Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

NASA/John Glenn Research Center (GRC) is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for Workshop Design, Execution, and Implementation, Pre-Workshop Instruction, and Virtual Environment Supp... NASA/John Glenn Research Center (GRC) is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for Workshop Design, Execution, and Implementation, Pre-Workshop Instruction, and Virtual Environment Support. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) GRC is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI), for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for creation of an execution and implementation plan for new early-stage innovation initiatives within Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project including: ? workshop design; ? pre-workshop instruction; ? coaching during workshop execution; ? support workshop execution; ? virtual environment support for the workshop. In this case, execution refers to execution of Opportunity Identification and Concept Design workshops. Implementation refers to how all efforts in preparation for workshop execution, including workshop execution, and related efforts after workshop execution are planned and performed. GENERAL INFORMATION: This RFI is used solely for information planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by NASA to form a binding contract. NASA is under no obligation to issue a solicitation or to award any contract based on this RFI. The information provided in response to this RFI will not be made public so as to protect any propriety company information. Nonetheless, Respondents should clearly and properly mark any propriety or restricted data contained within its submission so it can be identified and protected. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned, and Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review. All requirements identified herein are tentative and will be finalized prior to the release of any solicitation for proposals. The government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. The information provided is entirely voluntary and will not affect the ability to bid on future requirements. This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of a solicitation. If a solicitation is released it will be synopsized in SAM.Gov/FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential Respondent's responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. NASA may utilize the information provided in developing its acquisition strategy. The information resulting from this RFI may be included in one or more solicitations. Respondents are encouraged to provide information that is not constrained by limited/restricted data rights. However, if proprietary data is included in a reply, it is to be marked appropriately. NASA intends to evaluate all data received for potential go-forward options and plans. Please note, NASA, other interested Government agencies, federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), as well as support contractors and/or their subcontractors working on behalf of the Government will be reviewing the information. Potential Respondents should only submit information that can be made available to those parties and should note that by submitting information to this request, the above parties will be able to review each Respondent's information. NASA reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received. This opportunity shall not be available to Non-US entities. Interested Respondents should submit all questions in writing no later than July 15, 2020 so that answers may (at the Governments discretion) be posted as an amendment to the RFI. BACKGROUND: In NASA’s continued efforts to advance aeronautics, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s (ARMD) Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) Project is seeking to better identify needs of both traditional and changing aeronautics and related marketplaces, and to respond to them with system-level concepts with potentially transformative impacts for aviation, interdependent industries, and society. CAS is investigating new approaches to accomplish these objectives. This request for sources is focused on one approach: the planning and execution of problem-focused, early-stage innovation workshops, along with preparation for them and limited post-workshop processing of the results. Most of the steps described below will be done in collaboration with NASA, some post-workshop steps NASA may perform with limited to no input from the selected contractor. These workshops and supporting effort will be tentatively called Opportunity Identification & Concept Development (OICD) workshops. The strategy for these OICD workshops and supporting effort is to follow industry best practice as done in, for example, design sprints, by: ? leveraging agile, early stage interdisciplinary work by a small team, and ? rapid iteration, learning, and reorientation, including learning from the unexpected, from missteps, or “failure.” Prior to the workshops, NASA will provide relevant information for preparation and input including: – Initially explored problem areas within established strategic focus areas; – Available qualitative and quantitative research on market needs and relevant technologies; – Preliminary identification of needs and prompts for the workshops. During the workshops the objectives are to have: – Small teams of NASA technical experts from diverse disciplines, guided by a NASA facilitator, rapidly iterate as they ideate to discover, identify, and flesh out potential opportunities and concepts, updating and clarifying as necessary the initially identified needs and problems; – Preliminary identification of opportunities, which are possible ways to address these needs and problems through technical and other means; – Problem-focused and use-driven ideation, to develop interdisciplinary, system-level solution concepts or conceptual designs, that are transformative