SOURCES SOUGHT
R -- Safety and Mission Assurance Engineering Contract II: Sources Sought Synopsis/Request for Information
- Notice Date
- 1/12/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541330
— Engineering Services
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Mail Code: BR, Houston, Texas, 77058-3696, United States
- ZIP Code
- 77058-3696
- Solicitation Number
- NNJ17611006L
- Point of Contact
- Timothy O. Broadous Jr., Phone: 281-483-1378, Stacy G. Houston, Phone: 281-483-9649
- E-Mail Address
-
timothy.o.broadous@nasa.gov, stacy.g.houston@nasa.gov
(timothy.o.broadous@nasa.gov, stacy.g.houston@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTE OR PROPOSAL. THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT SYNOPSIS/REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. No solicitation is available. This RFI is released pursuant to FAR 15.201(e), Exchanges with Industry, and is issued for the purpose of conducting market research. The NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) is planning to recompete the Safety and Mission Assurance Engineering Contract (SMAEC), NNJ13RA01B, which currently ends September 30, 2017. The contract has a 1 year option remaining that, if exercised, would extend the contract through September 30, 2018. The total potential value on SMAEC is $202.5M. The SMAEC is a Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF)/Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with a Level of Effort (LOE) component. The intent of this RFI is to solicit capability statements and input from qualified sources. Confidential, proprietary, or competition sensitive information should not be submitted in response to this RFI, as responses received may be used in the development of strategy for a future contract. Interested parties are invited to respond to any or all requested information and attachments. In your response, indicate which attachment you are addressing. For example, if you choose to respond to Attachment 3, please note Attachment 3 and its title in your response. Current Contract (SMAEC): The SMAEC provides programmatic support to the International Space Station Program (ISSP), Orion Program, Commercial Crew Program, and the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Project Office through safety engineering; reliability, availability, maintainability, and supportability assessments; quality engineering; quality assurance; software assurance; risk management; and technology assurance disciplines. Real time support to the ISSP is provided in the Mission Evaluation Room (MER) by the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) directorate. In addition, SMAEC provides quality assurance engineering support for all JSC Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). SMAEC provides pressure systems technical expertise and manages the pressure systems certification program for both JSC and the White Sands Test Facility (WSTF). SMAEC also provides WSTF with expertise in the areas of materials and process engineering, and system safety. The SMAEC Statement of Work (SOW) and other pertinent documents are located on the SMAEC II procurement website: https://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/smaec2/. These documents are for information and planning purposes only and do not necessarily reflect future requirements. They are provided to allow industry the opportunity to comment and to promote competition. SMAEC II: The potential contract (SMAEC II) will require reviewing work performed by other contractors, ISSP, International Partners, and other NASA organizations. In addition, SMAEC II will support future Programs and Projects. The majority of this effort is anticipated to be performed at JSC in Houston, Texas. However, resident support will be required at the JSC field office at the WSTF in New Mexico. Contractor services may also be required at other Government facilities and NASA contractor, subcontractor, and vendor facilities. The anticipated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition is 541330, which has a size standard of $15 million. The disciplines described below are applied across all of the Programs supported by the SMA Directorate. SMAEC II will require the contractor to provide all of the skills associated with the following disciplines: 1. Safety Engineering: Application of the systematic, forward-looking identification and control of hazards throughout the life cycle of an activity, a system, a function, a project, or a program. 2. Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Supportability: Assessment of inherent system design features that include: establishing reliability requirements, selecting measures for the design and review, performing quantitative and qualitative reliability analyses and assessments to verify design characteristics, testing and certifying the design, identifying limited-life items, and participating in problem resolutions and recurrence control. 3. Quality Engineering: Evaluation of the design, manufacturing, testing, and refurbishment of spaceflight hardware and software to ensure delivery of products in accordance with functional, performance, and design requirements. 4. Quality Assurance: Inspection and surveillance activities performed during production, testing, and operations to reduce the overall risk to project's cost, schedule, and mission success. Inspectors are required for various assembly, testing, and inspection methods. Surveillance Specialists are required to continually monitor and verify status of contracted processes and products to ensure specified requirements are met. 5. Software Assurance: Assessment of software to determine if it meets quality, reliability, and safety requirements, as well as technical performance requirements. Assessment of processes used to develop software with assessment of the analyses and tests performed for verification. 