Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Lightning Mapper (LMX) Instrument Implementation

Amendment 1(one) includes updates to the Draft RFP cover letter and update Attachment D- UIID

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center’s Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Lightning Mapper (LMX) Instrument Implementation solicitation. The LMX instrument is a single spectral channel instrument used to measure the location and intensity of optical transients produced by Lightning. LMX remotely collects data visible from geostationary orbit for severe atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles used in the generation of a variety of applied products for weather forecasting and atmospheric monitoring. LMX will provide measurement of the location and intensity of optical transients produced by lightning. The LMX operational data that will be used by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other public and private agencies to produce forecasts of severe weather and to issue warnings for public safety.

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.

It is anticipated that this competitive procurement will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) hardware contract for the development of two LMX flight models and two options, for two additional LMX Flight Models. 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 late February 2024. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1250.

Section H.13, Special Task Support Requirements of the DRFP 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.

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 July 11, 2023 with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days after RFP release.

The anticipated contract award date and effective date is mid- late February 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 are 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.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 Kelly Lytton, Contracting Officer at Kelly.R.Lytton@nasa.gov no later than June 16, 2023. 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) Lightning Mapper (LMX) Instrument Implementation solicitation.  The LMX instrument is a single spectral channel instrument used to measure the location and intensity of optical transients produced by Lightning. LMX remotely collects data visible from geostationary orbit for severe atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles used in the generation of a variety of applied products for weather forecasting and atmospheric monitoring. LMX will provide measurement of the location and intensity of optical transients produced by lightning. The LMX operational data that will be used by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)  and other public and private agencies to produce forecasts of severe weather and to issue warnings for public safety.

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. 

It is anticipated that this competitive procurement will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) hardware contract for the development of two LMX flight models and two options,  for one additional LMX Flight Models and the other option for one FM spare.  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 late February 2024. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1250.

Section H.13, Special Task Support Requirements of the DRFP 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.

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 July 11, 2023 with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days after RFP release.

The anticipated contract award date and effective date is mid- late February 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 are 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.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 GSFCto 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 Kelly Lytton, Contracting Officer at Kelly.R.Lytton@nasa.gov no later than June 16, 2023. 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 Lightning Mapper (LMX) instrument.

The LMX instrument is a single spectral channel instrument used to measure the location and intensity of optical transients produced by Lightning. LMX remotely collects data visible from geostationary orbit for severe atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles used in the generation of a variety of applied products for weather forecasting and atmospheric monitoring. LMX will provide measurement of the location and intensity of optical transients produced by lightning. The LMX operational data that will be used by National Oceanic and Atmoshperic Administration (NOAA)  and other public and private agencies to produce forecasts of severe weather and to issue warnings for public safety.

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, respectively.

It is anticipated that this competitive procurement will result in a Cost-Plus-Award-Fee hardware contract for the development of two LMX Flight Models (FM) and two options,  for two additional LMX 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 late February 2024.

The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using Federal Acquisition Regulation (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 May 2023, and the anticipated release of the Final RFP is early-mid June 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 Kelly.r.lytton@nasa.gov no later than 15 days from posting date. Telephone questions will not be accepted.