Broad Agency Announcement_NOAA OSAAP JV_GPD.pdf

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 1

Ground Processing Demonstrations

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023

April 13, 2023

Office of System Architecture & Advanced Planning (OSAAP) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Department of Commerce (DOC)

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Table of Contents

1. OVERVIEW 4

GENERAL INFORMATION 4

NAICS Code 4

Agency Name 4

Development Opportunity Title 4

Ground Processing Demonstrations 4

Announcement Type and Date 4

White Paper Due Date 5

Eligible Offerors 5

Research and Development Areas of Interest 6

Award Information 6

2. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION 7

2.1. Program Details 7

2.1.1. Background Overview 7

2.1.2. NGES Findings 7

2.1.3. Focus Ares 8

2.1.4. Scope and Objectives 8

2.2. Technical Details 9

2.2.1. Focus Area 1: Constellation Mission Operation 9

2.2.2. Focus Area 2: Next Generation Ground Infrastructure 11

2.2.3. Focus Area 3: Data Processing and Dissemination 13

2.2.4. Cybersecurity Requirements 16

2.2.5. Personnel and IT Security Requirements 16

2.3. Specific Tasks 16

2.4. Coordination and Communication Requirements 18

2.4.1. Coordination Requirements 18

2.4.2. Communication Requirements 19

2.4.3. Period of Performance 19

3. WHITE PAPER GUIDELINES 20

3.1 SUBMISSION PREPARATION 20

3.1.1 Quad Chart Guidelines 21

3.1.2 White Paper Guidelines 22

3.2 EVALUATION INFORMATION 22

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4. FULL PROPOSAL INSTRUCTIONS (STAGE 2) 23

5. AGENCY CONTACTS 23

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1. OVERVIEW

This is a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) posted in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 35.016. The United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental and Scientific Data and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Satellite Architecture and Advanced Planning (OSAAP) is requesting submission of white papers to studies and demonstrations of new technologies and novel concepts that support reimagining NESDIS’ future approach to its ground operations. The NESDIS Ground Enterprise Study (NGES) states the current ground operational architecture does not scale economically and would begin to absorb a larger fraction of the projected overall budget. The NESDIS strategic goal is to ensure NOAA can support the anticipated increase in the number of operational satellites and other data streams of environmental observations in the 2030+ timeframe. In this BAA, NESDIS is interested in entering into partnerships with industry, academia, and other federal agencies to assess innovative technologies, leading to an efficient, cost-effective ground processing enterprise. In addition, NESDIS is interested in learning from these studies and demonstrations to complement its own internal assessment based on NGES and to potentially consider these approaches in its long- term planning of the ground processing of the future. This BAA is exploratory only and currently there is no planned mission for Ground Processing Demonstrations.

This announcement shall be posted for a total of thirty-nine (39) calendar days, and all submissions are due by 3:00pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), 22 May, 2023. All pre-submission inquiries shall be submitted in writing to the Contract Specialist by 2 May, 2023. The program offices and technical points of contact may not be contacted directly and will refer all inquiries to the Contracting Officer. Additional submission instructions are provided at Section 3.

GENERAL INFORMATION

NAICS Code

The NAICS code for this BAA will be 541715 – Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology).

Agency Name

United States Department of Commerce (DOC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental and Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS), Office of Satellite Architecture and Advanced Planning (OSAAP)

Development Opportunity Title

Ground Processing Demonstrations

Announcement Type and Date

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023); posted 13 April, 2023

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White Paper Due Date

22 May, 2023 3:00 pm EDT

Eligible Offerors

This BAA is open to ALL responsible sources in accordance with FAR 2.1 Definitions, which states that “Responsible prospective contractor means a contractor that meets the standards in 9.104.”. Offerors may include single entities or teams from private sector organizations, Government laboratories, and academic institutions.

To be eligible for award, a prospective recipient must meet certain minimum standards pertaining to financial resources, ability to comply with the performance schedule, prior record of performance, integrity, organization, experience, operational controls, technical controls, technical skills, facilities, and equipment.

Government entities (Government/National laboratories, military educational institutions, etc.)

are subject to applicable direct competition limitations and cannot submit a response to this BAA in any capacity unless they address the following conditions:

Government Entities

1. Government entities must clearly demonstrate that the work is not otherwise available from the private sector and provide written documentation citing the specific statutory authority (as well as, where relevant, contractual authority) establishing their ability to propose to government solicitations. Specific supporting regulatory guidance, together with evidence of agency approval will be required to establish eligibility. NOAA will consider eligibility submissions on a case-by-case basis; however, the burden to prove eligibility for all team members rests solely with the Offeror.

