Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Atmospheric Composition (ACX) Instrument Implementation

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Atmospheric Composition (ACX) Instrument Implementation solicitation.  The Atmospheric Composition (ACX) is a hyperspectral, UV through visible imaging spectrometer, used to measure environment data as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The ACX remotely collects imagery of the superregional area for national air quality forecasting capability, hazard forecasting, and fire pollutant forecasting and warnings.  The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, verify, and support launch of the ACX, supply and maintain the instrument Ground Support Equipment (GSE), and support the Mission Operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF). 

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a full and open competition.  The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1,250 employees.  

This competitive acquisition will result in a Cost-Plus-Award Fee (CPAF) hardware contract for the development of one Flight Model (FM) and two options, for additional ACX FMs. The anticipated period of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and 5 years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each FM. 

The anticipated contract award date is on or about late April 2024.  The contract will be performed onsite at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and offsite at the Contractor’s facilities. 

Potential offerors should pay close attention to all solicitation instructions; however, the following requirements list is summarized to assist in proposal development.  Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and the solicitation terms and conditions and provisions in sections L and M take precedence:

1.  Section H.13, Special Task Support Requirements of the RFP specifies that the Government may order special study tasks under the resultant hardware contract for risk reduction and mitigation activities. The clause includes a plug number of $25,000,000 that each offeror can use for planning purposes.  

2.  Section L.11 GSFC 52.215-203 Offer Volume (APR 2022) of the RFP specifies:  If the offeror is involved in an impending or already consummated corporate transaction such as an acquisition, or merger with another company, or restructuring, whether announced publicly or not, the Offeror must provide information to convey any potential impacts of that corporate transaction on its proposal and any subsequent contract that may be awarded.

This list is not intended to cover all changes nor describe all RFP requirements. Offerors should carefully review the RFP in its entirety.

3. Below is a list of the Source Selection Authority (SSA) and voting members along with their associated NASA Goddard Space Flight Center organizational codes, for the Source Evaluation Board (SEB).  The names provided are for informational purposes only and other than the Contracting Officer, Tracey Jones, these individuals shall not be contacted regarding this acquisition.  The Government may change personnel associated with this acquisition at its discretion.

           SSA

           Cynthia Simmons, Code 400

           Voting Members

           Sergey Krimchansky, Code 418

           Kuiana Carson, Code 383

           Myron Fendall, Code 564

           Joanna Joiner, Code 614

           Vincent Roback, LARC-D208

4. Offerors are required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code that matches the corporate address submitted with its proposal.

Offerors are encouraged to refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.215-1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION, in particular paragraph (f)(4) which discusses the Government’s right to award a contract without discussions.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy required all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).  While the RFP’s CostVolume exhibits are in PDF format, the Offeror’s Cost Volume proposal shall include completed Cost Volume exhibits in Microsoft Office Excel format with working cell formulas.  Instructions for converting from PDF format to Excel format can be found in the Cost Volume Instructions.    

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) 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.

This RFP does not commit NASA GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GSFC to procure or contract for these services.  This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation shall be due no later than December 11, 2023, at 5:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time. Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” is included in the solicitation: Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform.  Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box.  Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there are firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In accordance with NFS 1815.201(f), a “Blackout Notice” has been issued to NASA personnel.  All inquiries/communications pertaining to this acquisition shall be directed only to the Contracting Officer listed below.

All questions regarding this RFP should be submitted in writing, electronically to Tracey Jones, Contracting Officer, at Tracey.A.Jones@nasa.gov on or before November 13, 2023.  Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration. 

The purpose of this update is to provide responses to the questions received.  Please see attachment dated 9/25/2023.

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Atmospheric Composition (ACX) Instrument Implementation solicitation.  The Atmospheric Composition (ACX) is a hyperspectral, UV through visible imaging spectrometer, used to measure environment data as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The ACX remotely collects imagery of the superregional area for national air quality forecasting capability, hazard forecasting, and fire pollutant forecasting and warnings.  The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, verify, and support launch of the ACX, supply and maintain the instrument Ground Support Equipment (GSE), and support the Mission Operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF). 

