Draft Request for Proposal - Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV (Rapid IV) draft solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is to serve as a rapid and flexible means for the Government to acquire spacecraft and related components, equipment and services in support of NASA missions and/or other Federal Government agencies. Under the contract, Rapid IV contractors offer spacecraft and related services to be purchased via Government placed Delivery Orders (DO). The spacecraft designs, related items and services may be tailored, as needed, to meet the unique needs of each mission. The Statement of Work, Attachment A, describes the scope of the requirement.

The Rapid IV contract includes an "On Ramp" feature, which allows for the original solicitation to be periodically re-opened in order to give new vendors the opportunity to propose flight proven spacecraft designs. On Ramps also give vendors already awarded a Rapid IV contract the opportunity to propose additional flight proven spacecraft designs and/or update their existing catalog designs.

The award of Rapid IV contracts will be based on the offeror's ability to meet eleven specific technical acceptability standards. Examples of these include: primary responsibility on a minimum of two successful spacecraft developments, and spacecraft designs with both a minimum payload mass capability of 7 kilograms and a minimum payload power capability of 20 Watts or greater (i.e., Cubesats to Geosats). Failure to meet these, or any of the technical acceptability standards identified in Section L of the RFP, will be considered a major deficiency. Additionally, Past Performance will be evaluated on a pass/fail basis. An Offeror receiving a "fail" rating will not be eligible for contract award.

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approach. Potential offerors should identify unnecessary or inefficient requirements and address their impact on price. Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on 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.

This acquisition will be conducted 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 procurement will result in multiple-award, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contracts, with the ability to issue Firm Fixed Price (FFP) delivery orders. These Multi-Agency Contracts (MAC) may support other NASA centers and other federal agencies. The contract(s) will have an effective ordering period of ten years (5-year base and one 5-year option period) from the contract effective date.

The contract will be performed offsite at the Contractor's facilities and/or any other locations specified in the delivery order. The Government will make available existing Government Furnished Property (GFP) for offsite use, if available at the delivery order level.

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about late September 2019, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days later.

All documents related to this procurement, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, enclosures, and any amendments will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at https://www.fbo.gov.

Additional information can also be found on the Rapid IV online Reference Library at: https://elibrary.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Potential offerors are requested to periodically monitor the website 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 DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA GSFC is not requesting proposals. This request does not commit GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate GSFC to procure or contract for this requirement. This request shall not be construed as authorization to proceed with, or be paid for charges incurred by performing any of the work called for in this DRFP.
Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted via e-mail to the Contracting Officer at Cynthia.L.White@nasa.gov, within 30 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. 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 FBO response if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government will respond via FBO to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

.