NASA federally-funded research and development center support

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is soliciting information from a university or consortium of universities, a not-for-profit or nonprofit organization, or an industrial firm, as an autonomous not-for-profit or nonprofit organization or as an identifiable separate not-for-profit or nonprofit operating unit of a parent organization to operate and manage NASAs Federally-Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL meets the Agencys needs for special technical expertise in space science and planetary exploration. NASA sponsors the FFRDC in accordance with Part 35 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. JPL is a Government-owned facility. The main laboratory site encompasses over 170 buildings on nearly 160 acres and is located at the northern edge of the metropolitan Los Angeles area within the City of Pasadena to the southeast and the City of La Canada-Flintridge to the west. The operation and management of JPL is twofold: there is an institutional element and there is a programmatic element. The institutional element includes the capacity to operate and manage government furnished buildings, research and development facilities, and industrial equipment. The programmatic element encompasses carrying out the specific objectives identified in the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Plan (see website: http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2014/05/02/2014_Science_Plan-0501_tagged .pdf ).

The five broad scientific areas to be addressed are: Earth Science, Planetary Science, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics. The contractor shall enable scientific exploration by developing and maintaining the technical skills and infrastructure necessary to carry out projects in Earth orbit or deep space, and involves spacecrafts sent as orbiters to the Moon or other planetary bodies, robotic landers, rovers, and scientific observatories on permanent space trajectories or on sample return missions. Although instrument observations from and in space will be the primary tools for such explorations, investigations, science programs, ground-based research and laboratory experiments shall also be required for successful mission development and execution. A broad range of hardware and software engineering, scientific analysis, deep-space telemetry data acquisition capability, and management effort are also implicit in space mission assignments. The support requires an extensive pool of resources with a broad base of scientific and technical capabilities relevant and available to NASA program and project responsibilities and assignments, and professional staff capabilities at the highest possible level to derive as much knowledge as possible from the actual performance of research and development work under this contract. This support includes project tasks involving: (i) autonomous deep-space and earth-orbiting spacecraft or major subsystems, (ii) experiments, instruments, or other devices which may be carried as payload on spacecrafts in missions managed by others; (iii) ground-based systems; (iv) advanced technology research and development that enable and enhance new space missions, shorten the mission development cycle, and speed the use of observation, model, and research results in the planning of future and the operations of current missions and systems; (v) NASA-sponsored research and analysis programs that carry out a program of competed and peer-reviewed basic and applied research and technology development in space and Earth sciences. This support may be in both principal and supporting roles to enable effective project implementation and to further technological capabilities for future NASA requirements; (vi) facilitating the involvement of the best-available scientists, engineers, and students from the broad university and research communities in NASAs mission and in supporting other government agencies related projects; (vii) NASAs partnership with other federal agencies and the private sector to leverage NASAs investments in national objectives and to realize relevant societal benefits from NASAs research including technology transfer, partnering, and commercialization activities that enhance the value and contribution of technology developed under the contract with NASA, the nations technological competitiveness and prosperity, quality of life, and other national priorities; (viii) the operation and management of NASAs Deep Space Network to provide telecommunication and operation services, including data acquisition and data delivery required to meet established Agency objectives; (ix) assistance to NASA in the formulation and execution of programs and projects by providing technical advice, studies, and reports of investigations; (x) assistance to NASA on the delivery of formal and informal education programs and outreach activities to the public and the academic communities; and (xi) assistance to NASA in the performance of program management and strategic planning.

No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.

Interested offerors/vendors having the required specialized capabilities to meet the above requirement should submit a capability statement of 25 pages or less indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort described herein.

Please advise if the requirement is considered to be a commercial or commercial-type product. A commercial item is defined in FAR 2.101.

This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement.

All responses shall be submitted to Cara Dawn at the below address no later than June 30, 2015. No electronic documents will be accepted. Please reference NNN10AA01S in any response. Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.

Cara Dawn, NASA Management Office, 180-802L, Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109.