80JSC022R0009 - RFP Cover Letter.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center 2101 NASA Parkway Houston, Texas 77058-3696

February 24, 2022

BH3-22-001

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP) for Simulation and Software Technology (SST) III

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) SST III solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to provide is simulation and software technology support and related services primarily for NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Engineering Directorate's Software, Robotics, and Simulation Division (ER), Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division (EG), Propulsion and Power Division (EP), and Avionics Systems Division (EV) but is available to other directorates at JSC and other centers throughout NASA.

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541511 and the small business size standard is $30M.

This competitive acquisition will result in a single-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with the ability to issue CPFF or Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Task Orders. The contract will have an effective ordering period of 5 years from the contract effective date.

The anticipated contract award date is August 16, 2022, with an October 1, 2022 contract effective date. The contract will be performed onsite at NASA JSC and offsite at the Contractor’s facilities, or other locations as specified in Task Orders.

Potential offerors should pay close attention to all solicitation instructions; however, the following requirements list is summarized to assist in proposal development. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and the solicitation terms and conditions and provisions in sections L and M take precedence:

1. A Phase-in period will be conducted for 30 days with a planned start date of September 1, 2022.

2. The Government will make available existing Installation-Accountable Government Property (IAGP) for onsite contract performance and Government Furnished Property (GFP) for offsite use at the Contractor’s facility as described in the RFP.

3. The SST III Pre-proposal Pricing Conference is anticipated to be held on March 7, 2022.

Notice will be posted on the acquisition website noted below.

4. NASA JSC appreciates the comments received in response to the release of the Draft

RFP. These comments resulted in improvements to the quality and content of the overall RFP. Offerors should review the RFP in its entirety, as its content has changed from the Draft RFP version. The attached Change Matrix identifies some areas where significant changes or clarifications have been made from the Draft RFP to this final RFP that may not have been addressed in the Draft RFP questions and responses. This list is not intended to cover all changes nor describe all RFP requirements. Offerors should carefully review the RFP in its entirety.

5. Be advised, in accordance with provision L.23.4, Offerors need to encourage their references to submit their Past Performance Questionnaires directly to the Contracting Officer prior to proposal due date.

6. Below is a list of the Source Selection Authority (SSA) and voting members along with their associated NASA JSC organizational codes, for the Source Evaluation Board (SEB).

The names provided are for informational purposes only and other than the Contracting Officer, Cynthia M. Uribe, these individuals shall not be contacted regarding this acquisition. The Government may change personnel associated with this acquisition at its discretion.

SSA

Donna M. Shafer/AA

Voting Members Michael Red/EA/SEB Chairperson Kristin Tauber/BH3/Contract Specialist

Sandy Ruttle/EP Brian O’Hagan/ER Henry Cordova/EG

7. Offerors are required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code that matches the corporate address submitted with its proposal.

Offerors are encouraged to refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.215-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION, in particular paragraph (f)(4) which discusses the Government’s right to award a contract without discussions.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy required all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). While the RFP’s Cost Volume exhibits are in PDF format, the Offeror’s Cost Volume proposal shall include completed Cost Volume exhibits in Microsoft Office Excel format with working cell formulas.

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments and links to online reference/technical/bidders library will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub library/Omb.html.

This RFP does not commit NASA JSC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA JSC to procure or contract for these services. This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation shall be due no later than March 28, 2022 at 4:00 pm Central Standard Time. Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box. Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there are firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In accordance with NFS 1815.201(f), a “Blackout Notice” has been issued to NASA personnel.

All inquiries/communications pertaining to this acquisition shall be directed only to the Contracting Officer listed below.

All questions regarding this RFP should be submitted in writing, electronically to Cynthia M.

Uribe, Contracting Officer, at jsc-cr-sstiii@mail.nasa.gov on or before March 10, 2022. Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Cynthia M. Uribe Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

RFP

Change Matrix

80JSC022R0009 Change Matrix

Change # RFP Reference RFP Section Change

1 Section B B.5, Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Rates Table B.5a and Table B.5b have been updated to include additional Standard Labor category, Engineering Assistant.

2 Section C Statement of Work, paragraph 2.1

Updated to include language to develop, implement, and manage a plan to continuously identify and propose initiatives to infuse advanced technology, innovations, and industry best practices to promote improvements in quality, capability, and overall efficiency within all areas of responsibility defined in this SOW in accordance with DRD-17, Technology, Innovations, and Process Improvement (TIPI) plan.

