Human and Robotics Technology (H&RT) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

**Questions and Answers (Q&As)**

> **1. Q.** Does a University have to submit Small Business Goals or
> Plan?
>
> **1. A**. A University does not have to submit Small Business Goals or
> a Plan if they propose the award instrument to be a cooperative
> agreement. If a contract were chosen to be the instrument then Goals
> (with proposal) and a Plan (prior to award) would be required.
>
> **2. Q.** Is there a maximum percentage of participation from NASA
> Centers/FFRDC or groups of NASA Centers applied to a single proposal?
>
> **2. A.** No. It will be judged on the reasonableness of the proposed
> effort. The only requirement is that a NASA Center cannot be or have
> the appearance of the lead organization.
>
> **3. Q.** What type of certification is required (Reference Section
> III. C. 1.)
>
> **3. A.** The certification requirement refers to the following:

[Certifications and Assurances]{.underline}

Certification of Compliance on *Proposal Cover Page*

There are currently two formal Certifications and one formal Assurance
required as part of a proposal submitted in response to a NASA research
solicitation. The Certifications and Assurance are stated below, and
apply to all organizations, except U.S. Federal Institutions. This
certification affirms that these requirements are met by the proposing
organization once the printed version of the Proposal Cover Page is
signed by the Authorizing Official of the proposing organization (or by
the individual offeror if there is no proposing organization) and
submitted with the proposal. Therefore, the Certifications and Assurance
reproduced below are included only for reference and information; they
need not be submitted with the proposal.

> [Certification of Compliance with Applicable Executive Orders and U.S.
> Code]{.underline}
>
> By submitting the proposal identified in the Cover Sheet/Proposal
> Summary in response to this Research Announcement, the Authorizing
> Official of the proposing organization (or the individual offeror if
> there is no proposing organization) as identified below:
>
> • certifies that the statements made in this proposal are true and
> complete to the best of his/her knowledge;
>
> • agrees to accept the obligations to comply with NASA award terms and
> conditions if an award is made as a result of this proposal; and
>
> • confirms compliance with all provisions, rules, and stipulations set
> forth in the two Certifications and one Assurance contained in this
> NRA (namely, (i) the Assurance of Compliance with the NASA Regulations
> Pursuant to Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs, and (ii)
> Certifications, Disclosures, and Assurances Regarding Lobbying and
> Debarment & Suspension.
>
> Willful provision of false information in this proposal and/or its
> supporting documents, or in reports required under an ensuing award,
> is a criminal offense (U.S. Code, Title 18, Section 1001).

In addition, offerors should be aware that this BAA requires additional,
specialized certifications (e.g., concerning the impact of proposed
research that includes environmental, human, or animal care provisions,
or other topics required by statute, Executive Order, or Government
policies). These are addressed in the BAA.

Assurance of Compliance with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration Regulations Pursuant to Nondiscrimination in Federally
Assisted Programs

