ATOM-5 DRFP Questions and Answers.pdf

80ARC021R0001

Aerospace Testing and Facilities Operations and Maintenance (ATOM-5)

Draft RFP Questions and Answers

1. QUESTION: Is the Presolicitation 80ARC021R0001 a follow-on requirement to any work performed currently or in the past, or will this be a new requirement? Please provide the most recent contract or task order number.

ANSWER: The ATOM-5 procurement is a follow-on requirement to existing contract No.

NNA16BD26C. The primary requirement remains unchanged, though there are some scope changes from the existing contract.

2. QUESTION: Does the Government intend to add additional Case Studies or technical elements to better evaluate the technical capabilities of offerors?

ANSWER: NASA ARC will consider this suggestion while developing the final ATOM-5 Request for Proposals (RFP).

3. QUESTION: Is there an incentive mechanism for the ATOM contractor to identify potential new customers of the covered facilities?

ANSWER: There is no requirement for the contractor to identify potential new customers.

Therefore, there is no incentive mechanism included in the ATOM-5 RFP.

4. QUESTION: Was ATOM-5 reviewed by the Mission Support Future Architecture Program (MAP), and if so what was the determination? Any feedback on the MAP assessment would be of interest.

ANSWER: The ATOM-5 acquisition strategy was approved through the NASA Headquarters Office of Procurement’s Product Service Line (PSL) process.

5. QUESTION: Has Ames changed your stance on orals proposals or is the removal related to MAP or can you elaborate on why the change was made?

ANSWER: NASA ARC determined that oral proposals would not be utilized in the ATOM-5 acquisition; this determination was unrelated to MAP.

6. QUESTION: Are any of the ATOM facilities covered by the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and if so how does that affect their operations?

ANSWER: The Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) and Arcjet facilities receive capital project funding from NHPA funds that are available at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC). Offerors should assume no impacts from NHPA funds in their proposal submissions.

7. QUESTION: What is the role of Agency programs like AETC and SCAP in the overall management of the facilities?

ANSWER: AETC is the NASA Aeronautics program (https://www.nasa.gov/aetc) that funds the labor and projects for operation and maintenance of the UPWT. The AETC Portfolio Office executes strategic efforts to preserve and enhance research and test capabilities for NASA’s world-class portfolio of National Wind Tunnel facilities.

The Strategic Capabilities Assets Program (SCAP) identified the Arc Jet Complex as a Strategic Capability and placed it under the Space Environments Testing Management Office (SETMO) at NASA HQ. SETMO provides funding and direction to optimize facility availability and performance. SETMO also oversees infrastructure investments to enable state-of-the-art operations and maintenance, enhance reliability, and improve testing technologies. The Thermophysics Facility Branch (TSF) is responsible for these day-to-day operations and maintenance. TSF works through the Contracting Officers Representative (COR) and Contracting Officer (CO) to issue and manage requirements on the existing ATOM contract.

Thermal Protection Materials Branch (TSM) Sensor and Thermal Protection System Advanced Research (STAR) Lab does not receive AETC or SCAP support.

8. QUESTION: Are there any significant modernization or upgrade projects planned for the Arc Jets or Unitary that would result in significant downtime during the ATOM 5 contract?

ANSWER: NASA ARC does not currently anticipate any modernization or upgrade projects that would result in significant downtime.

9. QUESTION: Is there any possibility that ATOM 5 will be made a Small Business set-aside?

ANSWER: No; the ATOM-5 procurement will be a full and open competition.

10. QUESTION: Any interest in increasing the Small Business percentage goals?

ANSWER: Offerors may propose to exceed the recommended Small Business subcontracting goals that are stated in Section L of the ATOM-5 RFP.

11. QUESTION: DRFP defines a “Major Subcontractor” as any subcontractor proposed to perform an estimated $5M over the five year period of performance, and instructs offeror to submit three recent past performance contract references with a total contract value of $5M for each proposed major subcontractor. Will the Government consider:

1) adjusting the definition of major subcontractor to any subcontractor proposed to perform an estimated $15M over the five year period of performance, consistent with previous and similar ARC programs; and

2) adjust the requirement for submission of major subcontractor past performance to ‘up to 3’ references?

ANSWER: NASA ARC will consider this suggestion while developing the final ATOM-5 RFP.

12. QUESTION: Do you see drones developing and being used in the wind tunnels?

ANSWER: To date, drones have not been used to perform work under ATOM-4. The use of drones at ARC is subject to federal and local regulations.

