will be provided in the solicitation.

Contracting timeline and clarification of “Discussions” period No defined timeline can be given. Discussions could involve clarifications of the proposal content, questions about perceived weaknesses, financial elements, and/or other topics.

Bridge between risk reduction contract and late Q4 award We do not expect any additional risk reduction contract awards prior to award of the

SFD contract or agreement.

IP protection under a funded SAA If an FSAA instrument is chosen, then a draft FSAA will be released with the solicitation and will include the data rights clauses.