(DRAFT) J.6 TO-1 RFTOP Instructions & Evaluation Criteria v1.docx

ATTACHMENT J.6

TASK ORDER-1 (TO-1) REQUEST FOR TASK ORDER PROPOSAL (RFTOP) INSTRUCTIONS & EVALUATION CRITERIA

J.6.1 RFTOP Schedule

To be considered for TO-1 award, Offerors must submit their TO proposals in electronic format no later than the time and date specified in Section L.5 of Request For Proposal (RFP) 1305M426R0011 to Suzanna Espinoza, contracting officer, at Suzanna.Espinoza@noaa.gov and Cherron Bennett-Pettus, contract specialist, at Cherron.Bennett-Pettus@noaa.gov.

Questions on this RFTOP must be submitted to the above listed Government points of contact, no later than the time and date specified in Section L.5.1 of RFP 1305M426R0011. Answers to any questions will be provided to all potential offerors via amendment to the RFP.

J.6.2 RFTOP Instructions

In accordance with the structure of the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, all terms, conditions, and clauses established within the base IDIQ agreement are inherently applicable to Task Order 01 (TO1) unless otherwise specifically exempted or modified within the task order itself.

Proposals shall comply with the requirements of FAR 52.212-1 (DEVIATION JAN 2026), which is hereby incorporated by reference, and the following addenda:

FAR 52.212-1 Addenda-Additional Instructions to Offerors—Commercial Products and Commercial Services

Offeror’s proposals shall be organized in two volumes: Technical and Price.

(1) Technical Volume:

(a) The Technical Volume shall be submitted electronically, in Microsoft Word or searchable Adobe PDF.

(b) The Technical Volume shall not exceed 15 total single-spaced pages with one-inch margins, using Times New Roman size 12-point font aligned to the left. A 10-point font may be used for charts, tables, and graphics. Any pages in excess of the applicable page limit will be disregarded, and will not be included in the evaluation. Failure of the Offeror to comply with the page limitations shall not constitute grounds for a protest.

(c) The following pages are excluded from the page count, font, margin, and spacing requirements:

(i) Cover Page

(ii) Cover letter (maximum of one (1) page)

(iii) Table of Contents, List of Tables and Figures, Abbreviations and Acronyms

(d) The Technical Volume shall describe the Offeror's ability to provide data that meets all specifications required by the TO-1 Statement of Work (SOW). The Offeror shall propose separate capabilities for Part II, Sections II, III, IV, and V of the TO-1 SOW. Part II, Section I of the TO-1 SOW applies to all sections of Part II of the TO-1 SOW. The Technical Volume shall include a detailed explanation demonstrating the Offeror's capabilities to include the following:

(i) Offerors must confirm that all proposed on-orbit capabilities will be completely operational and ready at the start of the Task Order 1 (TO-1) Period of Performance (PoP); if any proposed capability is not operational at the TO-1 PoP start date, the Offeror must submit a detailed plan and schedule to achieve readiness, covering at a minimum the launch manifest and the on-orbit check-out process, and guaranteeing that the Offeror will reach full operational status no later than six (6) months following the commencement of the TO-1 PoP. Proposals featuring a projected operational date exceeding this six (6) month threshold will be deemed technically unacceptable and ineligible for award.

(ii) Ability to provide the guaranteed minimum data specifications in Section C.3 of the IDIQ SOW and as specified in Sections II, III, and IV of the TO-1 SOW.

(iii) Ability to meet proposed data delivery requirements in the IDIQ SOW and TO-1 SOW, including demonstrated downlink and data retrieval from operational satellites.

(iv) Ability to meet geospatial distributions that equal or exceed the requirements specified in the IDIQ SOW Section C.4.3.2: Specific Geospatial Distributions and in Part II, Section I of the TO-1 SOW.

(v) Identification and mitigation strategies for risks that may affect timely delivery or data quality including launch or licensing delays, downlink limitations, ground system constraints, and atmospheric drag countermeasures.