See also Section L.15(a)B(1) of the DRFP regarding the Offeror’s proposed technical approach.

13. QUESTION: Do you see any increase or decrease in work on the Arc Jet, Wind tunnels in the course of the ATOM-5 contract?

ANSWER: NASA ARC does not anticipate significant increases or decreases to the ATOM-5 contract requirements over the next five years.

14. QUESTION: What does the future of work at Ames look like? Any key technology that AMES needs to keep abreast?

ANSWER: The intent of the first question is unclear and therefore NASA ARC is unable to provide an answer. The second question does not specifically relate to the ATOM-5 RFP and therefore cannot be answered.

15. QUESTION: Any resource issues and desired tools associated with simulations in regards to wind tunnel, aircraft, and simulation?

ANSWER: NASA ARC has not currently identified any resource constraints or tools outside of what is stated in the ATOM-5 RFP.

16. QUESTION: Are there any resource scheduling conflicts or issue? How do you go about resource allocation and set up mission priorities?

ANSWER: It is possible during performance of the ATOM-5 contract that resource scheduling conflicts may arise. If such conflicts arise, the Government will set the priorities for each resource and the contractor is responsible for resource management based on those priorities.

17. QUESTION: What are your major challenges in regards to this contract? What major challenges do you foresee in the future?

A: The criteria set forth in the Mission Suitability Volume relate to areas of importance to NASA ARC in performance of the ATOM-5 requirement.

18. QUESTION: With respect to utilities or support infrastructure, is there anything that is shared between Arc Jet and Wind Tunnels that limits you or drives schedules?

ANSWER: One subsystem that supports both the Wind Tunnels and the Arc Jets is the High Pressure Air System (HPAS). Although it is very rare, test schedules may need to be modified due to use of this shared system.

19. QUESTION: Mission suitability subfactor scoring assigns weigh of 550 points to Management Approach and 350 points to Technical Understanding. Will the Government consider a more balanced weighting that reflects the technical requirements of the Statement of Work?

20. QUESTION: Do you see challenges in recruiting and training?

ANSWER: The criteria set forth in the Mission Suitability Volume relate to areas of importance to NASA ARC in performance of the ATOM-5 requirement.

21. QUESTION: What percentage of workforce do you see being able to work remotely?

ANSWER: The primary place of performance stated in the ATOM-5 RFP is NASA ARC. The Contractor is responsible for successfully performing all contractual requirements and is responsible for its own workforce management and policies.

22. QUESTION: Given the dynamic nature of ground test facility schedules/missions, can you elaborate on the decision to shift Contract Management and Administration (CM&A) to FFP? Is the intent to drive more cost savings or to minimize oversight?

ANSWER: NASA ARC has determined that the CM&A requirements are sufficiently defined such that they can be priced on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) basis.

23. QUESTION: One of the sub elements was highlighted reserved? Would suggest innovation and efficiencies section.

24. QUESTION: Page 118 of the DRFP instructs offerors to ‘provide its proposed technical approach to identifying and implementing innovative technologies…’. It is unclear how innovations will be evaluated given the evaluation criteria on page 138. Will the Government consider adding evaluation criteria specific to the merit of innovative approaches?

ANSWER: In accordance with Section M.3(1)B.(1), the Offeror’s technical approach “will be evaluated for effectiveness, demonstration of its understanding of contract requirements, completeness and/or efficiency.”

25. QUESTION: Safety is an important aspect of the ATOM-5 PWS, and offerors are instructed to include a Safety & Health plan in the Management portion of the Mission Suitability volume.

However, Section M of the DRFP does not include specific evaluation criteria pertaining to an offeror’s safety experience and safety performance record. Past Performance evaluation criteria (and Section L requirements) also do not require offeror to address safety-related past performance. Given the current DRFP requirement and evaluation criteria, how would the Government evaluate an offeror’s relevant safety experience and performance?

26. QUESTION: Restricting text in diagrams, charts, tables, artwork and photographs to TNR 12-point font size often creates illegible and/or reduced use graphics due to the added elements around the text. For optimal readability and usefulness, we recommend changing the graphic font size limit to 10-point TNR or Arial Narrow font.

27. QUESTION: Would the Government please confirm that the List of Figures and Tables is incorporated into the Table of Contents?

ANSWER: NASA will review the proposal instructions and clarify, if needed, in the final RFP.