> "The Organization, corporation, firm, or other organization on whose
> behalf this assurance is signed, hereinafter called \"Applicant\"
>
> "HEREBY AGREES THAT it will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights
> Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-352), Title IX of the Education Amendments of
> 1972 (20U.S.C. 1680 et seq.), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
> 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794), and the Age Discrimination Act of
> 1975 (42 U.S.C. 16101 et seq.) and all requirements imposed by or
> pursuant to the Regulation of the National Aeronautics and Space
> Administration (14 CFR Part 1250)(hereinafter called \"NASA\") issued
> pursuant to these laws, to the end that in accordance with these laws
> and regulations, no person in the United States shall, on the basis of
> race, color, national origin, sex, handicapped condition, or age be
> excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be
> otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity
> for which the Applicant receives federal financial assistance from
> NASA; and HEREBY GIVES ASSURANCE THAT it will immediately take any
> measure necessary to effectuate this agreement.
>
> "If any real property or structure thereon is provided or improved
> with the aid of federal financial assistance extended to the Applicant
> by NASA, this assurance shall obligate the Applicant, or in the case
> of any transfer of which federal financial assistance is extended or
> for another purpose involving the provision of similar services or
> benefits. If any personal property is so provided, this assurance
> shall obligate the Applicant for the period during which it retains
> ownership or possession of the property. In all other cases, this
> assurance shall obligate the Applicant for the period during which the
> federal financial assistance is extended to it by NASA.
>
> "THIS ASSURANCE is given in consideration of and for the purpose of
> obtaining any and all federal grants, loans, contract, property,
> discounts or other federal financial assistance extended after the
> date hereof to the Applicant by NASA, including installation payments
> after such date on account of applications for federal financial
> assistance which were approved before such date. The Applicant
> recognizes and agrees that such federal financial assistance will be
> extended in reliance on the representations and agreements made in
> this assurance, and that the United States shall have the right to
> seek judicial enforcement of this assurance. This assurance is binding
> on the Applicant, its successors, transferees, and assignees, and the
> person or persons whose signatures appear below are authorized to sign
> on behalf of the Applicant."
>
> Certification Regarding Lobbying
>
> "No Federal appropriated funds have been paid or will be paid, by or
> on behalf of the undersigned, to any person for influencing or
> attempting to influence an officer or employee of any agency, a Member
> of Congress, an officer or employee of Congress, or an employee of a
> Member of Congress in connection with the awarding of any Federal
> contract, the making of any Federal grant, the making of any Federal
> loan, the entering into of any cooperative agreement, and the
> extension, continuation, renewal, amendment, or modification of any
> Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative agreement.
>
> "If any funds other than Federal appropriated funds have been paid or
> will be paid to any person for influencing or attempting to influence
> an officer or employee of any agency, a Member of Congress, an officer
> or employee of Congress, or an employee of a Member of Congress in
> connection with this Federal contract, grant, loan, or cooperative
> agreement, the undersigned shall complete and submit Standard
> Form-LLL, \"Disclosure Form to Report Lobbying,\" in accordance with
> its instructions.
>
> "The undersigned shall require that the language of this certification
> be included in the award documents for all subawards at all tiers
> (including subcontracts, subgrants, and contracts under grants, loans,
> and cooperative agreements) and that all subrecipients shall certify
> and disclose accordingly.
>
> "This certification is a material representation of fact upon which
> reliance was placed when this transaction was made or entered into.
> Submission of this certification is a prerequisite for making or
> entering into this transaction imposed by section 1352, title 31, U.S.
> Code. Any person who fails to file the required certification shall be
> subject to a civil penalty of not less than \$10,000, and not more
> than \$100,000 for each such failure."

Certification Regarding Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility
Matters

