Next Gen Consolidation DF.pdf

Rev.: 07/2022

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

Determination and Findings (D&F) for Consolidation of Requirements

Findings

I. Requirement Specific Information

A. Proposed/New Requirement

1. Description of Services:

The Next Generation Scalable Data Engineering, Operations, and Informatics Support for Open Science (Next Gen) requirement will supply cutting-edge capability and contribute to NASA’s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) world-class data science. IMPACT furthers NASA’s goal of overseeing the life-cycle of Earth science data to maximize scientific return.

IMPACT prototypes the latest technologies to support new science and applications from Earth Observation (EO) data and offers a diverse set of machine learning and data informatic tools to advance the use and management of EO data.

Next Gen contributes to IMPACT’s focus on improving science data, developing novel approaches to analyzing and visualizing data, and improving data collaboration between NASA, international partners, and national research organizations,

• providing system architecture expertise;

• performing operations and maintenance of IMPACT developed tools and platforms;

• developing systematic approaches for data curation, management, and stewardship;

• exploring and developing scalable tools, services, and platforms;

• providing subject matter expertise in informatics, data science, and information management; and

• developing engineering machine learning solutions to advance science data systems.

2. Identify whether the requirement will be competed or sole source:

The Next Gen competitive acquisition will be a total small business set-aside.

3. Solicitation Number, Contract Name, or Contract Number if known:

80MSFC24R0005 - Next Generation Scalable Data Engineering, Operations and Informatics Support for Open Science (Next Gen).

4. Contract Vehicle (e.g. contract, task order, IDIQ contract):

Single award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quanitiy (IDIQ) contract with firm-fixed-price (FFP) task orders.

5. Period of Performance (PoP) (including all options):

The anticipated PoP is August 15, 2025 through September 30, 2030, which includes a forty-five (45) day phase-in period overlapping the incumbent contracts.

6. Estimated Value of the New Requirement (including all options as well as annual value):

CLIN PoP Maximum IDIQ Value

0001 Phase-In 08/15/2025 – 09/30/2025 $150,000 0002 IDIQ Base Period 10/01/2025 - 09/30/2027 $19,741,500

0003 Base Travel 10/01/2025 - 09/30/2027 $108,500

0004 IDIQ Option Period 1 10/01/2027 - 09/30/2028 $13,445,750

0005 Option Period 1 Travel 10/01/2027 - 09/30/2028 $54,250

0006 IDIQ Option Period 2 10/01/2028 - 09/30/2029 $15,445,750

0007 Option Period 2 Travel 10/01/2028 - 09/30/2029 $54,250

0008 IDIQ Option Period 3 10/01/2029 - 09/30/2030 $17,945,750

0009 Option Period 3 Travel 10/01/2029 - 09/30/2030 $54,250 0010 IDIQ Option to Extend Services

FAR 52.217-8 – Option to Extend Services $8,972,875

0011 IDIQ Option to Extend Services – Travel

FAR 52.217-8 – Option to Extend Services - Travel $27,125

Total $76,000,000

B. Current/Former Requirement(s) i.e. the impacted contract(s)/those that will not be recompeted:

1. Contract Number(s):

Contract Number

80MSFC22CA004 80MSFC22CA017 80MSFC23CA017

Contractor New Rights Group, Inc. (dba Development Seed)

Azavea* Element 84

Contractor Size at Award

Small Business Small Business Small Business

Type of Competition

Sole Source Full and Open Full and Open

NAICS 541715 541690 541690

*Azavea contract novated to Element 84 on July 28, 2023. A contract writing system error resulted in a new contract number being issued for the novated contract.

2. Current/Former Contract Value(s):

Contract Number 80MSFC22CA004* 80MSFC23CA017** 80MSFC22CA017*** Contractor Development Seed Element 84 Azavea Current Contract Value (Base and all Exercised Options)

$19,555,182

$755,346

$460,791

Potential Contract Value (Base and all Options)

$33,088,434

$755,346

$460,791

*Option CLIN 3 is currently being exercised to extend PoP thru September 30, 2025.

**Element 84 JOFOC ($719,946) in process to extend contract by 12 months thru September 30, 2025. Pricing included in current and potential contract values indicated within table above.

***Azavea contract novated to Element 84 on July 28, 2023. Applicable values/cost savings included within Element 84 contract references moving forward within this document.

3. Description of Services:

a. Development Seed (80MSFC22CA004): Supports Inter-agency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) which is a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of civil service and employees from multiple contractor organizations that work to further NASA’s Earth Science Data System.

b. Element 84 (80MSFC23CA017): Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) provides scalable science data exploration services assumed from Azavea with the novation of 80MSFC22CA017.

C. Is this a contract/order as a result of a Product Service Line (PSL) in accordance with

PIC 18-01?

No, Next Gen is not a PSL activity.

