NASA POSTDOCTORAL PROGRAM-3 (NPP-3)

NASA/Headquarters (HQ) is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for the NASA Postdoctoral Program 3 (NPP-3) as described in the attached draft Statement of Work. The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented U.S. and non-U.S. scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. More information on the NPP program can be found at https://science.nasa.gov/nasa-postdoc-program/.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) HQ is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for NPP-3. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received.

This is not a request for proposal. No proposals are to be submitted in response to this notice. In addition to the above request for capability statements, this notice is issued by the NASA/HQ to post a draft Statement of Work to solicit responses from interested parties. This document is for information and planning purposes and to allow industry the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of the requirement, as well as promote competition.

No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring this website for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.

Interested firms having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirement described herein should submit a capability statement of no more than (10) pages (one side is one page) indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort.

Required contents of the capability package must include:

Name and address of firm; average annual revenue for past 3 years and number of employees; ownership; size of business (i.e. other than small, small); business representation: (i.e. SDB, 8(a), WOSB) VOSB, SD-VOSB, Hubzone, and/or Historically Black College and University/Minority institution); number of years in business; affiliate information: parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential sub) or subcontractors (if potential prime); list of customers covering the past five years (highlight relevant work performed, contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement); and point of contact (address, email address and phone number).

Demonstration of ability to perform the requirements by matching the responses directly to the requirements detailed below; more information on each of these requirements can be found in the draft SOW. In addition, interested firms will need to be responsible for International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) compliance for reviews and materials it manages for NASA.

Requirements:

Pages 2, Section A. Task: Program-Level Services: support to promote and administer the NPP, including processing of visas, financial accounting, peer reviews, and reporting.

Pages 2-5, Section B. Task: Website and Knowledge Management Services: provide, manage, and incrementally improve NPP on-line and/or cloud in a manner consistent with NASA and Federal policies on privacy, security, and accessibility; must be able to obtain and maintain an Authority to Operate (ATO) on behalf of NASA or other Federal agency in compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA 2024).

Pages 5-7, Section D. Task: Solicit applicants and review applications.

Page 7, Section E. Task: Enroll new fellows.

Pages 7-9, Section F. Task: Support fellows during their tenure.

Page 10, Section G.3. Task: Metrics of evaluation of the program and regular reporting

Pages 12-13, Section I. Task: Contract phase-out plans

Please advise if the requirement is considered a commercial or commercial-type product. A commercial product and commercial service is defined in FAR 2.101, Definitions.

This presolicitation synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information submitted in response. The Government may not respond to questions/concerns submitted. The Government will use the information to finalize the RFP as necessary.

All comments or questions shall be submitted electronically via email to Leona Ellis at leona.d.ellis@nasa.gov, no later than October 14, 2025, by 4:00PM EST. The Government may not respond to questions/concerns submitted.

All responses shall be submitted electronically via email to Leona Ellis at leona.d.ellis@nasa.gov no later than October 30, 2025, by 4:00PM EST. Please reference “NPP-3 – Response to Sources Sought Notice” in any response. 

This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. Respondents deemed fully qualified will be considered in any resultant solicitation for the requirement. 

NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at: https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf

If a solicitation is released, then it and any additional documents will be available on Sam.gov. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this website for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.