Professional Services for At Home In Space Mission
PURPOSE
The purpose of this Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) is to signal the Canadian Space Agency’s
(CSA) intention to enter into a sole source contract with:
Qualtrics, LLC
400 Qualtrics Dr., Suite 100
Provo, UT 84604
Corporate Mailing Address
2250 N. University Pkwy, 48-C
Provo, UT 84604
Phone Number: 801-374-6682
Fax Number: 866-562-9828
To supply the services described below.
An Advance Contract Award Notice (ACAN) allows departments and agencies to post a notice, for no less
than fifteen (15) calendar days, indicating to the supplier community that it intends to award a good,
service or construction contract to a pre-identified contractor. If no other supplier submits, on or before
the closing date, a Statement of Capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, the
contracting authority may then proceed with the award. However, should a Statement of Capabilities be
found to meet the requirements set out in the ACAN, then the contracting authority will proceed to a
full tendering process.
You are hereby notified that the government intends to negotiate with one firm only as identified
above. Should you have any questions concerning this requirement, contact the contracting officer
identified herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK
The professional services required by the CSA are for software development and on-orbit operational
support for the At Home In Space (Culture, Values, and Environmental Adaptation in Space) mission. The
CSA requires a common data collection application (CDCA) to run offline (that is, without internet
connection) on an Apple iPad resident on the International Space Station (ISS). The transfer of data from
space, via National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) server protocols and downlink
capabilities, to the ground will result in the necessity to merge the space data with other data set
already acquired on the ground. Furthermore, the on-orbit activities will also be supported by the
contractor to ensure data collection is successful.
At Home In Space Mission Background
The At Home In Space mission studies, via psychological surveys, the cultural characteristics of
multicultural crews on long duration space flights aboard the ISS. There are two components to this
mission:


a ground-based Qualtrics, LLC, internet based survey used by the University of British Columbia
for baseline data collection (BDC) prior to and after flight aboard the ISS;
an off-line survey to collect data twice on-orbit by USOS crew members and to downlink via
NASA-provided services.
This second component is the area where professional services are required.
Applicable Documents
The following documents outline standard and generic requirements for design and operation of ISS
payloads. The requirements, in turn, ensure a simpler verification/qualification/certification and
integration process for the payload. The latest revision of any listed document is applicable. If any
requirements appear to be conflicting, the most stringent requirement must prevail.
ID #
Document
Revision
Title
AD1
ILSRA-20091207
Culture, values, and environmental adaptation in space proposal
AD2
SSP 41170
Configuration Management Requirement
AD4
OZ-10-056
Baseline
Payload Developers and Principal Investigators Payload Planning,
Integration and Operations Primer
AD5
CSA-At
Home In
Space-RD0001_IR
Initial
Release
(March 25
2015)
At Home In Space Experiment Requirements Document (ERD)
AD6
ISS CM 019
Rev
09/2011
General Use Laptops and Tablets (SSC’s and iPads) General Briefing
AD7
CSA-Space
Culture -PL 001
Draft
At Home In Space Operations Concept Plan
AD8
iPad App
Portal –
Version
1.01 (June
iPad App Portal User Guide
User Guide
25, 2015)
AD9
9F053-120608
2013-0830
At Home In Space first phase contract: Space Culture ILSRA-2009
FY 12/13
AD10
9F008-140392
May 27
2015
At Home In Space second phase contract: At Home In Space
Operations Support
AD11
SSP 50989
Draft
baseline
CR 14493
International Space Station IT Security Policy for Onboard Systems
Table 1: Applicable Documents
Reference documents
ID #
RD6
RD7
Document
N/A
N/A
Rev.
Version 3
Title
Milestone Report template
Final Report template
Table 2: Reference Documents
Definition of the Requirements:
At Home in Space Mission Outline
During an increment, up to 6 ISS USOS crewmembers actively pursue multiple tasks which have been
scheduled on average a few years ahead of time. Some of these tasks are associated with scientific
payloads/missions for which specific prime subject crewmembers have been recruited and trained while
still on the ground.
Scheduling a payload/mission during an increment is the result of a payload integration process among
ISS partners (CSA, NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc) which involves the production of multiple approval documents
detailing the on-ground and on-orbit activities associated with the mission. These include ethics
approvals, safety certificates, procedures, on-orbit resource requirements, etc. A vast majority of this
work is ongoing since successive increments are always in the planning process. Also, crewmember
recruiting, training and preparation for the next increment must be repeated until the number of
subjects required for a successful mission conclusion has been attained.
For each recruited prime subject crewmember, the following stages must be performed: training and
procedure run-through, pre-flight baseline data collection (BDCs), in-flight data collection, post-flight
BDCs and debriefings.
The pre-flight stage, including recruitment and training of the astronauts, will extend for several years
and involves one BDC via an internet based survey. Likewise, the post-flight stage will require two BDCs,
also via an internet based survey. This service, provided by Qualtrics, LCC, is currently managed via the
University of British Columbia.
The in-flight or on-orbit stage will last up to 6 months for each recruited prime subject crewmember.