6. Risk Management: Assessment of and recommendations for a disciplined and documented approach to ensure risk is identified, evaluated, managed, and mitigated throughout the life cycle. 7. Technology Assurance: Analysis and evaluation of a broad range of new and emerging tools, techniques, and processes, to complement long-range projects and programs. Additional functions required under SMAEC II will include: 1. Independent Assessment and Integrated Supplier Assurance Management: Evaluation and status of technical process issues and concerns; evaluation of government suppliers 2. Assurance Methodologies, and Special Processes: Electrical Electronic Electrometric (EEE) Parts, Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP) 3. Website and database development and maintenance 4. SMA engineering discipline training development 5. The SMA Directorate also supports the JSC Receiving Inspection and Test Facility (RITF). The RITF provides materials testing, electronic parts screening/authentication and counterfeit detection. The RITF provides hands-on training to engineers, technicians, and inspectors in NASA workmanship standards including Cable, Harness & Crimping; Conformal Coating and Staking; Electrostatic Discharge Control; IPC J-STD-001, Certified IPC Specialist. The laboratory is registered by National Quality Assurance (NQA) to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) AS9100, Aerospace Standard, and is accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to ISO/IEC 17025 standard, general requirements for the competence of testing laboratories. Attachment 1- Sources Sought Synopsis: NASA/JSC is seeking capability and qualification 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 Serving Institutions (MSI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for SMAEC II. Interested parties are requested to 1.) Review the SMAEC SOW, and other information available in the technical library; 2.) Submit a statement of their firm's capabilities and qualifications to perform the major disciplines described above, demonstrate its capability to manage and support a contract of this size and scope across multiple sites, and state whether it is the intention of the firm to submit as a subcontractor or prime contractor. Interested parties may submit capabilities and qualifications for other than the areas listed above, if desired. A determination whether to set aside this effort for a small business will be made after responses are received and reviewed. Responses must include the following: 1. Name and address of firm; 2. Size of business; 3. Average annual revenue for past 3 years and number of employees; 4. Ownership; e.g. large, Small Business (SB), SDB, 8(a), WOSB, VOSB, SD-VOSB, HUBZone, HBCU/MI; 5. Number of years in business; 6. Affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential subcontractor) or subcontractors (if potential prime); 7. List of customers over the past five years. Please be sure to include the following: a. Relevant work performed. All relevant work should be linked to where this work would be performed in the SMAEC SOW; b. Contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement; c. Point of contact - address and phone number. Attachment 2- Request for Information on Potential Procurement Approach: To assist in formulating a procurement strategy, the following Request for Information (RFI) questions are offered for your consideration. In your response, indicate which number you are addressing. For example, if you would like to respond to number 2(b), please note 2(b) in your response. 1. Identify barriers to competition that could be mitigated to foster a more competitive environment for this procurement. 2. Contract Type and Performance: a. Provide feedback on contract type along with rationale for this type of work. How should the "risks versus rewards" be shared by the Government and contractor? How does the proposed contract type incentivize the contractor to perform high quality work at a reasonable price? Provide feedback regarding incentive fee, award fee, award term and/or other appropriate incentives for contractor performance in terms of: 1) Fixed Price requirements; 2) Cost type requirements b. Suggest any portions of this procurement for which fixed price contracting could be utilized. Provide rationale, risks, and feasibility for each portion. 3. Receiving, Inspection, and Test Facility: a. NASA is considering ways to increase the use of excess capacity by external customers as a potential means of reducing long-term costs. Provide any changes that NASA might need in processes, procedures, and operating standards to successfully attract more external customers. Suggest any industry standards NASA should adopt. Suggest any special terms or conditions NASA may need to accept. Discuss ideas and incentives to encourage the contractor's efforts to find additional external customers for excess capacity in the RITF as well as excess capacity of other areas of technical expertise as identified in the disciplines described above. b. Comment on your company's ability to accept payments directly from RITF clients, or suggest ideas for other payment arrangements. 