Aerospace Research Technology and Simulation (ARTS) - Sources Sought

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for the Aerospace Research, Technology and Simulations (ARTS) contract. ARTS is a follow-on to the Technical Services for Aerospace Modeling and Simulation III (SimLabs III) contract. A draft performance work statement (PWS) is provided for information and planning. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ARC is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI), and members of the underserved communities as defined by Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity And Support For Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government, for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for ARTS. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring this website for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Interested firms having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirement described herein should submit a capability statement of no more than 10 pages indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort. Your capability package should reflect your qualifications to accomplish the PWS and discuss your familiarity with similar efforts with emphasis on simulation support and with similar software assets and facilities. Please advise if the requirement is considered to be a commercial or commercial-type product. A commercial item is defined in FAR 2.101. Additionally, in support of the Executive Order (EO) 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, NASA is seeking to advance equity or remove barriers for members of underserved communities related to this requirement. As defined in the EO, Underserved Communities refers to populations sharing a characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, as exemplified by the list in the preceding definition of "equity." Equity means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. NASA seeks input in the following areas: 1. To support the requirements identified in this request for information (RFI)/sources sought notification, what barriers or opportunities exist to engage subject matter experts from industry and academia and how can those barriers be overcome? How can underserved communities be leveraged? 2. To support the requirements identified in this RFI, what barriers or opportunities exist to partner with subcontractors that employ members of underserved communities, as defined above? 3. What other recommendations would you make to enhance diversity and inclusion? 4. What should be considered to encourage full participation and contribution of organizations and individuals (e.g., outreach efforts and innovative partnerships) in performance of this requirement? All responses shall be submitted electronically via email to Erik Whitehill at erik.c.whitehill@nasa.gov no later than September 8, 2023, 5:00PM EDT. Please reference - 80ARC023-ARTS-SS in any response. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only 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.