in nature; – Workshop results are to include fleshed out opportunities for further refinement via ideation, and more focused early concepts for follow-on engineering research, development, testing, and/or evaluation. After the workshop, work to be done includes: – Documentation of workshop-developed high-value opportunities and conceptual designs; – Early assessments of potential impacts of the suggested opportunities and concepts — to include examination of user desirability, business and government viability, and technical feasibility; – Synthesized analysis defining next steps for each opportunity and concept. (NASA internal task) CAS is requesting assistance with innovation-promoting processes to constitute this workshop preparation, execution, and some post-processing, and in training and coaching NASA personnel in these processes. Requested are sources to: ? join NASA collaboratively in the design of the workshops; ? give pre-workshop instruction for new NASA facilitators in how to lead them, and for related CAS personnel to participate; ? coach NASA facilitators while they lead these workshops; ? documenting the post-workshop workshop results; ? advise and assist in conducting these activities in a virtual environment, due to a nationally distributed technical workforce. 1. WORKSHOP DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, & EXECUTION: a. Co-design and support execution of no more than four multi-day workshops for cross-disciplinary teams, in which participants are guided in the identification of promising opportunities for innovation relevant to aeronautics, and in the generation of transformative, systems-level concepts to address these opportunities. Documentation of initial workshop co-design is required as an intermediate deliverable (see deliverables table). We desire to complete the OICD workshop co-design within 2-3 weeks of contract award, followed by pre-workshop training (see #2 below). Just before the first workshop, we desire to run a thorough trial workshop to work out logistics and finalize design elements. We desire to hold the first workshop within 7 weeks of contract award. b. Data on aeronautics-relevant needs and capabilities will be available to introduce participants to the workshop area (see aforementioned information regarding what takes place prior to the workshops). This data will enable learning from research that has been done in an aeronautics-relevant problem area. This includes research about stakeholders, nascent market structure, technical capabilities, and needs/problems that have been identified. Workshop prompt selection will also be informed by this information. c. The OICD workshop design will be a collaborative effort with the CAS Project leaders. The problem-centered OICD workshops will result in the identification/creation, and modification of concepts through research or ideation which, if developed, can help address the needs/problems identified for stakeholders. d. Provide coaching for NASA facilitators and participants during the OICD workshops. (See item 2 below.) This is to prepare the NASA team to conduct these OICD workshops subsequently and to increase the quality of the OICD workshops enabling tangible OICD workshop results that can be used to demonstrate the value of the event and potentially progress forward to idea maturation (research, design, technology development, etc).The OICD workshop goal is to inform subsequent, more detailed work to facilitate implementation of solutions. The collaborative OICD workshop implementation steps must be documented in a way that allows for future implementation by subsequent NASA personnel who were not a participant of the initial OICD workshops in partnership with past participants. In this context, implementation refers to how all efforts in preparation for workshop execution, including workshop execution, and related efforts after workshop execution are performed and documented for repeatable execution. e. NASA will perform a post event assessment, upon completion of each workshop cycle. This may require input from the contractor. 2. PRE-WORKSHOP INSTRUCTION: a. Design and provide pre-workshop instruction to a small group (less than 25 total individuals) of technical experts and related CAS personnel dedicated to the workshops and associated activities. Prior to the OICD workshops, a subset of this group will receive instruction to facilitate the OICD workshops. Another subset will receive pre-workshop instruction for participation in an OICD workshop. This latter subset will contribute technical expertise, opportunity discovery, and concept development to the OICD workshop outcomes. This instruction should include (or may be primarily) experiential activities-including for example trial workshop elements. b. Completed instruction for facilitation and OICD workshop participation are required as another intermediate deliverable. We desire to complete this pre-workshop instruction within 4 weeks of contract award. 3. VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT: a. Tailor workshop design, instruction, and plan to operate in a 100% virtual setting. Some items for consideration include how to foster free-flowing ideation, comfort with failing and rapid iteration, and overall methods needed to ensure NASA required security of virtual workshops (such as how to track attendance, and how to limit attendance). b. Collaborate with NASA to determine which currently approved tools can be used and if supplementation is recommended. Please recommend tools that would work best, with the knowledge that specific tools utilized must be coordinated with NASA. 4. COORDINATION: a. NASA may elect to include an external group of "observers,” with expertise in studying how teams work. This group may be separately brought in to assess workshops as they are conducted, and advise on future design and implementation. The design of the workshops and expected outputs shall be worked in collaboration with both NASA and any observers NASA provides. 