(vi) Description of any additional capabilities or specifications that exceed the minimum requirement (up to the specified maximum requirement specified in Part II, Sections II, III, and IV of the TO-1 SOW) and may increase the probability of successful performance.

(vii) Identification of all GNSS constellations within those specified in the IDIQ SOW Functional Category C.4. that will be used to collect POD and RO observations during the delivery order.

(viii) Technical and operational details of the sensor(s) necessary to meet the delivery requirements in the IDIQ SOW Functional Category C.4. and TO-1 SOW.

(ix) Identification of all planned changes to the Offeror’s constellation throughout the period of performance. This includes expected satellite deorbiting, planned satellite launches, and changes to orbital configurations.

(2) Price Volume

(a) The price volume shall be submitted electronically, in a “searchable Adobe” PDF or in a combination of Microsoft Word and Excel. Offerors are encouraged to use RFP Attachment J.5, “TO-1 Price Volume Spreadsheet” but it is not required. Offerors shall provide:

(i) Quantity and associated pricing of compliant RO profiles and/or TEC tracks per day (as specified in the TO-1 SOW to be considered for an award/task order within the ranges stated in the TO-1 SOW Part II, Sections II, III, IV).

(ii) Quantity and associated pricing of compliant RO profiles per day for Temporal Resolution Enhancements (as specified in the TO-1 SOW Part II, Sections V).

(iii) Quantities and forecasted timeframes of compliant RO profiles and/or TEC tracks the Offeror is unable to consistently and reliably deliver throughout the entire data delivery period.

(b) The Offeror's price proposal shall include a completed copy of Attachment J.5, “TO-1 Price Volume Spreadsheet” or an alternate format providing equivalent pricing information. The price proposal may include a short narrative to explain any pricing provided. There is no page limit to the Price Volume. The pricing provided shall represent the data that meets the specifications set forth in the Offeror's technical volume.

(c) The Government expects that this or these task order(s) will be awarded based upon adequate price competition. However, in order to determine that the provided prices are fair and reasonable, the Government reserves the right to request the Offeror to provide a breakdown of the costs to support proposed prices. The Government encourages the Offeror to provide prices below the established ceiling prices of the offeror’s associated IDIQ contract.

(3) Submission

(a) The subject line of the email(s) should follow the following format:

“SBEM RFTOP 1_CompanyName”

(b) Each volume shall be submitted electronically. NOAA limits the size of individual messages to 25MB. The 25MB limit includes the combined size of the message and the attachments. Multiple emails are permitted. It is the Offeror's responsibility to ensure that both volumes of the proposal arrive by the required date and time. The time of receipt will be established based upon the e-mail received time. The Government will not be responsible for any failure attributable to the transmission or receipt of the email, including the failure to meet stated deadlines. It is the Offeror's responsibility to confirm the Government's receipt of all transmitted information.

J.6.3 RFTOP Evaluation Criteria

FAR 52.212-2 Evaluation—Commercial Products and Commercial Services (DEVIATION JAN 2026)

(a) The Government anticipates the award of one or multiple Firm-Fixed-Unit-Price (FFUP) delivery order(s) resulting from this solicitation. These orders will be structured as consumption-based CLINs. Consumption-Based CLINs where the Government pays a fixed price per unit based on actual usage. Services are metered and billed periodically, ensuring the Government only pays for what is consumed. Awards will be made to the responsible Offeror(s) whose proposal(s), conforming to the solicitation, will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers: Technical Approach and Price. Only proposals that meet the minimum requirements of the TO-1 SOW will be considered technically acceptable and considered for an award. In performing the best value trade-off analysis, the technical factor is more important than price. An award will be made to the offeror(s) whose submission(s) represents the best overall value to the Government based on an integrated assessment and trade-off analysis of the price and non-price factor.

