NASA JSC Solicitation: Critical Issues Surrounding Team Leadership and Followership
Synopsis/Solicitation Combo – Sep 19, 2013
General Information Solicitation Number: NNJ13487783Q Posted
Date: Sep 19, 2013 FedBizOpps
Posted Date: Sep 19, 2013
Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No
Original Response Date: Sep 25, 2013
Current Response Date: Sep 25, 2013
Classification Code: A — Research and Development NAICS Code: 541990
Contracting Office Address
NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH
Description
This notice is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; offers are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued.
This notice is being issued as a Request for Quotations (RFQ) for identifying the critical issues surrounding team leadership and followership and their effects on team functioning, with a specific focus on the type of leadership most likely to produce effective teamwork, the effects of followership on performance and well-being in the space exploration context, along with identifying methods used to improve leadership in teams working in analogous environments. By conducting a thorough literature review, the vendor shall evaluate optimal strategies in other industries with analogous populations and high fidelity environments to spaceflight missions.
Technical Requirements:
The offeror shall have extensive experience in the study of leadership, followership, and/or team processes as they relate to teams performing technical tasks. The vendor shall have published in top journals in the area. Additionally, the vendor shall have experience investigating teams in multiple relevant venues including, but not limited to, exploration environments, healthcare, and the military. Requirements include possessing one or more of the following: an h-index score of 20 or greater, a g-index score of 25 or greater, an hm-index score of 5 or greater, demonstrated scholarly impact in the top 50% of the field, a high government research rating, and/or a demonstrated track record of successful work on federal government grants or contracts.
Background:
The risk of performance decrements due to inadequate cooperation, coordination, communication, and psychosocial adaptation within a team is one of the top priority human health and performance risks associated with long duration spaceflight. One key to mitigate this risk is to identify psychological and psychosocial factors, measures, and combinations thereof that can be used to compose highly effective and adaptive crews for autonomous, long duration and/or distance exploration missions. (Team Gap 8). Future space exploration missions will be characterized by extended periods, in some cases up to 30 months, of isolation and confinement with a small team living and working in a constrained volume. Additionally, due to communication constraints caused by the extreme distances involved, these teams will need to operate under a much greater level of autonomy and self-sufficiency than current spaceflight crews on International Space Station (ISS) missions. Given these constraints it is critical to understand leadership and followership in this context, including what makes and sustains an effective leader and how to compose crews to promote effective leadership and followership. The leadership literature is extensive, however research on leadership and followership under conditions of isolation, confinement, danger, high autonomy, and long durations is limited. For example, the last major review of leadership for the spaceflight context occurred nearly 20 years ago (Nicholas & Penwell, 1995). In an effort to support the need for further understanding of issues surrounding leadership and followership for future space exploration missions, a literature review and operational assessment to identify issues that are relevant to team performance and well-being shall serve as a first step.
To begin this task, we propose an evaluation of issues related to leadership and followership, and current methods used to address these issues in other industries. It is important to focus on spaceflight analogous populations and high fidelity space-like environments in both industry and the extant research literature. A high fidelity spaceflight analog would be an environment that has similar characteristics to spaceflight with regard to, for example, crew size, mission activities, objectives and timeline, and participants. Particular focus of this review should be on the type of leadership most likely to positively influence team performance and well-being in conditions analogous to future space exploration missions. Additionally, this review should identify what promotes effective followership in these contexts, and what outcomes are most strongly related to leadership and followership characteristics. Following this review, an operational assessment of current issues and strategies surrounding NASA inflight leadership shall be conducted. At the completion of this task, a decision shall be made (represented as a decision point) as to future research tasks that would be solicited via a research announcement to inform and close this gap.
Deliverables:
Milestone 1: Conduct literature review on critical issues surrounding leadership and followership and their effects on team functioning, with a specific focus on leadership in analogous environments, along with identifying methods used to improve leadership in teams working in similar settings to the spaceflight context.
This context includes:
– Small teams supported by larger teams (on different schedules) – Teams performing in isolated, confined settings, – Both high tempo and low tempo workloads (or in extended workload situations)
Deliverables:
– Interim Report including summary of literature review. – Provide bulleted update/status report on progress by telecon tag up – Hold telecon with Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) to discuss literature review findings
Milestone 2: Identify and evaluate methods used to improve leadership and followership in teams in other industries with analogous populations and environments to long duration spaceflight missions.
Deliverables:
– Interim Report including summary of evaluation of extant methods. – Provide bulleted update/status report on progress by telecon tag up – Hold telecon with Behavioral Health and Performance(BHP) to discuss evaluation findings
Milestone 3: Conduct an operational assessment to determine what issues related to leadership and followership are present during spaceflight. The vendor will identify and schedule interviews with a list of experts (approximately 10 individuals) from different backgrounds (flight controllers, astronauts, mission planners, etc.). The expectation is that interviews will be conducted via telecon. The interviews will help get a more complete and accurate representation of this issue. The vendor shall summarize the main points taken from recorded interviews.
