xEVAS Draft Request For Proposal Cover Letter.pdf

July 27, 2021

BL-21-062

TO: All Potential Offerors

FROM: Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) Contracting Officer

SUBJECT: Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80JSC021XEVASDRFP, for the xEVAS Contract

Potential Offerors are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) xEVAS DRFP. The principle purpose of this contract is to procure an “EVA as a Service” solution to provide NASA EVA capability for the International Space Station (ISS) and Artemis program missions. The contractor(s) will be responsible for leveraging Government and/or commercial investments to provide an EVA system (space suit, associated hardware and services) for a successful demonstration in a relevant environment and initial certification for first use by NASA crew members. Additionally, the contractor(s) will be awarded task order(s) to provide recurring EVA services for ISS and/or lunar missions, including, but not limited to: use of certified suits by NASA crew members in EVAs; mission planning; support to ground operations (fitting, training, etc.); and support to real-time EVA operations.

Industry Feedback

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work.

Potential offerors should identify any unnecessary or inefficient requirements, and are also encouraged to comment on the DRFP Contract Line Item Notification (CLIN) structure, any unique terms and conditions, their ability to effectively price each of the subCLIN requirements, and the Section M Evaluation Criteria. In addition, the Contracting Officer is seeking Industry feedback and recommendations on the following:

• The Schedule B pricing structure (all CLINs), including the requirement pricing of the full 10-year ordering period.

• The time needed to complete the demonstration CLINs (1A and 2A), and any specific challenges that may result in the ability to meet NASA’s near-term human exploration goals.

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

• Any requirements that could be overly restrictive/prescriptive.

o Any requirements that are “design drivers” that would limit viable technologies.

o Any requirements that are unnecessarily driving cost.

o NASA’s approach to extensibility and any obstacles in the current CLIN and

Milestone approach that could hinder a proposed solution.

o Whether the Performance Work Statement or specific data deliverables will enable or hinder a commercial model.

• Data rights. The Government is seeking Industry feedback with respect to the deviated clause I.16, Rights in Data – General. The Government is attempting to strike a balance between NASA’s unique needs, especially considering the various interoperability requirements, and the goal of supporting the viability of a commercial market for this capability. In the case of the clause in the draft Final Request for Proposal (RFP), the Government purpose rights would provide the Government the ability to provide technical data and computer software developed under this contract to entities directly supporting the Government’s human exploration program with the restriction that the data may not be used for non-Government application or limit the commercial viability of the product/service.

• NASA’s approach to establishing the boundaries of the xEVAS system and its interfaces with the host vehicle are defined in System Requirements Document Rqmt-059. NASA is seeking industry feedback on related xEVAS services expected to be provided under this contract and any challenges related to current (e.g. ISS) and anticipated (e.g.

Artemis) interfaces.

• Government-furnished Property (GFP). Industry is requested to provide input on what GFP should be made available for the final solicitation. The Government intends to restrict requests for Government property to a final, predefined list that will be provided with the final solicitation. The purpose of this is to ensure all Offerors are aware of what the Government can provide. A provisional list is in-work and will be posted with a modification to this notice within the coming days.

• Contract type. The Government is requesting feedback on the fixed price nature of CLIN 4, and the ability to use fully burdened labor rates to study future contemplated requirements prior to requesting future fixed priced solutions for inclusion in the contract via mission unique modifications (CLIN 1 & 2) and/or future demonstration and services capabilities (CLIN 3). Specifically, the Government would like feedback on any advantages or disadvantages this may pose as compared to the inclusion of a cost-reimbursement (C-R) component under the contract. Specifically, the Government is considering including an approach that would allow for the issuance of either Firm- Fixed-Price or Cost-Reimbursement task orders under CLINS 3 and/or CLINS 4 at the Government’s discretion. Should the Government consider the use of a C-R component under the resulting contract? Which CLINs are most appropriate for C-R? If C-R is used, what fee structure is most appropriate? What impact would the use of C-R have on your interest in competing for xEVAS.

• Guaranteed minimum. The DRFP includes a guaranteed minimum that may represent an amount that would exceed funding available for NASA to fully-fund at the time of contract award. NASA does not, at this time, have authority to incrementally fund the guaranteed minimum associated with this fixed-price, IDIQ contract. NASA is seeking new authority that would allow NASA to incrementally fund the minimum obligation, similar to what has been approved for expendable launch vehicles and other NASA programs (e.g. SLS and Orion). If new authority is not obtained by the time of release of the Final Request for Proposal (Final RFP), the Government may instead request alternative proposals, e.g., one assuming the desired guaranteed minimum as stated in the current Draft RFP and the second, alternative proposal, reflecting a reduced guaranteed minimum consistent with the amount of funds NASA can obligate at contract award. The Government is seeking Industry feedback on:

o the impact of this alternative proposals plan and how this approach, if used, could be incorporated into a final solicitations (i.e. which proposal volumes, page counts, would be impacted) and/or;

o other suggested approaches that should be considered as an alternative plan.

