SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Earth Observations from Private Sector Small Satellite Constellations Pilot
- Notice Date
- 12/5/2017
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 5417
— Scientific Research and Development ServicesT
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- NNH18ES0001
- Point of Contact
- Sandra Cauffman, , Christine Bonniksen,
- E-Mail Address
-
sandra.a.cauffman@nasa.gov, christine.k.bonniksen@nasa.gov
(sandra.a.cauffman@nasa.gov, christine.k.bonniksen@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Headquarters (HQ) is seeking capability 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 Institutions (MI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition for multiple award Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) for data products derived from private sector-developed constellations of small satellites. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Woman-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), or HUBZone business set-aside(s) based on responses hereto. The overall objective of the Earth Observations from Private Sector Small Satellite Constellations Data Product Pilot is to identify private sector data vendors and purchase from them Earth science data products that are directly related or lead to Essential Climate Variables (ECV), as defined by the Global Climate Observing System https://public.wmo.int/en/programmes/global-climate-observing-system/essential-climate-variables. It is NASA's objective to determine whether private sector Earth observation products derived from small-satellite constellations can be a cost-effective means to augment and/or complement the suite of Earth observations acquired by NASA and other US government agencies and those by International partners and agencies made available to NASA and its stakeholders. Selected data products must be of sufficient quality to allow researchers to generate ECVs. Furthermore, sufficient information must be provided to allow NASA researchers to understand the instrument calibration and processing techniques that were used to generate the provided data products. Emphasis is placed on data acquired by constellations of small satellites, affording the means of complementing from NASA and other government spaceborne observatories and data sources that provide data often having higher spectral and spatial resolution. In this pilot program, NASA desires to procure one or more data products and associated metadata (documentation, access routines, and basic characterization information), as in https://earthdata.nasa.gov/user-resources/standards-and-references, based on Earth observations derived from Earth-orbiting, small-satellite constellations designed and operated by non-governmental entities, particularly the private sector. NASA intends to provide the purchased data products to a broad set of separately selected NASA-funded researchers who will examine and analyze the data set(s) to help determine the utility of the constellation-based products for advancing NASA's science and applications development goals. It is important for the evaluators of the data products that the data products be provided in a standard, well-documented format. It is similarly important that the purchased data products and metadata provide sufficient information to allow agency adherence to the NASA data products preservation specification (https://earthdata.nasa.gov/user-resources/standards-and-references/preservation-content-spec). Anticipating that at least some of the data sets will be shown to be valuable for advancing NASA science and applications development, through this pilot activity NASA additionally desires to support discussions with, and the preparation and delivery of documents/reports by, the selected providers summarizing estimated costs and supplier-desired constraints on NASA use of these and similar products for longer-term purchase. In particular, NASA wishes selected providers to produce one or more reports indicating the approximate costs associated with various levels of provider-determined constraints on NASA's long-term use of these purchased small-satellite constellation data products (e.g., the relationship between costs and latency; between costs and open vs. more-limited availability on public NASA data systems; and between costs and information content). The information from the discussions and the reports will be used to inform NASA's policies and approaches for engaging more substantively with private sector small-satellite constellation operators for future data purchases. NASA will hold a Small Satellite Town Hall at the 2017 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 12 at 6:15pm where potential offerors can listen to NASA, NOAA and NGA plans for data buys. The selected offerors shall deliver Earth-relevant data products obtained from commercial small satellite constellations and associated metadata required for science evaluators to technically assess the utility of the data products for research and/or for assimilation into current algorithms and models. The data products purchased in association with this pilot will be evaluated for future research utility. The commercial small satellite constellations from which the data is obtained shall be: • Comprised of a minimum of three satellites; • In non-geostationary orbit with consistent, large-scale (complete longitudinal) coverage. The vendor shall demonstrate that it already has a constellation of small satellites functioning in orbit by: o Describing the instrument(s) used in the data acquisition and their sampling characteristics; o Describing in detail pre-launch instrument characterization and calibration as well as on-board calibration and stability metrics; o Documenting launch date and commissioning information; and o Providing plans for data continuity from subsequent launches. All interested offerors having small satellite-based Earth observation constellations generating products for purchase by NASA's Earth Science Division should submit a capability statement of 10 pages or less indicating the ability to perform/meet all aspects of the effort described herein, and specifically information related to the quality and suitability of the data products for the production of ECVs, desired license constraints (if any) on the data products. Responses shall also include the following: 1. Company name and address; 2. Business size classification; 3. Information demonstrating technical capability and description of the data offering ("quality and suitability; 4. Information on desired government data distribution limitations. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 5417 Scientific Research and Development ServicesT. Estimated award date for the eventual BPAs is March 2018. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Point of Contact for Technical and Programmatic questions shall be directed to Sandra Cauffman via email @ Sandra.A.Cauffman@nasa.gov or Christine Bonniksen via email @ christine.k.bonniksen@nasa.gov. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. All responses shall be submitted to Sandra Grello via electronic mail @ Sandra.R.Grello@nasa.gov in either Microsoft Word or ADOBE PDF format no later than 5:00 PM EST December 22, 2017.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/2d56625b7edfdec3acdd3c4e4ad11c8e)
- Record
- SN04757199-W 20171207/171205231334-2d56625b7edfdec3acdd3c4e4ad11c8e (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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