The Government entities are encouraged to consider teaming arrangements with responsible sources from academia and industry. Offerors who propose a teaming arrangement must name which organization will operate as the main point-of-contact or lead for the team. Both the white papers, and, if later requested, the proposal, must be submitted by the team lead organization. A description of each team member’s role in the team must be included. In the event of an award to a team proposal, the award will be made to the team lead (Prime) organization named in the proposal for the purposes of contract administration. The Prime organization will be responsible for putting in place all the sub-contracts and other teaming arrangements.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Institutions (MI), Small Business concerns, Small Disadvantaged Business concerns, Women-Owned Small Business concerns, Veteran-Owned Small Business concerns, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business concerns, 8(a) Business concerns, and HUBZone Small Business concerns are encouraged to submit white papers, and to join other entities as team members in submitting white papers. The Government may opt to implement a small business reserve for one award issued as part of this BAA. In order to be considered for this reserve award, a small business must be able to meet the criteria described in Section 3.2.

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Small business subcontracting plans will be required from any large business proposals selected for negotiation or further solicitation/award in accordance with the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR), Commerce Acquisition Manual (CAM) and NOAA provisions/clauses/regulations.

Research and Development Areas of Interest

The objectives under this BAA are described in Section 2.

Award Information

The total combined budget for all awards resulting under this BAA is $9.9M. NESDIS envisions six to ten (6-10) awards for projects under this BAA, with each one having a duration of one to two years. Each study will include a narrative technical report in PDF format as the final deliverable as specified in Table 4. The government may award zero, one, or multiple contracts under this BAA, dependent on the applicability of the White Papers to the technical need, and congressional appropriations. Issuance of any awards resulting from this BAA is subject to the availability of funding. Offerors whose White Papers receive a favorable evaluation in Stage 1 of the BAA process may be invited via e-mail to submit a Full Proposal in Stage 2 of the BAA.

This BAA should not be construed as a commitment or authorization to incur costs in anticipation of a grant, cooperative agreement, other transaction, or contract. Contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, interagency agreements, or other transactions and agreements may be awarded, as appropriate. At this time, it is anticipated that each project award will result in a firm-fixed-price contract.

The Government is not responsible for any costs incurred in the preparation of a submission in response to this BAA.

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2. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TECHNICAL

DESCRIPTION

2.1. Program Details

2.1.1. Background Overview

The NESDIS Ground Enterprise Study (NGES) was commissioned to research and analyze future enterprise architecture alternatives to support the anticipated significant increase in the number of NOAA operational satellites in the 2035-2050 timeframe. NOAA recognizes that the current architecture under which NESDIS is operating does not scale economically to ingest and process all the data coming from many sources. This applies to command and control, data downlinking and mission planning as well. These new observing systems are expected to include smaller satellites in higher numbers, as well as new space weather observatories and numerous missions of opportunities from national and international partners. All these point to a significant increase in the number of satellites and the volume of data to be processed, along with the increase in the complexity of the data to be exploited. This disaggregation of the space assets, especially in LEO (Low Earth Orbits), was also a conclusion from the NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture (NSOSA) study completed by NESDIS in 2018. The “NOAA Satellite Observing System Architecture Study Draft Report” (please see https://www.regulations.gov/document/NOAA-NESDIS-2018-0053-0002) provides important background on this study. Other references can be found in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society papers. Please see Architecting the Future of Weather Satellites (https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/102/3/BAMS-D-19-0258.1.xml) and Developing Priority Observational Requirements From Space Using Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/100/9/bams-d-18-0180.1.xml).

It should be noted that the lifetimes of smaller satellites are expected to be shorter than the current fleet of satellites, which calls for higher agility in the ground processing infrastructure to add and perhaps subtract assets, based on quality and health of the overall constellation. The NGES has provided ample analyses that affirmed the need for NESDIS to consider adopting new technologies and novel concepts to address this future expansion. Examples of these technologies and concepts include scalable cloud infrastructures, new satellite systems, automated operations, and Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning (AI/ML/DL) capabilities. Specifically with the cloud, the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework (NCCF) is being operationalized and incrementally expanded to provide enterprise common services for data management late in this decade. NCCF will continue to expand and be optimized to include other functional aspects that are part of NESDIS current operations, as well as respond to the anticipated significant increase in data operations in the 2035-2050 timeframe.

2.1.2. NGES Findings

Under this BAA, NESDIS is inviting industry and other interested parties to submit white papers for one or more studies or demonstrations that elaborate upon Offerors' internal assessment and https://www.regulations.gov/document/NOAA-NESDIS-2018-0053-0002 https://www.regulations.gov/document/NOAA-NESDIS-2018-0053-0002 https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/102/3/BAMS-D-19-0258.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/102/3/BAMS-D-19-0258.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/100/9/bams-d-18-0180.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/100/9/bams-d-18-0180.1.xml https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/100/9/bams-d-18-0180.1.xml

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recommendations within the focus areas described below. These should not impact operations of current flight programs to reduce risk and enhance understanding of new capabilities related to the full realization of an enterprise future ground architecture. Under this context, this BAA solicits studies and demonstrations that would provide measurable guidance for NESDIS in its long-term planning and realization of the future ground enterprise.

