Notice of Partnering Opportunity - HABSat-2 Multispectral Sea Turbidity/Bathymetry Monitor (AMENDED)

Notice of Partnering Opportunity (AMENDED/DATES) HABSat-2 Multispectral Sea Turbidity/Bathymetry Monitor [Partnership Number: 80GRC020R0028 General Information: A Principal Investigator (PI) has partnered with the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) on an Earth ORBITAL science mission for the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) / Small Satellites for Ocean and Atmosphere Research (SOAR) program. This Notice of Partnering Opportunity (NPO) seeks potential partners to participate in a development activity that addresses the orbital spacecraft for the HABSat-2 Multispectral Sea Turbidity/Bathymetry Monitor mission referred to as HABSat-2. The responder(s) chosen will participate directly as a member of the team in the various stages of the mission design and proposal process to finalize instruments and design, develop, test and fly the HABSat-2 mission. Purpose of Notice: - NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is issuing this Notice of Partnering Opportunity for the purpose of openly and competitively selecting prospective team members to assist it in the preparation of proposals to be submitted by GRC to the NOPP/SOAR Program and Office of Naval Research (ONR) for HABSat-2. This process is being conducted in accordance with NASA FAR Supplement 1872.3. By this Notice, GRC is seeking information from partners regarding their availability, cost, capabilities, and past performance that relates to the science partnerships on potential future missions, technology and instrument developments, and laboratory experiments. This Notice also authorizes NASA GRC to award grants, cooperative agreements and/or contracts to its selected partner(s) without further competition or justification, for execution of any GRC proposal that is selected in these partnerships. Overview: - This Notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a partnership. This Notice is subject to revision or cancellation at any time. Based on the responses to this Notice, GRC anticipates selecting organizations with which GRC would then immediately work directly and individually to develop, complete, and submit proposals in response to the above-mentioned objectives. During the development of specific proposals, specific roles and cost estimates for the selected partners will be developed. For any GRC proposal that is selected, GRC intends to negotiate, without further competition or justification, a grant, cooperative agreement, or contract with each proposal partner, consistent with their agreed upon roles and this Notice. During these procurement negotiations, the specific statement of work, terms and conditions, and procurement value will be determined. There will be no exchange of funds between GRC and the teaming partners during the preparation of proposals. NASA GRC will not be responsible for any costs incurred by respondents in preparing a response to proposals or by the selected partners in assisting GRC in the preparation of proposals. SECTION 1 - INTRODUCTION GENERAL INFORMATION The aim of the NOPP/SOAR Program is to leverage expertise in academia, private industry, and government to work in partnership to develop and operate innovative CubeSat-based sensors to collect scientific data on the earth's oceanic and atmospheric littoral dynamics that can be directly assimilated into or provide boundary conditions for numerical models. These variables and their interactions include: Bathymetry Sea surface temperature Sea surface salinity Surface vector winds Directional wave spectra Currents Internal wave activity River discharge Sea-ice characterization Cloud characterization Wave-current interaction Turbidity or ecology The HABSat-2 instrument suite has progressed to a Mission Design Review stage of development and will serve as the starting point for the purposes of this partnering notice. The DRM and the details of the GRC-developed instrument suite will be provided to requesting organizations interested in responding to this Notice of Partnering Opportunity. PURPOSE OF NOTICE The GRC HABSat-2 team is issuing this Notice of Partnering Opportunity for the purpose of openly soliciting a partner(s) to assist in the continued development of the HABSat-2 instrument suite as well as the development of a CubeSat to execute the HABSat-2 mission. This open and competitive process is being conducted in accordance with NASA FAR Supplement 1872.308. By this Notice, the GRC HABSat-2 team is seeking information from partners regarding their availability, capabilities, past performance, and anticipated mission costs that relate to Earth science systems, technologies and capabilities for the HABSat-2 mission. This Notice also authorizes NASA GRC to award contracts to selected spacecraft partner(s) without further competition or justification should the HABSat-2 mission be selected by NOPP/SOAR to progress to flight. This partnering opportunity is being issued to select a teaming partner for the GRC HABSat-2 spacecraft and instrument suite, and to support the team throughout the mission. The responder(s) chosen will participate directly as a member of the team in the various stages of the GRC HABSat-2 mission design and the Phase A2 and Phase B proposal process. PARTICIPATION Participation in this partnering synopsis is open to all categories of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit institutions, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as NASA Centers and other U.S. Government Agencies. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Other Minority Universities (OMUs), small disadvantaged businesses (SDBs)(8a), veteran-owned small businesses, service disabled veteran-owned small businesses, HUBZone small businesses, and women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) are encouraged to apply. Participation by non-U.S. organizations is welcome but subject to NASAs policy of no exchange of funds, in which each government supports its own national participants and associated costs. SECTION 2 - SCOPE OVERVIEW This Notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract. This Notice is subject to revision or cancellation at any time. Based on the responses to this Notice, GRC anticipates selecting a spacecraft supplier(s) with which GRC would then immediately work directly with in development of the GRC HABSat-2 mission. Once a partner(s) is/are selected, more specific roles and cost estimates for the selected partners will be developed. If the GRC HABSat-2 mission is selected by NOPP/SOAR to proceed to flight, GRC intends to negotiate without further competition or justification, a contract with the proposal partner, consistent with their agreed upon role and this Notice. During these contract negotiations, the specific statement of work, contract terms and conditions, and contract value will be formalized. There will be no exchange of funds between NASA and the selected partner(s) for responses prepared against this Notice of Partnering Opportunity or the GRC HABSat-2 proposal development. That is, NASA will not be responsible for any costs incurred by respondents in preparing a response to this Notice or by the selected partner in preparation of the GRC HABSat-2 Phase A2 and Phase B proposal. DETAILS OF THE OPPORTUNITY GRC HABSat-2 Tentative Schedule: The following tentative schedule describes the major milestones for the HABSat-2 development. Dates are approximate. October 2020 - Phase A.2 2-Year Duration October 2022 - Phase B Preliminary Design Review (PDR) 3-Year Duration October 2025 - Launch Pre-selection proposal support The potential partners shall provide support using their own resources. This will involve: Regular telecom/videocom meetings with the science and engineering team Helping to define the end-to-end performance requirements, including instrument interfaces with the spacecraft, etc. Defining the flight system architecture, including launch vehicle interfaces Identifying study topics, prediction performance, and conducting trade studies Cost estimation for all mission phases, including spacecraft disposal at end-of-mission Preparation of the mission proposal for submittal to NOPP/SOAR Face to Face Meetings including, but not limited to: kick off meeting, Red Team Review Updates to technical, cost and schedule inputs as required for integrated proposal submittal It is expected that the selected partner(s) would provide (at no cost to NASA), conceptual designs, technical data, proposal inputs, schedule and cost estimates. HABSat-2 SPACECRAFT The GRC HABSat-2 mission shall consist of a single 12U CubeSat flying in a circular equatorial orbit at 500 km altitude. The spacecraft design shall be such that multiple copies of the spacecraft can be configured and operated to fly as a constellation, providing an expanded degree of coverage for a future operational science mission. The spacecraft shall meet the CubeSat Design Specifications (http://www.cubesat.org/resources/) The spacecraft shall be capable of being launched in a ride-share configuration along with a primary spacecraft. The spacecraft shall have an operational life on-orbit of at least six (6) months, commencing at the completion of on-orbit commissioning. Any single region of interest to the instrument suite will be up to 200 km along-track, and up to 50km cross-track, with some portion of coastline being visible within that window. The primary region of interest for the HABSat-2 mission is the Amazon basin. For power and data download considerations, littoral observation requirements would be one observation region per orbit (threshold), or two or more regions per orbit (goal). The instrument suite is designed with the following constraints: The instrument suite has been developed and tested on an aircraft campaign by GRC, and has proceeded through Phase A of the NOPP/SOAR proposal activity. This instrument suite shall form the basis for the spacecraft Phase A2 and Phase B proposal. GRC is open to changes and improvements to this instrument suite and the requisite spacecraft interfaces provided that the proposed changes fit with the schedule for development stated above. The spacecraft shall be capable of being de-orbited at the end-of-mission to meet NASA orbital debris mitigations requirements. Responders should address how requirements will be identified and tracked and how the interfaces will be managed. The responder will be judged on the systems engineering approach and plan. This plan should also identify major milestones and facilities available for assembling and testing each component and as an integrated system. Integration and test (I&T) includes the science payload integration, the spacecraft bus integration, overall I&T of the spacecraft. The plan should also include transportation to the launch site, launch vehicle integration, launch support, on-orbit support, and spacecraft end of life disposition. SECTION 3 - RESPONSES TO NOTICE The evaluation team will use the following factors in selection and award. The government will evaluate the submitted response based on these factors that are listed in order of importance: Technical capability: Responder(s) will be evaluated on the approach for design, development, integration, test and certification, delivery and operation of the spacecraft. This criterion will include evaluation of how the spacecraft proposed could enable a mission to meet a scientific objective. Responder should provide rationale as to how the technical maturity of the spacecraft is suitable for a low earth orbit earth science mission and can enable scientific discoveries. Relevant experience, past performance, and availability of key personnel: This criterion evaluates the responder's relevant recent experience, past performance in similar development activities, and key personnel available to support the development. Capability includes quality and management process certifications and systems. Cost and Schedule: Responders will be evaluated on cost and schedule performance on similar development activities. Responses will be evaluated on the affordability of their approach, and the overall probable cost, including the responder's willingness to share cost risk. Top-level schedules will be evaluated as to the overall approach and to validate their reasonableness and risk. This criterion also evaluates the responders on their resources commitment and ability to control both cost and schedule. Facilities: Responders will be evaluated on the appropriateness of design and modeling capabilities to support the effort, and appropriateness and accessibility of fabrication and testing facilities to support the effort. This criterion also evaluates the responder's facilities (development, integration, testing and analyses) to conduct the proposed effort. Prior Experience: Responders will be evaluated on their prior proposal preparation experience, and willingness to commit resources (skills and time) that would support the proposal phase. NASA GRC anticipates completing its evaluation and selection process by September 13, 2020. Selected partners will be contacted directly by the GRC project manager or management sponsor to develop the proposal. At that time, GRC may ask for supplemental information to your proposal. All responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such. RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS The response is limited to a 50-page PowerPoint presentation that fully addresses the evaluation criteria in not less than 12-point font, submitted as an electronic PDF document. Excluded from the page count are the cover letter, title pages, table of contents, resumes, and an acronym list. Responders are free to attach additional appendices that further describe their capabilities. However, only the required 50 PowerPoint pages will be evaluated for selection. The responses are due to NASA GRC no later than 5 p.m. EDT on August 14, 2020. Any responses received after this time and date will be handled as late responses in accordance with FAR 15.208. Responses to this Notice must be submitted in the form of a Portable Data Format (PDF) file. Responses, technical and procurement questions should be submitted via e-mail to Kimberly Y Hill at kimberly.y.hill@nasa.gov . Responses to this Notice must be submitted in the form of an email. The written response package shall include discussion of the following: The approaches for supporting an GRC HABSAT-2 proposal The approach for design, development, integration, test, delivery and operation of the spacecraft bus that accommodates the remote optical sensing instrument payload, and enables the GRC HABSAT-2 mission. Identification of major subcontractors and suppliers. Planned for use of facilities including Government furnished facilities, The demonstration of a clear understanding of the technical challenges for the instruments, spacecraft and mission. Address instrument and spacecraft requirements Identification of major mission design and development risks Any unique capabilities, facilities, or experience with this type of mission A rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost estimate, schedule, and a draft top-level Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The response structure shall indicate implementation in accordance with NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) 7120.5D NID, NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements with the understanding that an update of cost, schedule and technical inputs may be necessary as part of the EV-2 proposal development process. Discuss spacecraft assembly, test, launch and operations Provide and discuss the spacecraft I&T flow for the mission. Identify support facilities (fabrication, I&T, storage, etc.) for the mission management strategy for each mission phase. (I.e. what are the costs and how will the potential partner mitigate cost growth?) Additionally, the response shall: Discuss relevant experience, past performance, technical capability and availability of key personnel. Provide substantive evidence of successful participation in similar developments. Provide evidence of successfully controlling cost and schedule for similar development programs and provide evidence of management processes in this area (i.e. Earned Value Management, risk management, mission assurance, systems engineering, quality control, etc.) Include originally proposed costs and schedules of similar developments and actual costs of the same with rationale explaining variances. Provide the cost risk the proposer is willing to assume in a cost reimbursable environment. Provide estimated cost breakdown at the major subsystem level. Also describe the responder's cost estimating methodology, whether it is based on parametric cost estimating, history of similar activities, or a bottoms-up estimating process. Provide names, telephone numbers, and email addresses for the principal technical point of contact (POC) and contracting POC for work done on similar development activities. Discuss facility availability, access and the ability to meet the proposed objectives. Identify the pertinent mission for which you have provided proposal writing support and mission support beyond Phase A. Provide data on scope of the design, the role that you played in the proposal process, the portions of the proposal you have written or provided assistance in writing, and a customer reference POC. COMMUNICATIONS QUESTIONS All questions pertaining to this Notice must be submitted to the Contracting Officer in writing or via email at kimberly.y.hill@nasa.gov. Responses to the questions will be posted on the solicitation page. COMMUNICATION RESTRICTIONS GRC will impose local restrictions on communications regarding this notice and the processing of responses. All communications with potential respondents will be restricted to the technical and procurement points of contact identified in the synopsis of this Notice. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELEASES It is the responsibility of potentials respondents to monitor the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS), GRC Procurement site for any further information concerning this Notice. Evaluators of responses, which are submitted under this process, may include non-US Government personnel (i.e. the Principal Investigator). Therefore, responders are hereby on notice that responders submitted hereunder may be released outside the Government but shall be released solely for the purpose of evaluation of responses as part of this selection process. All responders acknowledge acceptance of this condition by the submittal of their responses. NOTE: Graph could not transfer, see attachment. END OF NOTICE