> "This certification is required by the regulations implementing
> Executive Order 12549, Debarment and Suspension, 14 CFR, Part 1265,
> Participant\'s responsibilities, published as Part VII of the May 26,
> 1988, *Federal Register* (pages 19160-19211).
>
> "(1) The prospective primary participant certifies to the best of its
> knowledge and belief, that it and its principals:
>
> -- Are not presently debarred, suspended, proposed for debarment,
> declared ineligible, or voluntarily excluded from covered transactions
> by any Federal department or agency;
>
> -- Have not within a three-year period preceding this proposal been
> convicted of or had a civil judgment rendered against them for
> commission of fraud or a criminal offense in connection with
> obtaining, attempting to obtain, or performing a public (Federal,
> State, or local) transaction or contract under a public transaction;
> violation of Federal or State antitrust statues or commission of
> embezzlement theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of
> records, making false statements, or receiving stolen property;
>
> -- Are not presently indicted for or otherwise criminally or civilly
> charged by a governmental entity (Federal, State or local) with
> commission of any of the offenses enumerated in paragraph (1)(b) of
> this certification; and
>
> -- Have not within three-year period preceding this
> application/proposal had one or more public transactions (Federal,
> State, or local) terminated for cause or default.
>
> "(2) Where the prospective primary participant is unable to certify to
> any of the statements in this certification, such prospective
> participant shall attach an explanation to this proposal."
>
> **4. Q.** What type of information will be required to be submitted on
> the web portal with the proposal?
>
> **4. A.** Certain information will be required to be filled in on the
> electronic submission webpage. This information will include data on
> participating organizations; project type; primary and secondary
> program; primary theme; and cost totals for Phase I and II. There will
> be a total of four (4) files to upload your information: Summary
> Chart; Project Information (Proposal Items 1-13); and Cost. An example
> of the Summary Chart is shown at Appendix E of the BAA.
>
> **5. Q.** Does a NASA Center that is participating with a Lead
> Contractor/Organization through a GTA have to provide Past Performance
> information?
>
> **5. A.** No. The past performance information is required for the
> Prime/Lead organization and any subcontractors over \$500,000.
>
> **6. Q.** Do GTA forms in the Appendix B count against the page count
> in10. Facilities and Equipment listed in the BAA?
>
> **6. A.** No. The GTAs are separate and for use by those Offerors
> utilizing another NASA Center. They will be uploaded with the material
> in Proposal items 1-13.
>
> **7. Q.** Does NASA have a supercomputing facility that H&RT BAA
> offerors can propose to use?
>
> **7. A.** Yes, the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Facility at NASA
> Ames Research Center is available for this purpose. This facility
> provides supercomputer resources (e.g., compute cycles and data
> storage) and application support (e.g., code porting and scaling,
> visualization) for large-scale simulations and data analysis. The NAS
> facility can be remotely accessed. The point of contact for this
> facility is
>
> William Van Dalsem
>
> William.R.VanDalsem@nasa.gov, 650-604-4469).
>
> See also [http://www.nas.nasa.gov](http://www.nas.nasa.gov/) for more
> information.
>
> **8. Q.** In Netscape 7.x and Mozilla 1.3, I sometimes see strange
> text at the top of some of the pages. Is that normal?
>
> **8. A.** Netscape 7.x and Mozilla 1.3 contain a bug on both the
> Windows and Macintosh platforms. Under certain circumstances, these
> browsers will display the webpage as plain text instead of HTML. On
> the OExS Website this problem only occurs during the submission of a
> document.

To correct for this, select Preferences\... from the Edit menu or the
Netscape menu on a Macintosh. Then click to expand the Advanced category
on the left-hand portion of the Preferences dialog screen. Next, select
HTTP Networking. In the Direct Connection Options area select USE HTTP
1.0. Make sure that Enable Keep-Alive and Enable Pipelining checkboxes
are UNchecked. Select OK to save the settings.

> This bug is prevalent on many sites on the internet including a number
> of internet banking sites. However, it seems to only appear under
> certain circumstances when using HTTPS ([https://]()). After making
> your submission, you may put your settings back to their original
> state.
>
> **9. Q.** What are the recommended computer configurations for the
> upload?
>
> **9. A.** Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP all should work fine
> with IE6 or
>
> Netscape 7.x. We have also tested on Mac OSX Ver 10.3.4 using Mozilla
> 1.7.2, Safari 1.2.2, and IE 5.2. Some Mac IE users might have problems
> during upload if the mime types aren\'t set correctly for .doc, .xls,
> .ppt, and .pdf. These settings can be changed under preferences\>file
> helpers. Given the size of the files being uploaded it is recommended
> to have an upload speed of at least 128k. This is a common upload
> speed for most internet connections. It is not recommended to upload
> these files over a dial-up connection
>
> **10. Q.** What is required with the proposal cover page? (Reference
> Section III C. 1.)?
>
> **10. A.**
>
> Reference the BAA as follows:
>
> **Proposal Cover Page**: Solicited Proposal Application, including
> certification of compliance with U.S. code (if applicable). Signature
> required. Please follow the instructions available at the OExS
> Acquisitions Portal to complete the proposal cover page information.
>
> Your signature on a scanned cover page which may be uploaded into the
> files on the website signifies your certification of compliance with
> U.S code (if applicable) (refer to previous Q&A for definition of
> certifications).
>
> Although the specific format is up to the offeror we also ask that you
> include on your proposal cover page, along with the signature, some
> relevant information such as:
>
> Title, Control no., Principal Investigator, Organization submitting,
> and Budget for Phase I and Phase II. This will assist the evaluation
> team in sorting the numerous proposals expected.
>
> Note: See the amended BAA for information that will be requested on
> the webpage when you initiate the submission process.
>
> **11. Q.** The Appendix D forms require cost to be summarized by phase
> by contract year. The GTA forms are prepared by the Government on a FY
> basis. How do we reconcile GTA cost to the BAA cost proposal form?
>
> **11. A.** For clarification, at each Phase (Phase 1 and 2 - by
> options) provide the proposed GTA amounts (Project Level Costs =
> Contract Level Costs + GTA costs). This may require discussions with
> the NASA Center involved providing the GTA form. A supplemental page
> to the GTA section may be attached to show this reconciliation and
> this will be part of the Appendix B and will not be part any page
> count. It is not required to break down the GTA costs by WBS. It may
> be shown in total on the summary sheet by phase.
>
> In addition: To reemphasize a previous question and answer.