2.1.3. Focus Ares

This BAA solicits studies and demonstrations for three independent focus areas of enterprise satellite operations. These focus areas are:

● Constellation Mission Operation

● Next Generation Ground Infrastructure

● Data Processing and Dissemination

For each focus area, NESDIS is interested in learning about technologies that might help achieve technical requirements listed below, the technology readiness level (TRL), the associated costs, and the potential timeline for implementing these technologies. As general guidance, the proposals should target 2030 or earlier as the time for the proposed technology to be ready for implementation.

Note that this BAA is for the exploration of possibilities for a future state and not a plan for an implementation itself. In other words, this is exploratory to “tell and show”, through Studies and Demonstrations of the stated goals of the three focus areas. It is important to recognize that currently there is no planned request for proposals to support the implementation related to these focus areas.

2.1.4. Scope and Objectives

The scope of this BAA is specific to identifying advanced technologies, methods, concepts, within each of the three focus areas listed in section 2.3. The goal is to study or demonstrate the capability to impact, in a rather quantifiable metric, the improvement in the ground operation, within an enterprise setting.

Offerors can submit multiple white papers, can address one or more focus areas, and submit to address one or two objectives. However, each white paper must address only one objective, of one focus area. The objectives are:

Objective A, Study: to define different approaches to meet NESDIS’ technical requirements as outlined within the three focus areas; to describe and analyze the present state-of-the-art of the technologies, methods, or concepts; to determine how they are projected to evolve in the near and not-so-near future and to what level of improvement (in a measurable way); to perform a feasibility, including an ROI analysis, for a future implementation; and to provide the needed ROM cost for such implementation.

Objective B, Demonstration: to conduct limited scale demonstrations that meet NESDIS’ technical requirements as outlined within the three focus areas; to provide an operational proof of

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concept of the technologies to interface with NESDIS Ground Enterprise; to show persistent compatibility and ease of integration with NESDIS Ground Enterprise operations; to demonstrate flexible scalability to accommodate both on-demand and normal growth in data volume and CPU needs; and demonstrated seamless interfacing and compatibility with commercial service providers as well as technology vendor. Examples of commercial services include providing the Government with personnel and staffing support, technical services, specialized experts, and performing the work for the Government. Examples of technology vendors include suppliers of hardware/software, antennas, relays, space assets.

Potential Offerors may submit white papers to one or more of these focus areas for one or both objectives within the focus area. If interested in multiple focus areas or multiple objectives, the Offeror should submit a separate white paper for each.

2.2. Technical Details

As explained above, Offerors are invited to submit one or more white papers in response to the three focus areas, and for either one or both objectives, i.e., Objective A, the Study and Objective B, the Demonstration:

2.2.1. Focus Area 1: Constellation Mission Operation

The primary goal in this focus area is to investigate approaches to achieving multi-mission satellite operations in a common enterprise environment. The white paper should focus on one or more of the following key areas of mission operations:

● Planning and Scheduling – Performing Fleet Management for all satellites under NESDIS' responsibility.

● Observatory Management – Providing analysis and trending of sensor and spacecraft State-of-Health telemetry.

● Telemetry Operations – Performing instrument and spacecraft payload telemetry monitoring, anomaly resolution and trending analysis.

● Command Management – Providing the generation and validation of command load for all spacecraft and sensors under NESDIS' responsibility.

● Ground Equipment Monitoring and Management – Providing the capability to interface to both NESDIS-managed ground stations and commercially operated ground services.

The proposed concept shall meet the following requirements:

● Demonstrated ability to support a significant increase in launch cadence. Specifically, the Offeror shall provide quantified measures of sustained performance metric against increase in launch events, at least one per three months in the coming decades resulting in the number of orbit operational assets indicated in Table 1, through:

i. Quantifiable, significant reduction in operator oversight for individual satellite or a series of satellites, BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 10

ii. Quantifiable improvement in operator-mission mobility, and

iii. Measured reduction in infrastructure sustainment costs.

● Seamlessly interface with one or more commercial services providers, including:

i. Commercial providers for command and communications services,

ii. Commercial satellite operators providing phase-specific services (e.g., Launch and Early Operations, Life Extension, On-orbit Storage) in conjunction with NESDIS Primary operations, and

iii. Reported interfacing success rate (e.g., 88%) and analysis of failure cases (e.g., failure due to power interruption).

The Study objective of this Focus Area shall address whether the evolution to a common mission operations environment should be achieved through the evolution of existing mission operations systems, or through the development of a new multi-mission environment. The question will be analyzed through quantifiable measures, as follows.

