Notice of Partnering Opportunity - 80GRC024R0007-NPO -VESPER.pdf

Notice of Partnering Opportunity

Venus Surveyor for Planetary Exploration (VeSPER)

80GRC024R0007-NPO

General Information

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has issued a NASA Announcement of Opportunity (AO) NNH23ZDA001N-PICASSO, entitled, "Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations.” The solicitation and related documents can be found posted on the internet at:

https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=FAA785AB-5F8F-608A-

7507-41FF8AE9EE50

The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) intends to submit proposal(s) to offer instruments, technology and development demonstrations for this and closely-related solicitations. This

Notice is intended to allow interested non-Government entities to team with the GRC consistent with the instructions provided below.

Purpose of Notice

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is issuing this Notice of Partnering Opportunity (NPO) for the purpose of openly and competitively selecting prospective team members to assist it in the preparation of proposals to be submitted by GRC to the ROSES PICASSO Proposal. This process is being conducted in accordance with NASA FAR Supplement 1872.3. By this Notice, GRC is seeking information from partners regarding their availability, cost, capabilities, and past performance that relates to the science partnerships on potential future missions, technology and instrument developments, and laboratory experiments. This Notice also authorizes NASA GRC to award grants, cooperative agreements and/or contracts to its selected partner(s) without further competition or justification, for execution of any GRC proposal that is selected in these partnerships.

Overview

This Notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a partnership. This Notice is subject to revision or cancellation at any time. Based on the responses to this Notice, GRC anticipates selecting organizations with which GRC would then immediately work directly and individually to develop, complete, and submit proposals in response to the above-mentioned objectives.

During the development of specific proposals, specific roles and cost estimates for the selected partners will be developed. For any GRC proposal that is selected, GRC intends to negotiate, without further competition or justification, a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract with each proposal partner, consistent with their agreed upon roles and this Notice. During these procurement negotiations, the specific statement of work, terms and conditions, and procurement value will be determined. There will be no exchange of funds between GRC and the teaming partners during the preparation of proposals. NASA GRC will not be responsible for any costs https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=FAA785AB-5F8F-608A-7507-41FF8AE9EE50 https://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/solicitations/summary.do?solId=FAA785AB-5F8F-608A-7507-41FF8AE9EE50 incurred by respondents in preparing a response to proposals or by the selected partners in assisting GRC in the preparation of proposals.

SECTION 1—INTRODUCTION

General Information

Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations Program

(PICASSO) AO cited above includes specific opportunities to propose development of new proof-of-concept instruments for planetary missions.

The intent of this partnership notice is to leverage expertise to develop instrumentation for an imaging system on a Venus lander for the aforementioned PICASSO solicitation. The Venus imaging system will take pictures of the surface of Venus from various altitudes and on the surface. Therefore, our team seeks partner(s) with experience and capabilities in developing science goals and objectives for Venus missions to address science questions including those related to geophysics and geochemistry. Experience in Venus remote sensing of the Venusian surface and surface topology from a macroscale, and/or surface science, including, but not limited to, minerology, chemical and physical/mechanical weathering.

Their expertise will help guide the scientific goals, which in turn, may influence the specifications of the imaging system, such as image resolution. At the conclusion of the

PICASSO project, the goal is to have advanced the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) to the point where it may be proposed in response to the Maturation of Instruments for Solar System

Exploration (MatISSE) Program, C.13 of ROSES.

Participation

Participation in this partnering synopsis is open to all categories of U.S. and non-U.S.

organizations, including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit institutions, the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory, as well as NASA Centers and other U.S. Government Agencies.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Other Minority Universities (OMUs), small, disadvantaged businesses (SDBs)(8a), veteran-owned small businesses, service, disabled veteran-owned small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, and women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) are encouraged to apply. Participation by non-U.S. organizations is welcome but subject to NASAs policy of no exchange of funds, in which each government supports its own national participants and associated costs.

SECTION 2—SCOPE

Overview

This Notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract.

This Notice is subject to revision or cancellation at any time.

There will be no exchange of funds between NASA and the selected partner(s) for responses prepared against this Notice of Partnering Opportunity or the PICASSO proposal development.

That is, NASA will not be responsible for any costs incurred by respondents in preparing a response to this Notice or by the selected partner in preparation of the PICASSO proposal.

Details of The PICASSO Opportunity

• Signed Letter of Commitment Due: May1, 2024, 5:00 PM ET

• Proposals Due: May 15, 2024, 5:00PM ET (Target)

• Selection Notification: July 2024 (Estimated)

• Project Start Date: November 1, 2024 (Estimated, if selected)

SECTION 3—RESPONSES TO NOTICE

Response Content

In the response to this partnering opportunity, interested parties should provide information regarding their qualification including participation in current and past relevant research projects funded by the Government and industry, as well as relevant facilities available. Also, relevant research and academic activities, including publications and professional activities should be reflected in the response. Moreover, the proposers to this opportunity should identify one of the most qualified persons as a point of contact. Respondents should also identify potential roles they offer to development activities leading to instrument systems in support of the Science

Mission Directorate's (SMD) Planetary Science Division.

Evaluation of Response

The evaluation team will use the following factors in selection and award. The government will evaluate the submitted response based on these factors that are listed in order of importance:

1. Technical Capability: Responder(s) will be evaluated on their understanding of Venus science community needs.

2. Experience: Relevant experience with Venus remote sensing related to surface topography, surface science.

All responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such.

Questions

All questions pertaining to this Notice must be submitted to the Contracting Officer in writing via email at kevin.m.carroll@nasa.gov. Questions are due by 5:00 pm ET on April 5, 2024. If the government choose to respond to submitted questions, they will be posted at a later date as attachment to this notice.

Response Instructions

The response is limited to 2 pages that fully addresses the evaluation criteria in not less than 12-point font, submitted as an electronic PDF document. Excluded from the page count are the cover letter, title pages, table of contents, and an acronym list. Responders are free to attach additional appendices that further describe their capabilities, however, only the required 2 pages will be evaluated for selection.

The responses are due to NASA GRC no later than 5:00 pm ET on April 12, 2024. Any responses received after this time and date will be handled as late responses in accordance with

FAR 15.208. Responses to this Notice must be submitted in the form of a Portable Data Format

(PDF) file. Responses shall be submitted via email to Kevin M. Carroll at kevin.m.caroll@nasa.gov.

NASA GRC anticipates completing its evaluation and selection process by April 19, 2024.

Selected partners will be contacted directly by the GRC project manager or management sponsor to develop the proposal. At that time, GRC may ask for supplemental information to your proposal.

Communication Restrictions

GRC will impose local restrictions on communications regarding this notice and the processing of responses. All communications with potential respondents will be restricted to the technical and procurement points of contact identified in the synopsis of this NPO.

Additional Information Releases

The NAICS Code and Size Standard are 541715 and 1000, respectively.

The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12.

NASA 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

It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this website for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any).

Evaluators of responses, which are submitted under this process, may include non-US

Government personnel (i.e. the Principal Investigator). Therefore, responders are hereby on notice that responders submitted hereunder may be released outside the Government but shall be released solely for the purpose of evaluation of responses as part of this selection process. All responders acknowledge acceptance of this condition by the submittal of their responses.

http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html