(DRFP) Cover Letter - ATMOS.pdf

Rev.: 8/2020

September 10, 2024

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80GSFC24R0037, for Atmosphere Support (ATMOS)

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)’s Atmosphere Support (ATMOS) solicitation.

The principal purpose of this requirement is research support that conducts a comprehensive atmospheric science research and technology development program directed towards observing, monitoring, characterizing, modeling, understanding, and advancing knowledge of the Earth’s atmosphere. The research program is aimed at understanding the structure, dynamics, and radiative properties of clouds, aerosols, and precipitation; understanding atmospheric chemistry, especially the role of natural and anthropogenic trace species on the ozone balance in the stratosphere and troposphere; understanding the influence of solar variability on the Earth’s climate; and advancing our understanding of the physical properties of the Earth’s atmosphere including its interaction with the Earth’s surface.

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.

Potential offerors should identify any unnecessary or inefficient requirements and are also encouraged to comment on the DRFP, any unique terms and conditions, the clarity of the Scenario requirements, and the Section M Evaluation Criteria.

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a Small Business Set-Aside competition. This competitive acquisition will result in an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with the ability to issue CPFF task orders, exclusively to small business concerns. The contract will have an effective ordering period of 5 years from the contract effective date. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 541715 and the small business size standard is 1,000.

Potential offerors should ensure its 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) Date Universal Numbering System (and the transition to the 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 https://www.sam.gov/SAM/ https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/

The successful offeror must pass an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) clearance before contract award (See FAR 22.805).

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about 10/22/2024, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days after.

The anticipated contract award date is April 2025, with a June 1, 2025 contract effective date.

The contract will be performed onsite at NASA GSFC and offsite at the Contractor’s facilities.

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

1. A 30 day Phase-in period will be conducted.

2. The Government will make available existing Installation-Accountable Government Property (IAGP) for onsite contract performance and Government Furnished Property (GFP) for offsite use at the Contractor’s facility as described in the DRFP.

3. After release of the draft RFP, the ATMOS Industry Day is anticipated to be held in October 2024. Notice will be posted on the acquisition website noted below. Clause 1852.215-77, Pre-Proposal/ Pre-Bid Conference will be updated via an Amendment to include specific information regarding the ATMOS Industry Day.

4. NASA has determined that this acquisition may give rise to a potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI). The Government is currently assessing the potential conflicts and corresponding OCI issues outlined in Section L.15, "Notice of Potential Organizational Conflicts of Interest (MAR 2021)." At this time, the status of these issues is marked as TBD. The Government plans to update the status from TBD upon the release of the Final RFP. At Final RFP, Offerors should refer to NFS clause 1852.209-71 Limitation of Future Contracting, for a description of the potential conflict(s) and any restrictions on future contracting. The Contracting Officer (CO) shall not award a contract until NASA determines any OCI is reasonably resolved. The proposed OCI Plan shall be consistent with all other areas of the proposal. Material inconsistencies between the OCI Plan and other proposal areas may render the proposal invalid, resulting in an unacceptable proposal that is ineligible for award.

5. 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 would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In order 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 from the World Wide Web 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 is Raymond “Ray” Rubilotta, Raymond.J.Rubilotta@nasa.gov, 301-286-5867.

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 GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GSFC 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 comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to Michelle R.

Padfield, Contracting Officer, at michelle.r.padfield@nasa.gov, within 14 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a Government response. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of 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 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 Request for Proposal

(RFP).

Michelle R. Padfield Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

Draft RFP 80GSFC24R0037 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