● An estimate of the cost expected to implement and maintain the concept is required in the Technical Data Package final report. Estimation methodology shall be included as well; and

● Cost profile year-by-year in constant year dollars is required in the Technical Data Package final report. Sources of cost figures should be included.

In addition, the Offeror shall provide the following Study documentation:

● A concept report that describes the recommended optimal approach to providing Constellation Mission Operation support backed by reasoning and/or analysis.

● A recommended list of alternatives of different approaches to Constellation Mission Operations including the reasoning based on the Focus Area requirements.

● An estimate of the expected overall performance and the maturity level of the overall concept (TRL level) and/or individual components.

● A ROM cost for the above implementations.

● A roadmap and timed actions needed to bring all components to the maturation level to allow implementation of the selected options by FY 2030.

The Demonstration objective of this Focus Area shall showcase approaches to achieving a common multi-mission satellite operations environment while adhering to all standards and operational requirements set forth. This effort would provide the Government a deeper understanding of how commercial and other entities could help NESDIS transition to a new operational format that embodies capability and affordability simultaneously.

Furthermore, the Offeror shall provide all materials, equipment, and satellite data needed to conduct this demonstration. There shall be no GFE expectation, but the Offeror should clearly identify their needs in the white paper.

The Offeror shall describe the assessment capabilities it brings as part of this project, and describe the expected assessment, or otherwise define any support may need from the Government throughout the life of the contract POP.

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The success criteria for Minimum Performance Levels are indicated in Table 1. Projects meeting the Objective Performance Levels indicated in Table 1 would be preferred.

Minimum Level of performance

Objective level of Performance

# of satellites that NESDIS should be able to actively manage simultaneously

● 2 Lagrange 1, Lagrange 5, or other deep space spacecraft

● 6 Geostationary spacecraft

● 20 Low Earth-orbiting spacecraft

● 4 Lagrange 1, Lagrange 5, or other deep space spacecraft

● 6 Geostationary spacecraft

● 100 Low Earth-orbiting spacecraft

Transmission Rate Lowest Possible Data Transmissions Rate

Highest Possible Data Transmissions Rate

Security Requirements Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Table 1. Success criteria or requirements for the performance of ‘Focus Area 1 Constellation Mission Operation’ component of Ground Processing.

2.2.2. Focus Area 2: Next Generation Ground Infrastructure

The primary goal in this focus area is to investigate the architectural infrastructure of the ground enterprise operations. This includes, for example, assessing the viability of emerging antenna technology, such as phased arrays, to meet NESDIS mission requirements. Here are two distinct aspects of viability that need to be addressed:

● Technical Feasibility – NOAA has a diverse mission portfolio. Next generation ground technologies will need to support this diverse and dynamic portfolio into the middle of the century and beyond.

● Affordability – As NOAA’s on-orbit architecture continues to evolve and diversify, the ground enterprise will need to be increasingly more cost efficient.

The proposed concept shall meet the following requirements:

● Demonstrated flexibility to support a significant increase in launch cadence.

Specifically, the Offeror shall provide quantified measures of sustained performance metric against increase in launch events, at least one per three months in the coming decades resulting in the number of on orbit operational assets indicated in Table 2, through:

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i. Quantifiable, significant increase in flexibility to manage enterprise operations in support of individual satellite or a series of satellites, and

ii. Measured reduction in infrastructure sustainment costs.

● Ability to seamlessly interface with a variety of ground service providers:

i. NOAA Ground Stations for Command, Control and communications services

ii. Commercial providers for command and communications services,

iii. Commercial satellite operators providing phase-specific services (e.g., Launch and Early Operations, Life Extension, On-orbit Storage) in conjunction with NESDIS Primary operations, and

iv. Reported interfacing success rate (e.g., 88%) and analysis of failure cases (e.g., failure due to power interruption).

The Study objective of this Focus Area shall address how an Offeror can integrate new technologies into NESDIS ground infrastructure to increase capability and decrease cost. The Offeror shall include:

● An estimate of the cost to implement and maintain the concept in the Technical Data Package final report. Estimation methodology shall be included as well.

● Cost profile year-by-year in constant year dollars is required in the Technical Data Package final report. Sources of cost figures must be included unless they are proprietary data.

● A concept report that describes the recommended optimal approach to providing Next Generation Ground Infrastructure support backed by reasoning and/or analysis.

● A recommended list of alternatives of different approaches to Next Generation Ground Infrastructure including the reasoning based on the Focus Area requirements.

● An estimate of the expected overall performance and the maturity level of the overall concept (TRL level) and/or individual components.

● A roadmap and timed actions needed to bring all components to the maturation level to allow implementation of the selected options by FY 2030.

The Demonstration objective of this Focus Area shall showcase alternative approaches to achieving ground infrastructures such as experimental antenna implementation while adhering to all standards and operational requirements set forth. Next generation ground technologies will need to support NESDIS diverse and dynamic portfolio into the middle of the century and beyond.