(i) Data Redundancy Requirement: The Government intends to award multiple task orders to ensure high-availability and data redundancy. To achieve the total required quantity of compliant RO profiles and/or TEC tracks per day, the Government will select:

1. Multiple offerors (Primary Strategy) to provide independent, redundant data streams; OR

2. One offeror (Contingency) only if only one offeror is determined to be technically acceptable or if the price of redundant awards is not determined to be fair and reasonable.

(ii) The Government intends to award one or more task orders resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror(s) whose proposal(s), conforming to the solicitation, represents the Best Value to the Government, price and other factors considered. This selection will be made based on a Tradeoff Process in accordance with FAR 15.101-1.

In accordance with FAR 16.504(c), the Government reserves the right to make a single award, multiple awards, or no award at all if it is determined to be in the Government’s best interest. To ensure the required daily quantities are met and to maintain a resilient supply chain/service flow, the Government may issue multiple task orders across different awardees.

The following factors will be used to evaluate offers:

Factor I: Technical Factor (Technical Acceptability) The Government will evaluate the Offeror's approach to successfully provide data satisfying the requirements specified in each Section of the TO-1 SOW.

· Specifically, the Government will evaluate proposals for Part II, Sections II, III, and IV of the TO-1 SOW independent from one another.

· The Government will evaluate proposals for Part II, Section V of the TO-1 SOW in conjunction with Part II, Section II of the TO-1 SOW.

· Part II, Section I applies to all other sections of Part II of the TO-1 SOW and will therefore be evaluated in conjunction with Part II, Sections II through V of the TO-1 SOW.

The Government will also evaluate demonstrated capabilities to successfully perform or exceed all other contract requirements, including:

· Demonstrated on-orbit collection.

· Compliant IT security standards.

· Reporting (as specified in Part II, Section VI of the TO-1 SOW).

· Ability to successfully complete timely data transfer.

· Demonstrated data delivery and format.

· Any applicable risks affecting the ability to deliver data, such as future launch schedules and regulatory approvals.

The Government will evaluate the Technical Approach on the basis of the two subfactors listed below, in order of importance, using an adjectival ratings system of Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal, or Unsatisfactory:

(a) Subfactor 1: Minimal Requirements - Neutral Atmosphere Data and Total Electron Content (TEC) data are minimum requirements.

I. Requirement - Neutral Atmosphere Data For existing GNSS-RO Data Offerors, the Government will evaluate the proposed number of compliant RO profiles that the contractor can consistently deliver in accordance with specifications outlined in Sections C.3. and C.4. of the SBEM IDIQ and the TO-1 SOW for the period of 731 days from December 1, 2026 through December 1, 2028 and shall start and end at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time.

For new GNSS-RO Data Offerors (defined by an Offeror who has not previously provided GNSS-RO data to NOAA), the Government will evaluate the proposed number of compliant RO profiles that the contractor can consistently deliver in accordance with specifications outlined in Sections C.3. and C.4. of the SBEM IDIQ and the TO-1 SOW for the period of 696 days from January 5, 2027 through December 1, 2028 and shall start/end at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time. Additionally, the Government will conduct a 35-day period of limited test data delivery from December 1, 2026 to January 5, 2027 to support data implementation and processing.

II. Requirement – Total Electron Content For existing GNSS-RO Data Offerors, the Government will evaluate the proposed number of compliant Total Electron Content ionospheric tracks that the contractor can consistently deliver in accordance with specifications outlined in Sections C.3. and C.4. of the SBEM IDIQ and the TO-1 SOW for the period of 731 days from December 1, 2026 through December 1, 2028 and shall start and end at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time.

For new GNSS-RO Data Offerors (defined by an Offeror who has not previously provided GNSS-RO data to NOAA), the Government will evaluate the proposed number of compliant Total Electron Content ionospheric tracks that the contractor can consistently deliver in accordance with specifications outlined in Sections C.3. and C.4. of the SBEM IDIQ and the TO-1 SOW for the period of 696 days from January 5, 2027 through December 1, 2028 and shall start and end at 11:00 am Eastern Standard Time. Additionally, the Government will conduct a 35-day period of limited test data delivery from December 1, 2026 to January 5, 2027 to support data implementation and processing.

