NAMS JOFOC_Extension_Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Ames Research Center (ARC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For NASA Academic Mission Services, Contract No. NNA16BD14C

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC):

The procuring agency is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the contracting activity is the Procurement Office located at ARC. This JOFOC is recorded in the ARC JOFOC Log as JA-FY21-J08.

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award an extension to contract number NNA16D14C with Universities Space

Research Association (USRA) for up to twelve (12) additional months pending completion of a competitive procurement for the follow-on NAMS-2 contract. This extension will extend the current period of performance from June 1, 2021 to no later than May 31, 2022 and increase the total potential contract value.

ARC awarded the original NAMS contract on April 7, 2016, with a performance period of June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2021 (after exercising all of the options). The current contract is a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) type contract with Core Requirement Contract

Line Item Numbers (CLINs) and Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) CLINs under which CPFF task orders are awarded. The overall contract has a total potential value of $193.2 million.

The purpose of the extension is to provide on-going academic program, engineering, operations and project management support for mission critical requirements at NASA ARC pending completion of a competitive follow-on procurement, NAMS-2. The critical programs that this contract extension will permit uninterrupted support of include Aerospace and Air Traffic Management (ARMD), Urban Air Mobility (ARMD), Advanced Air

Mobility (ARMD), Upper E Traffic Management (ARMD), Space Traffic Management

(ARMD), Advanced Technology Systems, Nanoelectronics and Devices, and Quantum

Computing.

Procurement efforts for the follow-on to the NAMS contract began in March 2021. This

JOFOC documents the basis and authorities to increase the contract value and extend the period of performance for a maximum of twelve (12) months. This extension will allow time to complete the competitive follow-on procurement of NAMS-2, which includes requirements development, Procurement Strategy Meeting, Draft Request for Proposal

(DRFP), Industry Day, Final RFP, responses to any potential questions on the solicitation, amendments (if necessary), proposal evaluation, initial findings to the Source Selection

Authority (SSA), competitive range (if necessary), discussions (if necessary), Final Proposal

Revisions (if necessary), final findings to the SSA (if necessary), contract award, debriefings, 60-day phase-in of the new contract and any protest, if applicable.

ARC has prepared a Request for Deviation that is being routed to NASA Headquarters requesting approval from the Associate Administrator for Procurement to extend the NAMS contract beyond its current period of performance.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The NAMS contract provides fundamental scientific research, concept development, prototype testing and operations, and the creation of new technologies. The research supports both ARC’s mission and NASA’s overall mission and goals in Aeronautics, Science, Space

Technology and Human Exploration and Operations. ARC directorates manage various R&D science missions for NASA and collaborate with other NASA centers, academia, other

Federal organizations, not for profit organizations and industry partners. Many of ARC’s programs and projects span multiple technological and scientific disciplines. The success of

NASA and ARC missions demands leading edge technical and research expertise from both student and faculty researchers. The Contract provides academic or university-based program and project support for science and engineering teams at the Center to form and nurture innovative partnerships to further ARC missions.

The NAMS contract provides important program support to ARC in the following areas and it is contemplated that support in these areas will continue during this twelve month extension:

Core Requirements:

Aerospace and Air Traffic Management – Air Taxi, Advanced Air

Mobility (AAM)/Urban Air Mobility (UAM) traffic management, Long duration high-altitude flights or Upper E Traffic Management

(ETM), Aero Acoustics Engineering and Software, Air Traffic

Management Automation, and Urban Air Mobility (UAM), and

Systems Wide Safety Support;

Information Technology – Advanced Networking, Cloud

Computing, Information and Data Systems, Cyber Security, Software Engineering and Synthesis; and

Programs and Projects – Program/Project Analysis, and R&D trade studies

IDIQ Requirements executed under Task Orders:

Advanced Technological Systems – Human Systems Integration, Intelligent Systems, Quantum Computing, Data Mining and

Machine Learning;

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Airspace Technology

Demonstration- 2 (ATD-2), and ARMD System-Wide Safety (SWS) projects;

North Texas Research Station; and

Collaborations and Student Internships

The current contract is a hybrid contract consisting of both CPFF Core (Consists of the Core

Management Core Technical CLINs) and IDIQ CLINs under which CPFF task orders are executed. The contract has a total potential value of $193.2 million. To date, the funded value of the Core, including Core Management and Core Technical, is $105.3M and IDIQ task orders awarded to date total $83.2M. The estimated value of the requirements for the proposed twelve (12) month extension is approximately FOIA Ex. 5 for the Core and FOIA

Ex. 5 for IDIQ based on the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE). This JOFOC requests approval to increase the total potential value of the NAMS contract by FOIA Ex. 5.