Deliverables:
-One-page description of who (type or role of individual) the Principal Investigator (PI) intends to interview, questions, and a high-level overview of the methodology/analyses (for Science Management Office). Note: this is required 6 weeks prior to interview start. – Interim Report including summary of operational assessment interviews – Provide bulleted update/status report on progress by telecon tag up – Discuss outcomes of assessments with Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) via telecon.
Milestone 4:
Create a draft of the final report. Deliverables: – Submit draft of Final Report integrating conclusions of literature review, evaluation, and operational assessment and overview of objectives met. – The report must contain a concise list of recommendations for the Behavioral Health and Performance Element.
Milestone 5:
Create a final report.
Deliverables:
– Submit and present Final Report integrating conclusions of literature review, evaluation, and operational assessment and overview of objectives met. Final report must be written in American Pschological Association (APA) format. – Final Report and telecon/WebEx with Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) discussing/summarizing report
Notes:
*Following approval of the Final Report, Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) will review the report, provide feedback and request further clarification (verbally and in writing) as needed from the investigator, before releasing final payment. This process shall be completed before the To Be Determined (TBD) deadline.
*The investigator shall obtain written approval from NASA Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) Technical Reviewer prior to communicating any project-related information outside NASA.
*Deliverable products of the work completed for this Statement of Work (SOW) shall become the property of NASA, and disclosure or publication of results shall be completed per mutual agreement of NASA.
*Please specify any travel related to the deliverable above.
*The vendor shall be invited to attend the Behavioral Health and Performance (BHP) Working Group held in Houston. The vendor can choose the working group Aug 7-9th or select the one occurring second week of February, 2014. Or the vendor can choose to not attend the working group.
The provisions and clauses in the RFQ are those in effect through FAC 2005-69.
The NAICS Code and the small business size standard for this procurement are 541990 and 500 respectively. The offeror shall state in their offer their size status for this procurement.
All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.
Offers for the items(s) described above are due by 3:00 p.m. to cheryl.d.bass@nasa.gov and latoy.j.jones@nasa.gov and must include, solicitation number, FOB destination to this Center, proposed delivery schedule, discount/payment terms, warranty duration (if applicable), taxpayer identification number (TIN), identification of any special commercial terms, and be signed by an authorized company representative. Offerors are encouraged to use the Standard Form 1449, Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items form found at URL: http://server-mpo.arc.nasa.gov/Services/NEFS/NEFSHome.tml
Offerors shall provide the information required by FAR 52.212-1 (JUL 2013), Instructions to Offerors-Commercial Items, which is incorporated by reference.
If the end product(s) offered is other than domestic end product(s) as defined in the clause entitled “Buy American Act — Supplies,” the offeror shall so state and shall list the country of origin.
FAR 52.212-4 (JUL 2013), Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items is applicable.
FAR 52.212-5 (SEP 2013), Contract Terms and Conditions Required To Implement Statutes or Executive Orders-Commercial Items is applicable and the following identified clauses are incorporated by reference:
52.203-6, 52.209-6, 52.209-10, 52.219-4, 52,219-6, 52.219-8, 52.219-28, 52.222-3, 52.222-19, 52.222-21, 52.222-26, 52.222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52,223-18, 52.225-1, 52.225-2, 52.225-13, 52.232-33, 52.222-41, 52.222-42
The FAR may be obtained via the Internet at URL: http://www.acquisition.gov/far/index.html
The NFS may be obtained via the Internet at URL: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/nfstoc.htm
All contractual and technical questions must be in writing (e-mail) to Cheryl Bass and LaToy Jones not later than September 23, 2013. Telephone questions will not be accepted.
FAR 15.101-2. Selection and award will be made to the lowest priced, technically acceptable offeror. Technical acceptability will be determined by review of information submitted by the offeror which must provide a description in sufficient detail to show that the product offered meets the Government’s requirement.
Selection and award will be made to that offeror whose offer will be most advantageous to the Government, with consideration given to the factors of proposed technical merit, price, and past performance. Other critical requirements: shall also be considered] It is critical that offerors provide adequate detail to allow evaluation of their offer. (SEE FAR 52.212-1(b)).
Offerors must include completed copies of the provision at 52.212-3 (AUG 2013), Offeror Representations and Certifications – Commercial Items with their offer. The provision may be obtained via the internet at URL: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/far2afmcfars/fardfars/far/52_000.htm . These representations and certifications will be incorporated by reference in any resultant contract.
NASA Clause 1852.215-84 (NOV 2011), Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html .
Prospective offerors shall notify this office of their intent to submit an offer. It is the offeror’s responsibility to monitor the following Internet site for the release of solicitation amendments (if any): http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/nais/link_syp.cgi . Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of this combination synopsis/solicitation and amendments (if any).
Point of Contact Name:Cheryl D. Bass Title:Contract Specialist Phone:281-483-3476 Fax:281-483-7890 Email:cheryl.d.bass@nasa.gov
Name:LaToy J. Jones Title:Contracting Officer Phone:281-244-8023 Fax:281-483-4066 Email: latoy.j.jones@nasa.gov
