Exhibit A Performance Work Statement-DRFP version.pdf

EXHIBIT A

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DRAFT EXHIBIT A – PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

EVALUATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, AND SUPPORT SERVICES (EASS)

1.0 Introduction and Scope

The Science Office for Mission Assessments (SOMA) at NASA Langley Research Center supports the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in the acquisition of Earth and space science missions and instruments. SOMA develops certain solicitations for these acquisitions, and facilitates science and Technical, Management, and Cost evaluations of proposals and Phase A reports in response to the solicitations. In addition, SOMA facilitates independent assessments, reviews, and special analyses of programs and investigations for NASA SMD and other NASA organizations. The scope of this contract will include evaluations, assessments, and support services for SOMA and other NASA organizations as designated in individual task orders.

This Performance Work Statement (PWS) defines the contract’s requirements. The EASS requirements include, but are not limited to, Contract-Level Requirements (section 2.0) and requirements defined in Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) task orders (sections 3.0 through 6.0) issued in accordance with the contract’s ordering procedures.

The technical scope of this contract will evolve and encompass the ever-changing breadth and depth of NASA science investigations. The technical scope comprises proposal/Phase A Report Evaluations (section 3.0), Assessments (sections 4.0 and 5.0), and Support Services (section 5.0 and 6.0).

Evaluations (section 3.0) are performed in response to NASA solicitations. More information on recent and planned solicitations, for reference purposes only, can be found at the SOMA Website: https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/ (see Planning List for SMD Solicitations) and the SMD Website: https://science.nasa.gov/science-missions/. Evaluation tasks may include preparing solicitation materials, identifying the expertise needed and staffing panels with non-conflicted panel members made up of SMEs, providing validated and approved analysis tools and models (e.g., costing tools) required to support the evaluation, providing independent cost estimates for the evaluation of each proposal/Phase A report as required by individual task orders, and documenting evaluation panel findings and preparing interim and final evaluation reports.

Assessments (section 4.0) and Quick Assessments (section 6.0) are typically independent reviews of investigations and programs that address progress at major milestones in accordance with specified procedures. Assessments may involve analyzing technical, management, cost, schedule, and other aspects of SMD investigations and programs, as well as other NASA investigations and programs.

Support Services (section 5.0 and section 6.0) involves analyses where the conclusions or recommendations may affect evaluations or assessments. Analyses include analyzing scientific, technical, management, schedule, cost, and other aspects of SMD investigations and programs, as well as other NASA investigations and programs.

Support Services also involves logistics, facilities, and information support related to the performance of evaluations, assessments, and analyses.

https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/ https://science.nasa.gov/science-missions/

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2.0 Contract-Level Requirements

The Contractor shall provide an overall effective, efficient, and responsive management and administrative function to ensure the proper resources are available and allocated, adequate reports and documentation are prepared, and able to support the PWS requirements. The Contractor shall provide an organizational structure with clear lines of authority and clearly identified Government interfaces. The Contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that all contractor and subcontractor personnel engaged in performance of this PWS have appropriate qualifications, knowledge, clearances, certifications, and are free from conflicts of interest (ref. Exhibit B, Organizational Conflicts of Interest Plan, DRD No. EASS 9), to perform work in accordance with the PWS requirements.

The Contractor shall provide all services required to meet the contract requirements defined herein and as detailed in individual task orders.

2.1 The Contractor shall ensure that all evaluations, assessments, and support services are objective and meet all requirements regarding organizational and personal conflicts of interest and limitations of future contracting as defined by the contract and as further defined in individual task orders.

2.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for submitting Personal Identity Verification (PIV) or NASA Access Management System (NAMS) requests in the NASA Identity and Access Management (IdMAX) system for those employees and subcontractor personnel who require access to NASA-provided computers and/or access to NASA Information Technology (IT) resources.

2.3 The Contractor shall maintain a Facility Clearance rating at the Top- Secret (TS) level as required by contract Exhibit titled “DD Form 254, Contract Security Classification Specification.”

2.3.1. The Contractor shall be able to provide and manage personnel at the Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) level. Note: There will be no safeguarding of any classified material required at the contractor site.

2.3.2. The Contractor shall access classified information at a Government or other applicable facility as identified on the DD Form 254.

2.4 The Contractor shall comply with all U.S. export control laws and regulations applicable to the contract and individual task orders including, but not limited to, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Parts 120 through 130, and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730 through 774, in performance of this contract. The Contractor shall screen individuals at appropriate times to ensure ITAR and EAR compliance and shall insert this requirement in all subcontracts that may involve ITAR or EAR controlled information.