The IGCE was based on a review of the current requirements, historical direct labor costs, subcontracts, other direct costs, and projected future requirements needed to continue performance of the NAMS contract during the twelve (12) month contract extension. The

Core and each IDIQ task order awarded during the proposed contract extension will be negotiated to ensure the cost is fair and reasonable. The Government’s total estimated contract costs from the award of the original contract through the proposed extended period and all tasks are extended, is FOIA Ex. 5.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C.

2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1 Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) is the determination that the highly specialized services required by NASA for the follow-on contract extension are only available from one responsible source and no other services will satisfy the agency’s requirements as described below. In accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B), for DoD, NASA, and Coast Guard, services may be deemed to be available from the original source in the case of follow-on contracts for the continued provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements. Based on the rationale set forth below, USRA, the incumbent contractor, is the only responsible source that can reasonably satisfy the scope of work required during the proposed twelve (12) month contract extension without incurring unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements, while the competitive follow-on

NAMS-2 procurement is completed, in accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B).

Failure to extend the contract would result in unacceptable delays in critical projects currently underway on the NAMS contract. The continued provision of the highly specialized services by USRA is the only way to prevent disruption or a gap in performance of these ongoing requirements, which would cause significant delays in schedule, impact program budgets, increase risk to providing quality deliverables, and would have potentially damaging long-term consequences to the missions of the Agency and customers that are supported by the NAMS contract.

The primary mission critical and essential ARC projects that would be negatively impacted if

USRA did not continue to provide highly specialized support under an extension of the

NAMS contract, include operation, development, and implementation for the Urban Air

Mobility (UAM), Air Traffic Management-Exploration (ATM-X) and Advanced Air

Mobility (AAM), Airspace Technology Demonstration- 2 (ATD-2), ARMD System-Wide

Safety (SWS), Advanced Technology Systems, Nanoelectronics and Devices, and Quantum

Computing.

The Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) has indicated that the UAM research at NASA is among its highest priorities. The work in UAM at NASA provides the essential backbone to addressing research and implementation issues for advanced air mobility. The research being conducted by UAM at NASA is critical to the understanding of future airspace operations in the U.S., is associated with highly time-critical development, and involves agreements and collaborations with external industry partners. The NASA

UAM team and industry partners are considering issues associated with vehicle design, infrastructure, procedures, human factors, and early implementation of AAM. For example, there are concerns about how critical data can be shared and verified within the airspace and within local communities who may allow AAM vehicles to operate.

USRA is currently providing the UAM project with software development, research and data analysis, project management and engineering functions for several flight tests, including simulations leading up to flight tests, and are scheduled in FY21 and FY22. There is a dependency by the ATM-X, AAM project and industry partners for data and results from these simulations and flight tests. For the ATM-X and AAM projects, several critical tests and experiments are scheduled over the next year that depend on timely deliverables from the

UAM project. In particular, the UAM X4 simulation delivers requirements to the AAM

Project that provide the evaluation of essential software and procedures that are part of AAM flight tests planned in FY21 and FY22. The results of noise model data for validation of new air vehicles intended to operate in AAM field tests would also be delayed. Not completing or delaying the UAM milestones associated with the simulations and flight tests would adversely affect the project timelines of the ATM-X and AAM projects as well as NASA’s industry partners. There are no alternative means to provide this critical data to AAM; thus, there will be an unacceptable delay in AAM flight tests if UAM work is delayed by any entity other than USRA trying to assume responsibility for completing this ongoing effort. In addition, if this work is not continued, NASA would need to re-negotiate agreements with external industry partners, some which may not have the flexibility to continue in the NASA-led flight tests. The flight tests will produce requirements and procedures sought by Industry and government partners to advance the advanced air mobility (urban air taxi) concepts and enable the industry to begin operations.

The ATD-2 Project focuses upon the improvement of aircraft scheduling in and around major airports. Collaborating with a variety of industry and government partners, ATD-2 Project has produced technologies and procedures that have provided strong benefits to many of

NASA's aeronautics partners and to the public. Significant environmental and financial benefits (e.g., fuel savings and reduced emissions) are expected due to the improved efficiency in airport scheduling that is being addressed by ATD-2. This work is crucial to US airline partners and to the FAA and is part of NASA's continuing efforts to strive for improving the environmental impacts of aviation in our country. During the extension period, NASA is completing the field demonstration of the trajectory option set (TOS) technologies, which would demonstrate the benefits and feasibility of these technologies to be deployable in the National Airspace System. NASA is working with government and industry partners to complete the software, conduct the test, collect and analyze the data, and report on the results for technology transfer. The completion of the final research and implementation segment of

ATD-2 is part of an agreement with American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Dallas Fort

Worth Airport, Charlotte Airport, Dallas Love Field Airport, and the FAA. This work will define air traffic and airline efficiency and environmental benefits for ARMD, industry and the nation. It will also help advance ARMD’s new goals of providing environmentally sustainable aviation goals starting in FY22.

