Background
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/ Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is hereby requesting information from potential sources for the Simulation and Advanced Software Services II (SASS II) solicitation. JSC is issuing this sources sought synopsis as a means of conducting market research to identify parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement, seeking capability statement, and requesting information from industry regarding potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) arising from this requirement. This acquisition will be a follow-on procurement to the current NASA Simulation and Advanced Software Service (SASS), Contract #80JSC020D0060. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541511, Custom Computer Programming Services. Under this NAICS code, a business is considered small if its average annual receipts are less than $34 million.
The NASA/JSC is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI), and members of the underserved communities as defined by Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity And Support For Underserved Communities Through The Federal Government, for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for SASS II. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received.
SASS II Description
NASA has a requirement for specialized simulation services in the areas of space-based robotics; avionics; vehicle guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C); graphics; and flight software; as well as advanced software services in the areas of software development technology, human-computer interaction; avionics flight software; and collaborative engineering and process automation. These services are necessary to produce software systems, processes, and tools for a variety of end-users across the agency, including but not limited to the International Space Station (ISS), Orion, Gateway, and Artemis Programs, Flight Operations, and other advanced programs for exploration.
The pertinent contract information for the current contract is as follows:
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Current Contractor: MACLEAN ENGINEERING & APPLIED TECHNOLOGIES (METECS)
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Contract Number: 80JSC020D0060
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Estimated Contract Value: $100 million
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Contract Expiration Date: 09/30/2025
Vendors having the capabilities necessary to meet or exceed the stated requirements are invited to submit appropriate documentation, literature, brochures, and references.
Capability Statement
Interested firms having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirement should indicate the ability to perform all aspects of the effort, and include the following information:
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Technical
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Describe your company’s overall skills, experience, and capabilities to perform the work of the Attachment 1 – Draft SOW. Please identify specific Draft SOW sections where your company could provide the stated capability by way of Attachment 2 – Vendor Capability Matrix at the end of this announcement. Any referenced DRDs in the Draft SOW are not applicable to this Request for Information. If subcontracting or joint venture is anticipated to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the anticipated administrative and management structure of such arrangements (if this information is known at this time). Also address what elements of work would be performed by the prime or joint venture and which elements would be performed by subcontractors.
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Small Business – If this contract is not set aside, identify any areas of the Draft SOW that you believe could be performed by a small business and provide rationale.
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Company-Specific Information – Responses must include the following:
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Name and address of firm’s Point of Contact information (include DUNS number, address, website, phone number, and email address).
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Size of business.
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Average annual revenue for past three years.
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Number of employees.
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Whether the firm is a Large, SB, SDB, HUBZone, WOSB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HBCU/MI, and/or 8a.
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Number of years in business.
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Affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, and potential teaming partners.
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If you plan to propose as a prime or as a subcontractor.
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A list of contracts covering the past three years with emphasis on work performed for the United States Federal Government. Please provide contract numbers, if your firm was a prime or subcontractor, contract type, dollar value of each procurement, and customer point of contact (address, phone, and email). If work was performed as a subcontractor, please indicate percentage of work/subcontract dollar value. If the contract(s) were Indefinite-Delivery Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ), please indicate the number of task orders awarded and the total dollar value of those task orders.
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In addition to the information requested above, interested parties may also provide comments on this potential acquisition regarding proposed contract type, incentive arrangements, evaluation criteria, or performance metrics.
The government will evaluate market information to ascertain potential market capacity to 1) provide services consistent in scope and scale with those described in this notice and otherwise anticipated; and 2) determine whether to conduct a competition with full and open competition or through a small business set-aside. To assess the market capacity, the government will review potential offeror’s past performance with respect to this type of work; and Experience providing services under a performance-based service acquisition contract.
NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf
Organizational Conflicts of Interest (OCI)
In addition to the information requested above, NASA is requesting information from industry regarding potential OCI arising from the SASS II acquisition.
The nature of the work anticipated under the SASS II may create the potential for OCI(s) as currently described in FAR Subpart 9.5. Each interested party should review FAR Subpart 9.5 in light of NASA’s anticipation of OCI issues and consider carefully the extent to which an OCI may arise before making the decision to compete for the SASS II.
Specifically, NASA anticipates that the effort under the SASS II will include the following types of tasks which could lead to potential OCI issues. This list is not all inclusive.
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The Contractor may be required to provide technical support to NASA for new systems development for current and future programs/missions. (e.g. Orion, ISS, Gateway, etc.)
