The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $73,296 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF ONE MISSION OF THE SCIENCE OFFICE FOR MISSION ASSESSMENTS (SOMA) IS THE TECHNICAL, MANAGEMENT, AND COST (TMC) EVALUATIONS OF PROPOSALS RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY SOLICITATIONS AND PHASE A CONCEPT STUDIES. IN RESPONSE TO AN AGENCY LEVEL PUSH FOR JOINT CONFIDENCE LEVEL (JCL) REQUIREMENTS AT KEY DECISION POINT-C, SOMA WOULD LIKE TO DEVELOP A CAPABILITY TO APPROXIMATE THE RANGE OF COST AND SCHEDULE FOR PROJECTS COMPLETING PHASE A. THE DESIRED COST AND SCHEDULE RELATIONSHIPS HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED FOR A SIMILAR TOOL AND WILL BE USED AS A STARTING POINT FOR THIS TASK. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP AN EXCEL/VBA BASED TOOL, WITH APPROPRIATELY COMMENTED MACROS, WHICH LEVERAGES INITIAL COST ESTIMATING RELATIONSHIPS THAT WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. A. THE TOOL SHALL PERFORM THE FOLLOWING FUNCTIONS: READ IN OUTPUT FILES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT, PRODUCED BY COST TOOLS (LISTED BELOW) TO POPULATE CURRENT BEST ESTIMATE (CBE) VALUES FOR WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) ELEMENTS FOR DEVELOPMENT PHASES. THE TOOL SHALL BE CAPABLE OF READING IN AND SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING SETS OF DATA FROM OUTPUT FILES FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING COST MODELS: CHICOMO (INITIAL PUSH FOR COMPATIBILITY AND TESTING); PRICE-H; NAFCOM; SEER-H. B. CONSOLIDATE DEVELOPMENT PHASE CBE FROM MULTIPLE COST MODELS INTO A SINGLE CBE CONSENSUS SET, WHILE PRESERVING THE LOWEST LEVEL OF DETAIL POSSIBLE, IN PREPARATION FOR THE USER TO AUGMENT THE DATA. (TASK 1.E). C. READ IN OUTPUT FILES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT, PRODUCED BY THE SPACE OPERATIONS COST MODEL (SOCM) TO POPULATE CBE ESTIMATES FOR WBS ELEMENTS FOR OPERATIONS PHASES. D. CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF WBS ELEMENTS: SUPPORT LABOR BASED ELEMENTS WHOSE DURATION IS AUTOMATICALLY SET TO THE DURATION OF A LIFE CYCLE PHASE (I.E. MANAGEMENT OR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING); STANDARD HARDWARE, OR DEVELOPMENT DRIVEN ELEMENTS WHICH DRIVE THE OVERALL SCHEDULE; ALLOW USER TO ENTER ADDITIONAL INPUTS FOR EACH WBS ELEMENT. FOR ALL (SUPPORT&STANDARD) WBS ELEMENTS:UNCERTAINTY RANGE LOWER LIMIT (%); UNCERTAINTY RANGE UPPER LIMIT (%). FOR STANDARD WBS ELEMENTS ONLY: LIKELIHOOD OF A PROBLEM OCCURRING (%); MAXIMUM COST TO FIX A PROBLEM, IF ONE OCCURS ($); START TIME RELATIVE TO START OF PHASE; NOMINAL DURATION; FUNDED SCHEDULE RESERVE; UNFUNDED SCHEDULE RESERVE; USE MONTE CARLO TECHNIQUE TO STOCHASTICALLY DETERMINE THE COST AND SCHEDULE DISTRIBUTION. THE USER SHALL BE ABLE TO ENTER A SEED VALUE TO PROVIDE REPRODUCIBILITY, AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF CASES THEY WISH TO RUN. THE GOVERNMENT WILL PROVIDE THE INITIAL COST AND SCHEDULE RELATIONSHIPS.INCORPORATE TIME BUYING AT WBS ELEMENT LEVEL USING 60 HR WORK WEEKS FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2.5 MONTHS. TIME-BUYING SHALL BE TRIGGERED BY EXCEEDING TIME-TO-GO THRESHOLD DEFINED AS A PERCENTAGE BY USER. WHEN TRIGGERED, THE SCHEDULE SHALL BE SHORTENED BY SIMULATING THE LABOR FORCE GOING TO 60 HOUR WORK WEEKS FOR A LIMITED TIME WITH OVERTIME PAY, FOLLOWED BY 48 HOUR WORK WEEKS UNTIL THE TASK IS BACK ON SCHEDULE. PRESENT RESULTS IN A WAY THAT CAN BE QUICKLY DIGESTED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:STORE CASE BY CASE TOTALS ON A SEPARATE