Evaluate Adequacy of Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) for Identifying Common Causes of Systematic Failures for Digital I&C (DI&C) Systems.

THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) is issuing this Sources Sought Synopsis as a means of conducting market research or as a market survey to determine the availability of potential qualified vendors with the technical capability to provide subject matter expertise for a project titled - Evaluate Adequacy of Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) for Identifying Common Causes of Systematic Failures for Digital I&C (DI&C) Systems. This project is part of a broader effort to enable the NRC staff to review STPA-informed analyses as part of safety evaluations. This Sources Sought notice seeks information on capability and availability of commercial vendors to provide expert technical guidance and review services to the NRC team performing the confirmatory STPA-based hazard analysis. Specific activities include: Provide review feedback during the execution of a STPA capability building plan in response to specific questions by the NRC staff. If applicable, the contractor shall provide suggestions for improvements and any other feedback for the NRC team to consider. The capability building plan is being executed in phases. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541330 - Engineering Services. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for sources and vendor information does not constitute a request for proposal; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. The purpose of this announcement is to provide potential sources the opportunity to submit information regarding their capabilities to perform work for the NRC free of conflict of interest (COI). For information on NRC COI regulations, visit NRC Acquisition Regulation Subpart 2009.5 (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting/48cfr-ch20.html). All interested parties, including all categories of small businesses (small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZone small businesses) are invited to submit a response. The capabilities package submitted by a vendor should demonstrate the firm's ability, capability, and responsibility to perform the principal components of work listed below. The package should also include past performance/experience regarding projects of similar scope listing the project title, general description, the dollar value of the contract, and name of the company, agency, or government entity for which the work was performed. Organizations responding to this market survey should keep in mind that only focused and pertinent information is requested. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. Submission of additional materials such as glossy brochures or videos is discouraged. Background Current practice for the safety evaluation and analysis of digital safety systems in nuclear power plants has been challenged with increasing digitization and increasing interdependencies and interactions across systems and components. In pursuit of safety-focused performance-based approaches, the staff undertook a 2020-2021 project titled: - Investigate Use of Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP)-based Methods for Digital Nuclear Safety System Evaluation. STAMP is a systems theory-based model framework to perform safety analysis or evaluation of designs received for certification or received with license amendment requests, and to perform causal analysis of mishaps experienced in operation. Systems Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) is a STAMP-based hazard analysis method promising to be suitable for the evaluation of new digital safety systems or digital upgrades. The nuclear industry, independent from the NRC, proposed using System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) as part of its risk-informed approach to address Common Cause Failure (CCF) in digital Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems for highly safety significant functions such as Reactor Protection System (RPS) and Engineered Safety Features Actuation System (ESFAS). In 2022, the NRC initiated a new project to grow NRC's capabilities related to understanding and evaluating STPA-based analyses. An NRC team will perform a case study application of STPA with guidance support from an external technical facilitator (who is a co-developer of STPA and a world leader in training industry practitioners in the use of STPA). The intent of the study is to develop NRC capabilities and understand the limitations within which NRC staff could perform confirmatory analysis of the STPA submitted by a licensee or applicant as part of its safety analysis of a design proposed by the licensee/applicant. These findings are intended for use in developing the technical basis of future guidance to review such submittals. The NRC team seeks technical review feedback from diverse experts on suitability of the design of the case study for the intended purpose, on the method of recording and organizing the observations of the NRC staff for scientific validity, and on formulating the conclusions based on the combination of all the observations. Capabilities Sought: Subject Matter Expert (SME) must have expertise in Safety-Critical Systems Engineering, Cyber Physical Systems Engineering, Software-Dependent Systems Engineering, or Computer Science and Engineering or some combination of these disciplines, applied to Safety Critical Systems; the expertise could have been acquired through an appropriate combination of formal education (PhD preferred), research, development, or industrial experience. SME must have expertise in Systems-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) and STPA or a combination of STPA and equivalent methods for identifying hazards or hazardous conditions rooted in the engineering of safety critical digital systems. SME must have a minimum of 5 years of research experience in safety analysis of safety critical digital systems across multiple industries (e.g., aerospace, nuclear, transportation, medical). SME should have a minimum of 5 years of experience in providing R&D consultation support for safety-critical systems engineering across multiple industries (e.g., aerospace, nuclear, transportation, medical). SME must be familiar with regulatory considerations for safety-critical systems in at least one application sector (e.g., aerospace, nuclear, transportation, medical). SME must be knowledgeable of research methods applicable to the specific activities included above, e.g., design of the experiment and organization of the findings. HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE If your organization has the capability and capacity to perform, as a prime contractor, for the services described in this notice, then please respond to this notice and provide written responses to the following information. Please do not include any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information in the response, and do not submit a proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this notice will not be considered. Organization name, address, email address, Web site address and telephone number. What size is your organization with respect to NAICS code identified in this notice (i.e., "small" or "other than small")? If your organization is a small business under the aforementioned NAICS code, what type of small business (i.e., small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, 8(a), or HUBZone small business)? Specify all that apply. Although no geographic restriction is anticipated, if responding organizations are located outside the Washington Metropolitan area (Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia), indicate how the organization would coordinate with the NRC program office located in Rockville, Maryland to provide the support services. Separately and distinctly describe your organization's ability to meet the capabilities indicated in the above section, Capability Sought. Separately and distinctly describe your organizations past performance in the areas described above under the above section, Capability Sought. Please indicate your organization's role (prime contractor, first tier subcontractor, and/or supplier) in related contracts. Please also provide the contract number, contract type, customer name, address and point of contact phone number and email address, contract value, detailed description of supplies and services included in the scope of that contract, period of performance (for services) or delivery date (for products), and any other relevant information. Indicate whether your organization offers any of the required capabilities described in this notice on one or more of your company's own Federal Government contracts (i.e., GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract or Government wide Acquisition Contracts) that the NRC could order from and, if so, which services are offered. Also, provide the contract number(s) and indicate what is currently available for ordering from each of those contract(s). Is your organization currently performing or have in the past performed same or similar services as those listed above for any of the licensees regulated by the NRC? If so, which licensees? See http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing.html for more information on NRC licensing. Has your organization previously faced organizational conflict of interest issues with NRC? If so, what were they and how were they mitigated or resolved? Interested organizations responding to this Sources Sought Synopsis are encouraged to structure capability statements in the order of the area of consideration noted above. All capability statements sent in response to this notice must be submitted electronically, via e-mail, to Jeffrey R. Mitchell, at contact@example.gov , either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by March 6, 2023 at 1:00 PM EST. DISCLAIMER AND NOTES: Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's potential capability and capacity to perform the subject work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.