The ATD-2 Project is scheduled to end in FY21, and the execution of data collection at operational field sites remains to be completed. Final deliverables and technology transfer documents and artifacts are due to the NASA Airspace Operations and Safety Program

(AOSP) as well as other government and industry partners. The support provided by the contracting team are essential to completing a successful field demonstration and technology transfer. The contractor has the requisite experience required to complete the ATD-2 project mission and pass NASA’s key performance indicators. For ATD-2 to be successful, it needs the experience that has been gained by the existing contractor personnel who are experienced with specific ATD-2 data governance policies, report generation capabilities, IADS system software development, Research TBFM software development, and analytical work products that have been utilized on ATD-2 for over 4 years. It would not be possible to allow time for new resources to ramp up on these areas and NASA to achieve its mission by the end of

FY21.

If the ATD-2 deliverables are not met, the ATD Project would not complete its Airspace

Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Annual Performance Indicator (API) 21-3.2.1.1, “Transfer knowledge and technology (i.e., digital services) that enable broad adoption of a

NASA-developed Trajectory Option Set (TOS) based digital re-routing concept.” Minimum success of this API is defined as: Successfully transfer knowledge and technology (i.e. at least one TOS-related digital service) supported by findings from ATD-2 Phase 3 Shadow

Evaluation. The deliverables will provide critical data to ARMD regarding the extent of the operations efficiency and environmental benefits improvements provided by the ATD-2 concept and technologies, and also provides data for the new environmentally sustainable aviation goals recently created within ARMD. Any entity other than USRA attempting to assume responsibility for completing these requirements that are currently underway would result in unacceptable delays that would prevent the evaluation of the ATD-2 benefits to be completed.

Currently there are special requirements/projects currently supported under the NAMS contract. This includes machine learning support for the ARMD System-Wide Safety (SWS) project, the Electronic Nose (E-Nose) project, and UBC Healthy Cities project that is collaborating with us on machine learning for air quality monitoring. The SWS project has signed a Space Act Agreement with American Airlines. The support under the NAMS contract includes incorporating the algorithms into American Airlines systems and developing algorithms that will support on different types of data that American Airline will make available to NASA for the first time. Any entity other than USRA attempting to assume responsibility for completing these requirements that are currently underway would result in unacceptable delays in meeting the milestone for delivery of the algorithm which would jeopardize completion of the overall deliverable to the AOSP Technology Transfer to aviation industry.

Additionally, the NAMS contract focuses on the internship program with the goal to recruit and encourage students to continue their education in STEM and potentially work in the

STEM fields either within the government, academia or commercially. NASA is interested in continuing to add value in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and jobs in the United States and one proven way to do this is to have student interns working in our projects and programs from universities and colleges. Internships offer essential input to Aeronautics work, particularly implementing scientific methods to Ames aeronautics research approach. For example, develop a scalable multimodal simulation platform by integrating the metropolitan scale micro-simulator with NASA’s Fe-cube

Simulator, conduct trade space study for the impact of UAM networks (vertiport location, numbers, etc.) on the UAM traffic system and urban land use, analyzing high resolution

Digital Globe aerial imagery and ground sensor data, developing of machine learning models that can learn the mapping function from imagery to ground sensor noise measurements and use transfer learning to predict noise levels estimates. The impact would affect the milestone deliverable of the regional multi-modal simulation platform, data exchange requirements between air and ground traffic system, understanding data storage and preprocessing pipeline for processing Digital Globe images at different resolution and time frames, and test different machine learning methods for image segmentation. Delays to the internships may result in delays to research milestone delivery in projects and programs.

Therefore, the current NAMS contractor, USRA, has the base of knowledge and experience to continue providing the highly specialized services necessary to complete the ongoing projects under the NAMS contract without incurring unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements for twelve (12) months while the competitive follow-on NAMS-2 procurement is completed.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A notice to the Government Point of Entry (GPE) website (beta.sam.gov) was published on

March 23, 2021, in accordance with FAR Subpart 5.2. This posting informed potential sources of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source extension to USRA. The results of this synopsis are summarized in Section 10 below.