SHEET FOR EASY REFERENCE; TOTAL COST/TOTAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE HISTOGRAM CONTOURS; ALLOW THE USER TO ENTER A TOTAL COST AND TOTAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE FROM A CONCEPT STUDY REPORT TO OBTAIN THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ENSURE THAT THE SOFTWARE AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS COMPLY WITH CONTRACT EXHIBIT G, NPR 7150.21 REQUIREMENTS MAPPING MATRIX (CLASS E), THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SMAB SOFTWARE ENGINEERING PROCESS WITH ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION POSTED ON THE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND CONCEPTS DIRECTORATE (SACD) TWIKI, LOCATED AT HTTPS://MACBETH.LARC.NASA.GOV/TWIKI/BIN/VIEW/SACD/WEBHOME. TASK #2 DOCUMENTATION AND TRAINING SESSIONS REFERENCE SOW ELEMENT 3.6 IN ADDITION TO THE TOOL DEVELOPMENT, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL: PROVIDE A USER MANUAL WITH SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO INSTRUCT A US

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• $49,903 - Wednesday the 10th of April 2013
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  "OTHER FUNCTIONS" IN ORDER TO PREPARE FOR FUTURE ICE WORK, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ASSIST SMAB IN BENCHMARKING THE CAPABILITY TO GENERATE INDEPENDENT COST ESTIMATES (ICES) FOR LARC PROPOSALS. BUILDING UPON RECENT ICES GENERATED BY SMAB IN SUPPORT OF NASA LARC OCFO, A SINGLE EXAMPLE MISSION PROPOSAL WILL BE CHOSEN THAT WILL THEN BE EVALUATED BY BOTH SMAB CIVIL SERVANTS AND CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL INDEPENDENTLY. THE RESULTS WILL THEN BE COMPARED AND RECONCILED TO UNDERSTAND ANALYST STRATEGIES AND PERSPECTIVES. THE INTENT IS TO UNDERSTAND VARIOUS TYPES OF DIFFERENCES THAT MAY EXIST WHEN EITHER PARTY GENERATES AN ESTIMATE. THE FOCUS WILL BE ON TRANSLATING THE PROJECT MASTER EQUIPMENT LIST (MEL) AND SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION INTO A WBS 5.0 HARDWARE COST ESTIMATE THAT INCLUDES THE COSTS TO PROCURE HARDWARE ITEMS FROM A POTENTIAL COMBINATION OF PRIME CONTRACTOR AND LARC IN-HOUSE WORK. IN PREPARATION FOR FUTURE ICE WORK, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM A THOROUGH AUDIT OF COST, SCHEDULE, AND AFFORDABILITY ESTIMATING CAPABILITIES IN USE BY BOTH SMAB AND THE CONTRACTOR. THE AUDIT SHALL BE BASED ON STATE OF THE ART PRACTICES BY OTHER NASA CENTERS, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, ACADEMIA, AND INDUSTRY. FOCUS OF SUCH ASSESSMENTS SHALL INCLUDE PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS (BOTH COST AND SCHEDULE), IMPROVED SCHEDULE ESTIMATION, UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION AND INCORPORATION, HARDWARE ESTIMATING MODELS, SOFTWARE ESTIMATING MODELS, OPERATIONS ESTIMATING MODELS, AND RELATED CAPABILITIES. TO ENABLE THESE ASSESSMENTS THE CONTRACTOR SHALL RESEARCH AND APPLY ANY CUTTING-EDGE METHODS OR TOOL CAPABILITIES BEING PUBLISHED IN VARIOUS RESEARCH OUTLETS. THE COST RESEARCH AND ANALOGY LIBRARY (CORAL) IS AN EXCEL/VBA-BASED DATABASE CONTAINING NUMEROUS HISTORIC NASA PROJECT TECHNICAL AND COST DETAILS. PER DIRECTION FROM SMAB, CORAL WAS GENERATED DURING THE SUMMER OF 2011 BY SPACEWORKS ENGINEERING THROUGH A NASA LARC CONTRACT WITH THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE (NIA). THE INTENT OF THE DATABASE IS TO CONSOLIDATE AND ORGANIZE NUMEROUS HISTORICAL AND ESTIMATED COST DATA POINTS IN A SINGLE DATABASE SO THAT FUTURE ANALYSTS CAN SEARCH AND LEVERAGE PAST ANALOGIES FOR FUTURE ESTIMATES.

