NCS QandRs.pdf

Question Government Response 1 There seems to be a significant portion of this work which involves multi-media educational content, learning and engagement should be measures of success – but nowhere are you asking for the expertise of educational content or learning designers. Why?

The expertise of educational content and learning designers falls within the functional responsibility of the Office of STEM Engagement and is outside the scope of the NASA Communication Services (NCS) acquisition.

2 Would you consider using a small firm for microlearning campaigns – which have proven to be more digestible and lead to greater retention and adoption in targeted learners? Why or why not?

This is more directed to the technical content and structure of the Office of STEM Engagement than to the service of communications.

Refer to the Contemplated NCS Technical Requirements document for more information regarding the Government’s requirement.

Requirements contained in the document is based on the best information available at the time of publication, is subject to revision, and is for planning purposes only.

3 How can a talented multi-media development firm that has actually done digital content for learning and measuring engagement – fit in a proposal that seems to need it in large volume, but never specifically requests it?

No solicitation exists at this time. The Government continues to define the NCS performance work statement, and will engage industry throughout the acquisition process—including an industry day and release of a draft solicitation for industry comment—to improve the understanding of Government requirements and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation, evaluation and award.

4 What is NASA’s typical budget for a 3:30 minute video such as this:

https://youtu.be/_fRSaLAEW2s

The Government will not provide the budget for the referenced video.

5 What specific applications are you looking for the staff to be trained on?

Refer to the solicitation when it is released for more information.

6 Does the government expect to release a draft RFP? If so, when? The Government contemplates release of a draft RFP; however, a date has not been determined.

7 What is the expected value of the NCS contract(s) when they are released?

An estimate will not be provided. It is the responsibility of the Offeror to understand requirements and propose adequate resources to meet the requirements of the solicitation when released.

8 Are there any active contracts today that will not be part of an(y) initial award(s) that the Government anticipates rolling into the NCS contract(s)?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing the NCS acquisition strategy.

9 Is the Governments expected timeline still accurate (releasing RFP in September ’21, Awarding September ’22)?

As provided in the source sought synopsis, the estimated award date of NCS contracts is late fiscal year 2022. A date for release of the solicitation has not been determined.

10 How will this acquisition integrate with current contracts still actively supporting the centers with the same or similar requirements?

Because contracts for institutional services are packaged differently across the Agency today, it will take time to fully implement the enterprise operating model for NCS. Therefore, most, if not all, contracts will continue through their natural completion, or as options periods expire, allowing for logical off-ramps.

11 Will the infrastructure and applications requirements also be consolidated into other larger contracts, or will they remain on their own?

The NASA Federal Regulation Supplement will be amended, should it be determined that infrastructure and applications requirements will be consolidated. Refer to the following link and Appendix A of the NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement for more information:

https://www.nasa.gov/office/procurement/engagements/faqs-transformation

12 Migration to Agency-wide services requires some amount of business process re-engineering. What will be industry's role in these activities: taking the lead in recommending improvements;

participating with the Government in process re-engineering; or executing solutions developed by OCOMM?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

13 Does OCOMM anticipate industry to have end-to-end responsibility for communications service delivery; be responsible for assisting with execution of the service; or function in some other role?

This has yet to be determined as we are still defining the performance work statement requirements.

14 When would you be looking to make a decision? The estimated award date for NCS contracts is late fiscal year 2022.

15 How many firms would you select to do the work? This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

16 Will you be sole sourcing to 8a firms? A decision regarding the extent of competition (i.e., small business set-aside, in total or in part, or full and open competition), has not been made at this time.

17 Will you notify everyone you interviewed with and/or submitted responses of the decision?

No, as provided in the sources sought synopsis, “respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation” and the Government will not disclose the names of interested parties that requested a one-on-one meeting.

18 Do you believe that the 3 regions discussed in the RFI will be the go-forward grouping?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

19 Do you believe that small businesses are capable of supporting the services?

We are still assessing market research data in order to make this determination.

20 Do you envision any differences in each of the set aside statuses of the contracts or will they all be released in the same way (with the same small-business requirements)?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

21 How much interaction do you envision between the 3 contracts during performance?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

22 Do you envision lead centers for each contract? No, we do not envision lead centers as it relates to place of performance or location of personnel. It is yet to be determined how the contract administration will be handled.

23 Do you plan to stagger the procurements or do them all at once? There are currently no plans to stagger the procurements.

24 Currently, External Relations Offices at each center work directly with existing contracts to get audio/visual support for events. These contracts support various other entities and programs as well (e.g.;

scientific and/or mission events), achieving synergies and cost savings for the centers. Do you expect this practice to continue or do you envision the NCS contract taking over these functions for ERO events?

Refer to the draft solicitation when it is released for more information.

25 There is a push to go more toward Fixed Price contracts with the goal of saving money, but that requires the government to accurately project 5 years of requirements and priorities. If the upfront requirements are vague or incomplete, this may cause delays in the services while the contract is modified for the specific work and price is negotiated. Do you think that NCS is ready to take that step during this consolidation?

We are still defining the PWS requirements and developing the acquisition strategy, however, we envision that all requirements that can be firmly defined will be firm-fixed-price.

26 We did not see GRC TIALS on the list of affected contracts. Do you envision scope from GRC TIALS being added to NCS?

Yes, the communication services requirements under the Glenn Research Center Technical Information Administration & Logistics Services (TIALS) contract will be included under the NCS contract(s).

27 How set is the regional plan in terms of a strategy and the centers for each?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

28 How were the regions developed – Similar requirements or purely geographic?

The contemplated enterprise operating model for the NCS procurement was developed based on a centralized arrangement (i.e., geographic location) of the NASA centers.

29 Will the procurement be Full and Open with Set-aside components or completely Set-aside? 8(a)? HUBZone? SDVOSB?

See response to question no. 16.

30 What is the anticipated evaluation criteria? LPTA? Best Value? This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy. The source selection process will be specified in the draft RFP.

31 Are you considering a single or multiple awards per region? This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

32 What is the target date for Draft/Final RFP release and Award? See responses to questions 6 and 9.

33 Will the current contracts be extended to align to the solicitation and transition periods?

See response to question 10.

34 What is the target dollar size of the solicitation? See response to question 7.

35 What will be the SEB make up? Members for representative centers?

The Government will not disclose the names of individuals assigned to the NCS procurement. See response to question 37.

36 How will the requirements from each of different centers be balanced?

This has yet to be determined as we are still developing our acquisition strategy.

37 Can you provide technical POCs at each center and HQ? No. However, the Government intends to continue to communicate with industry throughout the acquisition process. The Government will ensure that adequate information is published or otherwise available to potential offerors through an industry day and via https://beta.sam.gov/content/home to inform potential offerors of the underlying requirements and to enable offerors to put together viable proposals. While a formal blackout period of exchanges and communications with industry is not in effect at this time, to ensure that equal and accurate information is available to all prospective https://beta.sam.gov/content/home offerors, general access to working level civil servants will not be accommodated. All correspondence must be done through the contracting officers referenced in sources sought synopsis

80KSC20NCSRFI.

38 Do you have any sense of when the NASA Communications Services (NCS) solicitation may be released?

See response to question 9