NASA Research and Education Support Services (NRESS)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters (HQ) is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including Small, Small Disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Veteran Owned (VOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SD-VOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) businesses, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for professional support services and information technology (IT) support on behalf of the NASA Research and Education Support Services (NRESS) program that supports the Agency's peer review life cycle, in accordance with NRESS program guidelines. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses hereto. Research, technology development, and education program proposals submitted to NASA are customarily peer-reviewed before receiving funding through grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, or intergovernmental agreements funded by the Aeronautics, Human Exploration, Science, Space, Technology, and Education Mission Directorates. Proposal solicitation mechanisms include NASA Research Announcements (NRAs), Announcements of Opportunity (AOs), and Cooperative Agreement Notices (CANs). The Agency's peer review life cycle, for purposes of NRESS requirements consists of the following general processes: (1) development of solicitations and collection of proposals; (2) competitive peer review of proposals; (3) disposition of proposals following proposal review and prior to award; (4) planning and outreach activities leading to the development of solicitations. NASA selection officials make all decisions about proposals selected for award and authorized NASA procurement and federal assistance personnel with appropriate warrants make all awards. The NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES), a web-based information technology system, enables users authorized by NASA to announce research, technology development, and specialized education program opportunities to the public. NSPIRES also enables intramural and extramural researchers and other stakeholders to view announcements and submit electronic proposals. Refer to http://nspires.nasaprs.com for an orientation to the NSPIRES system. NSPIRES also interfaces with the Federal e-government system, grants.gov, and provides proposal data output to various government customers as required. Peer reviews evaluate a proposal's relevance, merit, and cost. Specific peer review methods differ among NASA program offices, and even among disciplines within a given program office. Some offices use standing review committees, ad hoc committees, or a combination of these for individual announcements. Peer reviewers include scientists, engineers, educators, or others from public and private academic institutions, industry, Government laboratories and agencies, and foreign countries. Criteria for selection of peer reviewers include the research that candidates have conducted their publications, knowledge and experience, and their ability to conduct an impartial review. NASA and the contractor supporting the NRESS program maintain databases of discipline experts to facilitate the identification and selection of reviewers. Reviewers are sometimes chosen based on recommendations of former reviewers or other professional colleagues. Part of the IT requirement includes the development and maintenance of reviewer profiles that will be made available to NASA program managers. Proposal reviews by external peers ensures fresh viewpoints, alternative perspectives, and understanding of the state of art. Proposal reviews usually occur at panel meetings (either in person or via video or telecom) and are customarily preceded by reviewers written evaluations (e.g., compiled and stored in the NSPIRES web interface). Panel and sub-panel teams are usually composed of seven to ten specialists in relevant disciplines or sub-disciplines. Rarely a large panel might include up to 40 individuals. All panel proceedings, including findings, opinions, working papers, and recommendations are confidential. A proposal's author never participates in its review or reviews directly competing proposals. All reviewers are screened to ensure that they have no conflict of interest or foreign-national restrictions in the proposals they review. The NRESS contractor will provide professional services that support the Agency's peer review life cycle. Services provided will include supporting the development and announcement of solicitations; and collecting, organizing, compiling, and disseminating proposals to peer reviewers. The contractor will manage the staging of planning, outreach, review, and panel events, lead the evaluation and selection of venues, fulfill participant travel, lodging, and per diem requirements, and reimburse participant expenses. The contractor will provide logistical support to planning meetings and workgroups that fall under the NRESS program, as well as student research/outreach events that are related to NRESS education programs. The contractor will provide and support all electronic tools needed to conduct panel events and support mail-in reviews. The contractor will support all review and panel close-out activities, including supporting the development and dissemination of post-selection communications to proposers, their institutions, and NASA stakeholders. The contractor will maintain records of events, secure proposal databases, and will support data analysis related to proposals, Agency peer review, and selection. The NRESS contractor must be capable of operating, maintaining, and sustaining a highly dependable World Wide Web-based (WWW) system, (NSPIRES), that announces solicitations; collects the electronic Notices of Intent (NOI) and proposals; facilitates online proposal review and evaluation; and processes proposals electronically prior to award. The contractor must also be capable of providing work-flow management support, likely through an existing NASA IT system, that will manage the request, review, and approval of work under the scope of the contract. The contractor will provide comprehensive information technology program management and operations for the system and its interfaces (such as interfaces to grants.gov). Information technology services required will included those related to enhancing or replacing the system in response to functional user requirements or marketplace developments. The contractor will provide user access to account provisioning services; help desk services and related customer support; user training materials; and job aids. The contractor will develop and maintain comprehensive systems documentation, as well as information technology security, appropriate protective controls, and risk management. The contractor will provide for and assure continuous operations in the event of system outages. Interested businesses, which meet the size standard provided below are requested to provide the following: Names and address of the firm. Size of the business. Average annual revenues for the past 3 years and numbers of employees. Ownership. Whether they are large,Small, Small Disadvantaged (SDB), 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Veteran Owned (VOSB), Service Disabled Veteran Owned (SD-VOSB), Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) businesses, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI). Number of years in business. Affiliated information; parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners. Prime contractor (if potential sub) or subcontractors (if potential prime). A capability statement of 10 pages or less providing detailed information demonstrating their technical understanding and ability to perform all aspects of the effort described herein, to include their qualifications, capabilities, experience, and past performance history. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 561110, Office Administrative Services, with a size standard of $7 million. All responses must be submitted to Amanda Heslep via email at amanda.j.heslep@nasa.gov. Please reference Request for Information Number NASA-HQ-NRESS-RFI 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 deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. All questions should be directed to Amanda Heslep at amanda.j.heslep@nasa.gov.