As NOAA’s on-orbit architecture continues to evolve and diversify, the ground enterprise will need to be increasingly more cost efficient and transition current ground infrastructure to increase capability and affordability simultaneously. The Offeror therefore shall demonstrate how the technology could meet the requirements outlined in this section.

Furthermore, the Offeror shall provide all materials, equipment, and satellite data needed to conduct this demonstration. If the Offeror requires any support from the Government, it must be clearly identified in the white paper. Note that the assessment of these demonstration results should be completed jointly with the Government team (the Offeror shall describe the assessment capabilities it brings as part of this project, and describe the expected assessment, or other, support from the Government team).

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The success criteria for Minimum Performance Levels are indicated in Table 2. Projects meeting the Objective Performance Levels indicated in Table 2 would be preferred.

Objective level of Performance

# of satellites that we should be able to process simultaneously

● 2 Lagrange 1, Lagrange 5, or other deep space spacecraft

● 6 Geostationary spacecraft

● 12 Low Earth-orbiting spacecraft

● 4 Lagrange 1, Lagrange 5, or other deep space spacecraft

● 6 Geostationary spacecraft

● 20 Low Earth-orbiting spacecraft

Security Requirements Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Table 2. Success criteria for the performance of ‘Ground Infrastructure’ component of Ground Processing.

2.2.3. Focus Area 3: Data Processing and Dissemination

The primary goal in this focus area is to investigate the infrastructure, tools, IT security, science infusion, as well as services needed to facilitate data processing and product generation, collaborative science development and its integration into NESDIS operational enterprise services.

The project should focus on one or more of the following key areas of data processing and dissemination:

● Data Management, Data Discovery, and Data Access services to support algorithm development from concept through operationalization.

● Algorithm Life Cycle Management services to lower the barrier to entry for science innovation and still provides the controls needed to ensure operational trust and assurance.

● Approaches to improve accessibility to NESDIS data in the cloud.

● Collaboration Services that aim at facilitating open exchange of research, algorithms, and data.

● Development of various scenarios and CONOPS changes that would allow for collaborative science to be incorporated into NESDIS Ground Enterprise operations.

The proposed concept shall meet the following:

● Efficient data processing and products generation from both a cost and technical implementation perspective

● Facilitate a meaningful increase in science community engagement in scientific

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algorithm innovation.

● address compatibility with the NCCF architecture part of the NCCF set of services.

● Assess NOAA’s significant investment in operational science algorithms and address who proposed architectures may impact current science workflows.

● Address compatibility with, or impacts on, transition of research to operation.

● Use primarily free, open-source tools, i.e., free for users to access and use the data.

● Consistent with cloud service provider agnostic approach, while considering the current and near future NESDIS NCCF architecture.

The Study objective of this Focus Area is to provide quantitative estimates of all attributes and requirements in support of Data Processing and Dissemination. Furthermore, the Study should include alternative approaches to achieving improved or more efficient data processing and dissemination techniques and address how current cloud architectures should evolve to take advantage of the proposed alternatives. The Offeror should address how a commercial industry could leverage partnerships or teaming with other providers in modernizing data use, storage, and dissemination. The Offeror shall:

● Identify the cost estimate of the concept and for developing the Technical Data Package.

● Cost profile to develop and maintain year-by-year in constant year dollars is required in the Technical Data Package final report. Sources of cost figures must be included unless they are proprietary data.

● Develop a concept report that describes the recommended optimal approach to providing data processing and dissemination support.

● Provide recommendations for alternatives of different approaches to updated data processing and dissemination while meeting NESDIS Performance Needs and Strategic Goals including the potential cost savings, benefits, etc.

● Identify the estimate of the expected overall performance and the maturity level of the overall concept (TRL level) and/or individual components.

● Provide a roadmap and timed actions needed to bring all components to the maturation level to allow implementation of the selected options by FY 2030.

The Demonstration objective of this Focus Area shall showcase alternative approaches to achieving updated data processing and dissemination techniques while adhering to all standards and operational requirements. The Demonstration would provide a deeper understanding of how commercial entities could help NESDIS to update data processing and to implement an enterprise-wide cloud environment that builds upon the NCCF and on prem capabilities modified to be cloud ready. This enterprise environment must cater to each organization's specific needs while also meeting the demands of the enterprise as a whole. The Offeror shall demonstrate how transition to this data processing/dissemination environment fulfills both agency and organization needs while also displaying affordable implementation methods. In addition, the Offeror shall be able to showcase the ability to seamlessly interface with a variety of commercial services providers to allow external users access to needed information. This access must be in accordance with all information security measures and access controls.

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Furthermore, the Offeror shall provide all materials, equipment, and satellite data needed to conduct this demonstration. If the Offeror requires any support from the Government, it must be clearly identified in the white paper. Note that the assessment of these demonstration results should be completed jointly with the Government team (the Offeror shall describe the assessment capabilities it brings as part of this project, and describe the expected assessment, or other, support from the Government team).