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2.4.1. In the absence of available license exemptions/exceptions, the Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining the appropriate license or other approvals, as required, for exports of hardware, technical data, and software, or for the provisions of technical assistance.

2.5 Progress Meetings: The Contractor shall conduct monthly status meetings with the Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to review the Monthly Progress Reports, Monthly Contractor Financial Management Reports as detailed in Exhibit B- Contract Data Requirements, and other issues as required by the CO and COR.

2.6 Government Provided Information:

Due to the nature of the SMD solicitations and investigations, the Government will provide the contractor with an annual projection of anticipated IDIQ requirements, budget, and other updates as needed to allow the contractor to proactively prepare for changing workload, particularly contractor workforce supporting sustained technical support requirements. The work that the Contractor shall perform is subject to change based on the Government’s solicitations and missions.

3.0 Proposal/Phase A Report Evaluations

The contractor shall be responsible for conducting proposal/Phase A Report evaluations in accordance with the NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (NFS) Companion Guide (CG) Section 1872 for Acquisition of Investigations which will be available in the future, and as detailed in resulting task orders. The contractor shall support evaluations for multiple solicitations that may overlap, which will require the contractor to efficiently staff a large number (up to approximately 200) of panel positions simultaneously and panels shall be made up of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), many required on occasional or part-time bases and some of whom may be non-U.S. Persons.

The Contractor shall evaluate proposals/Phase A reports consistent with the applicable criterion or criteria in the areas of science, technical, management, cost, schedule, and other areas of emphasis as defined in individual task orders. NASA’s typical evaluation task order requirements may require the Contractor to staff one panel, which may comprise multiple sub-panels, with expert panel/sub-panel leads, full members, and SMEs capable of evaluating proposals/Phase A reports for Earth and space science investigations. The results and reports for the Contractor’s efforts under the task order will be used by NASA SMD to inform its decision in selection/down-selection (Key Decision Point [KDP] A/KDP B). Acquisition Webpages for recent solicitations and a planning list for applicable SMD solicitations are available at https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/ for reference purposes only. The Task Order will reflect a NASA Technical Point of Contact as the NASA Evaluation Panel Chair responsible for provision of instructions/requirements in writing to the Contractor’s evaluation panel members regarding the required NASA’s evaluation standards, definitions, processes, and the format of the evaluation findings. Each panel member evaluates their assigned proposals/Phase A reports and submits individual initial evaluation comments via a NASA-provided secure web site. The panel engages in a series of web conferences and/or teleconferences over a specified period of time to draft strength and weakness https://soma.larc.nasa.gov/

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The draft findings are then posted on the NASA-provided secure website. Panel members typically gather physically to discuss evaluation findings at one or more plenary evaluation meetings. In the case of Phase A report evaluations, a site visit for each submitted Phase A report, comprising two (2) full days, will require participation by roughly half of the panel members. Panel members will be polled on their assessment of the overall risk ratings or grades for each proposal/ Phase A report at a plenary/final plenary meeting. The contractor’s reports and documentation shall meet NASA standards required by the contract and defined in the task order, and at the level of completeness and quality for NASA’s internal briefings and for debriefing the proposers.

3.1 The Contractor shall:

3.1.1 Prepare material to support Announcements of Opportunity (AOs), NASA Research Announcements (NRAs), Cooperative Agreement Notices (CANs), or other Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs), including technical information related to the solicitation, report formats, and logistics guidelines for proposers.

3.1.2 Evaluate proposals/Phase A reports in response to AOs, NRAs, CANs, or other BAAs.

3.1.3 Identify and provide the required number of SMEs in the areas of expertise required to perform evaluations and to staff panels as defined in individual task orders This includes, but will not be limited to, one or more of the areas of expertise across one or more SMD Division portfolios: science, instruments, project management, systems engineering, spacecraft systems (e.g., power, propulsion, attitude determination and control, mechanical, thermal, communications), mission design, ground systems, mission operations, entry descent and landing, safety and mission assurance, schedule, and cost.

3.1.4 Provide independent cost estimates for the evaluation of each proposal/Phase A report as defined in individual task orders.

3.1.5 Provide highly-qualified expert evaluators, panel/sub-panel leads, and factor-based consistency leads without conflicts of interests and as required by the task order.

3.1.5.1 Panel members shall interpret conceptual designs and

explain findings to those who are not experts in the same field.

3.1.5.2 The Contractor shall train all evaluators on evaluation standards.

3.1.6 Review all findings to ensure all proposals/Phase A reports are evaluated consistently and raise potential consistency issues at the plenary meeting(s) for resolution by the panel.