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work. 

NOTE:  New requirements that the potential offerors should specifically review are as follows:  ACXPORD129 (within channel response uniformity); ACXPORD131 (center wavelength); ACXPORD211 (stray light); ACXPORD204 to ACXPORD209 (VA); and ACXUIID43 (average operational power).

Also, Section L.11 GSFC 52.215-203 Offer Volume (APR 2022) of the RFP specifies:

If the offeror is involved in an impending or already consummated corporate transaction such as an acquisition, or merger with another company, or restructuring, whether announced publicly or not, the Offeror must provide information to convey any potential impacts of that corporate transaction on its proposal and any subsequent contract that may be awarded.

This competitive acquisition will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) hardware contract that will consist of parts and materials for an Engineering Development Model (EDM)-if proposed and agreed to by the Government and three flight models. The period of performance includes efforts required to design, analyze, fabricate, integrate, test, evaluate, verify, store and support launch activities. The delivery schedule and/or period of performance of this contract is based upon a spacecraft launch date of October 2035 for Delivery Item 3, FM-1; November 2040 for Delivery Item 4, FM-2 (Option 1); and TBD for Delivery Item 5, FM-3 (Option 2).  The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1250.

Potential offerors should ensure its company is listed in the online database(s) for the following:

1. System for award management: https://www.sam.gov/SAM/
2. U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, VETS-4212 Reports: https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/
3. Date Universal Numbering System (and the transition to the US Government’s unique entity identifier (UEI)): https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

The successful offeror must pass an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) clearance before contract award (See FAR 22.805).

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about September 25, 2023, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days after RFP release.

The anticipated contract award date and effective date is mid- late April 2024. The contract will be performed offsite at the Contractor’s facilities, and onsite at GSFC.

The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding this acquisition:

1. Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s

Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box. Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there were firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy requires all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).     

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments and links to online reference/technical/bidders library will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.beta.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Raymond “Ray” Rubilotta, Associate Director, raymond.j.rubilotta@nasa.gov, 301-286-5867.

This DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA is not requesting proposals.  This DRFP does not commit NASA GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GSFC to procure or contract for this requirement.  This request is not an authorization to proceed, and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to

Tracey A. Jones, Contracting Officer, at Tracey.A.Jones@nasa.gov, within 14 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately.  However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a Government response.  The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP.  To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP.  Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the GPE if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation.  The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Atmospheric Composition (ACX) Instrument Implementation solicitation.  The Atmospheric Composition (ACX) is a hyperspectral, UV through visible imaging spectrometer, used to measure environment data as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The ACX remotely collects imagery of the superregional area for national air quality forecasting capability, hazard forecasting, and fire pollutant forecasting and warnings.  The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, verify, and support launch of the ACX, supply and maintain the instrument Ground Support Equipment (GSE), and support the Mission Operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF). 

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work. 

NOTE:  New requirements that the potential offerors should specifically review are as follows:  ACXPORD129 (within channel response uniformity); ACXPORD131 (center wavelength); ACXPORD211 (stray light); ACXPORD204 to ACXPORD209 (VA); and ACXUIID43 (average operational power).

Also, Section L.11 GSFC 52.215-203 Offer Volume (APR 2022) of the RFP specifies:

If the offeror is involved in an impending or already consummated corporate transaction such as an acquisition, or merger with another company, or restructuring, whether announced publicly or not, the Offeror must provide information to convey any potential impacts of that corporate transaction on its proposal and any subsequent contract that may be awarded.

This competitive acquisition will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) hardware contract that will consist of parts and materials for an Engineering Development Model (EDM)-if proposed and agreed to by the Government and three flight models. The period of performance includes efforts required to design, analyze, fabricate, integrate, test, evaluate, verify, store and support launch activities. The delivery schedule and/or period of performance of this contract is based upon a spacecraft launch date of October 2035 for Delivery Item 3, FM-1; November 2040 for Delivery Item 4, FM-2 (Option 1); and TBD for Delivery Item 5, FM-3 (Option 2).  The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1250.