(b) Subfactor 2: Desired Capabilities - RO data with Enhanced Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and RO data with Temporal Resolution Enhancements are desired data types. The Government will evaluate the offeror's proposed desired capabilities to ensure that they add value. Offerors who meet the desired capabilities will be rated more favorably.

Factor II: Price Factor The proposed Firm-Fixed-Unit-Prices (FFUP) will be evaluated but not scored. The Government will evaluate the Offeror’s Price Proposal for completeness, reasonableness, and consistency. While the Government intends to award a contract without discussions, it reserves the right to conduct them if necessary.The Government will evaluate the Price Proposal for consistency with the Technical Proposal, and proposed prices must align with the approach and the proposed number of ROs described in the offerors Technical Volume. Price will be evaluated to ensure proposed pricing is below the ceiling prices established in the IDIQ. Significant inconsistencies may be evidence of a lack of understanding of the requirements. The Government will analyze proposals to determine if they are unbalanced. A proposal is unbalanced if it is based on prices that are significantly less than cost for some work and significantly overstated for other work. The Government may reject an offer if the lack of balance poses an unacceptable risk to the Government.

· Consumption Alignment: The Government will evaluate the unit price for both the RO profile CLIN and the TEC track CLIN.

· Compatibility: Proposed unit prices must be entirely compatible with the technical proposal.

J.6.4. Data Redundancy and Basis of Award To ensure high-availability of Radio Occultation (RO) data and mitigate systemic risks associated with sensor failure, orbital gaps, or ground segment outages, the Government requires data redundancy. This redundancy requirement is a primary driver in the Government's determination of best value.

As this is a consumption-based requirement, the Government will allocate the Estimated Total Daily Quantity based on the number of successful awards:

· Redundancy Selection: The Government intends to select a combination of up to three (3) technically acceptable providers whose data delivery systems (including satellite constellations and ground segment infrastructure) are independent of one another.

· Quantity Allocation:

· If more than one (1) award(s) are made: Each provider’s task order may be funded based on a share of the total daily requirement.

· If only one (1) award is made: The single provider’s task order will be funded for 100% of the requirement.

To ensure transparency in the award decision, the following evaluation logic will be applied to the Best Value Tradeoff process:

Redundancy and Diversity Analysis: The Government will evaluate the technical merit of redundant data based on its contribution to system resilience and validation. The trade-off decision will prioritize a primary/secondary data mix where the marginal utility of additional data sources is weighed against the incremental price.

The Government reserves the right to award a larger share of the requirement to a higher-rated technical performer if the perceived benefit of their data quality justifies a price premium over a lower-priced, lower-rated alternative.

The Government may allocate quantities among multiple awardees based on the Technical Acceptability rankings. Higher-rated offerors may be eligible for a greater percentage of the total data requirement.

J.6.5 RFTOP Provisions & Clauses

COMMERCE ACQUISITION REGULATION (CAR)

1352.201-70 Contracting Officer’s Authority (APR 2010) 1352.209-72 Restrictions Against Disclosure (APR 2010) 1352.239-72 Security Requirements for Information Technology Resources (APR 2010)

Clauses Incorporated in Full Text: This delivery order incorporates the following clauses in full text.

CAR 1352.201-72 CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE (COR) (APR 2010)

(a) Rodney Jackson is hereby designated as the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). The COR may be changed at any time by the Government without prior notice to the contractor by a unilateral modification to the contract. The COR contact information is :

Phone Number: 301.713.4813 E-mail: rodney.jackson@noaa.gov

(b) The responsibilities and limitations of the COR are as follows:

(1) The COR is responsible for the technical aspects of the contract and serves as technical liaison with the contractor. The COR is also responsible for the final inspection and acceptance of all deliverables and such other responsibilities as may be specified in the contract.