3.2 The Contractor shall comply with associated procedural requirements for the panel as defined in the task order.

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3.3 The Contractor shall provide validated and approved required analysis tools and models necessary to conduct the evaluation, and as defined in individual task orders. Applicable cost tools may include both NASA and commercial tools: examples of NASA cost tools are the NASA Instrument Cost Model (NICM), Project Cost Estimating Capability (PCEC), and Mission Operations Cost Estimation Tool (MOCET); examples of commercial cost tools are System Evaluation and Estimation of Resources for Hardware (SEER-H).

3.4 The Contractor shall comply with administrative requirements of the AOs, NRAs, CANs, BAAs, or other agency announcements.

3.5 The Contractor shall document evaluation panel findings and prepare interim and final evaluation reports.

3.5.1 The Contractor shall refine the evaluation reports for each proposal/Phase A report during the evaluation process and deliver final evaluation reports at the conclusion of the task order.

4.0 Assessments

Assessments are typically independent reviews of investigations and programs that evaluate progress at major milestones in accordance with specified procedures (e.g., NASA Policy Requirement (NPR) 7123.1B, NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements; NPR 7120.5F, NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements; NASA Special Publication NASA/SP-20230001306 NASA Standing Review Board Handbook). Assessments include analyzing technical, management, cost, schedule, and other aspects of SMD investigations and programs, as well as other NASA investigations and programs, as defined below.

Technical assessments include, but are not limited to, assessing the likely performance of technical systems and the impact of new technologies on technical systems.

Management assessments include, but are not limited to, analyzing effectiveness of management systems, processes, and tools.

Cost assessments include, but are not limited to, estimating investigation development and life cycle costs, and assessing cost risk.

Schedule assessments include, but are not limited to, analyzing past investigation development schedules, estimating investigation development schedules for new investigations, and assessing schedule risk.

Other assessments include, but are not limited to, assessment of investigation risk, safety, environmental impact, mission trajectory, resource utilization, analyses of instruments, spacecraft and launch vehicle designs, systems engineering, safety and mission assurance, fabrication and assembly, and test and launch operations on programs or projects.

4.1 The Contractor shall conduct assessments of current and potential NASA investigations and programs as defined in individual task orders.

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4.2 The Contractor shall provide the analysis tools and models required to conduct the assessments as defined in individual task orders.

5.0 Support Services

Support services comprise (1) analyses and (2) logistics, facilities, and information support.

Analyses are typically analyses where the conclusions or recommendations may affect proposal/Phase A evaluations and assessments. Analyses include analyzing scientific, technical, management, schedule, cost, and other aspects of SMD investigations and programs, as well as other NASA investigations and programs, as defined below.

Scientific analysis activities include, but are not limited to, gathering information supporting science investigations, systems analysis, conducting trades for handling and analyzing samples of extraterrestrial materials, and defining payloads to meet scientific goals. Analyses may also include investigating potential science objectives for small low-cost investigations and planetary protection.

Technical analysis activities include, but are not limited to, analyzing the feasibility of an instrument, a spacecraft, and/or a mission design; investigating mission options with respect to associated performance expectations; and analyzing system designs, technologies needed to accomplish specific goals, propulsion and mission operations capabilities, and sample handling and analysis systems.

Management analysis activities include, but are not limited to, gathering information and analyzing the structure, performance, and effectiveness of existing management systems in NASA programs, investigations, and in similar endeavors.

Schedule analysis activities include, but are not limited to, gathering information on past schedule performance of selected/down-selected NASA investigations, and analyzing the results (e.g., regression of normalized data) for use on future investigation schedule evaluations.

Cost analysis activities include, but are not limited to, gathering information on past cost performance of selected/down-selected NASA investigations, and analyzing the results (e.g., regression of normalized data) for use on future investigation cost evaluations.

5.1 The Contractor shall conduct analyses of specific elements of NASA programs and investigations, or across NASA programs and investigations, as defined in individual task orders.

5.1.1 The Contractor shall provide the analysis tools and models required to conduct the analyses as defined in individual task orders.

5.2 The Contractor shall, in conjunction with the evaluations, assessments, and analyses and as required by individual task orders, provide logistics, facilities, and information support to include, but not be limited to, the following:

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5.2.1 The Contractor shall regularly train all evaluators on conflict of interest (COI) and non-disclosure issues.

5.2.2 The Contractor shall ensure evaluators have signed non-disclosure agreements and shall provide to evaluators all personal and organizational conflict of interest documentation required by the contract and individual task orders.

5.2.3 The Contractor shall ensure that all required training for access to integrated technology systems and sensitive or proprietary data has been completed.

5.2.4 The Contractor shall distribute required information to evaluation panel members.

5.2.5 The Contractor shall develop and maintain evaluator contact lists, proposal/Phase A report distribution plans, and meeting attendance plans.

