ID Questions and Answers.pdf

# QUESTIONS ANSWERS

Please confirm the method of the Industry Day slide distribution.

The Industry Day slides are currently posted on beta.SAM.gov and the MESC website:

https://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/mesc/.

Will there be significant changes to the technical requirements in the new solicitation?

No significant changes are anticipated from the JOIST technical requirements to the MESC technical requirements.

MESC is identified as “continuing requirements as a follow on to the current JOIST contract”. Since “the purpose of MESC is to provide development, sustainment, and maintenance” of the JSC apps and services, does such development include or preclude replacement of the NAMIS software suite?

There is no plan to replace the NAMIS software suite at this time.

For MESC, is the plan to make one award for Baseline A, one award for Baseline B, and five awards for the IDIQ

NASA is still determining the acquisition strategy.

Information will be released as soon as practicable.

How will new work split between the IDIQ and the other contracts?

Please reference the MESC Technical Library for the Draft Statement of Work (DSOW) and draft sample Task Orders (TOs).

Question - Will the number of awards for Baseline A, B and the multi-award IDIQ align with the current contracts (i.e., one award for each Baseline and five awards for the IDIQ)?

[Please see the answer to Question 4 above.]

Industry Day Questions and Answers

Mission Enabling Services Contract (MESC)

Will primes for Baselines A and B be required to have small business subcontracting plans?

NASA is still determining the acquisition strategy, including set-aside status. Information will be released as soon as practicable. In the case of a full and open competition for all or part of the MESC procurement, a small business subcontracting plan will be required if the awardee is other than a small business in accordance with FAR 19.7. Baselines B and IDIQ are anticipated to be small business set-aside awards, therefore Baseline B and IDIQ would not require small business subcontracting plans.

If it's permissible to answer this question, how many offerors were there for the current IDIQ (i.e., 5 out of x were selected)?

This question is related to the JOIST competition and not relevant to the MESC acquisition.

Is the Government's plan to set aside for small business any or all of Baseline A, Baseline B, IDIQ?

[Please see the answer to Question 7 above.]

Does NAMIS already have a MOBILE / Paperless solution? If not, is that a new part of the requirement?

It is anticipated that the MESC will not require a mobile paperless solution for NAMIS.

What will be the objective of One-on-One meetings?

To provide industry the opportunity to meet with the Government, share information about their company, and ask questions in accordance with the guidelines stated in the Industry Day annoucement.

Are we supposed to present something during the One-on-One meeting?

In accordance with the Industry Day announcement, no presentations are required during the Industry Day One-on-One meetings.

Will the government consider using the NAICS code 518210 or similar size for MESC?

The current NAICS code 541512 would preclude some highly qualified companies from bidding as a prime and we believe the government would benefit from the increased competition of releasing the solicitation for Baseline B and IDIQ as a small business set aside but under a NAICS code with a larger size standard. Potential MESC work, such as investigation into hosted solutions, data storage solutions, and developing applications for processing facility data, are applicable to NAICS code 518210 - Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services.

NASA is still determining the acquisition strategy.

Information will be released as soon as practicable.

Will I need to be a NASA SEWP schedule holder to participate in

No, you do not need to be a NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) schedule holder to participate in the MESC acquisition.

The SBA size determination is changing to a 5-year period in January 2022. Will the government consider accepting the 5-year period for determining the size standard for MESC?

The Government will use the size standard associated with the NAICS code at the time of contract award. The time-frame used to establish a size determiniation (whether 3-year, 5-year. or other) will be determined in accordance with SBA current policy at the time of contract award.

Of the 23 NAMIS modules listed, can the Government elaborate on which module provides login credential verification, security, and overall architectural design?

There are only 7 NAMIS modules (see Draft SOW). Each of the 7 NAMIS modules use integrated security to verify credentials on the active directory domain.

Given the strong alignment of Baseline A requirements with the NAMIS software, will the Government consider providing a live demo or other detailed information to allow non-incumbent offerors to fully understand the current state of the software and its complexity? Without this knowledge it will be difficult if not impossible for non-incumbent to accurately assess such a unique and complex software item.

The Government will not provide a demonstration.

Does the NAMIS software currently employ automated testing? Are there testing code coverage metrics that can be provided as part of the solicitation materials?

There are a limited number of automated test scripts. The Government does not maintain testing code coverage metrics.

What bug tracking software is currently used to ensure user feedback is incorporated for the NAMIS software? Is it the Government’s desire for this software to remain unchanged for MESC Baseline A work?

Team Foundation Server is used for bug tracking. No change is anticipated.

For the NAMIS training referenced in PWS 1.4.2, how often is this training currently provided?

There is no set schedule, however, prior to the pandemic the current Baseline A contractor was working to provide annual in person training at each NASA Center. Additionally, virtual training is offered to support new hires on an ad hoc basis.

What analytics are currently applied to NAMIS database information?

No data analytics are currently applied to the NAMIS database.

The NAMIS website is quite useful to better understand the software but has not been updated since 2017. Will the Government summarize major software changes and deliveries since 2017 to provide context for this resource?

There has been only one major NAMIS software change since 2017 which was updating Structured Query Language (SQL) 2008 to SQL 2016.

What is the current frequency of NAMIS software deliveries? What is the average turnaround time for user-requested features?

Software deliveries (updates) vary by module and are based on need and availability of resources.

User requested features are screened and scheduled based on a Government led review process.

For a software of this type, it is highly uncommon to see a PWS that does not contain significant requirements for cybersecurity, especially given the type of information help within the NAMIS system.

What cybersecurity practices are currently in place? Does the Government anticipate the need for additional cybersecurity support specific to the NAMIS ongoing and future development?

The requirements for cybersecurity are referenced in draft SOW 1.2.15 Information Technology Security – see also NPR 2810.1.

Has the Government made any changes to the solicitation based on industry RFI feedback?

At this point in time a solicitation for the MESC procurement does not exist. It is anticipated that a Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) will be developed and released at a future point in time for industry review and feedback. The anticipated DRFP will incorporate any inputs the Government determines to be beneficial to the MESC procurement from the Market Research performed by the Government.

Has the Government considered a requirement to allow the successful offeror to obtain CMMI Level 3 certification within the first 12 months, at the MESC level, if they already have CMMI Level 3 certifications on other current contracts? There is concern that requiring this certification to be already in place at the corporate level may limit the size of the bidders pool.

It is anticipated that the Government will require Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) Level 3 certification at contract award. Please review the DRFP for CMMI Level 3 requirements when the DRFP is released.