64. **Does the anticipated contract value ranges include the Government
    Task Agreements and will GTAs be funded through the contract?**\
    The GTA is part of the project cost and will be captured in the GTA.
    The money will stay internal to NASA and flow to the centers
    directly.

> **12. Q.** Do foreign entities have to provide small business goals
> and a small business subcontracting plan (due only before award)?
>
> **12. A.** We are requiring foreign entities to meet the same
> socioeconomic goals set forth in the BAA as the US sources are
> required to meet.  You may submit your goals accordance with II.C.12.
> of the BAA.  A small business subcontracting will be required per FAR
> 52.219-9.
>
> **13. Q.** Please clarify the extension date criteria.
>
> **13. A**. It is covered in the BAA as follows:
>
> **Response Date:** Electronic Proposals due [October 1]{.mark}, 2004
> 4:30 P.M. EDT**. Offerors impacted by hurricane activity must request
> via email to <msosebee@hq.nasa.gov> not later than 4:00 P.M. EDT,
> September 22, 2004, an extension to the due date for their full
> proposal until October 13, 2004, 4:30 P.M. EDT). Alternatively,
> offerors must request via email not later than 4:00 P.M. EDT,
> September 22, 2004, an extension to the due date for final Government
> Task Agreements (GTAs) with Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Stennis
> Space Center (SSC) until October 13, 2004 4:30 P.M. EDT, if only that
> aspect of their proposal was impacted. In such instances, draft GTAs
> must be submitted by October 1, 2004, 4:30 P.M. EDT, pending final GTA
> submission by the extension date. The Government will provide email
> responses on any extension requests related to hurricane activity by
> no later that September 24, 2004, 12:00 P.M. EDT.**
>
> **14. Q.** Please clarify or provide guidance on the submission of
> proposals on the website.
>
> **14. A.** Help Hints for Submission
>
> You may use the following steps to insert your GTA form (developed in
> Excel) into your Microsoft Word Proposal file:

1.  Click in the document where you want to place the embedded object.

2.  On the Insert menu, click Object, and then click the Create from
    File tab.

3.  Click the Browse button to search for the file on your hard drive.

4.  Select the file you want to embed.

5.  Do not select the "Link to File" or "Display as Icon" boxes.

6.  Click OK.

> You may follow the same process to embed a .doc file into an Excel
> file.
>
> You may only submit one Excel file with all of your Cost data. If you
> have multiple spreadsheets, you must combine them into one file. This
> may be done as follows:

1.  To move or copy sheets to another workbook, open the workbook that
    will receive the sheets.

2.  Switch to the workbook that contains the sheets you want to move or
    copy, and then select the sheets.

3.  On the Edit menu, click Move or Copy Sheet.

4.  In the To book box, click the workbook to receive the sheets.

5.  In the Before sheet box, click the sheet before which you want to
    insert the moved or copied sheets.

6.  To copy the sheets instead of moving them, select the Create a copy
    check box.