Draft Request For Proposal (DRFP) Cover Letter.pdf

Rev.: 6/2026

Reply to Attn of: LaRC/B103 October 7, 2026

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80LARC27R0003, for

Evaluations, Assessments and Support Services (EASS)

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC)’s EASS draft solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to acquire support services for the Science Office for Mission Assessments (SOMA), located at NASA Langley Research Center. SOMA is responsible for the management and oversight of evaluations, assessments, analyses, and other support services for the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The scope includes proposal/Phase A reports; evaluations for SMD Announcements of Opportunity (AO) flight investigations; assessments for independent reviews of investigations and programs; analyses related to assessment and evaluations; and other contractor support services as specified in individual TOs.

The EASS procurement is essential for the advancement of the NASA Science Plan, A Vision for Scientific Excellence. This contract directly supports SOMA and SMD. The contractor ensures that all work is objective and meets all requirements regarding organizational and personal conflicts of interest and limitations of future contracting as defined by this contract and as further defined in individual TOs where necessary. This contract supports NASA’s most urgent and important science needs, and without this contract, SMD would be unable to execute its extensive scientific commitments and achieve NASA’s science priorities.

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work. Any other recommendations/examples to simplify and expedite proposal preparation for industry and proposal evaluation for the Government focused on reducing acquisition costs and procurement lead time. If specific examples of prior/current solicitations are available, please provide under a separate document that is not subject to the page limitation.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Langley Research Center Hampton, VA 23681-2199

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a competitive small business set-aside. This competitive acquisition will result in an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with the ability to Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) task orders (TOs). The contract will have an effective ordering period of five (5) years from the contract effective date with the potential for an additional six (6) months if needed in accordance with FAR clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541715, and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees.

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

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

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

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

(3) US Government’s unique entity identifier (UEI): https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about November 13, 2026, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days later.

The anticipated contract award date is Mid-April 2027, with an early June 2027 contract effective date. The contract will be performed offsite and designated in individual task orders.

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

1. A Phase-in period will be conducted. The Request for Proposal (RFP) will include a two (2) month period between the anticipated award date and effective date that work will begin.

2. After release of the DRFP, the EASS Pre-Solicitation Conference is anticipated to be held on October 19, 2026, as indicated in provision L.9, NFS 1852.215-77 of this DRFP. Notice will be posted on the acquisition website noted below. Potential offerors are encouraged to submit questions and feedback within seven (7) calendar days after release of the DRFP, prior to the conference being held. Live questions will not be permitted during the conference. One-on-one conferences will be scheduled, upon request, during the week following the pre-solicitation conference.

3. Final questions/comments are requested in response to this DRFP no later than November 3, 2026, at 3:00PM Eastern Standard Time.

4. Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use During Contract Performance. Offerors are required to disclose any intent to propose, or plan to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to perform contract requirements.

https://www.sam.gov/SAM/ https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/ https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/technology-transformation-services/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-systems-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

5. NASA has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI). Offerors should refer to clauses H.2 NFS 1852.209-71 Limitation of Future Contracting and H.9 LaRC 52.227-96 Organizational Conflicts of Interest and Exhibit B, Data Requirements Document (DRD) #9 Organizational Conflicts of Interest Plan, for a description of the potential conflict(s) and any restrictions on future contracting. In addition, see section L.18 FACTOR I – Mission Suitability (VOLUME I) Instructions and NFS 1852.237-72 Access to Sensitive Information that references the OCI plan as a contract compliance document.

6. Please note, a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmentalized Information (TS/SCI) level facilities clearance is required for this acquisition in accordance with the Department of Defense (DD) Form 254, Contract Security Classification Specification and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause 52.240-90. Ability to meet the DD Form 254, Contract Security Classification Specification requirement to maintain a Facility Clearance at the TS/SCI level, with no safeguarding required, and performance will require access to classified information at a government or other applicable facilities. NASA will sponsor/pay for the appropriate clearance for firms that do not currently have the required clearance but is able to otherwise demonstrate the ability to meet and otherwise qualified (i.e., able to provide/obtain cleared personnel). The Contractor shall possess or otherwise meet the eligibility requirements if the contractor does not currently possess the TS/SCI level required for this contract, at the time of proposal submission. For proposals submitted as Joint Ventures, the facility clearance must be granted in the name of the Joint Venture.

7. Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box. Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there are firewall restrictions that need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

8. Note: A Model Task Order (MTO) will be provided as an attachment to the Final

RFP. Potential offerors shall submit a proposal for the TO in accordance with L.18 and L.20 in the DRFP. Page limitations for the MTO proposals can be found in L.10 of the DRFP. Note: The MTO will not result in an awarded Task Order and will be for proposal evaluation purposes only. The minimum ordering requirement does not apply and shall not be proposed for the MTO evaluation.

To control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy requires 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 through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found here:

https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate- Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate- Listing.pdf

This DRFP is not a solicitation, and NASA is not requesting proposals. This DRFP does not commit NASA LaRC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA LaRC to procure or contract for this requirement. This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Any questions and comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to Lindsey Leso, Contract Specialist, and Daphne Darden, Contracting Officer, at larc-easss@mail.nasa.gov. If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments must be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided with a government response. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation for the Final RFP. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP. Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the Governmentwide Point of Entry (GPE) if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final RFP.

Daphne Darden Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

Draft RFP 80LARC27R0003 Exhibit A – Statement of Work Exhibit B – Data Requirements Description (DRD) Exhibit C – Schedule of Rates Exhibit E – Minimum Requirements for Labor Categories Exhibit F – DD Form 254, Contract Security Classification Specification

Section L Attachments:

L-1 Past Performance Questionnaire L-2 Teaming Partner/Major Subcontractor Consent Letter (sample only) L-3 Sample IDIQ Task Orders L-4 Price Proposal Forms - Excel Pricing Model http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf mailto:larc-easss@mail.nasa.gov