A-- NASA TOURNAMENT LAB

NASA is contemplating awarding a contract or cooperative agreement to supplyservices to develop and execute a concept title the NASA Tournament Lab. The effortcontemplated is the establishment of a NASA Tournament Lab (NTL) that will utilize theprinciples of distributed innovation to develop innovative computational algorithms forinternal NASA technical challenges. The first main objective of the NTL is to createnovel, high quality working software for NASA-wide algorithmic and computationalchallenges while at the same time increasing NASAs computational engineering capacity byreducing the cost and time of development. The NTL will leverage external innovationplatforms to execute innovation tournaments, involving hundreds, if not thousands, of thebest global developers, in service of algorithm development. The second main objective of the NTL is to contribute towards the development of anempirically validated science of innovation tournaments so that the relevant (internaland external) design parameters underlying effective distributed innovation practices canbe identified and verified. This will enable for the systematic and routine use ofinnovation tournaments as a problem solving approach within NASA and the rest of thepublic sector. The NTL would like to identify sources that could form uniquePublic-Academic-Private partnerships where existing commercial innovation tournamentplatforms will be modified to enable the creation of solutions to NASA challenges underthe guidance of academic social scientists. A significant portion of this effort will serve as a precursor to an ongoing program withscale, this pilot program will be specifically designed to thoroughly evaluate the NTLsperformance potential and provide feedback on the best ways to structure,institutionalize and manage the NTL within the context of the larger NASA community. The NAICS Code for this requirement is 927110. NASA intends to award a single contract orcooperative agreement for an initial period of performance of 2 to 3 years. NASA is seeking interested potential performers with specialized capabilities to meet theabove requirements. NASA is requesting that interested firms submit a Statement of Capability (SOC)expressing their desire and ability to meet the NASA Tournaments Lab (NTL) objectives. Potential sources must submit a written SOC to the contact listed in this announcement. The SOC shall contain pertinent and specific information addressing these areas: (1) Experience: an outline of previous projects, specific work previously performed orbeing performed and any in-house, research and development effort, relevant to thespecific task areas of this effort;(2) Personnel: position description, professional qualifications and specific experienceof scientific, engineering and program management personnel who might be assigned to workin areas of the subject effort;(3) Existing Platform(s): identification of specialized distributive innovation platformsand equipment which is owned or leased or is otherwise available as non-GFE to therespondent and might be utilized in support of this effort; and (4) Financial: any potential cost sharing or contributions that would significantlyreduce the contracting cost to the government in implementing, operating, and publishingthe results.All submissions are limited to 20 pages. Additional reference material beyond the pagelimit will not be accepted. Links to public web sites to show existing capabilities willbe accepted.No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If asolicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA AcquisitionInternet Service. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these sites forthe release of any solicitation or synopsis. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as acommitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited.Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemedfully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. All responses shall be submitted to Jason Crusan at contact@example.gov no later thanJuly 22, 2010 and should reference the NTL Sources Sought Notice.