• Government Task Agreements (GTA). Potential Offerors that are interested in leveraging

NASA capabilities will due so through a GTA or Government Collaboration Agreement, pursuant to the Section H Clause, Use of Government Resources. This is a change in approach from the Industry Day Q&A Responses previously posted.

o A list of NASA Center Capabilities is provided as an attachment to this posting. It includes the Points of Contact (POC) for each Center.

o A GTA form is provided in the DRFP as Attachment L-06. Potential Offerors shall use this form to coordinate GTA requests with the appropriate Center POC (see above bullet). Offerors will be required to include all approved GTAs in their proposal to the Government, per the solicitation instructions.

o Interested Parties are requested to provide feedback on the DRFP instructions with respect to GTAs (Provision L.18.4(b) and Provision M.3(b)) – whether the instructions are clear and understandable or what additional information should be provided to ensure the Government’s proposal requirements and evaluation criteria are effectively communicated.

• Certified cost and pricing data. The draft solicitation includes all clauses for when certified cost and pricing data are required; however, the Government is seeking Industry feedback on how the inclusion of these clauses may affect their level of interest in competing for the xEVAS contract(s).

• The Section H clause “EVA Mission Windows” includes the established daily value (“postponement fee”) for Government caused delays beyond the allowable window. The value is based on the similar value in other NASA contracts; however, NASA is requesting Industry feedback on the reasonableness of this value.

For the Government to have time to fully consider Industry feedback and potential impacts to the final solicitation, responses shall be provided, via email, to the contracting officer (cgaspard@nasa.gov) no later than 1:00 p.m. (Central) on August 17, 2021.

Additional Information

The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding this acquisition:

1. An xEVAS Pre-solicitation Conference is anticipated to be held on August 2, 2021 with one-on-ones following.

2. An xEVAS Pre-proposal Conference is anticipated to be held approximately one week after the release of the final solicitation. A notice will be posted on the acquisition website noted below.

3. NASA has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI). Section L instructs offerors to submit an OCI Avoidance/Mitigation Plan.

4. NASA has produced 40 virtual tours to highlight JSC’s capabilities. Interested Parties are invited to visit https://go.nasa.gov/3wBb4HK to view the virtual tours. The JSC Partnerships Office will assist in coordinating requests to arrange in-person tours of JSC facilities.

5. In order to aid Industry in development of their own commercial EVA services, JSC’s Extravehicular Office has established a library of technical data to which the Government has license to disclose related to the design and development of the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit capability. This data can be accessed using the following link and following directions provided on the website: https://eva.jsc.nasa.gov/.

6. In a change in approach to information previously released concerning the services under the xEVAS, NASA will conduct crew training and flight control operations and the sustaining of current ISS EVA tools will no longer be within the requirements of this solicitation. The contract will include the scope for these capabilities to evolve later during contract execution at the Government’s discretion.

7. The DRFP includes some highlighted areas. Green highlights denote areas requiring Offeror Fill-ins for the proposal (Model Contract volume). Yellow highlights denote areas that will be filled-in by the Government in the final solicitation.

8. Deviations. The DRFP includes a ten-year ordering period and a deviated version of the Rights in Data – General (FAR 52.227-14) clause. Approvals for both of these terms are being requested in accordance with FAR 27.409(b)(1) and NFS 1801.471.

This competitive acquisition will result in one or more Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity contracts with the ability to issue Firm-Fixed Price task orders. The contract will have an ordering period of ten years from the contract effective date. The North American Industry Classification System code for this acquisition is 336414, Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Manufacturing, and the small business size standard is 1,250 employees.

Potential offerors should ensure its company is listed in the online database(s) for the following:

(1) System for award management: https://www.sam.gov/SAM/

(2) U. S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, VETS-4212

Reports: https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/

(3) Date Universal Numbering System (and the transition to the U. S. Government’s unique entity identifier): https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

The successful offeror must pass an Equal Employment Opportunity clearance before contract award (See Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 22.805).

The current planned release date for the RFP is on or about September 20, 2021, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days later. The anticipated contract award date is on or about May 5, 2022.

Interested parties should note that the Government will request delivery of proposals through NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box platform. Provision L.13 of the DRFP includes instructions for submission of proposals through this system, however, potential offerors are advised to test the system prior to the delivery date to ensure there will be no perturbations that would result in a late proposal that would be excluded from evaluation, pursuant to FAR 52.215- 1(c)(3).

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 clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Donna M. Shafer, donna.m.shafer@nasa.gov, and 281-483-4258.

This DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA is not requesting proposals. This DRFP does not commit NASA JSC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA JSC to procure or contract for this requirement. 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.

DRFP Responses and Communications with NASA

Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to Chris Gaspard, Contracting Officer, at cgaspard@nasa.gov, within 14 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a Government response. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP. Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the Government Provided Equipment (GPE) if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the RFP.

Chris Gaspard Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

Draft RFP (No. 80JSC021XEVASDRFP)