4. Small Business: a. How can NASA design/structure the contract to ensure that small business goals are met or exceeded? b. Identify any areas, if not all, of the SMAEC SOW that you believe could be performed by a small business and provide rationale. Attachment 3- Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Request for Information: NASA/JSC is requesting information from industry regarding potential organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) arising from the SMAEC II. The nature of work anticipated under SMAEC II may create the potential for OCI as 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 SMAEC II. A link to the NASA Guide on Organizational Conflicts of Interest has been posted to the SMAEC II procurement website at: https://procurement.jsc.nasa.gov/smaec2/; please reference this document for additional information about NASA's policies with respect to OCI issues. Specifically, NASA anticipates that the effort under SMAEC II will include the following types of tasks which could lead to potential OCI issues. This list is not all inclusive. • Assessment of component and system designs, analysis, and models developed for Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV); • Assessment of component and system designs, analysis, and models developed for the ISS or EVA; • Assessment of component and system designs, analysis, and models developed for the commercial crew or cargo providers; • Assessment of hardware designs, analysis, and models developed for the JSC by Contractors, and Space Act Agreement Participants; • Assessment of new technology disclosures (aka "invention disclosures") including, for example, new and novel hardware, software, and processes; • Access to Government Sensitive Information such as pre-decisional information associated with on-going or future NASA projects that may result in future competitive procurements; • Access to a Contractor, or Space Act Agreement Participant's proprietary information where said Contractor, and Space Act Agreement Participant is not the SMAEC II contractor; • Quality assurance oversight for fabrication of hardware by Contractors, other than the SMAEC II contractor, for flight hardware and software and quality and safety oversight for test and evaluation of flight hardware. These types of tasks could lead to the following categories of OCI issues depending on the composition of the team selected for the SMAEC II contract: • Unequal access to nonpublic information of the type that may provide the SMAEC II contractor an unfair competitive advantage in a later competition for a Government procurement contract; • Potential impaired objectivity if the SMAEC II contractor or its subcontractors are assessing data developed by themselves, related companies (e.g., affiliates, joint ventures, partnerships, etc.), or subcontractors; • Potential impaired objectivity if the SMAEC II contractor or its subcontractors or related companies are responsible for assessing or performing safety and mission assurance for hardware or data generated by the SMAEC II contractor, its subcontractors, or related companies under another JSC contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or Space Act Agreement; or • Potentially creating biased ground rules by providing technical assessments and advice to NASA personnel on specific technologies and methodologies that may affect NASA's preparation of a specification of work, other contractual requirements, or NASA's evaluation of proposals in a future competitive procurement. 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 SMAEC 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 SMAEC II that were not identified in this RFI? 4. Does your company foresee any OCI issues associated with the SMAEC II that would cause you to decide not to propose on the potential SMAEC II RFP? NASA will review any responses received regarding potential OCI and each interested party's proposed OCI mitigation strategy. NASA will respond to each company who submits a mitigation strategy. NASA's response will simply be an attempt to examine circumstances which might lead to or eliminate an OCI and is not intended to serve as a confirmation that, in fact, all potential OCI have been identified, an OCI may 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 SMAEC 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 interested party elect to submit a proposal to an RFP issued for SMAEC II. Subsequent to the initial OCI submission and NASA's response, the Government will not consider further information as it relates to this RFI. Interested parties are requested to provide electronic responses limited to 20 pages, using no less than 12 point Times New Roman font. The documents on the NASA procurement website are for information and planning purposes, to allow industry the opportunity to comment, and to promote competition only. The information received will not be released to the public, but may be used to refine requirements and develop the best approach for any follow-on contract strategy. Information used in such a manner 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 voluntarily submitted in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI 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. To facilitate teaming arrangements, the Government intends to post the names, addresses, and points of contact of all respondents on the SMAEC II website for this acquisition, unless specifically requested not to do so by the respondent. The Government will not pay for any information received and will not reimburse preparation costs related to this RFI. No evaluations, results or responses will be issued to the interested parties, except as otherwise provided in Attachment 3, OCI. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities website. It is an interested party's responsibility to monitor the site for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. All responses shall be submitted via e-mail to the Contract Specialist, Timothy O. Broadous Jr. at timothy.o.broadous@nasa.gov, and the Contracting Officer, Stacy G. Houston at stacy.g.houston@nasa.gov no later than 4:00 p.m. CST on Friday, January 27, 2017. Please reference NNJ17611006L in your response. Interested parties are responsible for checking this website for further information and updates.
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- Place of Performance
- Address: 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas, 77058, United States
- Zip Code: 77058
- Zip Code: 77058
- Record
- SN04370063-W 20170114/170112234136-db04311f6f8a14dfd3c7476aaaab47bb (fbodaily.com)
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