Cover Letter FINAL.pdf

Reply to Attn of:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

John H. Glenn Research Center Lewis Field Cleveland, OH 44135-3191

TO: All Prospective Offerers

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP), Solicitation No. 80GRC022R0029, for Safety & Mission Assurance, Audits, Assessments, and Analysis (SA3) Services

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center's Safety & Mission Assurance, Audits, Assessments, and Analysis (SA3) Services solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to provide services to NASA Headquarters (HQ), NASA Centers, NASA Programs/Projects, and other NASA activities through the NASA Safety Center (NSC). The types of services required include but are not limited to: audit/ assessment support, quality and safety engineering and assurance, software safety and assurance, working group support, training and outreach, program support, and information systems (e.g. System for Tracking Audits/ Assessments, and Reviews (STAR) support and Meta support).

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541690 and the small business size standard is $16.5 million.

This competitive acquisition will result in a Cost-Plus-Fixed Fee (CPFF) contract. The contract will have a total potential period of performance of five (5) years, including a 36-month Base Period and a 24-month Option Period.

The anticipated contract award date is June 15, 2021, with a July 22, 2021 contract effective date. The contract will be performed onsite at locations including but not limited to NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC); Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC); Headquarters (HQ); Johnson Space Center (JSC); Kennedy Space Center (KSC); Langley Research Center (LaRC); the NASA Safety Center (NSC); other NASA centers, component facilities, and suppliers; and offsite at the Contractor's facilities.

Potential Offerers 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. This period is not to exceed thirty (30) days and is a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) effort.

2. The Government will make available Government Furnished Property (GFP) for use as described in the RFP.

3. NASA has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI). Offerors should refer to clause H.2 1852.209-71, Limitation of Future Contracting, for a description of the potential conflict(s) and any restrictions on future contracting. Offerors should also see clause I.15 1852.23 7-72, Access to Sensitive Information, which references the OCI plan as a contract compliance document (see section J. l ), as well as FAR Subpart 9.5 titled Organizational Conflicts of Interest.

4. NASA GRC 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 following list identifies some areas where 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;

provided Statement of Work (SOW) clarifications regarding COVID impact and Government Furnished Property (GFP), increased the Past Performance page limit, removed the Past Performance Questionnaire limit, excluded letters of commitment from page limit, specified a uniform font size, revised 533 contract language clarification, added a Business Volume, revised Attachments to include the IT Security Management Plan, updated Applicable Documents, adjusted labor rates/descriptions, and clarified travel projections.

5. Be advised, in accordance with L.13 paragraph two (2), Offerors need to encourage their references to submit then Past Performance Questionnaires directly to the Contracting Officer prior to proposal due date.

6. 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 section M.2 (3) 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).

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 https://www.sam.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

Raenala C. Brown Contracting Officer

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/ Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf.

This RFP does not commit NASA GRC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GRC 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 29, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST).

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 Raenala Brown, Contracting Officer, at raenala.c.brown@nasa.gov on or before March 1, 2021. Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration.

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