Draft_RFP_Laser_Interferometer_Space_Antenna_(LISA)_Engineering_Development_Unit_Telescope_(EDUT)   3

SUBJECT: DRAFT Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80GSFC19R0032, for
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) - Engineering Development Unit Telescope (EDUT) Procurement

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) - Engineering Development Unit Telescope (EDUT) draft solicitation. The purpose of this contract is to acquire two engineering development unit (EDU) telescopes and one telescope structural/thermal model (STM) and related services for the Gravitational Astrophysics Laboratory. The contractor shall design, fabricate, align, test, verify per approved plan and deliver a STM and two EDU telescopes for the LISA mission. The Statement of Work, Attachment A, describes the scope of the requirement.

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches. Potential offerors should identify unnecessary or inefficient requirements. Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work.

This acquisition will be conducted as a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 333314 and the small business size standard is 1,250 employees.

This competitive procurement will result in a Cost-Plus-Fixed Fee (CPFF) type contract. The contract will have a total potential period of performance of 36 months.

The contract will be performed offsite at the Contractor's facilities.

The current planned release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about August 26, 2019, with proposals being due approximately 30 calendar days later.

At the conclusion of the engineering unit development phase, it is anticipated that a separate competitive procurement will be conducted for the flight units.

We have been made aware of a potential Unequal Access to Information Organizational Conflict of Interest. We believe there are parties interested in this solicitation who may be part of the LISA Consortium where insider information may be shared. Any parties interested in this solicitation who are members of the LISA Consortium or who plan to partner with an organization that includes members of the LISA Consortium must submit an Organizational Conflict of Interest Avoidance Plan to the Contracting Officer at their earliest convenience. The plan shall be approved by the Contracting Officer before the interested party submits their response to the Final RFP. Any other potential offeror that believes that it might have an issue with potential or actual Organizational Conflicts of Interest is also invited to submit an Organizational Conflict of Interest Avoidance Plan to the Contracting Officer at their earliest convenience. Offerors are advised, however, that in no case will the approval of such a plan provide protection or relief from issues arising from future OCIs. Each occurrence will be evaluated based upon the facts of the potential OCI and circumstances at that time.

All documents related to this procurement, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, and any amendments will be attainable electronically from the World Wide Web through the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at https://www.fbo.gov.

Additional information can also be found on the LISA-EDUT online Reference Library at: https://elibrary.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Potential offerors are requested to periodically monitor the website for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) 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.

This DRFP is not a solicitation and NASA GSFC is not requesting proposals. This request does not commit GSFC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate GSFC to procure or contract for this requirement. This request shall not be construed as authorization to proceed with, or be paid for charges incurred by performing any of the work called for in this DRFP.
Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted via e-mail to the Contracting Officer at shana.n.faris@nasa.gov , within 30 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP. Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted FBO response if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government will respond via FBO to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

Shana Faris
Contracting Officer