NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping QA Final.pdf

NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Q1. Do we need to be registered in another govt. system (like GSA) in order to qualify to apply to this?

A1. Offerors are not required to be registered in GSA for the NOIS2 On-Ramping acquisition.

However, in accordance with FAR 4.11.02(a) Offerors are required to be registered in SAM at the time an offer is submitted. Offerors must also register and submit an annual report for VETS- 4212 Federal Contractor Reporting: https://www.dol.gov/vets/vets4212.htm as applicable.

Q2. Are we allowed to talk about the expansion of the NOIS2 contract publicly (e.g. make an announcement to our stakeholders) or do we need to wait until the blackout period is over?

A2. Vendors do not have communication restrictions amongst themselves or the public.

Q3. Will NASA also be making any public announcements about it?

A3. The NOIS2 On-Ramping solicitation posted to sam.gov is considered public information.

NASA also announced this solicitation publicly via its NASA Solve Twitter account at https://twitter.com/NASASolve/status/1458093937948864528?s=20

Q4. For the Technical Acceptability Factor, is the Government asking for a specific past performance example for the "Sample" Project Plan, or is the Government asking for a template plan for the chosen methodology/end-product?

A4: NASA is looking for a notional plan. Please see Section 5.3 of the NOIS2 RFP for On- Ramping.

Q5. Is there a target number of planned awardees for this on-ramp? Is there a target breakdown of large businesses, small businesses, and socio-economic categories?

A5. No, there is no target number of planned awardees for the on-ramping acquisition. There is no target breakdown of large businesses, small business, and socio-economic categories.

Furthermore, the NOIS2 On-Ramping solicitation is issued as full and open competition, and at their discretion, the CO may make small business set aside determinations at the task order level.

Q6. Are we permitted to have subcontractors?

A6. Yes, teaming/subcontracting is allowed.

Q7. Will any task orders require clearances? If so, what level?

A7. NASA does not anticipate task orders requiring clearances.

Q8. In the RFP, there is reference to "the NOIS2 acquisition website." (p64, #5) - We checked NASA's website and did a simple Google search but did not find a site. Could you provide the URL please?

A8. NASA does not have a website for the NOIS2 On-Ramping acquisition. All information is provided in sam.gov. This sentence will be removed from the NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping.

Q9. For Volume II, Responsibility Information: Could the Government identify examples of items offerors could include that would demonstrate ability to comply with proposed schedule, satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics, and necessary organization, experience, accounting and operational controls? Will written answers to this suffice or should an offeror include documentation as well?

A9. The Government cannot provide examples of how to respond to its requirements. It is the Offeror’s responsibility to determine the appropriate way to respond to the Government’s requirements.

Q10. Is there any requirement for us to have a physical presence in the US?

A10. No, there is no requirement for offerors to have a physical presence in the U.S. The Government will be accepting proposals from non-restricted international offerors. Current legal restrictions can be found here:

https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/faq_10_page.aspx

Q11. What differences are in this document compared to the original solicitation? Is it completely different?

A11. Block 14 of the document titled “80JSC022R0004 NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping SF30” contains a high level summary of the changes made from the original solicitation to the NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping. However, it is the offeror’s responsibility to read through the entirety of the solicitation and any Amendments issued.

Q12. How many new contracts does NASA JSC intend to award? Will any of them be small business set asides?

A12. Please see A5.

Q13. What online communities does NASA typically draw participation for crowdsourcing opportunities from? Will the contractor be made aware or have access to these communities to market the opportunity to? Or is it incumbent on the contractor to have knowledge of and access to these communities?

A13. In accordance with Statement of Work Section 3.5b, it is the contractor’s responsibility to “Provide access to a community and an established process for facilitating matching that community to successfully meet the requirements specified in the individual Request for Task Plan.” Access to the community is provided by the contractor, not the Government.

Q14. How does the government define “technologies” and “prototypes” in 3.2.1? How advanced should the products be to meet their requirements/expectations?