(2) The COR is not authorized to make any commitments or otherwise obligate the Government or authorize any changes which affect the contract price, terms or conditions. Any contractor request for changes shall be referred to the Contracting Officer directly or through the COR. No such changes shall be made without the express written prior authorization of the Contracting Officer. The Contracting Officer may designate assistant or alternate COR(s) to act for the COR by naming such assistant/alternate(s) in writing and transmitting a copy of such designation to the contractor.

(End of clause)

CAR 1352.246-70 PLACE OF ACCEPTANCE (APR 2010)

(a) The Contracting Officer or duly authorized representative will accept supplies and services to be provided under this contract

(b) The place of acceptance will be:

Receiving Office:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Office of System Architecture and Engineering (SAE) 1335 East-West Highway, SSMC1, 5th Floor Silver Spring, MD 20910 Email: natalie.laudier@noaa.gov Marked for: Natalie Laudier

CAR 1352.233-70 AGENCY PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) An agency protest may be filed with either:

(1) The contracting officer, or

(2) at a level above the contracting officer, with the appropriate agency Protest Decision Authority. See 64 FR 16,651 (April 6, 1999).

(b) Agency protests filed with the Contracting Officer shall be sent to the following address:

Suzanna Espinoza Contracting Officer, Satellite and Information Acquisition Division 1325 East West Highway, SSMC2 Silver Spring, MD 20910

(c) Agency protests filed with the agency Protest Decision Authority shall be sent to the following address:

Keith Long Branch Chief, Satellite and Information Acquisition Division 1325 East West Highway, SSMC2 Silver Spring, MD 20910

(d) A complete copy of all agency protests, including all attachments, shall be served upon the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel within one day of filing a protest with either the Contracting Officer or the Protest Decision Authority.

(End of Clause)

CAR 1352.233-71 GAO AND COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS PROTESTS (APR 2010)

(a) A protest may be filed with either the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or the Court of Federal Claims unless an agency protest has been filed.

(b) A complete copy of all GAO or Court of Federal Claims protests, including all attachments, shall be served upon (i) the Contracting Officer, and (ii) the Contract Law Division of the Office of the General Counsel, within one day of filing a protest with either GAO or the Court of Federal Claims.

(c) Service upon the Contract Law Division shall be made as follows: U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of the General Counsel, Chief, Contract Law Division, Room 5893, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230. FAX: (202) 482-8005.

(End of clause)

1352.270-70 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE (APR 2010)

(a) The base period of performance of this contract is from December 1, 2026 through December 1, 2028. If an option is exercised, the period of performance shall be extended through the end of that option period.

(b) The option periods that may be exercised are as follows: N/A

(c) The notice requirements for unilateral exercise of option periods are set out in FAR 52.217-9.

(End of clause)

FAR 52.217-2 Cancellation Under Multi-year Contracts (OCT 1997)

(a) "Cancellation," as used in this clause, means that the Government is canceling its requirements for all supplies or services in program years subsequent to that in which notice of cancellation is provided. Cancellation shall occur by the date or within the time period specified in the Schedule, unless a later date is agreed to, if the Contracting Officer-

(1) Notifies the Contractor that funds are not available for contract performance for any subsequent program year; or

(2) Fails to notify the Contractor that funds are available for performance of the succeeding program year requirement.

(b) Except for cancellation under this clause or termination under the Default clause, any reduction by the Contracting Officer in the requirements of this contract shall be considered a termination under the Termination for Convenience of the Government clause.

(c) If cancellation under this clause occurs, the Contractor will be paid a cancellation charge not over the cancellation ceiling specified in the Schedule as applicable at the time of cancellation.

(d) The cancellation charge will cover only-

(1) Costs-

(i) Incurred by the Contractor and/or subcontractor;

(ii) Reasonably necessary for performance of the contract; and

(iii) That would have been equitably amortized over the entire multi-year contract period but, because of the cancellation, are not so amortized; and

(2) A reasonable profit or fee on the costs.