The success criteria for Minimum Performance Levels are indicated in Table 3. Projects meeting the Objective Performance Levels indicated in Table 3 would be preferred.

Objective level of Performance access to NOAA and other environmental data sources

Access NOAA PDA and current cloud enabled data sources

Access NOAA, NOAA partner and External data sources provides support for collaboration between multiple algorithm developers working across different accounts and service providers.

Provide written procedures Provide written procedures and 8 hr x 5 day/week technical support

Latency (in minutes) for processing the data

60 15

Number of Users/Scientists Being able to contribute Simultaneously

10 100

Number of Algorithms being explored scientifically for potential R2O at any point in time

3 100

Number of algorithms running operationally

3 100

Security Requirements Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Meet all security requirements indicated in Section 2.4

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section

Must meet 508 compliance requirements

Must meet 508 compliance requirements

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508) Table 3. Success criteria for the performance of ‘Data Processing and Dissemination’ component of Ground Processing.

2.2.4. Cybersecurity Requirements

All proposed developments, as configured in the Studies as well as Demonstrations, shall meet adequate IT security requirements for the provision of a Commercial Ground System. Specific IT Security Requirements acceptable to the Government can be third party certifications under a recognized IT security standard such as International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 27001 and/or US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 rev. 5 (https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53/rev-5/final) and or other applicable security certifications as appropriate. Other security protocols shall be discussed based on evolving needs for future implementation.

2.2.5. Personnel and IT Security Requirements

The contractor shall comply with the IT Security requirements of the Department of Commerce (DOC) as outlined in Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR) 1352.239-72, Security Requirements For Information Technology Resources (April 2010), except that development of a Security Authorization Package in accordance with CAR 1352.239-72.

In addition, personnel shall be screened in accordance with the requirements for Moderate Risk contracts as specified by CAM 1337.70 section 2.3; specifically, in accordance with CAR 1352.237-70, Security Processing Requirements—High or Moderate Risk Contracts (April 2010).

Any access by contract personnel who are Foreign Nationals shall be in accordance with the requirements of CAR 1352.237-73, Foreign National Visitor and Guest Access to Departmental Resources (APR 2010).

The contractor must submit security forms required by CAR clause 1352.237-70 two (2) weeks prior to each new contract employee’s start of work so NOAA staff has sufficient time to process requests for background checks, NOAA badges, and network access.

The full text of the CAR clauses are available at: CAR Clause Repository

2.3. Specific Tasks

This section describes the anticipated tasks for all submissions, if awarded. It is included to aid the Offerors in developing their estimates for the Study and Demonstration options described in Section 3.

The Study:

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-53/rev-5/final https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=0030a27c5b762e06d55b50f367b0a364&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title48/48cfr1352_main_02.tpl https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=0030a27c5b762e06d55b50f367b0a364&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title48/48cfr1352_main_02.tpl

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Studies are expected to provide quantitative estimates of all attributes listed for a Focus Area.

Assessment of the performance using the concept on its own or in combination with other ground systems are both considered acceptable.

The Offeror shall include (in the white paper) a description of the technical work required, technical and programmatic risks (including potential cost drivers), and the overall schedule to meet the concept provided in the Study. The Offeror shall identify the cost for the study and the Technical Data Package.

As part of the study, and documented in the final report, the Offeror shall develop a concept report that describes the recommended optimal approach for the Focus Area.

The Offeror shall suggest approaches for the Focus Area to meet NOAA Performance Needs, including the potential cost savings, benefits, etc. The Offeror shall identify the expected overall performance and the maturity level of the overall concept (TRL level) and/or individual components.

The Offeror shall indicate the ongoing and needed work to bring all components to the maturation level to allow a deployment in the future.

The white paper submitted by the Offeror should give information on how and when the elements above will be addressed during the project, if selected.

Demonstration:

The intent of a Demonstration is to show a multi-mission prototype solution addressing the attributes listed in aFocus Area in a simulated operational environment. The demonstration shall focus on the use of common services and automation in interfacing to heterogenous flight and ground assets.

The method of demonstration of capabilities will be proposed by the Offeror. The demonstration is not expected to provide assessment of all the performance attributes listed in the Focus Areas section. However, they should address as many as possible to provide insight as to how their performance might scale, or need to scale, to address NOAA’s requirements.

Final Report:

For both the Study and the Demonstration, the Offeror shall develop a Technical Presentation and Final Report. In the Technical Presentation and Final Report, the Offeror shall include the following:

● Concept description

● Current Technology Readiness Level of concept and/or individual components, and estimated year technology would be available for potential NOAA operational use

● Expected performance of the concept

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 18

● Summary of demonstration of capabilities

● ongoing and needed work to bring all software and components to the maturation level to allow deployment in the future (2025-2030 timeframe is the target for an operational system)

● a description of the technical work required, technical and programmatic risks (including potential cost drivers), and the overall schedule to meet the focus area objectives.