A14. If the offeror is awarded a contract, the specific requirements for the deliverables will be described in each individual task order and the level of detail may vary between different task orders.

Q15. In 3.2.1 End Products and Services, D. Software section, it mentions “user guides” as a potential deliverable. Is it expected that pilot projects and/or implementation occur post competition in order to have the necessary content to complete a User Guide?

A15. If the offeror is awarded a contract, the task order will specify the maturity of the software product being requested and, when appropriate, a user guide may be required.

Q16. In 3.2.1 End Products and Services, D. Software section, does the government expect solutions to be both on-prem and off-prem/cloud based? How are FISMA and ATO considerations addressed?

A16. If the offeror is awarded a contract, the task order will specify software delivery requirements.

Q17. If the end result of the challenge competition is a proof of concept / prototype / pilot, will the contractor who performs the challenge competition have an Organization Conflict of Interest from performing an enterprise-wide deployment/implementation should there be a future a RFP?

A17. That condition is a possibility depending on the task order requirements.

Q18. For Volume III, Sections 2 & 3, are we just copying and pasting the contents into a new Word document? And does the signature on SF1449 cover all sections, or do other sections need to be individually signed somehow? And then does Section 4 work similarly to 2&3 except with only including pertinent paragraphs?

A18: Yes, Section 2 and 3 must be included in Volume III of your proposal in their entirety.

Volume III Sections 2 & 3 do not have fill-ins and therefore just need to be provided by the offeror as part of their proposal in their entirety exactly as written in the RFP. The signature on the SF1449 covers all the sections of the proposal and demonstrates the offeror’s agreement to all the terms and conditions in the entire RFP. Individual sections do not need to be signed.

Section 5.5 of the NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping, Table 5-2, provides detailed instructions for preparation of the Model Contract. Additionally, the Government posted a Model Contract Guide as an attachment to the NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping for reference.

Q19. In the current NOIS 2 OI Services list of suppliers have any of those awarded firms withdrawn from the program?

A19. It is unclear what is meant by “NOIS 2 OI Services list of suppliers”. If the question is asking if any of the current 19 NOIS2 contractors have requested to off-ramp from the contract, then the answer is no.

Q20. Of the current NOIS2 firms, what is the distribution of awarded challenges made to each of the suppliers (# of awards, and dollar amount of the awards)

A20. NOIS2 Task Order awards are reported in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), which is a government reporting system that offers public users access to information on Government awards. Individuals can search through FPDS by contract number to determine how many awards each offeror has received under the NOIS2 contract. The NOIS2 contract numbers are 80JSC020D0035-53.

Q21. Pricing offered in the RFP Response: What elements of pricing are allowed for Firm Fixed Price (FFP); design of challenges based on a maximum number of hours/challenge, IP agreement use, Solver Verification, challenge marketing, award funds payment to Solvers, etc.?

A21. As outlined in Section 6 of the NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping, in accordance with Procurement Class Deviation 18-02, the Government will not be evaluating price as an evaluation factor. If the offeror is awarded a contract, price will be considered as one of the factors in the selection decision for each task order competed under the contract, in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(1)(ii)(E). All NOIS2 task orders are firm fixed price.

Q22. Pricing offered in the RFP Response: Will this NOIS2 price schedule be adjustable for potential cost increases or decreases annually?

A22. See A21. There is no NOIS2 price schedule.

Q23. Pricing offered in the RFP Response: Will our schedule pricing be required for all/most of the challenges offered to suppliers in NOIS2?

A23. See A22.

Q24. What standards for IP agreements are going to be required from all suppliers?

A24. The contract does not include a standard Intellectual Property agreement. The specific IP requirements for a given project are specified in the Request for Task Plan (RFTP). Per the NOIS RFP for On-Ramping SOW Section 3.5 (e) and (i), the contractor must demonstrate that they have a process for dealing with IP for both community members and the project owner/client.

