Antarctic Science and Engineering Support Contract, Draft Solicitation Release

Update 22 November 2024: A link to a Special Notice for the ASESC has been added under the "Links" section of this notice. The purpose of the linked announcement is to notify interested parties that in-person site visits will not be conducted. No changes have been made to the text below or any of the attachments.

Update 6 November 2024: A version of Attachment 13, the Q&A form, which includes responses has been added as an attachment to this notice. A revised draft solicitation is not provided at this time. Note that Q&A responses may use table of contents or page identifiers which may not be accurate to future solicitation releases as solicitation organization and content is subject to change.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is pleased to release a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for its Antarctic Science and Engineering Support Contract (ASESC) requirement. It includes a draft RFP with sections A through M. NSF’s intent is to provide transparency and early exposure for what is a robust requirement. By inviting questions and comments, NSF desires to enhance mutual understanding by increasing clarity and reducing ambiguity. NSF desires feedback from industry on the whole of the requirement, be that technical and contractual requirements, or instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria. Areas that NSF is specifically requesting feedback on include:

Ordering Instructions (Section B.6) Fee arrangement (Section B.7) Allotment of site visit slots and two-phase advisory down-select (Section L) Major subcontractor definition (Section L.9.5) CLIN structures for example orders (Attachment 11) Recommended NAICS and PSC This draft release includes a Question and Answer (Q&A) matrix on which interested parties must submit their questions. After the conclusion of this release, all questions for which there is an answer will be released.

The submitting party of the question will be omitted. During industry’s review, internal efforts related to ASESC acquisition planning will be ongoing. All elements of the RFP are subject to change according to NSF need in addition to industry feedback. However, NSF’s desire for feedback is measured against its inability to tailor requirements to the benefit of a specific interested party.

Therefore, NSF advises interested parties that responsiveness to questions or inclusion of any suggestions is at NSF’s discretion. To maximize fairness, only feedback received on the provided matrix will be reviewed and considered. At present, NSF does not intend to release a second draft of the RFP, but this is also subject to change. Any industry engagement will be posted publicly on SAM.gov. NSF expects to release any future information regarding this requirement at the Federal Point of Entry, www.sam.gov.

It is the responsibility of interested parties to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to solicitation. As a reminder, this is a draft RFP and thus NSF is not soliciting proposals at this time, and none will be accepted. This solicitation and associated contract award remain open to parties capable of meeting NSF’s requirements. All costs associated with responding to this release will be solely at the interested party’s expense and any information provided under this release is purely voluntary. Not responding to this release does not preclude participation in any future competition or participation in future subcontract opportunities which may arise with NSF.