● recommended optimal approach for integrating legacy and next generation NESDIS missions for the LEO, GEO and SWO portfolios.

● Risks associated with the operation of the concept

● The Offeror shall suggest alternatives of different approaches to incorporating commercial services into NOAA operations, including the potential cost savings, benefits, etc.

● Estimated initial and annual cost to meet Minimum Level Performance (see above tables)

● Estimated initial and annual cost to meet Objective Level of Performance (see above tables)

2.4. Coordination and Communication Requirements

2.4.1. Coordination Requirements

The Offeror will meet virtually with a team of Government experts on a monthly basis. During this meeting, the Offeror will provide an overview of work completed, any preliminary results, planned work, and any problems encountered. The team of Government experts will provide feedback and guidance to the Offeror. In addition:

● Monthly Status Reports, including: Activities performed during the reporting month, Problems Encountered and Corrective Actions, Planned Activities for Next Month, Milestone Schedule and Status, and Budget Status

● Kick-Off Meeting: A kick-off meeting will be held (Face to face, Google/WebEx/telecom, or a combination). Its objective is to ensure the project plans, schedule, and deliverables are understood, and to answer any questions that may arise as part of the process.

● Technical Interchange meetings as needed and decided upon in the Kickoff meeting. The goal is to get the project started to answer key technical questions and better define the environment.

● Midpoint Status Meeting: The midpoint status meeting is intended to provide current project status, discuss the approach towards completing the project, and agree on any adjustments to the work to be completed during the remainder of the project.

● Final Status Meeting: The final status meeting is intended to provide final project status, discuss the approach towards completing the project, and agree on any adjustments to the work to be completed during the remainder of the project.

● Technical Presentation: A general description of the project findings and main results to be given to the JV team for dissemination to a broader audience.

● Demonstration Presentation: Providing an interactive demonstration addressing the objectives for a scientific application area relevant to NOAA’s mission

● Final Report: Final report summarizing the project and outcomes

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 19

2.4.2. Communication Requirements

The Offeror shall maintain proactive, open, and responsive communication with the Government.

Regular communication shall include support of Programmatic and Technical Interchanges taking the form of email, recurring teleconferences, etc., as required. The Offeror shall support in-person reviews at the Government location or Offeror’s facilities, as required. Teleconferences shall take place once every month to discuss status and interchange information.

2.4.3. Period of Performance

Objective A Study: The period of performance is between 12 and 24 months, and will be specified by the Offeror. The period of performance starts from Authorization to Proceed (ATP) date and includes time to perform the project and produce the deliverables, plus one month for follow up questions and/or clarifications.

Objective B Demonstration: The period of performance will be specified by the Offeror, but not to exceed Twenty-Four (24) months from Authorization to Proceed (ATP). This period of performance includes up to Twenty-Three (23) months to perform the project and produce the deliverables, plus one month for follow up questions and/or clarifications.

Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government Furnished Services (GFS)

The Government may provide guidance to the Offeror to orient the work toward maximizing the positive impact on NOAA systems. If the Offeror requires any support from the Government, it must be clearly identified in the white paper.

Deliverables

The Offeror shall provide the following reports and Contract Data Requirement List (CDRLs) to address the items listed in this call.

Table 4

CDRL # Name

0001A Monthly briefings and status report

0001B Kickoff, mid- and end of projects briefings

0002 Technical and Demonstration Presentation. Open briefing providing a general description of the project findings and main results to be given to the NESDIS Enterprise Architecture Committee (NEAC)

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 20

0003 Technical Data Package Final Report

3. WHITE PAPER GUIDELINES

The application process will be divided into two steps:

● Stage 1: White Paper

● Stage 2: Request for Proposal or interagency agreements as applicable, for selected white papers.

White Papers (WPs) are due 22 May, 2023. Subject to the availability of funding, offerors whose White Papers receive a favorable evaluation may be invited via e-mail to submit a Full Proposal.

The instructions for the Full Proposal package will be provided in the invitation email.

Offerors are encouraged to submit White Paper(s). If Offerors want to submit white papers for multiple concepts, they shall submit a separate White Paper for each concept. Each White Paper will be evaluated independently.

3.1 SUBMISSION PREPARATION

Interested Offerors shall submit a White Paper that meets the mission criteria described in section 2. The initial submission is limited to a cover page, one-page Quad Chart, and White Paper not to exceed five (5) pages. This results in a submission packet not to exceed seven (7) pages. If submissions exceed these limitations, only those pages previously defined will be reviewed.

For each distinct White Paper submittal, combine all files and forms into a single searchable PDF file before submitting.