Q25. For custom challenges out of the ordinary from normal FFP challenge services, will you allow custom proposals?

A25. All task orders are firm fixed price. For the successful offerors, a request for task plan is issued with each task order competition and contains specific instructions on what must be included in the proposal to be considered for award of the task order.

Q26. Will there be a call for interested vendors to address these and other questions?

A26. Per the RFP, the Question and Answer period ended on November 16, 2021 at 5:00pm central time. The government does not anticipate accepting further questions.

Q27. In the conference, you mentioned we're required to have a CAGE number – we hold an NCAGE number. Is that acceptable?

A27. Yes.

Q28. On slide 24, you say "With NOIS2, the Government intends to expand access to a broader set of tools, still focused on the use of crowdsourcing, but not limited to public contests." As part of this on-ramping exercise, is the Government still interested in hearing from new Offerors who use public contest methods, or is your focus on other methods exclusively?

A28. The Government is interested in proposals from all qualified offerors that can deliver one or more of the end products and services listed in the NOIS2 On-Ramping RFP Statement of Work Section 3.2.1 using any one or more of the methodologies listed in Statement of Work Section 3.2, including Crowd-based Challenges and Prize Competitions.

Q29. Pertaining to Scope of Work, and what we include in this, what is commercially is important to you? What level of detail must we provide?

A29. See A9.

Q30. Is there an easy way of providing the Section 4 reps and Volume II and III for our legal teams for review?

A30. All NOIS2 On-Ramping RFP documents are posted on sam.gov.

Q31. Lastly, and most importantly, due to existing client commitments and the Thanksgiving break, the 8 December deadline is tight. We are honored to be included in this RFP and wish very much to continue to work with NASA. Is there any possibility you might consider extending the 8 Dec deadline?

A31. The government issued RFP Amendment 1 which extended the proposal due date. Please see Amendment 1 for further details which was posted to sam.gov.

Q32. We are a Europe based company, with our offices in Barcelona. Are we still untitled to apply for NOIS2?

A32. See A10.

Q33. Since the submission deadline is a bit close, do you think we are still on time to get a CAGE Code & DUNS Number, as well as get registered at SAM?

A33. NASA cannot provide an estimate of how long it takes to complete the registration for a CAGE Code, DUNS Number, and SAM registration.

Q34. Do you foresee any other considerations at this initial stage that we should consider prior to initiating the submission process?

A34. The government cannot provide speculative answers.

Q35. Document: General, Question: Can an Offeror use teaming partners and/or subcontractors to support specific elements of the work?

A35. See A6.

Q36. Document: 80JSC022R0004 RFO NOIS2 On Ramping, Section title: Off Ramping, Page: 18, Question: Reference made to 5 year performance period. Should we assume this reference was an error?

A36. The NOIS2 RFP for On-Ramping will be revised to state “If at any point during the contract’s 5 year period of performance the contractor decides that it no longer wishes to participate in the contract, then the contractor may submit a request in writing to the Contracting Officer requesting to be off-ramped.”

Q37. Document: 80JSC022R0004 RFO NOIS2 On Ramping, Section Title: 1852.225-70 EXPORT LICENSES (FEB 2000), Page: 16, Question: Can non-US nationals participate in an Offeror's team?

A37. See A10.

Q38. Document: 80JSC022R0004 RFO NOIS2 On Ramping, Section: 1852.225-70 EXPORT LICENSES (FEB 2000), Page: 16, Question: Can non-US nationals, living abroad, participate in an Offeror's team?

A38. See A10.

Q39. Document: 80JSC022R0004 RFO NOIS2 On Ramping, Section Title: 5.4 Responsibility Considerations - Volume II, Page: 69, Question: Should we understand that the limit for all past performance is one page or that each discrete past performance is limited to one page?

A39. The limit for all past performance information is one page.

Q40. Document: General, Section: NA, Page: NA, Question: Can an Offeror use teaming partners and/or subcontractors to support specific elements of the work?

A40. See A6.