5. CONSULTATION: a. During the base period of 12 months, the source will be available to be consulted on Items 1-4. The period of performance will start immediately following contract award, as early as August 2020. We estimate no more than four workshops during this period of performance. DELIVERABLE DESCRIPTION DEADLINE DRAFT OICD WORKSHOP DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, AND EXECUTION DOCUMENTATION (WORD DOC) 1 Week after first workshop UPDATED OICD WORKSHOP DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, AND EXECUTION DOCUMENTATION (WORD DOC) 1 Week after each successive workshop DRAFT HANDBOOK FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS (PDF) 1 Week before first workshop DRAFT HANDBOOK FOR WORKSHOP FACILITATORS (PDF) 1 Week before first workshop FINAL HANDBOOK FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS (PDF) 3 Weeks after last workshop completes FINAL HANDBOOK FOR WORKSHOP FACILITATORS (PDF) 3 Weeks after last workshop completes BRIEFING SUMMARY OF WORKSHOP RESULTS (INCLUDING LESSONS LEARNED, SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT AND TOOLS REQUIRED FOR VIRTUAL WORKSHOP EXECUTION) (PPT SLIDES) 2 Weeks after last workshop completes briefed via TEAMS or Adobe Connect DETAILED REPORT OF WORKSHOP RESULTS (INCLUDING LESSONS LEARNED, SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT AND TOOLS REQUIRED FOR VIRTUAL WORKSHOP EXECUTION) (WORD DOC) 2 Weeks after last workshop completes Deliverable deadlines are subject to change and somewhat negotiable. Note: Depending on the capabilities presented by responders, one or more vendors may be selected to fulfill different aspects of the forthcoming RFP. Estimated award amount is between $250,000 and $450,000 for no more than one year. We plan to use a Cooperative Agreement for a base period of one year, inclusive of previously described pre-workshop instruction and workshop execution milestones; with options to renew in following Fiscal years. SCHEDULE: From award, the workshop design and execution schedule for the first technical needs areas shall be determined jointly, but on the order of two-three months, and a repeating cycle shall be considered through the base period. The first cycle will include the following milestones in addition to the above described deliverables. Milestone Weeks after contract award Complete workshop co-design 2-3 weeks Pre-workshop instruction 4 weeks Trial run workshop 6 weeks First full workshop 7 weeks NASA will perform a post event assessment, upon completion of each workshop cycle, this may require input from the contractor. Deliverables will be required as described above during each cycle. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on beta.SAM.gov. Interested firms may request to be notified at the time of release of any solicitation or synopsis, if one is released. This notification is not guaranteed and all respondents are still responsible for ensuring they monitor for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Information describing CAS' previously activities can be found at https://www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/programs/tacp/cas and https://cas.nasa.gov/. It should be noted that these websites do not reflect the desired changes to the CAS process and should be used as reference information only. Interested offerors/vendors/firms having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirements described herein should submit a capability statement of no more than 15 pages indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort. The Statement of Capabilities (SOC) shall contain pertinent and specific information addressing these areas: For WORKSHOP DESIGN, IMPLEMENTATION, & EXECUTION: ? Demonstrate your capability to collaboratively co-design, co-implement, and co-execute OICD like workshops with technically-oriented participants. ? Recordings of previous OICD like workshop design and facilitation experience are preferred in addition to other records (written descriptions/reports/papers/etc). ? Provide evidence of contribution to the state-of-the-art innovation approaches or updated practice based on past experience. It is acceptable to provide a list of peer-reviewed papers as auxiliary material. ? Demonstrate your ability to coach facilitators during OICD like workshop execution. ? Provide evidence of experience working collaboratively with NASA or a similar research organization. Showing the ability to develop concepts that are not necessarily monetizable, but have potential transformative impact. For PRE-WORKSHOP INSTRUCTION: ? Demonstrate your ability to define the skill set of effective OICD like workshop participants ? Provide examples of how you have prepared inexperienced participants for meaningful participation in OICD like workshops. ? Demonstrate your ability to train facilitators in preparation for OICD like workshops For VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT: ? Provide examples of previous efforts involving virtual events and/or virtual teams. ? Describe specific IT infrastructure that might be used to conduct virtual OICD like workshops. This requirement is not considered to be a commercial or commercial-type product as defined in FAR 2.101. All responses shall be submitted electronically via email to Melissa Merrill (melissa.a.merrill@nasa,gov) no later than July 24, 2020 at 5 pm EDT. Please reference “Opportunity Identification & Concept Development (OICD)” workshops in any response. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only 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. Posted 7/21/2020 Questions and Answers: 1. Has NASA defined the set of initial opportunities, or, is there value in working with a partner to identify or refine the opportunities to ensure the progression to workshop-based concept development. If yes, can NASA characterize the range of initial opportunities? If not, can NASA characterize what level and type of content will be in place for the OICD workshops to draw from (based on some exploration of the noted “aeronautics-relevant needs and capabilities“ made available). Yes, NASA has defined a set of initial opportunities. While these serve as guidance not constraints, we also seek to better understand what type of inputs are best for the workshops. The set of initial opportunities constitute work done under another contract to explore and better define problem areas of interest to NASA. An initial step in the current solicited effort will be getting familiar with the outputs of that contract and working with NASA to narrow down the inputs to be explored in the workshops. The range of initial opportunities include: market analyses; user and stakeholder interviews and workshops; and synthesized initial needs and problem definitions. For your reference, I consider the Accenture mapping deliverables to be: Background research sources and summaries Database of WTO-relevant Capabilities Interview transcripts and summaries Focus group workshop summaries Five WTO-relevant problem areas (characterized by solution vectors) 2. The goals CAS has expressed demand exploratory thinking, conviction and courage. The workshop contributors will invariably bring tremendous knowledge and deep perspectives to the work. Beyond basic process training, we believe the working sessions will be more productive when activated with a vivid perspective or narrative on the potentially “transformative impacts for aviation, interdependent industries, and society”. Is this being created by a NASA prep team? If not, it could be addressed through optional scope of support. This effort is one part of a larger and multi-faceted project to increase innovation. We welcome insights from the contractor on all aspects of the broader project. Thus, optional additional scope can be considered. The NASA team would like to have the option to include this in any future RFP. Please provide detailed input as to how this would be accomplished and the expected products and how these connect to the workshops. 3. Does NASA have any fixed expectations about the sequencing and precise parameters of the “no more than four multiday workshops?” For example, one approach might be to produce an series focused on one opportunity, structured as 3 half-day workshops, each 2-3 weeks apart (appropriate elapsed time TBC), to provide iterative development on a single vector. This could be repeated 3-4x, for distinct opportunities. A different approach, would be to create a set of workshops which address opportunities as a distinct sequence: Opportunity A, then Opportunity B, etc. Beyond knowing that the first workshop may look like a dry run, to give the facilitators some practice with a warmer/more familiar set of participants there are no expectations as to whether a single opportunity will be explored or multiple different opportunities. We are open to different options. 4. The outline indicates that the strongest concepts from each session will need to be documented and assessed in “post processing” for high-level desirability, feasibility and viability. Can NASA elaborate on the level of detail or refinement which would be most useful? Or, could NASA share initial expectations for how decision-making would be framed up to determine the path forward for different concepts? The decision making approach as to which concepts go forward is under development and includes questions about stakeholder desirability (such as societal needs), technical feasibility (such as engineering needs), business viability (such as economic needs) and other parameters (see below). We expect to learn from the initial workshops and refine the approach including the level of detail required. The necessary workshop post processing will be done primarily by NASA but can include input from the contractor. The provided documentation should be thorough enough to facilitate the decision making process. And the general criteria for OCR evaluation: Suitability of problem articulated (e.g. systems-level, transformational, aero-focused) Identification of key D-V-F considerations NASA role and workforce match 5. Will facilitation of the sessions be entirely conducted by NASA team members (supported w/ coaching and training), or, will the external partner be asked to facilitate some portion of the sessions? Can NASA/CAS designate 2-3 core team members to act as primary points of contact for efficient and centralized coordination, along with 1-2 senior leaders for periodic input and consultation? Because the ultimate goal is to have 2 or more trained facilitators at the completion of this activity, it is expected that NASA team members will facilitate most sessions and learn from the facilitation of the contractor. The external partner is expected to provide real time support in all sessions, to coach the NASA facilitator. NASA/CAS will designate a limited number of core team members to act as primary points of contact for this effort. One or more senior leaders will be available. Can the Government please clarify if the Contractor will be responsible to recruit attendees for the workshops or will this responsibility lie with NASA? The Government will recruit attendees. Will the Government provide templates or examples of what is required to document the workshops? The government will not provide templates or examples. The documentation of workshops should be based on knowledge of what is most important to capture from workshops based on the external partner's past experience. The government will provide answers to questions about documentation before/during/after the workshops as needed. Will the Government provide a prioritized list of the four potential workshops, as it relates to time and topic area complexity? This will be discussed upon award of a contract, not in advance. Sample input data is all that's available at this time. Materials generated during preliminary work will be available as part of any future efforts in this area. Does the scope of this work include the contractor providing input into