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The

Contractor shall be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the

Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer (CO) will use various cost analysis techniques including a comparison of the proposed cost to historical actuals for similar work previously performed on the NAMS contract, completing a detailed cost element analysis, and completing a price analysis by comparison of proposed price to the IGCE to ensure that the final agreed-to costs and fee for Core requirements and any IDIQ task orders issued during the extension period are fair and reasonable. The objectives will be developed and documented in a Pre-

Negotiation Position Memo (PPM) prior to the initiation of negotiations and will be approved in accordance with FAR 15.406 prior to conducting negotiations. A Price Negotiation

Memorandum (PNM) will be completed to document the settlement agreement after the conclusion of negotiations.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons a market research was not conducted:

ARC conducted market research in support of the decision to award this contract extension to USRA on a sole-source basis. Based on the Contracting Officer’s Representative’s

(COR) technical knowledge of the current NAMS requirements, and for all of the other reasons stated herein, market research supports that USRA is the sole responsible source able to fulfill the NAMS requirements during the twelve (12) month extension while the competitive procurement for the follow-on NAMS-2 contract is completed.

A synopsis was posted on March 23, 2021 on the Contract Opportunities site located on www.beta.SAM.gov. The purpose of the synopsis was to (1) notify industry of NASA’s intent to extend the contract on a sole-source basis and (2) solicit information about interested sources that are capable of providing the required highly specialized support services during the extended POP. Interested organizations were requested to submit their capabilities and qualifications in writing. The Contracting Officer did not receive any capability statements in response to the synopsis.

Additional market research was completed which included reviews of the following

Government databases: the Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) and the NASA Vendor

Database (NVD). These market research tools revealed several vendors can provide various types of aeronautic, engineering, air traffic, aerospace testing, quantum computing, data mining, research and development, machine learning, predictive analytics, and software engineering support. However, the CO and COR determined that the vendors identified in the search have the capability to support limited requirements individually and not as a whole

NAMS requirement. Only USRA would be able to perform all the work without adversely impacting important schedules of work currently being performed on the existing NAMS contract.

The COR and the CO conducted additional research to determine whether there were sources capable of performing the above stated academic, project and engineering support services. The research included a series of meetings with the COR and members of NASA

Code A, Code T, and other requirements owners under the NAMS contract. Based on those discussions, it was clear that while there are numerous firms in the industry, the scope of highly specialized work required can only be accomplished by the current contractor under the proposed extension without creating substantial duplication of work efforts performed and cost incurred to date. Failure to extend the contract would cause significant disruption in critical projects and adversely impact various NASA ARC missions and R&D facilities.

Market research indicates that in accordance with FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)(B), USRA is the only responsible source that can provide the required highly specialized services for this follow-on contract extension without incurring and unacceptable delays in meeting agency requirements. There has been no significant interest in this proposed contract extension.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

The COR has determined that USRA is highly qualified to perform the proposed contract extension at ARC through May 2022 and, for the reasons stated herein, is the only responsible source reasonably capable of continuing to provide the services required to support critical programs and projects pending the award of the NAMS-2 follow-on procurement. USRA can continue to provide seamless, quality support services for the current critical and highly specialized mission support, programs and projects conducted at

ARC without unacceptable delays or substantial duplication of costs to the Government.

Core Requirements and task order performance—in terms of safety, milestones, scheduled metrics, and deliverables—is organized, prioritized, and safely completed on time and within budget. Since the award of the NAMS contract, USRA received annual performance ratings of “Satisfactory.”

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

A notice of NASA’s intent to award this sole-source action was synopsized on the GPE website (beta.sam.gov) per FAR Subpart 5.2 (See Section 6 above). The synopsis provided instructions for interested organizations to submit capabilities and qualifications to perform the requirements to be performed during the twelve (12) month contract extension. The synopsis was posted on March 23, 2021 for a fifteen-day duration with a response/closing date of April 6, 2021. The Government did not receive any written capability statement submissions in response to the synopsis.

No other source expressed interest in providing the additional work required by under this contract extension.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

There are no actions the agency needs to take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for these services.ARC is currently in the process of conducting a follow-on competitive procurement for NAMS-2 contract. This sole-source award of a twelve (12) month extension to the current NAMS contract is necessary to provide the additional time needed to complete the competitive NAMS-2 procurement while ensuring critical ongoing research and development support services continue without interruption under the NAMS contract. Contract award of the NAMS-2 is expected to occur within the time period of the extension authorized.