Aircraft Systems and Spaceflight Engineering Support Services (ASSESS)

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is hereby soliciting information about potential sources for the Aircraft Systems and Spaceflight Engineering Support Services (ASSESS). This potential procurement is to conduct and support research and technology development in order to meet evolving NASA mission objectives with respect to aircraft and spaceflight systems, primarily modeling and simulation research and development for NASA's Agency Mission Directorates. Programs and projects currently supported by the Division include: 1) Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Aeronautics Air Vehicles Program (AAVP), Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP), Integrated Aviation Systems Program (IASP), and Transformative Aeronautics Systems Program (TACP); 2) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate's Exploration Systems Development, Commercial Space Transportation, Research and Technology, and Operations; 3) Space Technology Mission Directorate's Technology Demonstration Mission (TDM) and Game Changing Development (GCD) Programs; 4) the NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC); and 5) Science Mission Directorate. The Contractor shall provide research support in the following domains: 1) Flight Regimes and Vehicles; 2) Aerodynamics; 3) Aerothermodynamics; 4) Materials Design/Manufacturing, Test/Evaluation Development and Implementation; 5) Systems Analysis, Engineering, Design and Development; 6) Technical Operations and Project Management Support; and 7) Structures. The work will be performed primarily at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, California. In this Request for Information (RFI), NASA ARC is soliciting information, for market research purposes, about potential sources and preferred contracting approaches for the research and development engineering services described above. NASA ARC will hold the following meetings with interested parties: 1) A post-RFI one-on-one meeting or teleconference of up to 30 minutes for the Contracting Officer and Technical Representative to meet with interested parties after the posting date of this RFI to answer contractual and technical questions regarding this procurement. Post-RFI one-on-one meetings are tentatively projected to be held during the weeks of November 12, 2018, and November 26, 2018. Additional dates may be added based on volume of interest and scheduling conflicts. 2) A Pre-solicitation Conference (Industry Day), followed by one-on-one meetings for the Contracting Officer and Technical Representative to meet with interested parties after the Draft Request for Proposals (RFP) is released for review and comments from interested parties. No additional one-on-one meeting will be held. I. PURPOSE OF THIS SYNOPSIS/REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 1) To request information on capabilities of potential Offerors to provide the services described in the attached Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) in order to determine if this will be a small business set-aside. Information received as a result of this notice will be considered by the Government and used for acquisition planning purposes only. An interested parties list will be posted. 2) To request information from interested parties regarding their preferred contracting approach to provide the services described in the attached Draft PWS. II. SUMMARY OF PROPOSED WORK BACKGROUND The Draft PWS establishes the requirements for providing flexible, responsive, coordinated, and comprehensive research and development engineering support services for aircraft systems and spaceflight at the NASA Ames Research Center. III. RESPONSES REGARDING POTENTIAL SOURCES--STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES Interested Offerors having the required specialized capabilities/qualifications to support some or all of the work described in the Draft PWS are asked to submit a capability/qualification statement of 15 pages or less. There is no required font size and/or type designated for this Capability/Qualification Statement. Figures, exhibits, and diagrams should be readable. Submit your response electronically in PDF format. The Government requests separate files for the Statement of Capabilities response and the Contracting Approach response. The response must include the following: 1) Company name, address, CAGE code, DUNS number, and point of contact including phone, e-mail, and website (if applicable). 2) Whether your company is Large Business, Small Business, Small Disadvantaged Business, 8(a)set-aside Small Business, HUBZone Small Business, Woman-Owned Small Business, Veteran-Owned Small Business, HBCU/MI, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business for NAICS code 541715 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences), size standard 1,000 employees. 3) Whether your company plans to participate in this procurement as a Prime or a Sub Offeror. 4) Your company's capability in each of the technical domains. For each technical domain, indicate what percentage of the technical domain you would perform. 5) A list of relevant work performed in the past three (3) years, including contract type, contract number, technical description, dollar amount, period of performance, and a customer reference name and telephone number. The Government reserves the right to consider a small business or 8(a) set-aside based on responses. A multiple award or single award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract may also be considered. IV. RESPONSES REGARDING THE CONTRACTING APPROACH The Government is soliciting contracting approaches to the ASSESS procurement that will enhance competition and provide business opportunities. Therefore, the Government is requesting feedback in the following areas for consideration during acquisition planning: 1) Socio-economic considerations: ARC is interested in your comments on establishing subcontracting goals for Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Small-Disadvantaged Business, Women-Owned Small Business, Veteran-Owned Small Business, Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI), and HUBZone Small Business, such as: - Are you contemplating proposing as a prime contractor or subcontractor? Why? - What PWS areas are you capable of performing? - Recommendation for other applicable NAICS codes. The NAICS code for the proposed acquisition is 541715. 2) Incentives: In an attempt to determine the appropriate contract type (contract types for consideration, alone or in a hybrid combination, including Fixed-Price or Cost-Reimbursement contracts, such as FFP, FPI, FPAF, CPFF, and CPIF) for this particular procurement: - Which contract type or combination of contract types might be more appropriate (benefits and impediments), - How would that proposed contract type would affect costs and proposal development, - What types of fee, options ,and/or other incentives would be appropriate for this requirement, and - How could those incentives be measured/assessed and what data would be needed? 3) Contract Period of Performance: Service contracts are typically limited to a maximum duration of five years unless a deviation is approved. - Is five years the appropriate duration or would it be in ARC's best interest to seek a deviation for a contract period longer than five years? Why or why not? - Do you have any suggestions or recommendations regarding contract length, inclusive of all options, that would increase small business participation, improve contract performance efficiency, or result in better value to the Government? - Do you have any suggestions for the duration of the Phase-In period that would improve continuity of operations? - Do you have any suggestions for the length of a base period and potential option periods, respectively? 4) Performance measurement: In a mixed-team (Government/Contractor) environment, how could the Government measure factors such as: - technical/cost/schedule performance, - identifying opportunities for technical and administrative improvement, or cost - risks and risk mitigation, - employee and asset safety and security, - innovative best practices, - quality of service to users, or - responsiveness to changing requirements and budget? 5) Contract Content/Structure: - Do you have any suggestions or examples of restructuring, simplifications, and clarity in the description of the technical areas of the Draft PWS? - What other information that would improve understanding or clarity of requirements and terms and conditions? 6) Technical Information: What type of technical information along with the Performance Work Statement would you like to see with a potential solicitation (e.g., sample tasks)? There is no limit on the page length to your response to this part. V. YOUR RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION All responses to the 1) Statement of Capabilities and 2) Contracting Approach shall be received no later than November 30, 2018 at 4:00 PM PST. Please respond via electronic mail (e-mail) to the Contracting Officer, Michael Lehner at Michael.M.Lehner@nasa.gov. Written questions should also be directed to the Contracting Officer. In all responses, please reference "ASSESS RFI." Verbal questions will not be accepted. This Request for Information 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. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized on FedBizOpps. It is the potential Offeror's responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. NASA 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. The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/ARC Business Opportunities home page is https://procure.arc.nasa.gov. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the Internet site 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. Interested Parties may add themselves to the interested vendors list through the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website. This information will be visible to all vendors who have added themselves to the list.