the workshops topics? The scope of work includes getting familiar with existing inputs to workshops topics and any refinement of topics necessary in preparation for the workshop. How will NASA measure success of the workshops? Will there be separate metrics to measure the success of the overall effort? The main goal of this effort is to learn how to execute workshops well, rather than doing the right thing perfectly. Having concepts that can be advanced as an output of these workshops is considered a secondary benefit. The metrics for measuring the success of the workshops are multi-faceted and still under development. Included in some of the factors for metrics under development are the effectiveness of the workshops in enabling: cross-disciplinary ideation, system level thinking about the problem including non-technical issues; embracing the ambiguity of problem over a desire to quickly define a known solution, etc. 11. Could you clarify if you indeed wish to use a cooperative agreement, or a contract? This will be based on what information we receive during the RFI phase. That said due to the collaborative nature of the effort, a cooperative agreement is assumed to be the best mechanism. 12. The ideation, advisory, coaching, facilitation and technical assistance services NASA is describing in this RFI are very much available through commercial service providers. May respondents add sections to their respective RFI responses detailing the rational for a FAR Part 12 procurement? This will be based on what information we receive during the RFI phase. 13. Is the estimated award amount ($250,000 - $450,000) intended to cover the entirety of the scope detailed in this RFI; i.e. “up to four multi-day workshops”? Yes. 14. Will NASA set this opportunity aside for small business provided it can identify at least two responsible small business concerns that are competitive in terms of market prices, quality, and delivery? This will be based on what information we receive during the RFI phase. 15. What is the highest clearance requirement for personnel to access or work with the government systems? Currently NASA does not expect to require security clearances beyond the requirement to be a US Citizen. 16. Will the government provide the facilitator, technical support (start and stop conference), troubleshoot system, monitor personal interaction, questions, presence, and support the document capture in support of each workshop? (in break-out sessions too). The government intends to provide the facilitator (to be trained by the external partner). Additional workshop support from the government can be provided, but dedicated technical staff should not be assumed to be provided by the government. 17. Is proprietary information covered under NDAs with FFRDCs and supporting contractors conducting the reviews? Yes, if the contractors have signed an NDA with the Government. Contractors at NASA GRC have signed an NDC. 18. For each of the four multi day workshops, how many days will there be? How many participants per workshop? Workshop duration may vary based on what is appropriate based on the workshop design. There will likely be no more than 12 participants in each workshop. 19. Are there any simultaneous (concurrent) break-out workshops/required? Or will the break-out / sub groups work sequentially? Consideration for support needed for micro sub groups? If simultaneous break-out workshops have been found useful with this size of group in the past, they should be assumed to be required and requisite support should be included in the external partner response. 20. What are the approved applications/ tools for collaboration provided by the agency? Please provide any open platform tools that are in use for these engagements as well? The approved tools list for use within the agency will be provided either as an attachment to this sources sought notification in the future, or as an attachment to any future RFPs. 21. Are there any “closed / private” engagements that have more restrictive tool sets (applications) such as MS TEAMS ( and the office suite behind it)? Yes, tools such as MS Teams are assumed to be used in preparatory engagements prior to the workshops. All NASA personnel have access to teams. We understand that external participants have limited access to full Teams functionality when using the NASA provided version. 22. How will people be attending the meeting, via video conference only, teleconference, by phone, computer workstation platform or combinations? Ideally all participants will attend via video conference using their agency provided computer. Accommodations due to technical difficulties may be necessary. 23. What is the leadership and group's appetite for learning new tools or methods of collaboration? The CAS Project is open to new tools and methods of collaboration. However, given the short time frame in which these workshops need to be executed, the expectation is that only NASA authorized tools will be used as part of this initial effort. All tools will need to provide a secure environment. 24. How senior are the participants? Will there be any executives (SES or GO) in attendance? Participant seniority will vary. No SES or GO participants are planned at this time. If any executives attend, they are expected to only observe. 25. How tech savvy are the participants? Some advance training to ensure sufficient ease of use during workshops may be necessary to standardize technical familiarity with tools used during the workshops. 26. Is the government willing to provide for any ODCs, or cover license costs to support the year’s events for targeted tool sets used during the sessions? Given the short time frame these workshops need to be executed in the expectation is that only NASA authorized tools will be used as part of this initial effort; hence the assumption is that limited to no additional license costs or ODCs will be necessary on behalf of NASA. The external partner should be prepared to cover any tool costs for use by their personnel.