II. Justification

A. Market research has been conducted (FAR 7.107-2(a)(1)). On June 6, 2023, 80MSFCNGOSDAPVS, a sources sought notice was posted requesting industry capabilities relative to the identified requirements and whether services could be provided using a small business set-aside. A total of 12 businesses responded by the suspense of June 20, 2023.

Subsequently 12 additional businesses have also expressed interest for a total of 21 small and 3 large based on the NAICS code 541745, Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology, size standard 1,000 employees. Of these responses, five (5) small businesses demonstrated the capability to potentially serve as a prime contractor for the Next Gen acquisition. NASA Form (NF) 1787A, Market Research Report, is attached. As a result, the team has recommended the effort be a 100% small business set-aside competitive acquisition.

B. Quantify the specific benefits of the proposed consolidation/consolidated requirement by completing each of the following tasks (each task must be completed) (FAR 7.107-2(c)):

1. Compute the contract cost savings or reduction:

The maximum IDIQ ordering value, $76,000,000, of the proposed consolidated work is greater in value than the current/former work, $34,304,571, to be performed; therefore, there are $0 in overall contract cost savings or reduction. However, this acquisition will potentially result in $1,395,875 savings over a 5.5 year period (inclusive of Option to Extend Services) due to contract efficiencies identified below and in B.2.

The existing Development Seed and Element 84 contracts presently implement common contract management functions through separate and/or different systems and tools.

Combining these two contracts would immediately yield efficiencies in the approximate amount of $157,250 (850 hours per year x $185 an hour current contractor rate) per year. This is based on the actuals of the two current contracts which indicate 850 hours of contract management overhead which can be consolidated into a single contract. NASA will have a cost avoidance by consolidating these contracts (without inflation) over a 5.5- year period, totaling $864,875 ($157,250 per year x 5.5 years), by consolidating and standardizing a set of management systems/tools to be utilized by a single contractor. The benefits of standardization would extend to contractor maintenance costs, operations, staffing, and training required to administer the respective system. Specific examples of duplicate systems/tools include:

• Configuration management systems

• Data management systems

• Risk management systems

• Scheduling tools/systems

• Training tools/processes/systems

• Business and financial management systems

• Data Requirements Documents

The systems and operations services are currently being provided under 2 separate contracts.

The two current contracts fulfil all the requirements of the NEXTGEN solicitation for the NASA IMPACT project office and work in conjunction with each other, requirements are not duplicated across the two contracts. The contractor deliverables might be a stand-alone deliverable or may be developed collaboratively as part of the NASA project team for input to an integrated NASA project solution. As such, each contractor can span the tooling, operational concepts, training, and real-time execution of the NASA project supported.

2. Compute the administrative or personnel cost savings and provide the supporting documentation for this computation:

Both contracts will need to be recompeted. Consolidating these actions will result in significant acquisition time and cost savings for the Government. Present technical and procurement staffing capacity poses limitations on having parallel acquisition activities. Estimated cost of a parallel acquisition would be $432,000, as shown in the table below.

Cost of a Se cond Source Se lection Evalaution Board

Hours Per Month 40 Number of Civil Servants 4 Total Hours Per Month 160 Number of Months 18 Total Hours for Board 2,880 Civil Servant Fully Burdened Rate $150 Total Cost of Second Board $432,000

An additional estimated 5.5-year savings of $99,000 of civil service contract administration costs would be saved by administering one contract instead of two because civil servant time could be utilized for other non-IMPACT projects. Details of the savings are shown in the table below.

Cost of Administering a Second Contract

Hours Per Month 10 Number of Civil Servants 1 Total Hours Per Month 10 Number of Months 66 Total Hours for Administration 660 Civil Servant Fully Burdened Rate $150 Total Cost of Second Contract Administration $99,000

Combining the second source board and second contract administration costs yields a potential total administrative and personnel savings of $531,000 ($432,000 + $99,000) over the 5.5-year period.

3. State the percentage of the cost savings or reduction:

Total Consolidation Savings Contract Cost $864,875 Second Source Board $432,000 Second Contract Administration $99,000 Total Consolidation Savings $1,395,875 Total Maximum IDIQ Ordering Value for Acquisition

$76,000,000 Percentage Savings 1.8%

There is a combined potential savings of 1.8% compared to the total potential IDIQ value of the acquisition, without taking into account the benefit of competitive pricing identified immediately above. Therefore, in aggregate, it is anticipated the savings do not meet the thresholds described in FAR 7.107-2(d). Please see section C. for additional justification.

Check here if this requirement meets the substantial benefits definition/threshold as described at FAR 7.107-2(d).