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• $25,000 - Tuesday the 21st of February 2017
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTIONS - THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP A SET OF PARAMETRIC MASS ESTIMATING RELATIONSHIPS (MERS) FOR USE IN PREDICTING THE COMPONENT MASSES OF FUTURE SMALL LAUNCH SYSTEMS. THIS ACTIVITY IS MOTIVATED BY NASA S NEED TO AUGMENT ITS INTEGRATED ROCKET SIZING (INTROS) MERS THAT WERE PRIMARILY DEVELOPED TO SUPPORT CONCEPT DESIGN STUDIES OF LARGER LAUNCH SYSTEMS. THE NEW MERS WILL HELP NASA BETTER PREDICT THE COMPONENT MASSES FOR FUTURE SMALL LAUNCH SYSTEMS (ROUGHLY 200,000 LB GROSS MASS AND SMALLER ELVS). TO GENERATE THIS PRODUCT, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL COLLECT COMPONENT MASS DATA FOR SMALL LAUNCHERS (AT A MINIMUM FOR SUBSYSTEMS LISTED BELOW; POWER, AVIONICS, ACTUATORS, REACTION CONTROL) FROM PUBLICLY AVAILABLE SOURCES SUCH AS ONLINE DATABASES, AIAA CONFERENCE PAPERS, VENDOR WEBSITES, ETC. TO GUIDE THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE CANDIDATE LAUNCH SYSTEMS LIKELY TO BE IMPORTANT TO NASA S NEEDS OVER THE NEXT DECADE, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL CONDUCT A HIGH-LEVEL ASSESSMENT OF SMALL PAYLOAD MISSION CONCEPTS AND CANDIDATE SMALL LAUNCHERS SUCH AS FALCON 1, PEGASUS, ANTARES, AND SMALL INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHERS. THESE ASSESSMENTS WILL BE USED TO HELP NASA AND THE CONTRACTOR UNDERSTAND NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES ALONG WITH ENHANCING CURRENT ACTIVITIES. USING THE LAUNCHERS IDENTIFIED ABOVE, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP PARAMETRIC CURVE FITS OF THE COMPONENT MASS DATA THAT CORRESPOND WELL TO THE OBSERVED DATA TRENDS. KEY PARAMETERS SHALL BE IDENTIFIED TO USE AS INDEPENDENT VARIABLES IN THE CURVE FITS. THE MERS SHOULD PREDICT SUBSYSTEM MASS AS AN OUTPUT VARIABLE. THE RESULTANT CURVE FITS SHOULD BE VALIDATED TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE WITH THE LIMITED DATASETS EXPECTED.

