NOAA to Release $8 Billion Multiple-Award Total Small Business Set-Aside Contract: ProTech 2.0

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is preparing to release the recompete for its largest ID/IQ – the Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (ProTech) Satellite Domain. There are four domains: Satellite, Fisheries, Oceans, and Weather, and each has its own multiple-award ID/IQ contracts. The Satellite Domain accounts for the vast majority of task order awards compared with the other three domains.

The ProTech 2.0 program will include a 10-year period of performance and a shared ceiling of $8 billion to allow for performance stability and encourage long-term solutions. For the Satellite Domain, the ID/IQ awards will be total small business set aside. NOAA has not announced the acquisition strategy for the other domains, which will be re-competed after Satellites.

Continuing from ProTech, prime contract holders will be allowed to compete on any task order within their domain and add teaming partners as needed. In other words, offerors on ProTech 2.0 will be able to bring in new capabilities from subcontractors as needed to compete on any task orders.

ProTech is a mandatory-use, agency-wide, strategic sourcing solution, which means contracting officers must purchase the services covered under the ProTech contract through the ProTech vehicle. Contracting officers will continue to be required to use ProTech 2.0 for services covered under the contract.

We will discuss the period of performance, acquisition timeline, NOAA’s funding, bidder qualifications, and the draft RFP requirements below.

Contract Period of Performance and Acquisition Timeline

NOAA competed each of the four domains separately, so each domain has a different period of performance. The ProTech Domain end dates, and the ProTech 2.0 estimated start and end dates are as follows:

The current ProTech contract’s ordering period ends June 30, 2022. At the time of award, the vendor pool consisted of 23 Prime Awardees, which included 18 small businesses and five large businesses. The NAICS code was 541712 – Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences, with a size standard of 1,000 employees. As of Q3 FY 2021, NOAA issued 54 task orders on the Satellites Domain with an approximate value of $600 million.

ProTech 2.0 will have an ordering period for 10 years consisting of one five-year base period and one five-year option period. The shared ceiling value will be $8 billion, and the contract is a 100% small business set aside. The NAICS code will be changed to 541715 – Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology), with a small business size standard of 1,250 employees. NOAA anticipates making 12 to 25 awardees to ensure adequate coverage of all PWS tasks.

Next, we will review the President’s FY 2022 budget request for NOAA, and we will discuss the draft RFP requirements.

NOAA Satellites FY 2022 Budget

The President’s FY 2022 budget request for the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is just over $2 billion, a $515 million increase from FY 2021. The changes from last year’s budget include:

• -$0.6 million for Technical Adjustments
• +$8.2 million for Calculated Inflationary Adjustments
• +$2.6 million to restore funds reprogrammed in FY 2021 to support the Weather and Climate Operational Supercomputing System (WCOSS), and the Gulfstream G550, the aircraft that supports NOAA’s weather forecasting and research programs
• +$504.9 million in Narrative Program Changes from FY 2021 PB

NESDIS proposes the following goals for the budget:

• Support NOAA’s current satellite constellation and enable time critical program development for the next generation of satellite observing and ground systems that will deliver assets from 2030 to 2050
• Transition to an integrated and adaptable portfolio observing system and program management structure for major systems development
• Accelerate product service delivery to meet established customer needs and develop enhanced products to meet climate service needs
• Enable NOAA to better understand and forecast across weather, seasonal, and climatic timescales to deliver products and services for decision-makers, as described in Weather Act Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (P.L.115-25) and National Integrated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018 (P.L.115-423)
• Leverage and foster interagency, commercial, and international partnerships for observations and critical technology development, particularly in low Earth orbit
• Exploit information technology, such as cloud and artificial intelligence, to enable expansion of NOAA’s user community in both size and diversity
• Conduct essential system cost vs. performance trade-offs to define the NOAA observing system that can fit within a flat

ProTech 2.0 Draft RFP Requirements

NOAA anticipates making between 12 and 25 awards. When determining the final number of awards, NOAA will consider the number of proposals received and the agency’s needs to ensure comprehensive coverage and task order competition. According to the Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation, there were 35 proposals submitted for the original ProTech contract. There were 23 awards made for the current ProTech contract.

NOAA is not requiring exclusive teaming arrangements, and they are allowing teaming at the task order level to account for the diversity of services required and the long period of performance. NOAA is also encouraging niche and specialty firms to submit bids, and they will evaluate niche/specialty firms equally with all other offerors, according to the evaluation criteria. There is no requirement to propose on all elements in the PWS.

NOAA will use a best value trade-off analysis on proposals received. Awards will be made to the highest technically rated offerors with a reasonable price. ProTech 2.0 evaluation factors include:

• Factor I – Relevant Technical Experience
• Factor II – Management Approach
• Factor III – Past Performance
• Factor IV – Cost/Price

NOAA does not expect or require offerors to have relevant technical experience for every element described in the PWS.

Factor 1: Relevant Technical Experience will consist of a two-phase evaluation.

During Phase 1, offeror’s will complete a self-assessment of their relevant technical experience, and NOAA will then rank offerors based on their depth and breadth of experience. The process is as follows:

• Offerors will perform a self-assessment of their Relevant Technical Experience for each PWS element
• Offerors can use experience from the Prime or a teammate/subcontractor
• Offerors must use integrity when completing the self-assessment
  • Self-assessment selections will be validated in Phase 2
  • Offerors are not required or expected to have relevant technical experience for every element

During Phase 2, NOAA will assess its degree of confidence in an Offeror’s understanding of and capability to perform work that is relevant to the elements of the PWS. The submissions include:

• Completing the Phase 2 tab of the self-assessment
• Providing descriptions for up to 20 examples of relevant technical experience
• Validating: All relevant technical experience examples must align accurately from Phase 1 through Phase 2

Factor 2: Management Approach evaluation will be conducted via an Oral Presentation outlining:

• Organization
• Task Order Management
• Resources
• Communications
• Project Oversight
• Teaming
• Environmental Intelligence
• Corporate Assets

To evaluate Factor II, NOAA will review only the spoken information presented in the oral presentation. The slides to be submitted with the oral presentation will not be evaluated.

Factor 3: Past Performance evaluation will consist of up to eight examples. At least three past performance examples must come from the prime contractor, and past performance must be recent and related to one or more of the Relevant Technical Experience examples cited in Factor I. Recent is defined as a project for which the period of performance is ongoing or ended within the past five years of the proposal submission date. Relevant is defined as a project that is similar in size, scope, and complexity to this requirement. The sizes for the majority of Satellite Domain Task Orders are between $1 million and $10 million. Offerors must provide contract description and Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) Reports. Additionally, Offerors are responsible for submitting past performance questionnaire.

Factor 4: Cost/Price evaluation will consist of reviewing ceiling hourly rates that reflect the highest proposed rate at the highest cost location for each level within each labor category. Offerors must submit fully burdened ceiling hourly rates. NOAA will evaluate hourly rates for reasonableness. Rates will not be used to develop a price for each proposal that will be used to rank offerors from low to high. NOAA has stated that offerors will gain no advantage by bidding low ceiling rates.

OST Global Solutions is a professional business development consulting firm. We have experience supporting large, strategic bids like ProTech 2.0. We can provide capture and proposal teams to develop a complete, winning ProTech 2.0 proposal. Or we can provide consultants on a case-by-case basis to fill gaps on your business development team. Our services related to the ProTech 2.0 proposal consist of capture management, proposal management, orals coaching, proposal writing, graphics support, editing, desktop publishing, and cost volume development.

Reach out to us to discuss your ProTech 2.0 bid, so we can discuss how to develop a winning proposal.

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