NASA Balloon Operations Contract (NBOC) II   3

Update - Due to restricted access to NASA facilities in response to COVID-19, a video/virtual site tour of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility will replace the on-site Industry Day. Two videos have been uploaded for the virtual tour for offerors to view. Please note if you are a MAC user and have difficulty with the audio, try downloading another audio player such as MP4.

Update to post Responses to Questions #2. Updated to post Responses to Questions #1.

Updated - All questions/comments/responses are due on or before June 14, 2020 by 3:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time

*Updated to post Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP)*

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wallops Flight Facility (GSFC/WFF) has a follow-on requirement for the NASA Balloon Operations Contract (NBOC II). The principal purpose of the NBOC II is to acquire services for the operation and maintenance of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) and overall management of launch and operations, mission and engineering services, and potential hardware development to support the NASA Balloon Program. CSBF is a Government-owned facility located in Palestine, Texas, with a permanent balloon staging facility at Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The Contractor will also be required to provide operational balloon flight support including launching, tracking and recovering scientific balloons and payloads, in addition to providing engineering services for operational support, quality control and balloon research and development.

NBOC II services will be performed at multiple locations including CSBF, NASA WFF, the Contractor's facility and additional locations as specified in individual task orders.

It is anticipated that the NBOC II requirement will be a Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) Core with an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) CPFF component. NBOC II will be a single-award contract with a seven-year potential period of performance. The maximum ordering value for the IDIQ portion will be $100.5M with a unilateral upward adjustment capability of 20% for programmatic uncertainties, if needed, for a potential Maximum Ordering Value of $120.6M.

The anticipated contract award date is approximately 04/01/2021. All responsible sources may submit an offer when applicable, which shall be considered by the agency. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html.

The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. This procurement will be full and open competition. The NAICS Code and Size Standard are 541330 and $16.5M respectively.

The Government is releasing a Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP) in May 2020. This will be an opportunity for potential offerors to provide questions, comments or any concerns regarding the DRFP and attachments, which includes the Statement of Work (SOW). No proposal/offer is to be submitted during this posting. A preproposal/pre-bid conference may be scheduled and held after release of the Draft RFP at the location indicated below. Details for the preproposal/pre-bid conference will be provided as an update to this synopsis and/or in the eLibrary.

Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF)
1510 FM 3224
Palestine, Texas 75803

The Government anticipates the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) in the June/July 2020 timeframe. Interested parties are responsible for monitoring the website at www.beta.sam.gov for schedule updates, the release of the solicitation, and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.

An electronic library, or eLibrary, will be established for the NBOC II requirement, 80GSFC20R0031. The eLibrary can be accessed using the following link: https://elibrary.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Documents will be posted on the eLibrary as they become available. Offerors are responsible for monitoring this website for any updates.

All contractual and/or technical questions must be submitted in writing to Lisa Hall, Contracting Officer via e-mail at lisa.b.hall@nasa.gov. Telephone inquiries will not be accepted.