The NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is planning to issue a future Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Earth Observing System Data & Information System (EOSDIS) Evolution and Development (EED) support contract. However, at this time in planning for the RFP release, the Government seeks industry's comments about what type of contract (FFP, CPFF, CPAF, etc) should be issued for this indefinite delivery - indefinite quantity requirement by the government. We request that respondents identify specific contract type and discuss the advantages, disadvantages, constraints, risks, costs, and trade-offs associated with each alternative. Please email responses to Jennifer.A.OConnell@nasa.gov. All contractual technical questions must be submitted in writing (e-mail or fax). Telephone questions will not be accepted.
As the contract type must be selected to fit the work required, provided as the remainder of this notice is technical detail currently known for the future indefinite delivery - indefinite quantity requirement.
This contract will provide for development and sustaining engineering of software and hardware systems that provide science data management for the Earth Science Data Information Systems Project, including (but not limited to) the EOSDIS Core System (ECS), currently deployed at three data centers, and the EOS ClearingHouse (ECHO), which provides middleware for search and order of EOS data. These systems acquire, process, store and distribute very large volumes of diverse science data from numerous instruments on several platforms. They are required to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The successful contractor will be expected to sustain the high reliability, performance, and accessibility of these cutting-edge systems, while developing new capabilities in response to new mission requirements and evolving science needs.
Relevant characteristics of the systems to be developed, evolved and sustained via this contract:
EOSDIS Core System (ECS): State-of-the-art Science Data System deployed at three geographically dispersed data centers:
• Average number of servers per data center: 35
• Custom code:
600K C/++ SLOC
23K Java
81K Perl
1.4M script lines
440K SQL
272K XML
• COTS Software:
212 unique products ( 358 variants – e.g., to execute on different platforms or different operating systems
149 products critical to system performance
• Test system: Includes all of the above, as well as > 27 million data files to support various levels of testing
• System interfaces to 13 different external facilities, controlled by 40 ICDs
• Operational Availability requirement: .96, with 4 hour mean down time
EOS Clearing House (ECHO):
• X SLOC
• Data base factoids
• Handles 490,000 inserts/updates/deletions per day
• Processes 670 orders per day for ~12,000 data granules per day
• Responds to 2080 queries per day (65% spatial)
• Operational Availability requirement: .98 with 4 hour mean down time
The GSFC is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) for information and planning purposes, and to allow industry the opportunity to provide feedback and recommendations on the potential type of contract to be awarded. The EED is a follow-on to the EOSDIS Maintenance and Development (EMD) contract. In responding to this RFI, please identify the contract type that would provide the most incentive for high quality technical performance and flexible response to new requirements, as well as cost control. Discuss the advantages, disadvantages, constraints, and risks associated with your recommendation.
This synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. Respondents will not be notified of results. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offeror’s responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.
Please note below is the Draft Statement of Work to assist in responding to this request for information on the type of contract to be awarded.
DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK
In the performance of this contract, the EED contractor is required to coordinate and integrate task related activities with the ESDIS Project, the Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs), other Earth science data centers, the science investigator teams, the user community, as well as other EOS contractors. The contractor’s overall goal shall be to continuously improve the reliability, availability, functionality, operability, and performance of hardware and software systems within the EOSDIS while reducing operational and maintenance costs.
The contractor may be tasked to:
• Provide new systems and/or major upgrades to existing systems
• Conduct engineering studies directed by the Government.
• Provide corrective engineering of custom and COTS software in a timely manner.
• Provide preventive and corrective engineering of hardware components consistent with the operational availability needs and science users.
• Provide hardware and software adaptive engineering to sustain Earth science systems
• Provide hardware and software perfective enhancements to implement new requirements.
• Provide corrective, adaptive, and perfective engineering to lower the overall cost of maintenance and operations
• Provide system operations and user support
See Section 2.0 for definitions of preventive, corrective, adaptive, and perfective maintenance.
See the ESDIS Project web site for additional information about the Project and the EOSDIS system and components: http://www.esdis.eosdis.nasa.gov/index.html
1.3 Place of Performance
The contractor is responsible for selecting the location(s) to perform the activities required by this statement of work. Generally, the contractor shall be able to support task related meetings at the GSFC within 2 hours of notification.
The contractor shall host government and government support personnel attending required monthly reviews.
The contractor shall make a minimum of 2 full time offices (no less than 160 square feet total) available for visiting government support personnel, and government assurance representatives upon request.
Section 2.0 Definitions
Corrective Engineering – Changes necessitated by actual design errors and/or design deficiencies. Corrective engineering consists of activities normally considered to be error correction required to keep the system operational. By its nature, corrective engineerng is usually a reactive process. Corrective engineering is related to the system not performing as originally intended. The three main causes of corrective engineering are (1) design errors, (2) logic errors, and (3) coding errors.
