Antarctic Science and Engineering Support Contract

KBR Services, LLC is awarded an IDIQ contract with a hybrid contract type structure. Task Orders issued under this IDIQ may be Firm Fixed Price, Cost Reimbursement, Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee, or Cost-Plus-Award-Fee. Task Order contract type will be determined by the Contracting Officer. The United States National Science Foundation (NSF) proposes to purchase a host of services which sustain life and scientific operations in the Antarctic region under a single award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

NSF manages the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) on behalf of the Nation per Presidential Memorandum 6646, “United States Antarctic Policy and Programs”. The USAP supports all U.S. scientific research and related logistics in Antarctica and aboard USAP vessels that operate along the continental margin and in the Southern Ocean. Work in Antarctica is carried out in partnership with grantee institutions, other Federal agencies, the military, other National Antarctic Programs, and private industry.

Logistic services, communication services, program management, facility maintenance, infrastructure development, and science instrumentation support are all services captured as part of the requirement. The requirement directly supports the US research facilities in Antarctica. Services are highly complex, consisting of maintaining life-supporting logistics, communications, and infrastructure in one of the most remote parts of the world, all while ensuring successful execution of science.

Failure to effectively perform certain elements of the requirement results in risk to human health. Support of infrastructure requirements may result in significant re-work costs if errors are made, or site conditions change. The need for the contract to accommodate a requirement which by its nature changes year to year means that performance uncertainties are constant.

Factors such as these result in a very high level of financial responsibility for the contractor, necessitating some form of mitigation via other-than-fixed-price. The requirement is considered to have too many uncertainties, which complicates the ability for fixed-price contracts to capture the requirement’s risk without offering an excessively high fixed-price.

While some of the ASESC services could be considered commercial in a normal environment, the austere performance conditions, among the most austere and difficult on the planet, and complex nature of the requirement demands the use of terms and conditions which are not similar to those offered to the general public. Commercial services that are performed in the United States as part of this effort are so integrally related to the international services that it is not feasible to separate the requirements. As such, the services required for ASESC are not commercial in nature. Award is the result of a competitive procurement.