SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- SENIOR AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SUPPORT FOR THE NASA-DFRC GLOBAL HAWK UNMANNEDAERIAL SYSTEM
- Notice Date
- 8/4/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541330
— Engineering Services
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Dryden Flight Research Center, Code A, P.O. Box 273, Edwards, CA 93523-0273
- ZIP Code
- 93523-0273
- Solicitation Number
- NND10348489
- Response Due
- 8/11/2010
- Archive Date
- 8/4/2011
- Point of Contact
- Michelle Vial, Contract Specialist, Phone 661-276-3513, Fax 661-276-2904, Email Michelle.L.Vial@nasa.gov - Brian G. Bowman, Contracting Officer, Phone 661-276-3329, Fax 661-276-2904, Email Brian.G.Bowman@nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Michelle Vial
(Michelle.L.Vial@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASA/DFRC has a requirement for Senior Aerospace Engineering support for theon-going operation and capability expansion of the NASA/DFRC Global Hawk Program inaccordance with the attached Statement of Work dated July 1, 2010; one (1) job.NASA/DFRC intends to purchase these services from Zel Technologies LLC located inHampton, Virginia. The authority for other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C.2304(c)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfyagency requirements. Justification is based upon the Contractor's ability to provideone-of-a-kind Global Hawk experience and knowledge for the basic NASA aircraft and groundcontrol station configurations, which is different from any other Global Hawk currentlyin service, and provide experience and knowledge of the specialized payload system thathas been installed in the aircraft and the ground control station. Only participants inthe development and design of the NASA Global Hawk capability over the previous fouryears have the ability to provide payload integration support. An in-depth knowledge ofthe NASA Global Hawk system is required to ensure that payloads can be safely integratedwhile meeting the unique requirements for the NASA systems, such as environmental, power,and data requirements. The Global Hawk Payload Engineer requires extensive knowledge ofthe Global Hawk aircraft, unique NASA payload systems, unique NASA ground controlstation, and the scientific payloads that are being integrated into the aircraft. ZelTechnologies, LLC has provided Engineering Support during the design and implementationof these payload systems, as well as the coordination of all payload integrationactivities, and has unique experience on these systems. No other company is capable ofproviding the required support without a significant impact to cost, schedule, safety,and viability of the Global Hawk Project. The NASA Global Hawk has unique payload andground control station systems and is not similar to the USAF or Navy Global Hawksystems. Thus, support personnel and organizations for all other versions of Global Hawksdo not have the required knowledge of the unique NASA Global Hawk systems and payloads. Zel Technologies has provided engineering support services since the beginning of theNASA Global Hawk Program and thus possesses a unique knowledge of the systems andparticipated in defining the requirements for these systems. In order to duplicate theexpertise required for the Statement of Work associated with this procurement, a seniorengineer would require approximately two years of on-the-job training to reach the levelof expertise that is currently being provided by Zel Technologies LLC.The cost to theprogram would be approximately $600,000.00 for the salary of a senior engineer duringtheir training over these two years and it would require additional time from the ProjectManager (PM) and Operations Engineers (OEs) to provide this training. The PM and OEs arecurrently fully subscribed, therefore additional support would be required to back-filltheir duties and this would increase costs of the project. A typical payload integrationprocess currently requires six months to complete with the support currently provided byZel Technologies. Knowledge of the entire NASA Global Hawk system, including operationalenvironments and payload accommodations, is required to meet this timeline and ensurethat the integration process results in the safe, efficient operation of each payload. Aninexperienced engineer would require more than double this time to coordinate integrationactivities as they continually search for the required information needed to support thepayload integration activities and ensure safe operations of the payloads. During thetwo years of training required to reach the expertise level that Zel Technologiespossesses, the effort to integrate payloads onto the Global Hawk would be severelyimpacted and would result in approximately $10M in lost projects and could cause possibletermination of the program. The expertise called out in this procurement is essential tomeeting the aggressive schedules for the integration on the aircraft.The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12.Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform theeffort in writing to the identified point of contact no later than August 11, 2010(4:30PM (PDT)). Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purposeof determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. Adetermination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and opencompetition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretionof the government.Only written communications (preferably via e-mail) are acceptable in response to thisnotice.NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable hereto. Theinstallation Ombudsman is Patrick Stolicker, (661) 276-2706.
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- Record
- SN02228815-W 20100806/100804235208-343ab1dcbdf76c062e6a65851f0229e8 (fbodaily.com)
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