Attachment G - Questions and Answers.pdf

Attachment G 80JSC026Q0003 Page 1 of 5 Date Issued: 02/27/2026

Questions and Answers

Note:

This document contains responses to the questions that have been received to date. NASA makes these available to all proposal teams. Proposal teams should not contact NASA Subject Matter Experts directly as this represents an unfair advantage over other teams. NASA recommends that you check this document frequently throughout the proposal development process.

Some questions were asked by more than one proposal team or individual. For the sake of brevity, the questions and responses are not repeated for the same or similar inquiries. The exact wording of a question that you may have posed may not be in this document as a result.

All teams should prepare their proposals within the scope of the RFQ.

Questions and Answers:

Q1: Is it acceptable to house post-radiation exposed aging animals along with performing onsite tissue collections and evaluations at BNL, but perform post-tissue evaluations at our home institution?

A1: Yes

Q2: Is eligibility for this requirement restricted to US entities.

A2: Please refer to 52.225-1 Buy American Supplies (OCT 2022) in the RFQ.

Q3: Would biomedical ultrasound-based methods for early detection of cancer and cardiovascular diseases be considered responsive to this solicitation?

A3: Yes, as long as the quote submitted can show that radiation quality can be calculated using this method.

Q4: What are the specific expectations and deliverables during the 3–6 month definition phase, and should the budget be submitted only for that phase or for the full 4-year period (with phased breakdown)?

A4: Please refer to Attachment A – PWS Radiation Outbred Mouse

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Q5: On SAM.gov, the NAICS Code and Size Standard are listed as 541715 and 1000 employees, respectively. The notice also states: “The offeror shall state in their offer their size status for this acquisition. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.” Our NAICS code is not 541715, and we have more than 1000 employees. Our interpretation of the final sentence is that all responsible sources may submit an offer, regardless of NAICS classification or size status, provided that size status is clearly stated in the proposal.

A5: The interpretation above is correct as this is a Full and Open competition.

Q6: Is there a page limit or recommended length for the technical proposal (including the performance work statement)?

A6: There is no page limit. Please refer to Attachment E – Evaluation Criteria

Q7: Is there a checklist of documents that needs to be submitted?

A7: Please refer to Attachment E – Evaluation Criteria Radiation Outbred Mouse

Q8: Is there a required or preferred format for CVs or biosketches (e.g., NASA-specific format, NSF-style, NIH-style)?

A8: Please refer to Factor 2: Past Performance in Attachment E – Evaluation Criteria Radiation Outbred Mouse.

Q9: Where do we submit our proposal to?

A9: Please refer to the description section of the RFQ

Q10: Will meetings be held with offerors before the date of submission of quotes to discuss technical approaches?

A10: No, meetings will be held with offerors before the date of submission of quotes.

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Q11: Attachment D lists both acute and fractionated GCRsim regimens. Does NASA have a preferred primary regimen for the main study arms, or are we free to propose the one that best balances statistical power and facility scheduling?

A11: The PI can decide but must provide rationale for their choice.

Q12: For the HS/Npt cohort: Will NASA provide pre-existing genotyping/haplotype data for the 3,500 mice, or must the contractor perform additional genotyping?

A12: NASA is not providing pre-existing genotyping/haplotype data. This is not required for radiation quality.

Q13: Attachment B specifies tissue collection. Are there minimum quantities (e.g., number of tumors per mouse to bank) or specific molecular assays NASA expects on the biobanked samples beyond standard histopathology?

A13: Organs need to be banked as specified in Attachment B. There are no specific molecular assays expected on the biobanked samples beyond standard histopathology. Palpable and/or visible tumors not captured in the organ collection (Attachment B) should be collected and the tumor split between paraffin embedding and freezing.

Q14: The PWS mentions deliverables feeding into NASA’s cancer risk model. Can you provide an example or template of the desired risk-modeling output format?

A14: NASA will compute the output for NASA’s Cancer Risk model. The input needed for the NASA cancer risk model includes cancer incidence/mortality, time to event (cancer/morbidity), and tumor spectrum per animal for varying radiation types (quality), doses, and dose rates.

Q15: Is there flexibility in the 3,500-mouse total to include small sentinel or dose-range-finding groups, or must every animal be on a main carcinogenesis arm?

A15: Housing at any AAALAC-accredited U.S. institution is acceptable.

Q16: Is purchasing equipment allowed under the budget? If so, what are maximum limits on the equipment price?

A16: Yes, Please see Tab 2 of the updated Attachment F – Pricing Sheet.

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Q17: Can NASA clarify if “sex differences” refers to the assessment of carcinogenesis or CV or CNS effects?

A17: Sex differences is an optional deliverable and can be applied to any or all assessments (carcinogenesis, CV, CNS)

Q18: For the requested bio-banked tissue samples (N=10 per sex per group), will these be collected from survivors at the end of in-life from each group?

A18: Appendix B outlines the tissues that need to be collected. The exact design of when the tissues are collected is dependent on how the PI plans to fulfill the deliverable.

Q19: Given that the PI will design the experiment, will there be an opportunity for the PI to perform data collection before radiation exposure at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

A19: Yes, data collection prior to exposure could be collected if included in the experimental design.

Q20: Given that the PI will design the experiment, will the PI be responsible for defining experiment parameters such as age at radiation exposure, end points, control groups (if any), or will NASA provide requirements to the experiment design?

A20: PI is responsible for defining the experimental parameters.

Q21: Will NASA or the PI be responsible for obtaining IACUC approval at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

A21: The PI will be required to obtain IACUC approval at BNL.

Q22: Will the PI be responsible for the cost of animal housing at Brookhaven National Laboratory from animal receipt (before radiation exposure) through animal shipping (after radiation exposure)?

A22: Yes, the PI will be responsible for animal housing costs at BNL upon arrival.

Q23: Can the government please provide clarification if it will define the protocols for the Assessment of cardiovascular injury from space-like radiation exposure and Evaluation of CNS

Attachment G 80JSC026Q0003 Page 5 of 5 functional/physiological decrements, or will the experiments and protocols need to be designed by the contractor?

A23: Answer will be added 03/02/2026

Q24: Can the government please provide clarification whether the past performance can come from the Prime or can one utilize past performance from one of our subcontractors?

A24: Offerors are welcome to submit past performance from subcontractors, however, only past performance from prime contractors will be evaluated and given a rating.

Q25: Can the government please provide clarification on what the Base Cancer Testing CLIN should include from a technical perspective, as this was not reference in PWS or other documents?

A25: Answer will be added 03/02/2026

Q26: Can the government please provide clarification on the frequency per year we are expected to travel to Brookhaven site?

A26: Answer will be added 03/02/2026

Q27: Can the government please provide clarification if we should expect a CLIN for travel?

A27: Please see Tab 2 of the updated Attachment F – Pricing Sheet.

Q28: Can you please clarify the reasoning for including FAR 52.224-3 “Privacy Training” for this effort?

A28: This provision has been removed. Please see 80JSC026Q00030001.