CONTRACTING WITH NRL

Our Procurement Authority

The Contracting Division is responsible for the acquisition of materials and services valued in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold (currently $150,000) and is part of the Business Operations Directorate (Code 3000). The NRL Contracting Division is located at the NRL main site in Washington, DC with a section located at the NRL site at Stennis Space Center, MS.

Getting Started

The Office of the Deputy for Small Business (Code 3005) at NRL provides information to the small business community for participation in NRL acquisitions.

NRL acquisitions are announced on the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website under Department of the Navy (USN), Office of Naval Research (ONR)—the NRL’s parent organization.

Purchases at or below the simplified acquisition threshold, orders against GSA schedule contracts, and MILSTRIP requisitions are processed by the Purchasing Branch (Code 3410) in the NRL Supply and Information Services Division (Code 3400).

NRL Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

The NRL’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) issued under the provisions of paragraphs 35.016 and 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). Proposals may range from theoretical studies to proof-of-concept to include fabrication and delivery of a prototype. However, this is limited to research procurements for which it would be impossible to draft an adequate RFP in sufficient detail without restraining the technical response and thus hindering competition rather than expanding it. BAA topics include all NRL sites located in the Washington, DC area, the Stennis Space Center, MS, and Monterey, CA. Proposals submitted in response to a BAA announcement that are selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and are in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369, "The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984."

NRL is interested in receiving proposals for the research efforts described under this BAA. This announcement is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to make any award or to pay for any proposal preparation costs. The cost of proposal preparation for response to a BAA is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resultant contract or any other contract; however, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR 31.205-18.

Interested parties should be alert for any BAA amendments that may be published at the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) website.

The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. Prospective offerors are cautioned that only the Contracting Officer is legally authorized to commit the Government.

This BAA should not be construed as a commitment or authorization to incur costs in anticipation of a grant, cooperative agreement, other transaction, or contract; the Government is not bound to make any awards under this announcement. Funds may not be currently available for topics under this BAA. No contract award will be made for a topic until funds are available.

Proposals may be submitted by any non-governmental entity, including commercial firms, institutions of higher education with degree-granting programs in science or engineering (universities), or by consortia led by such concerns. NRL encourages participation by small businesses, veteran-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, HUBZone small businesses, woman-owned small businesses, and historically black colleges and universities and minority institutions.

Contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, or other transactions may be awarded, as appropriate. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541712 -- Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences. Technical and cost proposals submitted under this BAA will be protected from unauthorized disclosure. The cognizant Government scientific and/or technical experts will perform the evaluation of technical proposals. Cost proposals will be evaluated by Government business professionals.

Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs): A BAA announces an agency's research interests including criteria for selecting proposals and soliciting the participation of all offerors capable of satisfying the government's needs. See current BAAs
Specific Broad Agency Announcement (SBAAs): Are BAA announcements that include desired and critical characteristics, in addition to short term white paper and proposal submission dates. Announcements are typically open 15-60 days only and are published on FBO.gov and here.

Types of Solicitations

Requests for Information (RFIs): An RFI is used when a government agency does not presently intend to award a contract, but wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information or capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to these notices are not offers and cannot be accepted by the government to form a binding contract.
Requests for Proposals (RFPs): An RFP is used in negotiated acquisitions to communicate government requirements to prospective contractors and to solicit proposals.
Sources Sought: A synopsis posted by a government agency that states they are seeking possible sources for a project. It is not a solicitation for work, nor is it a request for proposal.

How to Respond to Solicitations

All open solicitations are posted to FedBizOpps with specific instructions that detail proposal preparation and submission instructions to include the response dates and times.

Questions regarding any open soliciations should be addressed to the Contract Specialist or Contracting Officer at the phone number or email address stated in the solicitation. Please reference the solicitation number on the subject line of the email. Any questions must be submitted to the Contracting Officer at least five (5) working days in advance of the closing date for the solicitation.

The answers to any questions that are submitted will be provided to all potential quoters in the form of an amendment to the solicitation posted on FBO.

Justification and Approvals and Sole Source

Requirements Justification and Approvals (J&As) for awards, as well as sole source requirements, are posted on the FedBizOpps, website.

Organizational Conflicts of Interest

To ensure fairness in the consideration of proposals for ONR systems engineering and technical assistance and/or support services, the naval command has implemented policies to protect against organizational conflicts of interest.

Unsolicited Proposals

When new and innovative ideas do not fall under topic areas publicized under the BAA, the ideas may be submitted as unsolicited proposals. In order to conserve valuable offeror and Government resources, prospective offerors wishing to submit unsolicited proposals are encouraged to first submit unsolicited white papers (UWPs) including a rough cost estimate to the address below. The purpose of an UWP is to preclude unwarranted effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest. UWPs should not exceed 30 pages in length, including the cost estimate.

BREVITY IS DESIRABLE - UWPs RANGING FROM A FEW PAGES TO 15 PAGES ARE THE NORM.

Unsolicited Proposals shall include the contents as discussed in FAR 15.605. Proposals received will be evaluated by a scientific or peer review considering the factors listed at FAR 15.606-2. Unsolicited proposals should be addressed to Susan Herrin or to the following:

Naval Research Laboratory
Office of Program Administration and Policy Development
Code 1006.1
Washington, DC 20375-5321

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I locate NRL specific solicitations on FBO?: From the FBO homepage insert in the Keyword/Soliciations #: N00173 or search by Agency: Department of the Navy/Office of Naval Research/Naval Research Laboratory

I located a notice that interests me. How can I receive automatic updates from FBO when something changes on this notice?

You can add it to a list of notices you are watching, called the Watch List. This allows you to easily reference targeted opportunities. First find the opportunity you are interested in and click the title to review. Next, click the "Watch This Opportunity" button. You will receive automatic e-mails from the FBO system when a modification occurs to this notice. Unlike the Interested Vendor's List --which depending on settings established by the contracting officer may be visible to other interested vendors and/or the contracting officer -- only you can see the notices you are watching.

You can quickly access this list by clicking the quicklink "View Watched List" from your MyFBO home page. You can also review/manage existing "watch list" opportunities by going to the "Watch List" sub-tab on the main navigation "Opportunities" page. Each notice you have added to your watch list will be shown. You can select the "Remove from Watch List" to remove an opportunity from your list. If you remove a notice, you will no longer receive updates about modifications to this notice.

Points of Contact

Reach us by email:

General inquiries: help_contracts@nrl.navy.mil

Reach us by phone:

General Office (202) 767-6613

Small Business Participation

Open market acquisitions with an anticipated value greater than $3500 are set aside by law exclusively for small businesses regardless of the procurement vehicle. The NRL Supply and Information Services Division has very stringent small business participation goals that we make every effort to meet. Small business participation in the procurement process, here at NRL, continues to grow.

For more information visit the U.S. Small Business Administration at SBA.Gov

FedBizOpps (FBO)

Proposed Acquisitions in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold, currently $150,000, will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities Website. The Contracting Officer will consider each individual procurement as to its complexity, availability and urgency when establishing the response time to the solicitation.

SAM

The System for Award Management (SAM) is a free web site that consolidates the capabilitites you used to find in CCR/FedReg, ORCA and EPLS. All Contractors must be registered in SAM.

User guides and helpful hints for SAM can be found at the Service Desk: http://www.FSD.gov

Section 508 Accessibility Statement

The NRL Contracting Division is committed to Section 508 compliance and accessibility of websites. We welcome any ideas or comments that may help us to further improve upon the accessibility and usability of our website. Contracts_Webmaster@nrl.navy.mil