Adaptive Engineering – Changes initiated as a result of technology upgrades and changes in the environment in which a system must operate. These environmental changes are normally beyond the control of the maintainer and consist primarily of changes to the: (1) rule, laws, and regulations that affect the system: (2) hardware configuration, e.g., new terminals, local printers, etc.: (3) data formats, file structures: and (4) system software, e.g., operating systems, compilers, and utilities.
Perfective Engineering – (Also commonly referred to as enhancements and upgrades) All changes, insertions, deletions, modifications, extensions, and enhancements made to a system to meet the evolving and/or expanding needs of the user. It is generally performed as a result of new or changing requirements, or in an attempt to augment or fine-tune the existing software/ hardware operations/performance. Activities designed to make the code easier to understand and to work with, such as restructuring or documentation updates and optimization of code to make it run faster or use storage more efficiently are also included in the Perfective category.
Preventive Maintenance – As used in this statement of work Preventive Maintenance refers to hardware preemptive activities, such as cleaning filters and installing recommended engineering changes, to avoid future failures. Preventive maintenance activities are expected to be included with a corrective maintenance task.
Section 3.0 Requirements
Within the scope of this contract the contractor shall provide all the necessary capabilities including, but not limited to, trained personnel, tools, materials, documentation, procurement, software and hardware environments, and facilities (except as contractually provided by the government as Government Furnished Property) to perform the following:
3.1 Program Management (WBS 1)
The EED contractor shall plan, develop, integrate, and execute the program management activities necessary to successfully execute the requirements of this contract. The contractor shall provide the necessary skills and staffing levels to ensure successful performance on this contract. These activities shall include, but are not limited to, program planning, detailed technical planning; conduct of technical and program reviews; financial and technical progress reporting; financial management; purchasing and procurement of required products, services and resources; subcontract management; configuration management; safety management; security and property management; quality management; risk management; and performance assurance.
3.2 Transition of Engineering Responsibilities (WBS 2)
The EED contractor shall plan for and execute the transfer of hardware and software system responsibilities from the current EMD contractor (NAS5-03098). The EED contractor shall also plan and execute the transfer of hardware and software system responsibilities and provide training and consultation services to the EMD3 follow-on contractor. These activities shall include but are not limited to facility planning; transition planning to meet the operational requirements of this contract; goal setting and development of schedules and milestones; coordination of activities; property management; training of personnel necessary for the acceptance, maintenance, development and operation of the software systems under this contract; installation and testing of both hardware and software; and conduct of a Capability Demonstration Test.
3.3 Development Engineering (WBS 3)
The EED contractor shall perform design, development, test and implementation activities for Earth science data systems. Development activities shall include, but not be limited to, hardware and/or software requirements analysis, test plan development, test activity planning and coordination, design, interface definition and /or compliance with standards cited within this contract, test and integration, training, quality assurance and documentation development and maintenance.
3.4 Maintenance Engineering (WBS 4)
The EED contractor shall perform hardware and software engineering maintenance of Earth science data systems in accordance with authorized tasks. Engineering maintenance shall consist of a large spectrum of activities including, but not limited to, replace, remove and/or upgrade custom software, COTS software, COTS hardware and system media; design; implementation; modification; configuration management; computer resource analysis and utilization planning; training of personnel as necessary; integration; installation; user liaison; help desk; and testing. The contractor shall plan, document, implement, and maintain the hardware and software maintenance and development processes to be used throughout the life of the EED contract, including detailed patch and release documentation.
3.5 System Engineering (WBS 5)
The EED contractor shall perform system engineering on Earth science data system hardware and software systems in accordance with authorized tasks. System Engineering activities shall include, but not be limited to, analyses; trade studies; point papers related to recommending enhancements to the EOSDIS system and/or its components for cost saving and/or cost avoidance; capacity growth; performance, reliability, maintainability and/or operational improvements; technology refresh; design improvements; process improvement; and other similar type upgrades.
3.6 Science Support (WBS 6)
The EED contractor shall provide support to the Earth science community in accordance with authorized tasks. Support shall include but not be limited to training in the use of the EOSDIS or other Earth science systems, including instruction on data models, definition of the Earth Science Data Types, development and maintenance of interfaces and related documentation, identification of system modifications required to support science community needs, and training in the analysis of problems.
3.7 Operations Support (WBS 7)
The EED contractor shall provide operations support in accordance with authorized tasks. These activities include, but are not limited to, on-site system operations, on site system administration, on-site maintenance, training of operations and related skilled personnel on the maintenance and operation, use of operational and diagnostic tools and procedures, development of procedures to accommodate upgrades or enhancements, on-site engineering support at designated sites, on-site metric collection related to the operational performance, problem diagnoses and solution development, system administration and security planning, system tuning, patch and release planning and coordination , system testing, informational bulletin development; special tools use and development, system impact analyses and problem analyses.
3.8 Studies and Prototyping (WBS 8)
The EED contractor shall perform and/or support special studies and prototyping in accordance with authorized tasks.
