SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Request For Information for the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) Operations Contract (NOC) - NOC RFI Attachment One
- Notice Date
- 5/12/2016
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Mail Code: BR, Houston, Texas, 77058-3696, United States
- ZIP Code
- 77058-3696
- Solicitation Number
- NNJ16588818L
- Point of Contact
- Mario A. Tijerina, Phone: 2814832217
- E-Mail Address
-
mario.a.tijerina@nasa.gov
(mario.a.tijerina@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NOC RFI Attachment One The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is planning to compete the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) portion of the contract requirements of the current NBL and Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) Operations Contract (NSOC), NNJ10HD35C. This future requirement will constitute the NBL Operations Contract (NOC). This synopsis is a Request For Information (RFI) to solicit comments from industry for acquisition strategies and capability statements from qualified companies. Industry is invited to provide feedback on the specific areas below and Attachment One. The NBL is a key Agency asset that supports human space flight training by simulating a weightless environment through underwater diving operations. The current NAICS Code is 541712 and the small business size standard is 1,000 employees. The current NSOC contract is mainly completion form (cost-plus-award-fee/incentive fee), with an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) feature that represents approximately 10 - 15% of the contract value. The NBL provides a unique environment to simulate microgravity using underwater neutral buoyancy techniques. It provides capabilities for astronaut training, real-time mission trouble-shooting, extravehicular activity (EVA) procedure development and verification, flight hardware development and verification, water survival training, and support of external customers. Because of the NBL's importance to NASA's mission, and the highly hazardous operations performed there, the NBL has high-visibility to agency management and the general public. The NBL also includes a Logistics and Mockup Facility (LMF) that provides fabrication, repair, and maintenance of mockups. The NBL is operated by JSC's Flight Operations Directorate (FOD). The NBL currently supports the International Space Station (ISS) Program, other NASA future space programs, and other JSC directorates (e.g., Engineering, Health and Human Performance, and Public Affairs). In addition to the JSC directorates, the NBL also supports other NASA field centers, other Government agencies (e.g., U.S. Coast Guard), and commercial companies. The support provided includes use of the NBL for submerged and surface activities. The LMF is also available to provide hardware repairs or modifications to increase productivity in the pool. The mockups used in the NBL are full-scale (1:1) models of spacecraft or spacecraft components. Depending on their purpose, mockups can vary from "low fidelity", which models the basic volume and shape of the spacecraft/component, to "high fidelity" which very closely matches the "look and feel" of the spacecraft/component. Mockups can be built to last briefly (e.g., for short-term engineering evaluations) or for many years. NBL mockups are usually made from stainless steel, composites and plastics and are intended for multi-year use. A sample Statement of Work of potential future requirements, General Operating Plan (GOP), Standard Operating Plan (SOP) and NBL/SVMF Operations Contract External Customer Policy are located in the technical library on the procurement website http://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/nbl/. These documents are for information and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of the requirement, as well as promote competition. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: Industry is invited to provide inputs in the following specific areas. Please discuss all alternatives you would like NASA to consider. The information received will not be released in its submitted form, but may be used in developing the best approach for follow-on strategies, and therefore may be recognizable. 1. Identify barriers to competition that could be mitigated to foster a more competitive environment for this procurement. 2. Discuss any factors that should be considered when determining contract length and any resulting contract duration recommendations. 3. Discuss ways in which NASA could design/structure this procurement to maximize safety, cost control, and system availability while performing maintenance and sustaining engineering on critical systems and mockups. 4. The Government is evaluating the concept to administer the contract as a traditional cost plus award fee with an opportunity to transition to a fixed fee after consecutive periods of "excellent" performance. Specify any issues or limitations from this potential requirement. 5. NASA and its previous contractors have been successful in attracting external customers (Government and commercial) to use excess capacity in the NBL. NASA expects the future contractor would continue to grow this segment to help reduce the costs of the facility to NASA. Attachment One has external customer information. Specify any issues or limitations from this information. 6. Recommend process improvements and efficiencies, both in the acquisition phase and the performance phase, along with identification of non-value-added steps. 7. NASA is evaluating an alternative approach to the standard Industry Day practices. Instead of hosting a formal or virtual Industry Day, NASA will host Industry Day information on line for potential offerors to review as their time allows. NASA will answer questions via the NOC website after the Industry Day review period has been closed. Please specify any concerns with the change in this process. Opportunities for site visits will still be available at some point during the procurement process. 8. The Government is considering issuing a Final Request for Proposal (RFP) and not issuing a Draft RFP to allow more time in the schedule for proposal preparation. Please specify any issues or limitations from this potential approach. SOURCES SOUGHT: NASA/JSC is also soliciting information from all interested parties/potential offerors, which includes all large businesses, Small Businesses (SBs), Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) 8(a), HUBZones, Women-Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs), Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), and Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions (HBCUs/MIs) that are potential sources for this requirement. Interested parties are requested to submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort. Responses shall include the following: a. Name and address of firm and Point of Contact information. b. Size of business. c. Average annual revenue for past three years. d. Number of employees. e. Whether the firm is Large, SB, SDB, HUBZone, WOSB, VOSB, SDVOSB, HBCU/MI and/or 8a. f. Number of years in business. g. Affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, and potential teaming partners. h. If you plan to propose as a prime or a sub-contractor. i. A list of contracts covering the past three years with emphasis on work performed on a Federal installation. Please provide contract numbers, if your firm was a prime or subcontractor, contract type, dollar value of each procurement, and point of contact (address and phone number). If work was performed as a subcontractor, please indicate percentage of work/subcontract dollar value. j. From the above list, please identify those contracts that you consider most relevant to the work of the NOC effort. Please provide a brief summary of similar work accomplished as compared to the NOC scope. You are requested to provide electronic responses to questions 1 through 8 and a through j above. The total page count is limited to 20 pages for questions 1 through 8, and 10 pages for questions a through j, for a total page count of 30 pages using no less than 12 point Times New Roman font. Please send all responses via e-mail to mario.a.tijerina@nasa.gov. Your response is requested no later than 4:00 p.m. CST on May 27, 2016. Questions may be submitted separately to the same email address. The Government intends to review the responses submitted but will not respond to individual submissions. NASA reserves the right to share all information received in response to this RFI throughout NASA's civil servants and to use all information submitted in response to this RFI in developing a future acquisition strategy. This data will not be shared outside the Government nor released in its submitted form. Confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information should not be submitted in response to this RFI. Such information will not be reviewed and will be returned to the respondent. Any communications in reference to this RFI shall cite the RFI number in the subject line and be directed to the point of contact identified below. The Government intends to release the names, addresses, and points of contact of all respondents unless specifically requested not to do so by the respondent. This information will be provided on the NOC procurement website as an Interested Parties List. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. The Government is under no obligation to issue a solicitation or to award any contract on the basis of this RFI. The Government will not pay for any information solicited. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps. It is the potential offerors responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. The Government intends to review the responses submitted by industry. This data will not be shared outside the Government; however, the Government may use this data to develop future requirements. Data that is submitted as part of a company's response that is marked Proprietary will not be reviewed and will be returned to the respondent.
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