C. Describe the additional benefits of the planned consolidation, FAR 7.107-2(c).

A consolidated Next Gen effort provides substantial benefits to NASA which are critical to the agency’s mission success. A single contract establishes a streamlined capability to supply cutting-edge analysis/applications, world-class data science, and furthers NASA’s goal of overseeing a single repository of Earth science data to maximize scientific return. In addition, a unified contract supports consistent end-to-end management, quicker decision making, and a simpler more modern approach to research and development. Additional benefits identified are,

- Anticipated future advances in cyberinfrastructure technology can be implemented more effectively within a consolidated management environment. Based on this rapid evolution in technological capabilities, it is impractical and an impediment to the NASA/IMPACT mission to continue the effort as separate contracts.

- The Next Gen contract will incorporate the most up to date terms and conditions and competitive pricing, as a result of the competition. A total of 24 parties have expressed interest in the Next Gen acquisition.

D. Identify alternative contracting approaches that have been considered that would involve a lesser degree of consolidation (FAR 7.107-2(a)(2)).

Alternative approaches were identified as follows:

1. Status Quo – Path forward would continue the current contract mechanism with Development Seed and Element 84. The Development Seed contract includes sufficient scope coverage through September 30, 2025. The Element 84 contract requires a Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) to allow for 1 additional year of continued support (i.e., October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025). This approach would continue with the inefficiencies associated with maintaining two separate FFP contract vehicles. As stated above, this method is not cost effective and lacks standardization of requirements. In addition, this approach would also continue with different reporting requirements and performance evaluations using different methodologies and standards of performance.

2. Multiple Award IDIQ - Executing this approach increases complexity in solicitation, evaluation, and management of the contracts. Each IDIQ task would be subject to fair opportunity competition requirements which would delay prompt implementation of new IDIQ tasks. As previously discussed, this approach would also maintain status quo of inefficiencies in reporting, delivery, and management. Therefore, this approach is not considered optimal for fulfilling the Agency’s mission.

3. Multiple Single Award IDIQ – This approach results in a separate contract for each IDIQ award. As with the multiple award IDIQ approach, this would significantly increase the administrative burden, see concerns identified in “2. Multiple Award IDIQ,” along with management and execution inefficiencies. An increased need for contract administration subsequent to award and multiple SEB activities or one large SEB ongoing at same time which will cause increased schedule risk. Therefore, this approach is not considered optimal for fulfilling the Agency’s mission.

E. Describe the impacts of the acquisition strategy on contracting with small business concerns;

be sure to specifically address:

1. As Development Seed and Element 84 are both small businesses and the Next Gen acquisition will be a 100% small business set-aside, there is no impact to the annual amount of funding going to small businesses.

2. The total number of small businesses that have prime level contracts with NASA will be reduced by one as a result of the planned Next Gen consolidation.

F. Select all of the steps taken to include small business concerns in the acquisition strategy for the planned consolidation. In addition to numbers 1 and 2 below, include any other steps taken.

Check all that apply below:

1. Incorporated recommended small business subcontracting goals in the draft and final request for proposal (RFP), in accordance with NPD 5000.2 Small Business Subcontracting Goals and NFS 1815.304(c)(4)(B).

2. Evaluation of offerors’ small business subcontracting commitment as a part of the evaluation criteria, NFS 1815.304(c)(4)(C).

The Next Gen acquisition will be solicited as a 100% small business set-aside.

III. Determination

In accordance with the findings provided above and FAR 7.107-2(e)(1), I determine that it is in the best interest of the Agency to consolidate the aforementioned requirements. This written determination demonstrates that this consolidation is necessary and justified.

Daniel Michon

Digitally signed by Daniel Michon Date: 2024.05.23 16:14:17 -05'00'

DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS FOR AUTHORITY TO CONSOLIDATE

REQUIREMENTS

SIGNATURE PAGE

Mary Cooper

Digitally signed by Mary Cooper Date: 2024.05.24 06:59:07 -05'00'

Kathryn Cooper Contracting Officer

DAVID BROCK

David E. Brock

Digitally signed by DAVID BROCK Date: 2024.05.28 09:37:30 -05'00'

MSFC Small Business Specialist

I have reviewed the above determination and findings and have no legal objection with respect to it. Comments, if any, are included in the file.

Daniel P. Michon Office of the General Counsel at MSFC

John Cannaday

Digitally signed by John Cannaday Date: 2024.06.03 18:19:51 -05'00'

John E. Cannaday III Procurement Officer

DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS FOR AUTHORITY TO CONSOLIDATE

REQUIREMENTS

SIGNATURE PAGE (CONTINUED)

Dwight Deneal

Dwight D. Deneal Assistant Administrator

Digitally signed by Dwight Deneal Date: 2024.08.01 11:27:56 -04'00'

Office of Small Business Programs

Scott Barber Associate General Counsel, Contracts and Procurement HQ Office of the General Counsel

Karla Smith Jackson Senior Procurement Executive

APPROVAL:

Robert Gibbs Associcate Adminstrator for the Mission Support Directorate

VICTORIA

KAUFFMAN

Digitally signed by

VICTORIA KAUFFMAN

Date: 2024.08.19 13:54:51 -04'00'