Notice of Partnering Opportunity: Watts on the Moon Outreach

General Information: The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) serves as the agency lead center for the development and implementation of technologies and flight systems related to providing power generation, power management and distribution, and energy storage capabilities to enable NASA's broad interests and missions in Aeronautics and Space Science and Exploration. Directly linked with NASA's highly visible missions are important parallel efforts to transfer NASA-developed technologies into the domestic commercial realm and to incorporate technological innovations from universities and domestic industry to advance NASA's technological capabilities. These bi-directional technology transfer efforts stem directly from NASA's responsibility to stimulate the nation's technology economy. NASA GRC is constantly seeking opportunities to interact with technology innovators in the domestic private sector to fulfill this responsibility, particularly in areas within center core competencies including Power and Energy Storage. The NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate Prizes and Challenges Program is conducting a Centennial Challenge Prize program entitled, - Watts on the Moon. This challenge seeks innovative approaches to energy management, distribution, and storage that would complement ongoing investments that NASA is making in power generation capability applicable to the sustainable exploration of the Moon. The Watts on the Moon Challenge, with up to five million dollars in prize money, is open to participant registration. Detailed challenge information is available at the challenge website: https://www.herox.com/WattsOnTheMoon?from=explore The NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is serving as the technical leader for this challenge, involving the programmatic and subject matter leaders who are responsible for NASA's investments in aeronautics and space power systems including lunar surface power. To encourage broad participation in the Watts on the Moon challenge, GRC is seeking to conduct extensive focused outreach to domestic universities, small businesses, entrepreneurial startups, and other domestic individuals and organizations. The specific goal of this outreach is to promote broad awareness of the challenge and through that awareness encourage independent team formation. NASA GRC's anticipated role in the challenge outreach activity is to encourage awareness and participation within the center's economic region. NASA understands that widespread effective outreach to the very diverse academic and industrial energy sector can be enhanced by partnering with external organizations that develop, maintain, and exercise networks of participants in this sector that may not be aware of aerospace applications of their pursuits. 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 community outreach efforts within the regional domestic energy and related sectors to encourage awareness of NASA's Power and Energy Storage competency and mission related capabilities. The inaugural purpose of such a partnership is to encourage submissions to prize challenges and other solicitations relevant to GRC competencies such as aeronautics and space power systems. This process is being conducted in accordance with NASA FAR Supplement 1872.3. By this Notice, GRC is seeking information from potential partners regarding their availability, cost, capabilities, and past performance that relates to community outreach to encourage contributions to potential future missions, technology, instruments, and 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 outreach role that is awarded to GRC. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. 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 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. Details of the Opportunity: This Notice of Partnership Opportunity seeks responses from organizations that actively form, stimulate, and encourage a network of organizations in the regional domestic energy sector specifically including academic organizations, small businesses, entrepreneurial startups, and other domestic organizations and individuals. Potential partners would be asked to apply their energy sector networking capability to support NASA GRC's regional outreach responsibilities associated with its core competency in Power and Energy Storage, including the Watts on the Moon Centennial Challenge. The inaugural duration of this partnership activity is expected to be approximately six (6) months aligned with the Phase One activity of the Watts on the Moon challenge. During that time the selected partner(s) will be responsible for conducting specific activities to promote awareness of the challenge and encourage challenge team formation for possible participation in the challenge. Selected partner(s) will be expected to give outreach emphasis to regional organizations, primarily within the State of Ohio and adjacent states. In the course of their partnership activity, selected partner(s) will interact with NASA GRC and with the Centennial Challenge Program Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and with that office's contracted organizations associated with the Watts on the Moon challenge. These interactions would provide the selected partner(s) with authoritative responses to inquiries about challenge guidelines and rules. Responding organizations should describe their knowledge, skills, and capabilities related to their experience in forming, stimulating, and encouraging networks of organizations in the domestic energy sector. Quantitative examples of successes in this networking activity should be described, including overview summaries of the networking strategies employed. Examples of networking activity involving academic organizations, small businesses, entrepreneurial startups and other regional organizations and individuals should be provided. 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 All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. If a solicitation is released, then it and any additional documents will be available on www.beta.sam.gov. Evaluation Criteria: Responses to this notice will be evaluated based on: Technical Capability Past Performance Response Instructions: Responses to this notice should observe the following guidelines: The nominal response should be no longer than 5 pages in length, single spaced, with margins at least 1 inch and font no less than 11 points. Responses may include links to on-line websites to provide additional information about the organization, but the evaluation will be based on the written submission. Responses are due to NASA GRC no later than 5 p.m. EST on December 9, 2020. Any responses received after this time and date will be handled as late proposals in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 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 Rita Kizys at rita.k.kizys@nasa.gov. A pdf version of this information is attached to the posting.