5.2.6 The Contractor shall plan and coordinate secure logistics for each meeting or site visit.

5.2.7 The Contractor shall prepare and maintain COI compliance matrices and an attendance log for each web-/teleconference and meeting.

5.2.8 The Contractor shall prepare lists of Potential Major Weaknesses or Significant Weaknesses, Questions, and Requests for Information Lists at the specified time.

5.2.9 The Contractor shall edit evaluation reports during meetings, prepare spreadsheets used for polling, and record polling results.

5.2.10 The Contractor shall file copies of proposals, Phase A reports, evaluation reports, supporting documentation, assessments, and/or analyses in a Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE) secure electronic repository.

5.3 The Contractor shall provide support for conferences and workshops including, but not limited to, logistics, reporting results of analyses and assessments, and gathering external input on NASA investigations and programs, as defined in individual task orders.

5.3.1 The Contractor shall generate and distribute explanatory materials that include specifics about how the goals of the conference/workshop will be achieved.

5.3.2 The Contractor shall protect Government sensitive data and non-public proprietary information.

5.3.3 The Contractor shall prepare documentation on

Page | 8 conference/workshop results ranging from a straightforward compilation of material presented at the conference/workshop to the generation of a narrative report.

5.3.4 The Contractor shall distribute documentation on

conference/workshop results.

5.3.5 The Contractor shall generate an appropriate number of copies of handouts and other materials developed during the conference/workshop.

5.3.6 The Contractor shall provide logistical support including audio-visual equipment, copiers, and printers.

5.4 The Contractor shall, as required by individual task orders, arrange suitable facilities, teleconferencing capability, internet access, and web-based conferencing tools at a level of protection sufficient to prevent unauthorized access to Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) material for up to 100 attendees.

5.4.1 The Contractor shall ensure that the facilities are secure from unauthorized access at all times.

5.4.2 The Contractor shall provide a separate, secure area or room for up to four (4) support personnel, to include a copier and printer.

5.5 The Contractor shall provide information support necessary for a third-party NASA contractor to implement and populate information systems, such as databases, web pages, or analysis tools, as required by individual task orders.

5.6 The Contractor shall provide product deliverables in the application (e.g., PowerPoint) and version (e.g., MacOS and/or Windows) specified in the individual task order.

5.7 The Contractor shall only be reimbursed for software, software maintenance, hardware, or hardware maintenance necessary for the performance of this contract.

5.7.1 The Contractor shall ensure that NASA either owns the license(s) or subscription(s) for any software or applications purchased or is named as the organization for a right-to-use license.

5.7.2 The Contractor shall title all purchased hardware to NASA that is directly charged to the contract.

5.8 The Contractor shall ensure that all products, platforms, services, and communications delivered as part of this work statement that are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) or contain ICT, conform to the Revised Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Standards, Page | 9

36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 and Appendices A, C and D. The Standards may be found at https://www.access-board.gov/ict/.

5.9 The Contractor shall maintain all records created for Government use or created while performing the contract, and/or delivered to or under the legal control of the Government that must be managed in accordance with Federal law, including but not limited to, the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. chapters 21, 29, 31, 33), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regulations at 36 CFR Chapter XII Subchapter B, as well as NASA records policies (NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 1440.6, NASA Records Management, and NASA Procedural Requirement (NPR) 1441.1, NASA Records Management Program Requirements).

5.9.1 The Contractor shall ensure that NASA-owned/Contractor-held records are segregated from contractor-owned records and from non-record materials and report holdings of NASA records.

5.9.2 The Contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer and NASA Records Officer upon discovery of any inadvertent or unauthorized removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of Federal records. Destruction of Federal Records is expressly prohibited unless in accordance with records retention schedules or as directed by the CO.

5.9.3 The Contractor shall ensure that all Contractor employees assigned to this contract who create, work with, or otherwise handle Federal Records complete mandatory NASA-provided records management training according to agency policies, including initial training and any required annual or refresher training.

5.9.4 The Contractor shall incorporate the substance of the above (section 5.9) and its terms and requirements, including this paragraph, in all subcontracts under this contract, and require written subcontractor acknowledgment of same.

6.0 Quick Assessments and Analyses

6.1 The Contractor shall perform quick assessments and analyses as defined above in sections 4.0 and 5.0. These quick assessments and analyses shall:

6.1.1 Not exceed a total cost of $100,000.

6.1.2 Be completed within 90 days.

6.1.3 Commence no later than 10 calendar days after the Contracting Officer provides the Contractor with a notice to proceed with certain restrictions and before a formal task order is in place.

https://www.access-board.gov/ict/