(e) The cancellation charge shall be computed and the claim made for it as if the claim were being made under the Termination for Convenience of the Government clause of this contract. The Contractor shall submit the claim promptly but no later than 1 year from the date-

(1) Of notification of the nonavailability of funds; or

(2) Specified in the Schedule by which notification of the availability of additional funds for the next succeeding program year is required to be issued, whichever is earlier, unless extensions in writing are granted by the Contracting Officer.

(f) The Contractor’s claim may include-

(1) Reasonable nonrecurring costs (see subpart 15.4 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation) which are applicable to and normally would have been amortized in all supplies or services which are multi-year requirements;

(2) Allocable portions of the costs of facilities acquired or established for the conduct of the work, to the extent that it is impracticable for the Contractor to use the facilities in its commercial work, and if the costs are not charged to the contract through overhead or otherwise depreciated;

(3) Costs incurred for the assembly, training, and transportation to and from the job site of a specialized work force; and

(4) Costs not amortized solely because the cancellation had precluded anticipated benefits of Contractor or subcontractor learning.

(g) The claim shall not include-

(1) Labor, material, or other expenses incurred by the Contractor or subcontractors for performance of the canceled work;

(2) Any cost already paid to the Contractor;

(3) Anticipated profit or unearned fee on the canceled work; or

(4) For service contracts, the remaining useful commercial life of facilities. "Useful commercial life" means the commercial utility of the facilities rather than their physical life with due consideration given to such factors as location of facilities, their specialized nature, and obsolescence.

(h) This contract may include an Option clause with the period for exercising the option limited to the date in the contract for notification that funds are available for the next succeeding program year. If so, the Contractor agrees not to include in option quantities any costs of a startup or nonrecurring nature that have been fully set forth in the contract. The Contractor further agrees that the option quantities will reflect only those recurring costs and a reasonable profit or fee necessary to furnish the additional option quantities.

(i) Quantities added to the original contract through the Option clause of this contract shall be included in the quantity canceled for the purpose of computing allowable cancellation charges.

(End of clause) FAR 52.217-5 Evaluation of Options (July 1990) Except when it is determined in accordance with FAR 17.206(b) not to be in the Government’s best interests, the Government will evaluate offers for award purposes by adding the total price for all options to the total price for the basic requirement. Evaluation of options will not obligate the Government to exercise the option(s).

(End of provision) FAR 52.217-6 Option for Increased Quantity (Mar 1989) The Government may increase the quantity of supplies called for in the Schedule at the unit price specified. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within ______________________ [insert in the clause the period of time in which the Contracting Officer has to exercise the option]. Delivery of the added items shall continue at the same rate as the like items called for under the contract, unless the parties otherwise agree.

(End of clause) 52.217-7 Option for Increased Quantity-Separately Priced Line Item (Mar 1989) The Government may require the delivery of the numbered line item, identified in the Schedule as an option item, in the quantity and at the price stated in the Schedule. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within ______________________ [insert in the clause the period of time in which the Contracting Officer has to exercise the option]. Delivery of added items shall continue at the same rate that like items are called for under the contract, unless the parties otherwise agree.

(End of clause) FAR 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services (Nov 1999) The Government may require continued performance of any services within the limits and at the rates specified in the contract. These rates may be adjusted only as a result of revisions to prevailing labor rates provided by the Secretary of Labor. The option provision may be exercised more than once, but the total extension of performance hereunder shall not exceed 6 months. The Contracting Officer may exercise the option by written notice to the Contractor within _____ [insert the period of time within which the Contracting Officer may exercise the option].

(End of clause) FAR 52.217-9 Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (Mar 2000)

(a) The Government may extend the term of this contract by written notice to the Contractor within _____ [insert the period of time within which the Contracting Officer may exercise the option]; provided that the Government gives the Contractor a preliminary written notice of its intent to extend at least _____ days[60days unless a different number of days is inserted] before the contract expires. The preliminary notice does not commit the Government to an extension.

(b) If the Government exercises this option, the extended contract shall be considered to include this option clause.

(c) The total duration of this contract, including the exercise of any options under this clause, shall not exceed ___________ (months) (years).

(End of clause)

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