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• $225,000 - Tuesday the 21st of February 2017
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTIONS - TO ASSIST SACD/SMAB IN PROVIDING INDEPENDENT COST ESTIMATING SUPPORT TO BOTH THE NASA LANGLEY OCFO AND VARIOUS FLIGHT PROJECT PROPOSAL TEAMS, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PERFORM AND PROVIDE FOUR INDEPENDENT COST AND SCHEDULE ESTIMATES FOR CONCEPTUAL SYSTEMS, INCLUSIVE OF HARDWARE COSTS, AND FLIGHT PROJECT WBS COSTS. THE ESTIMATES SHALL INCLUDE PROGRAMMATIC COSTS SUCH AS FEES AND RESERVES. INDIVIDUAL ICE GROUNDRULES AND ASSUMPTIONS WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND WILL INCLUDE DIRECTION TO USE QUANTIFIED UNCERTAINTY TO DERIVE ICE RESERVE LEVELS, HISTORICAL ANALOGY DATAPOINTS FOR ESTIMATING PURPOSES, AND VARIOUS SCHEDULE ASSUMPTIONS. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL PROVIDE ONGOING TOOLS AND METHOD SUPPORT SERVICES TO SMAB SUPPORTING FUTURE INDEPENDENT COST ESTIMATES. THESE SERVICES SHALL INCLUDE: COST OR SCHEDULE TOOL DEVELOPMENT; REFINEMENT OF EXISTING COST OR SCHEDULE TOOLS; ESTIMATING METHODOLOGY AND REFINEMENT; COLLECTION AND NORMALIZATION OF COST AND SCHEDULE DATA SETS; RESEARCH INTO STATE OF THE ART PRACTICES WITHIN THE LARGER AEROSPACE COST ESTIMATING COMMUNITY; DEVELOPMENT AND REFINEMENT OF PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS METHODS

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• $150,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTIONS - AN IDENTIFIED NEED WITHIN THE COST AND SCHEDULE ESTIMATING COMMUNITY IS THE ABILITY TO RAPIDLY AND PARAMETRICALLY ASSESS THE COST AND SCHEDULE ASSOCIATED WITH MATURING TECHNOLOGIES UP THE TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL) SCALE. IN RESPONSE TO THIS NEED, THE SPACE MISSION ANALYSIS BRANCH (SMAB) IS SEEKING TO DEVELOP SUCH A CAPABILITY BASED ON HISTORICAL TECHNOLOGY MATURATION COSTS. THE END PRODUCT WILL BE A TOOL USED BY SMAB, OFFICE OF CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST (OCT), AND THE ENTIRE NASA COST ESTIMATING AND TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT COMMUNITY. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL RESEARCH VARIOUS METHODS, DATA SETS, AND TECHNOLOGY METRICS THAT COULD BE USED WITHIN THE TOOL. THE ACTIVITIES INVOLVED WITH THIS TASK WILL NOT INCLUDE ACTUAL TOOL DEVELOPMENT ITSELF, BUT SHALL SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK DESIGN PLAN, COMPOSED BY NASA PERSONNEL, WHICH SHALL BE USED IN TASK #2 TO GUIDE THE TOOL S DEVELOPMENT. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL COLLECT DATA AND DEVELOP THE ANALYTICAL TOOL AS PLANNED IN THE TASK #1 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK PLAN. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL BE THE LEAD DEVELOPER IN THE ACTUAL TOOL ITSELF.

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• $145,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTIONS - ONE MISSION OF THE SCIENCE OFFICE FOR MISSION ASSESSMENTS (SOMA) IS THE TECHNICAL, MANAGEMENT, AND COST (TMC) EVALUATIONS OF PROPOSALS RECEIVED IN RESPONSE TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY SOLICITATIONS AND PHASE A CONCEPT STUDIES. IN RESPONSE TO AN AGENCY LEVEL PUSH FOR JOINT CONFIDENCE LEVEL (JCL) REQUIREMENTS AT KEY DECISION POINT-C, SOMA WOULD LIKE TO DEVELOP A CAPABILITY TO APPROXIMATE THE RANGE OF COST AND SCHEDULE FOR PROJECTS COMPLETING PHASE A. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP AN EXCEL/VBA BASED TOOL, WITH APPROPRIATELY COMMENTED MACROS, WHICH LEVERAGES INITIAL COST ESTIMATING RELATIONSHIPS THAT WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. A. THE TOOL SHALL PERFORM THE FOLLOWING FUNCTIONS: READ IN OUTPUT FILES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT, PRODUCED BY COST TOOLS (LISTED BELOW) TO POPULATE CURRENT BEST ESTIMATE (CBE) VALUES FOR WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE (WBS) ELEMENTS FOR DEVELOPMENT PHASES. THE TOOL SHALL BE CAPABLE OF READING IN AND SIMULTANEOUSLY HOLDING SETS OF DATA FROM OUTPUT FILES FROM EACH OF THE FOLLOWING COST MODELS: CHICOMO (INITIAL PUSH FOR COMPATIBILITY AND TESTING); PRICE-H; NAFCOM; SEER-H. B. CONSOLIDATE DEVELOPMENT PHASE CBE FROM MULTIPLE COST MODELS INTO A SINGLE CBE CONSENSUS SET, WHILE PRESERVING THE LOWEST LEVEL OF DETAIL POSSIBLE, IN PREPARATION FOR THE USER TO AUGMENT THE DATA. (TASK 1.E). C. READ IN OUTPUT FILES, WHICH WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT, PRODUCED BY THE SPACE OPERATIONS COST MODEL (SOCM) TO POPULATE CBE ESTIMATES FOR WBS ELEMENTS FOR OPERATIONS PHASES. D. CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF WBS ELEMENTS: SUPPORT LABOR BASED ELEMENTS WHOSE DURATION IS AUTOMATICALLY SET TO THE DURATION OF A LIFE CYCLE PHASE (I.E. MANAGEMENT OR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING); STANDARD HARDWARE, OR DEVELOPMENT DRIVEN ELEMENTS WHICH DRIVE THE OVERALL SCHEDULE; ALLOW USER TO ENTER ADDITIONAL INPUTS FOR EACH WBS ELEMENT. FOR ALL (SUPPORT&STANDARD) WBS ELEMENTS:UNCERTAINTY RANGE LOWER LIMIT (%); UNCERTAINTY RANGE UPPER LIMIT (%). FOR STANDARD WBS ELEMENTS ONLY: LIKELIHOOD OF A PROBLEM OCCURRING (%); MAXIMUM COST TO FIX A PROBLEM, IF ONE OCCURS ($); START TIME RELATIVE TO START OF PHASE; NOMINAL DURATION; FUNDED SCHEDULE RESERVE; UNFUNDED SCHEDULE RESERVE; USE MONTE CARLO TECHNIQUE TO STOCHASTICALLY DETERMINE THE COST AND SCHEDULE DISTRIBUTION. THE USER SHALL BE ABLE TO ENTER A SEED VALUE TO PROVIDE REPRODUCIBILITY, AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF CASES THEY WISH TO RUN. THE GOVERNMENT WILL PROVIDE THE INITIAL COST AND SCHEDULE RELATIONSHIPS.INCORPORATE TIME BUYING AT WBS ELEMENT LEVEL USING 60 HR WORK WEEKS FOR A MAXIMUM OF 2.5 MONTHS. TIME-BUYING SHALL BE TRIGGERED BY EXCEEDING TIME-TO-GO THRESHOLD DEFINED AS A PERCENTAGE BY USER. WHEN TRIGGERED, THE SCHEDULE SHALL BE SHORTENED BY SIMULATING THE LABOR FORCE GOING TO 60 HOUR WORK WEEKS FOR A LIMITED TIME WITH OVERTIME PAY, FOLLOWED BY 48 HOUR WORK WEEKS UNTIL THE TASK IS BACK ON SCHEDULE. PRESENT RESULTS IN A WAY THAT CAN BE QUICKLY DIGESTED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:STORE CASE BY CASE TOTALS ON A SEPARATE SHEET FOR EASY REFERENCE; TOTAL COST/TOTAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE HISTOGRAM CONTOURS; ALLOW THE USER TO ENTER A TOTAL COST AND TOTAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE FROM A CONCEPT STUDY REPORT TO OBTAIN THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL. THE CONTRACTOR SHALL ENSURE THAT THE SOFTWARE AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS COMPLY WITH CONTRACT EXHIBIT G, NPR 7150.21 REQUIREMENTS MAPPING MATRIX (CLASS E), THROUGH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SMAB SOFTWARE ENGINEERING PROCESS WITH ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION POSTED ON THE SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND CONCEPTS DIRECTORATE (SACD) TWIKI, LOCATED AT HTTPS://MACBETH.LARC.NASA.GOV/TWIKI/BIN/VIEW/SACD/WEBHOME. TASK #2 DOCUMENTATION AND TRAINING SESSIONS REFERENCE SOW ELEMENT 3.6 IN ADDITION TO THE TOOL DEVELOPMENT, THE CONTRACTOR SHALL: PROVIDE A USER MANUAL WITH SUFFICIENT DETAIL TO INSTRUCT A US

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