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The Contractor may be required to inspect, evaluate, access, critique, review, or perform other similar services with respect to products or services provided by the Contractor under other NASA contracts.
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This effort may require direct simulation and advance software service functions to the JSC Engineering, Flight Operations, and Human Health Performance Directorates and their contractor developed products.
A link to the NASA’s Guide on OCI is listed below: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/guides/OCI_Guide.pdf
Please reference this document for additional information about NASA’s policies with respect to OCI issues. Interested parties are requested to address the following questions:
1. What type(s) of OCI issues would your company or potential team identify, if any, should you choose to propose on the SASS II contract?
2. What strategies would you anticipate proposing to mitigate the OCI issues that you identified (if any)? Please provide strategy details, previous examples/experience with other contracts with NASA or other agencies, etc.
3. Are there any other types of potential OCI issues with the proposed SASS II contract that were not identified in this RFI (assuming any were identified)?
4. Does your company foresee any OCI issues associated with the SASS II that would cause you to decide not to propose on the potential SASS II RFP?
NASA will review any responses received regarding potential OCI and each offeror’s proposed OCI mitigation strategy. NASA will respond to each company who submits a mitigation strategy. NASA’s response is not intended to serve as a confirmation that, in fact, all potential OCI have been identified, an OCI will ultimately exist, or that an interested party is capable of successfully eliminating or mitigating an identified OCI. NASA’s response is also not intended to encourage or discourage any interested party from responding to an RFP issued for SASS II in the future. Furthermore, NASA’s response in no way alters or interprets FAR 9.5 as it applies to a final statement of work or a final proposal submission, should an interest party elect to submit a proposal to an RFP for SASS II. Subsequent to the initial OCI submission and NASA’s response, NASA will not consider further information as it relates to this RFI.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
In support of the Executive Order (EO) 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, NASA is seeking to advance equity or remove barriers for members of underserved communities related to this requirement. As defined in the EO, Underserved Communities refers to populations sharing a particular characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of economic, social, and civic life, as exemplified by the list in the preceding definition of “equity.” Equity means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.
NASA seeks input in the following areas:
1. To support the requirements identified in this request for information (RFI)/sources sought notification, what barriers or opportunities exist to engage subject matter experts from industry and academia and how can those barriers be overcome? How can underserved communities be leveraged?
2. To support the requirements identified in this RFI, what barriers or opportunities exist to partner with subcontractors that employ members of underserved communities, as defined above?
3. What other recommendations would you make to enhance diversity and inclusion?
4. What should be considered to encourage full participation and contribution of organizations and individuals (e.g., outreach efforts and innovative partnerships) in performance of this requirement?
Submission Instructions
Interested parties having the required capabilities necessary to meet the SASS II requirement described herein should submit a capability statement of no more than 7 pages, using no less than 12-point Times New Roman font indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort. The Vendor Capability Matrix will be included within the 7-page limitation. The OCI information should be submitted as an additional document. There is no page limitation to the OCI information submittal.
Interested parties who consider themselves qualified one or more elements of the Statement of Work are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice by June 7, 2024. All questions and responses under this Sources Sought Notice must be emailed to Carlos Roman at [email protected] and Yushu Mao at [email protected]. Please reference 80JSC024SASS2 SASS II in any responses.
An Interested Vendors List is enabled within this posting. This list is available to other vendors to allow potential offerors the opportunity to network. Parties that would like their information posted to the Interested Vendors List shall use the “Add Me to Interested Vendors” button. If a vendor would like to be removed from the Interested Vendors List, use the “Remove Me from Interested Vendors” button. It is the potential offeror’s responsibility to monitor this site for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.
This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by NASA to form a binding contract. NASA is under no obligation to issue a solicitation or to award any contract on the basis of this RFI. NASA will not pay for any information solicited under this RFI. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of a solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. It is the interested party’s responsibility to monitor this website for the release of any subsequent solicitation or synopsis.
The documents on the NASA SASS II acquisition website are for information and planning purposes, to allow industry the opportunity to comment, and to promote competition only. NASA will not affirmatively release any information received in response to this RFI to the public but may use information received in developing the best approach for a contract strategy, and therefore such information may be recognizable to the interested party who submitted it. Any information submitted in response to this RFI that is marked as “Confidential Commercial or Financial Information” will be considered as voluntarily submitted in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