Potential offerors should ensure its company is listed in the online database(s) for the following:

1. System for award management: https://www.sam.gov/SAM/
2. U.S. Department of Labor Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, VETS-4212 Reports: https://vets4212.dol.gov/vets4212/
3. Date Universal Numbering System (and the transition to the US Government’s unique entity identifier (UEI)): https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service/office-of-systems-management/integrated-award-environment-iae/iae-information-kit/unique-entity-identifier-update

The successful offeror must pass an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) clearance before contract award (See FAR 22.805).

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about September 25, 2023, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days after RFP release.

The anticipated contract award date and effective date is mid- late April 2024. The contract will be performed offsite at the Contractor’s facilities, and onsite at GSFC.

The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding this acquisition:

1. Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s

Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box. Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there were firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy requires all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).     

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments and links to online reference/technical/bidders library will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.beta.SAM.gov. Potential Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84, OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Raymond “Ray” Rubilotta, Associate Director, raymond.j.rubilotta@nasa.gov, 301-286-5867.

This DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA is not requesting proposals.  This DRFP does not commit NASA GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA GSFC to procure or contract for this requirement.  This request is not an authorization to proceed, and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, to

Tracey A. Jones, Contracting Officer, at Tracey.A.Jones@nasa.gov, within 14 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately.  However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided a Government response.  The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP.  To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP.  Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the GPE if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation.  The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Program. This new procurement is for the implementation phase of the GeoXO Atmospheric Composition (ACX) instrument.

The ACX will be a hyperspectral infrared instrument that is planned to fly on the GeoXO program series of geostationary satellites.  This is a new instrument for the GeoXO Program. ACX will be a hyperspectral, UV through visible imaging spectrometer, used to measure environmental data as part of a 3-axis stabilized, geostationary weather satellite system. The ACX remotely collects imagery of the superregional area for national air quality forecasting capability, hazard forecasting, and fire pollutant forecasting and warnings. The contract scope includes the tasks necessary to design, analyze, develop, fabricate, integrate, test, verify, and support launch of the ACX, supply and maintain the instrument Ground Support Equipment (GSE), and support the Mission Operations at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF). 

This procurement will be conducted as a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code and Size Standard are 336414 and 1250 employees, respectively.

It is anticipated that this competitive procurement will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) hardware contract for the development of two ACX flight models (FM), with an option for an additional spare FM (3).  Specifically, the base contract includes the build, delivery, spacecraft integration and post-delivery support for one Flight Model (FM) and parts for a second FM.  The base contract will also include delivery of Engineering Development Unit(s) for instrument subassemblies and an integrated Engineering Development Model, if proposed. Option 1 of the contract, upon exercising, will be the build for FM2 and Option 2 will be parts and building of a Flight Model Spare. Option 2 includes parts, assembly and test for the Flight Model spare that will be delivered and stored until the launch of FM 2. 

The anticipated period of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and 5 years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each Flight Model (FM). The anticipated contract award date is April 2024.

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

This synopsis shall serve as the pre-solicitation notice for the Draft RFP as well as the Final RFP.

The anticipated release of the Draft RFP is on or about mid to late July 2023, and the anticipated release of the Final RFP is late September 2023. Once the Draft RFP is issued, industry will be requested to submit questions in writing by the date specified in the Draft RFP. The Government will not accept proposals in response to the Draft RFP. When the Final RFP is issued, all responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.

The Government anticipates issuing a modification to this synopsis when the Draft RFP and RFP becomes available.

NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf

If a solicitation is released, then it and any additional documents will be available on www.Sam.gov. 

Prospective offerors shall notify this office of their intent to submit an offer. 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). 

All contractual and technical questions must be submitted electronically via email to tracey.a.jones@nasa.gov no later than 15 days from posting date. Telephone questions will not be accepted.