D--ABAQUS STANDARD SOFTWARE LEASE RENEWAL

NASA/MSFC plans to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for ABAQUS STANDARD SOFTWARE LEASE RENEWAL. NASA/MSFC plans to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for an ABAQUS standard software lease renewal. This procurement is being conducted under the Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP). NASA/MSFC intends to purchase the software lease renewal from ABAQUS South Inc., 3700 Forums Drive, Suite 101, Flower Mound, TX 75028, under the authority of FAR 13.106. Competition is impractical for the following reasons: (1)ABAQUS has proprietary copyright of the ABAQUS software. Review of current technical literature substantiates that only ABAQUS can provide the software and associated technical support. (2)No other software has the extensive capabilities ABAQUS has for performing highly nonlinear finite element analyses necessary to support the structural analysis of flight hardware. (3)ABAQUS has been in use at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for eleven years. A significant number of training hours have been invested in learning and using ABAQUS software. This knowledge base and efficiency can not easily be transferred to another offeror's software package. This knowledge base and efficiency can not easily be transferred to another offeror's software package. There now exists at MSFC a significant number of analytical models created in ABAQUS. A significant amount of time and resources would be required to recreate these models for use with any other software. (4)Renewal of the ABAQUS software lease is critical in order to minimize the schedule impact to programs at MSFC, which rely on ABAQUS as a structural analysis tool. The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact no later than 4:30 p.m. (local time) on February 25, 2003. Such capabilities/qualification will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note - B. Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html