The document must be submitted in accordance with the preparation guidance below. The document should describe the effort in sufficient detail to allow evaluation of the concept's technical merit and its potential contribution to the NOAA mission.

White paper submissions must remain valid for six months from the submission deadline.

Offerors will be notified via e-mail if their submission is or is not being considered for Stage 2.

Electronic Submissions are, due 3:00 PM, 22 May, 2023. Late submissions will not be considered. All submissions shall be submitted electronically to both:

● Contract Specialists: Bryton Curtis, bryton.curtis@noaa.gov Jadwiga Baranowski, jadwiga.baranowski@noaa.gov mailto:bryton.curtis@noaa.gov

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 21

● Contracting Officer, Gabriela Bravo, via email: gabriela.bravo@noaa.gov

The government reserves the right to reconsider un-selected white papers evaluated during the first round of submissions for award up until 21 May, 2024, without the opening of additional rounds of white paper submissions.

The government reserves the right to open additional rounds of white paper submissions.

Additional requests, if applicable, will be posted on SAM.gov as an amendment to this posting no later than 21 May, 2024.

IMPORTANT: The subject line of the email submission should consist of the announcement number, area of interest number, and purpose of the email (e.g., [BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023], Concept <name>, White Paper Submission). White Papers do not require any special forms, but must be submitted in the following format:

Single PDF file as an email attachment

Page Size: 8 ½ x 11” with 1” Margins

Spacing – single

Font – Times New Roman size 12 font or equivalent

The file should not exceed 10 Megabytes of storage space. Movie and sound file attachments, URL Links, or other additional files, will not be accepted.

Classification: All Quad Chart and White Paper submissions must be UNCLASSIFIED.

3.1.1 Quad Chart Guidelines

A quad chart must contain the following information and be positioned in a landscape view. Any quad chart submitted that exceeds the one-page limit will not be read or evaluated. The following components are required:

Heading: Title, BAA #, Objective Responding To, Development Area of Interest, Technical/Administrative point of contact (Name, Email, Phone), Company’s Name & Address.

Please note that the Title of the Project should be different than that of the Area of Interest.

Upper Left:

● Objective: should be 2-3 sentences describing the objective and methodology.

● Description of effort: a few bullet points noting the primary scientific challenges addressed

Lower left: Benefits of proposed technology, challenges, and maturity of technology research area mailto:gabriela.bravo@noaa.gov

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 22

Upper right: Picture or graphic illustrating the research or the concept

Lower Right: Milestones, period of performance, total ROM cost estimate for the project.

3.1.2 White Paper Guidelines

The White Paper shall describe the Offeror’s concept’s ability to address the need and requirements detailed in the appropriate part of Section 2. Merely restating the minimum project objectives is not sufficient. The core components of the White Paper include a detailed explanation of the concepts being proposed, including definitions of how the Offeror plans to meet the requirements for that given concept, including but not limited to:

1. What concept they are proposing to study and demonstrate

2. What they plan to accomplish in the project timeframe

3. What they plan to deliver at the end of the project

4. How their concept contributes to the requirements laid out in Section 2 regarding the

NESDIS and NOAA mission

With regard to the instrument concept, the Offeror must supply sufficient data to justify the proposed Technology Readiness Level (TRL) maturity of the candidate instrument.

The price portion of the white paper shall contain a high-level estimate on the work intended to be completed during the project. A detailed price proposal will be required if an Offeror moves to Stage 2 of the selection process and is issued a Request for Proposal (RFP).

Any applicable past performance references should also be provided as part of the white paper submission if they are relevant to the proposed work plan. This information will be excluded from the page limit, and shall follow the same format described above for the white paper.

White Papers that are outside the scope of the BAA may be returned to the Offeror.

3.2 EVALUATION INFORMATION

Submissions will be evaluated in accordance with the following evaluation criteria:

A. Technical Merit (Proposed concept and how the various technical aspects as described in Section 2 are addressed)

a. The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s concepts as defined in their White Paper for their ability to meet the requirements as defined in the appropriate part of Section 2. If the Offeror submits multiple White Papers, the Government will evaluate each study submission as independent studies and one submission will not affect the evaluation of the other submission.

b. In keeping with the purpose of a BAA stated in FAR 35.016(a), the Government will evaluate whether the concept detailed by the Offeror in its White Paper

BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023 23

proposes a state-of-the art solution or leverages existing technologies in an innovative way to meet NOAAs needs.

The Government may elect to include a small business reserve as part of this BAA. In order to be eligible for the small business reserve award, a small business must have submitted a White Paper that meets the technical requirements detailed in Section 2 of this BAA, and that is among the concepts that offer the most innovative technical solutions for NOAA’s needs.

B. Price Factor (Overall price of the proposed effort and supporting information for assessing the cost effectiveness of the project)

a. Price will be evaluated for Price Reasonableness and Price realism, if applicable.

b. Cost and Pricing Data…