NOIS3-009 JEFO .pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Johnson Space Center Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

Description of the action being approved: This justification documents the basis for issuing Task Order NOIS3- 009: MPLAN (MUREP Partnership Annual Notification) 2025 Awardee Payment Processing under the NASA Open Innovation Services 3 (NOIS3) contract using an exception to the Fair Opportunity process.

Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs: This action is a firm fixed price with a total funding of $1,486,958. Period of performance from date of award to February 27, 2026.

The Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) was created in November of 2011 at the request of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to help NASA and other Federal Agencies advance their use of open innovation and crowdsourcing models. CoECI guides NASA and other Agency teams on all aspects of implementing crowd-based initiatives, from problem definition, to incentive design, to post-submission evaluation of solutions. CoECI also provides access to its contracts through assisted acquisition Interagency Agreements.

NASA intends to issue NOIS3-009 as a sole-source to HeroX. The objective of NOIS3-009 is to efficiently process prize payments to Phase 1 awardees of the NASA MUREP Partnership Learning Annual Notification (MPLAN) 2025 which aims to empower Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) by providing financial resources—up to $50,000 per awardee—to foster idea development, facilitate research and development, and engage stakeholders in critical STEM fields. Winners of this initiative, who will be announced at the end of July, will be required to submit a Prize Payment form detailing their institution's information to initiate the processing of the award. The contractor, who has run the entire project from challenge design through judging and participant support, is expertly poised to process the award payments to all MPLAN awardees, culminating in the provision of an export file to the project owner for comprehensive tracking and reporting.

Identification of Exception to Fair Opportunity:

☒ FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C). The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

Supporting Rationale:

HeroX’s involvement in this activity under the prior NOIS2 award uniquely positions it to manage the prize payments for this task to ensure continuity of the NOIS2-106 competition since its inception three years ago.

Their direct involvement throughout all phases of the challenge—including design, launch, participant engagement, and final award decisions—gives them unmatched familiarity with the awardee roster and the financial and procedural frameworks already in place. Utilizing HeroX at this stage preserves continuity, avoids unnecessary rework, and ensures that the payment process proceeds without disruption. Transitioning to a different contractor at this time would undermine the efficiency and economy intended by this sole-source follow-on, introducing significant delays, added costs, and operational risk.

Determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Government will ensure that it obtains fair and reasonable pricing from the contractor on Task Order 009.

The Government will compare the proposed prices to historical prices and, whether by the Government or other than the Government, for the same or similar items or services.

Other Facts:

The Contracting Officer will continue to examine the market in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements.

A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made: N/A - This is a follow-on task order requirement from the NOIS2 contract.