3 Section F F.6, Task Order Type Modified to remove reference to H.9, Contracting Purchasing, clause.

4 Section G G.3, NFS 1852.245-71 Installation-Accountable Government Property (JUN 2018), Alt I (JAN 2011)

Updated to include additional information on facilities being made available for Contractor use.

5 Section H H.9, Contractor Purchasing Clause removed.

6 Section I I.6, Covered Telecommunications Equipment Or Services-Representation Corrected clause number from 52.204-25 to 52.204-26.

7 Section I I.14 Clause 52.223-99, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols For Federal Contractors (Deviation 21-03) has been incorporated via full text. As a result, clause numbers in this section have shifted.

8 Section J List of Attachments Attachment J-18 replaced with Technology, Innovations, and Process Improvement Plan and Attachment J-19, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan, has been added.

9 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Updated DRD-08, Quarterly Progress Reports, to include status on DRD-17, Technology, Innovation, and Process Improvement.

10 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Updated DRD-12, Abbreviated Compensation Plan, to update references.

11 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Updated DRD-13, Small Business Subcontracting Plan and Reports, to be consistent with L.23.3(c).

12 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Added DRD-16, Efficiencies and Innovative Techniques.

13 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Added DRD-17, Technology, Innovations, and Process Improvement Plan.

14 Section J Attachment J-1 - Data Requirements Description (DRD) Added DRD-18, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan.

15 Section J Attachment J-4, Standard Labor Categories Descriptions (SLC) Added new SLC, Engineering Assistant

16 Section J Attachment J-4, Standard Labor Categories Descriptions (SLC) Incorporate language that was previously listed as an asterisk into the job description guidelines.

17 Section J Attachment J-17, Installation-Accountable Government Property List Equipment list at facilities was removed.

18 Section J Attachment J-18, Efficiences and Innovations Attachment J-18 placeholder has been replaced with Technology, Innovations, and Process Improvement Plan

19 Section J Atachment J-19, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan Placeholder for Attachment J-19 plan has been added.

20 Section K K.1, FAR 52.204-8 Clause has been updated to include recent date.

21 Section L L.4, FAR 52.233-2, Service of Protest Updated to include solicitation number.

22 Section L L.10, NFS 1852.245-81 Updated to include Attachment J-17 under paragraph (a).

23 Section L L.13, JPI 52.215-124 Replaced TBDs with dates 24 Section L L.19, 1852.SOL-INS-1 Included EFSS Box URL.

25 Section L L.21, Proposal Arrangement, Page Limitations, Copies, and Due Dates Replaced TBDs with dates, provided clarification on page limits, and added consent letters.

26 Section L L.23.2, Technical Approach (TA) – Mission Suitability Updated approach for Subfactor 2, TA1 Innovations and Efficiencies.

27 Section L L.23.2, Table L.4: Cumulative Government Resource Estimate Updated to include work year equivalents for each Sample Task Order.

28 Section L Table L.5: Small Business Goals Updated SDVOSB goal and deleted draft lanugage.

29 Section L JPI clause 52.215-114 Updated clause with new date.

30 Section L L.23.5, Cost and Price Factor – Volume III, paragraph (c) Added language that Offerors are to price all hours and NLRs based on the assumption that they are associated with CPFF Task Orders.

Change # RFP Reference RFP Section Change

31 Section L Table L.7a, Specified Resources -- Hours Updated to include hours for newly added SLC, Engineering Assistant and modified hours for Engineer 1.

32 Section L L.23-.5, Cost and Price Factor – Volume III, paragraph (d)(2) Updated language to be consistent with naming convention in EFSS clause.

33 Section L 31.L.23.6, Responsibility Considerations – Volume IV, paragraph (h) Updated to change the threshold for reporting prime/joint venture partner, and each subcontractor from $10M to $8M.

34 Section L Attachment L-1, Sample Task Orders Revised to include contract type.

35 Section L Attachment L-6, Excel Pricing Model (EPM) Deleted instructions on the Phase-In Template (PIT) tab.

36 Section M M.5 Mission Suitability Factor (Volume 1) TA1 subfactor 2 evaluation has been changed.