The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released the draft Statement of Work (SOW) for its largest IDIQ – Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (ProTech) Satellite Domain. The ProTech contract has a $3 billion ceiling shared across four domains, with the Satellite Domain accounting for roughly 75% of the total obligations since 2017. According to Bloomberg Government, the spending per domain is as follows:
- Satellite Domain: $221 million
- Fisheries Domain: $58 million
- Oceans Domain: $8.6 million
- Weather Domain: $4.8 million
While the spending to date remains well below the ceiling value, expect the spending to increase. In July of 2019, Jeffery Thomas issued Acquisition Alert 19-02, updating “the NOAA policy for use of Professional and Technical Services (ProTech) strategic sourcing solution for all requirements for professional and technical services, regardless of dollar value.”
We expect NOAA to release the final RFP for the Satellite Domain recompete before the end of 2021, either during fiscal year (FY) Q4 2021 (July through September 2021), or in FY Q1 2022 (October through December 2021). The three remaining domain recompetes will follow soon after. Like the competition in 2016, the Satellite Domain will reserve awards for both full and open competition and small business set aside. NOAA will again likely reserve at least two awards for each socioeconomic category.
If you’re considering a bid on all or part of this project, now is the time to start competitive analysis and assemble a team for the recompete. There are currently 23 incumbents on the vehicle, but only 12 received any task order awards. It is reasonable to assume the proposal instructions and evaluation criteria will be similar to the 2016 competition. This means that NOAA will give awards to the highest technically rated offers with a fair and reasonable price.
The draft SOW was released in March, and it explains the following requirements:
- Professional Services (C.3.1): broadly classified as Program and Project Management, Business Services, and Communication Services including:
- Program & Project Management Services
- Business Services
- Communication Services
- Technical and Scientific Services (C.3.2): broadly classified as Architecture Services or Scientific and Engineering Services including:
- Systems Architecture
- Science and Engineering
For capture planning purposes, we should assume the following proposal structure:
- Volume I: Administrative – includes a 3-page Executive Summary and typical contractual information
- Volume II: Corporate Experience and Commitment – 25 pages, which includes:
- Describing the offeror’s experience and qualifications relating to the SOW
- Describing the offeror’s knowledge of environmental intelligence, NOAA, scope of requirements in this Domain, and the offeror’s commitment to investing in relevant solutions
- Describing the qualifications and responsibilities of subcontractors
- Volume III: Management Approach – 10 pages, which includes:
- Organization structure
- Task order management approach
- Resources to recruit, train, and retain a high-quality workforce
- Communication process
- Quality control process
- Small business subcontracting plan, if applicable
- Volume IV: Past Performance – 18 pages (evaluated separately from Corporate experience), which includes:
- Up to 8 contracts having performance within the past 5 years
- At least 3 contracts must come from the Prime/Joint Venture
- Cost/Price – no page limit for the pricing worksheet
According to the Federal Procurement Data System – Next Generation, there were 35 submissions and 23 awards. With the new policy directing all strategic sourcing to ProTech, we expect greater competition this time.
Reach out to OST Global Solutions for capture support if you need help conducting competitive analysis, making teaming decisions, and staging content for the final RFP release. Starting now will increase the likelihood of building an all-star team for the next ProTech Satellite competition.
Contact us to learn more.
