NASA SEWP VI: Final RFP Released Yesterday with Major Changes from the Draft RFP

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released the final Request for Proposal (RFP) of their highly anticipated Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) VI Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) yesterday, May 23^rd, 2024.

There were significant changes to the proposal instructions that offerors need to be aware of. For reference, SEWP is the largest and most successful GWAC that every agency in the Federal Government uses. It is a must win for all IT value-added resellers and IT services companies. NASA will award a contract to every company that meets the minimum requirements.

Key dates for the proposal are:

• RFP posted to SAM.gov – May 23, 2024
• SEWP VI RFP Comment Tool – Deadline for Questions: June 7th, 2024, at 5 pm
• SEWP VI Informational Webex – June 4th, 2024, at 1 pm (virtual); registration link can be found here: NASA SEWP VI Home Page
• Proposal Due Date – July 11^th, 2024, at 12pm EST
• Tentative Award May 1, 2025

Major Key Changes and RFP Highlights:

• The size standard for Category A is now 541519e, which is the Information Technology Value Added Resellers NAICS. For the proposal requirements, Category A bidders will now be considered small if they have 150 employees or less, which is a welcomed change from the previous 541512 size standard of $34M. Categories B and C size standards remain at the 541512 requirements.
• NASA will only accept one proposal from each offeror per category as a Prime and as a member of a Joint Venture or Subcontractor in a Contractor Teaming Arrangement. Companies who submit more than one proposal per scope category as a prime and JV partner/subcontract will be removed from consideration in all proposals.
  • 3.5: “Only one proposal per group for each scope category will be accepted per offeror. An Offeror can propose as the prime contractor one time per category and can propose one additional time as a member of a joint venture (JV) or contractor team arrangement (CTA) in that same category.”
• NASA is concerned with offerors using consulting companies who copy and paste the same content for multiple proposals. Companies need to be sure that they only use reputable proposals consultants who will not use the same content for multiple company proposals.
  • 3.6.(B).7: “Any proposal found to be a duplication or replica of another offeror (company) or have a section that is a duplication or replica of another offeror (company), that is not a part of a joint venture or contractor teaming arrangement, will lead to all identified offerors being ineligible for award and will not be evaluated by the Government.”
  • 3.6.(B).7: “Offerors proposing as a prime and as part of a joint venture may submit the same management approach, certifications, references for past performance and mandatory experience. In no event can an offeror compete as a prime and as part of more than one joint venture or teaming arrangement per category.”
• The Technical Approach Volume page limits have been halved to 15 pages from 30 pages in the draft RFP.
• The Management Approach Volume page limits have been increased to 15 pages from 10 pages in the draft RFP.
• Category A now has 9 total Technical Areas instead of 6 in the draft SOW.
• Categories B and C technical areas appear to be the same but in a different order.

Minimum Experience Changes:

• Category A: Minimum Experience requirements have change and NASA appears to have limited offerors to bidding on a maximum of 4 of the 8 Mandatory Technical Areas, which is a strange requirement that will result in a lot of questions.
• Category B: Minimum Experience requirements for now require Other than Small Businesses to submit 4 REPs for 4 separate Mandatory Technical Areas with a minimum of $30M each, and Small Businesses to submit 3 REPs for 3 separate Mandatory Technical Areas with a minimum of $5M each.
• Category B: NASA has now added HUBZone, VOSB, SDVOSB, WOSB, EDWOSB, 8(a) requirements for Minimum Experience requirements, which require 2 REPs for 2 separate Mandatory Technical Areas with a minimum of $4M each.
• Category C: Minimum Requirements remain unchanged except offerors must submit 3 total REPs to cover 3 separate Technical Areas, and HUBZone, VOSB, SDVOSB, WOSB, EDWOSB, 8(a) offerors must submit 2 REPs for 2 separate Mandatory Technical.

There are many other changes that we still need to go through, but there are major implications to the minimum requirements to bid that everyone needs to carefully evaluate. Additionally, companies need to ensure their proposal consultants are not reusing proposal content across their proposals because NASA will disqualify duplicated proposals.

OST Global Solutions is a professional business development and proposal consulting company, and our proposal professionals only develop content custom to our clients’ capabilities, ensuring compliance with SEWP VI requirements. We have extensive experience in winning large, strategic bids like SEWP VI. We provide proposal professionals to develop complete, winning proposals. Or we can provide consultants on a case-by-case basis to fill gaps on your business development team. Our services related to SEWP VI consist of proposal management, proposal writing, editing, graphics, and desktop publishing.

Contact us to discuss your bids, so we can help you develop a winning proposal.

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