Final RFP Cover Letter.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD 20771

February 21, 2023

Reply to Attn of: 176.1

TO: All Prospective Offerors

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP), Solicitation No. #80GSFC22R0029, for Near Space Network (NSN) Services

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s (GSFC) NSN Services solicitation.

The principal purpose of this requirement is to acquire communication and navigation services for missions in the Near Space region (surface of Earth to 2 million kilometers (km)) for NASA and other federal agencies under two distinct categories:

Category 1 - Near Space Direct-To-Earth (DTE), which covers Direct-to-Earth communication and navigation services for customer missions, spacecraft, or payloads up to 2 million kilometers from Earth.

Category 2 - Near Space Relay, which covers Space Relay communication and navigation services for customer missions, spacecraft, or payloads up to 2 million kilometers from Earth.

The objective is to foster the commercialization of the Near-Space region through increased private sector participation in providing communications and navigation services in the Near Space region, including lunar communications & navigation services (DTE and relay) to support the NASA Artemis program. The Statement of Work, Attachment A, describes the scope of the requirement.

The award of NSN Services contracts will be based on the offeror’s ability to meet the specific technical acceptability standards set forth in this RFP. Technical Acceptability is the most important factor and will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. Proposals that fail to meet any of the technical acceptability standards identified in Section L of the RFP will be considered “Unacceptable” and will not be eligible for contract award (see RFP provision “M.4 TECHNICAL ACCEPTABILITY STANDARDS EVALUATION FACTOR” for details on “Potentially Acceptable” proposals). For those offerors who meet all the technical acceptability standards, Past Performance and Price will be evaluated. Past Performance will be evaluated on a Level of Confidence basis. A price analysis will be conducted in accordance with FAR 15.305(a)(1) to ensure that a "fair and reasonable" price is paid by the Government. The price will be evaluated based on the proposed firm fixed-price for the Capability Validation effort and the proposed not-to-exceed price per minute of operational

3. NASA GSFC 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 significant changes or clarifications have been made from the Draft RFP to this final

RFP:

1. RFP clause H.10 “Subcategory 2.2 Capability Validation Task Orders - Ordering

Process and Firm Fixed Prices” has been added, which outlines the subtask ordering procedures for the subcategory 2.2 Validation Representative Task Order (RTO). Furthermore, this clause is referenced in the relevant subcategory 2.2

RTO.

2. The revised minimum ordering guarantee is provided in section B.3 of the RFP for each of the subcategories

3. The Representative Task Orders (RTOs) for Validation have been modified to include two RTOS for the Statement of Work, Category 2, Near Space Relay:

a. One RTO for Subcategory 2.2, GEO to Cislunar and;

b. One RTO for 2.1, Earth Proximity Relay and 2.3 xCislunar Relay.

4. The SOW objectives are expanded to provide Lunar DTE and Lunar Relay services to NASA Artemis Missions.

5. For Category 1.2 (GEO to Cislunar DTE) of the SOW, the requirements in general remain unchanged, with a few noted exceptions:

a. The minimum Technical Acceptability compliance criteria has been clarified to include services in at least two (S/Ka or X/Ka) of three frequency bands (S, X, and Ka).

b. The Validation NTE duration, Validation Minimum Guarantee, and Operational Services Minimum Guarantee are updated.

6. For Category 2.2 (GEO to Cislunar Relay) of the SOW:

a. Contractors shall comply with LunaNet Interoperability Specifications

V4 as well as any proposed Commercial Standards.

b. The Validation NTE duration, Validation Minimum Guarantee, Validation NTE Cost, and Operational Services Minimum Guarantee are updated.

7. Section L. 25, TECHNICAL ACCEPTABILITY STANDARDS VOLUME, Technical Acceptability includes two new compliance matrices that the offeror shall complete: 1) DTE Capabilities Matrix and; 2) GEO to Cislunar Relay Requirements Compliance Matrix.

This list is not intended to cover all changes nor describe all RFP requirements.

Offerors should carefully review the RFP in its entirety.

4. Be advised, in accordance with provision L.26 GSFC 52.215-230 Past Performance Volume (MAR 2020), Offerors need to encourage their references to submit their Past Performance Questionnaires directly to the Contracting Officer prior to proposal due date.

5. Below is a list of the Source Selection Authority (SSA) and voting members along with their associated NASA HQ/GSFC organizational codes, for the Source Evaluation Board (SEB). The names provided are for informational purposes only and other than the Contracting Officer, Sang H. Lee, these individuals shall not be contacted regarding this acquisition. The Government may change personnel associated with this acquisition at its discretion.

SSA

Kenneth Bowersox, HQ

Voting Members

Chairperson for both Sub Teams: Vir Thanvi, GSFC Code 450

Sub Team 1 (Near Space Direct to Earth Services) Eric Poole, GSFC Code 599 Ryan Archer, GSFC Code 585 Damaris Guervara, GSFC Code 566

Sub Team 2 (Near Space Relay Services) Cheryl Gramling, GSFC Code 590 Ryan Archer, GSFC Code 585 Jaime Esper, GSFC Code 452

6. Offerors are required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code that matches the corporate address submitted with its proposal.

7. Offerors are encouraged to thoroughly review the e-library on SAM.gov as many documents have been updated or revised and additional documents have been added in accordance with those listed in the SOW and RTOs.

Offerors are encouraged to refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.215-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION, in particular paragraph (f)(4) 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 requires all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). While the RFP’s Price Volume exhibits are in PDF format, the Offeror’s Price Volume proposal shall include completed Price Volume exhibits in Microsoft Office Excel format with working cell formulas. Instructions for converting from PDF format to Excel format can be found in provision L.24 GSFC 52.215-225 PRICE

VOLUME INSTRUCTIONS (JUL 2020).

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 Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub library/Omb.html.

This RFP does not commit NASA GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GSFC 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 24, 2023, 2:00 PM EST). 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 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 Sang H.

Lee, Contracting Officer, at Sang.H.Lee@nasa.gov; and Gion O. Lalican, Lead Contract Specialist, at Gion.O.Lalican@nasa.gov on or before 10 days from release of the RFP.

Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration.

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

Sang H. Lee Contracting Officer