During this time, two survey-based offline sessions will be scheduled and executed. These sessions may
last close to 1 hour each, and may require ground support to guide the crewmember through the
survey. Mission support must be provided by CSA, and will be supported by the University of British
Columbia and the professional services contractor. This support will be affected remotely for both the
University of British Columbia and the professional services contractor.
The At Home in Space mission will extend over several years, given the limited number of prime subjects
+ insurance subject who will sign up, and given CSA's limited crew time allocation per increment. It is
hypothesized that no more than 4 prime subjects per year will participate in this mission. Given this and
that the target is to study twelve (12) prime crew members + one (1) insurance subject, it is expected
that the on-orbit operations will last at least 4 years, ending in fiscal year 2018/2019.
Core Tasks
Development of CDCA, Integration and Verification Tasks
The development of the CDCA, integration and verification tasks consists of:
1. Develop an offline CDCA for the ISS Apple iPad that provides for an enterprise survey platform
to run the University of British Columbia’s experiment per AD1, AD5, and AD7;
2. Provide information and support to develop the security information folder, following the NASA
server configuration, for the NASA Space Station Computer (SSC) per AD8;
3. Assist in the integration of the CDCA by supporting the Flight Readiness Integration work to be
performed on site at NASA’s JSC, Houston, Texas per AD5 and AD8;
4. Test and validate the offline CDCA at the JSC Software Development and Integration Lab (SDIL)
facility to ensure it meets SSC protocols, processes and mission requirements as outlined in AD5
and AD8;
5. Maintain configuration control of the CDCA and of the security information folder.
Operational Support of CDCA Task: Acquisition of Subject Data Set
The contractor must support the acquisition of Subject Data Set for prime subject crewmembers via inflight operations per AD1, AD5, and AD7. The contractor must provide as-required-support to ensure
that the in-flight activities are performed adequately by the prime subject crewmember. The contractor
must also provide as-required-support to ensure that the data and measurements captured during
experimental activities are valid. This task may include but is not limited to:
1. Must provide support via on-call status (telephone and email) the inaugural in-flight data
collection session and subsequent in-flight sessions. May be called upon to provide real-time
answers to questions from prime subject crewmembers or on-console operators
2. Remote terminal connectivity may be arranged by CSA or other Agencies to allow remote
support per operational requirements as outlined in AD7;
3. May require to provide support by telephone and e-mail prior to and post mission activities;
4. Must provide data validation and data integration after each session, within 24 hours of NASA’s
downlink of data.
5. Must report to the CSA on the preliminary quality findings of the Subject Data Set analysis; that
is, the data captured from an on-orbit subject session is of sufficient quality and completeness
to allow for first integration with pre- and post-flight data, and then for the analysis by
University of British Columbia to proceed. This will be provided via written status reports for
each data collection. These status reports are integral to ensuring that the data captured is
viable and does not require further subject session planning.
Note that the following tasks are not part of these core tasks:
Crew Training: Given CSA’s limited crew time allocation, crew training support for the software
developed will not be required. This implies that the CDCA must be user-friendly, easily operated by
crew members in space and must meet NASA requirements for ID Security and be certified custom
enterprise Apple App (AD11).
BDC Execution: The contractor will not directly support the crew members executing the pre-flight and
post-flight activities.
Other Integration and Operational Responsibilities
The contractor must support CSA’s partners (NASA) and client operational integration activities including
but not limited to:
1. Prepare and update necessary documentation and fulfill requirements for the NASA payload
integration, verification and certification activities scheduled for mid-December 2015.
2. Assist CSA in developing and providing NASA documentation such as crew flight procedures, if
required;
3. Review various integration documents produced by NASA (server configurations, Apple iPad
configurations, etc);
4. Support activities around operational on-orbit status meetings; nominally, twice per 6 month
period.
Schedule: Development of CDCA and Integration Task
The development of the CDCA along with the security information folder for the Apple iPAd and NASA
server configuration must be completed by mid-December 2015. This schedule is a NASA-driven
requirement due to the flight testing, validation and integration window which closes in December
2015.
Schedule: Operational Support
The operational support window begins in January 2016 and may end by Fiscal Year 2018/2019,
depending on subject recruitment.
Contractual Deliverables
The following is a list of contractual deliverables organized via milestones:
1. Milestone 1: CDCA Development, Verification and Integration (due December 31st 2015)
(a) Delivery of Apple iPAd off-line CDCA, including security protocol server folder as presented
in section Core Tasks;
(b) Milestone Progress report;
(c) Trip report.
2. Milestone 2: Operational Support of CDCA Task: Acquisition of Subject Data Set*
(a) Delivery of operational support as presented in section Core Tasks;
(b) Milestone Progress report, including preliminary Data Analysis reports if and when
applicable;
(c) Midterm operational review report;
(d) Final Report;
(e) Contractor’s Disclosure of FIP.
* The Milestone Dates for the operational support will follow increment stages. So for Increment 45/46,
which runs from September 2015 to March 2016, the Milestone partial payment will be done January 15
2016; Increment 47/48, the Milestone partial payment will be done February 15 2016, etc. Further
specifics of these dates are available in the complete statement of work.
DURATION
The contract will be awarded for the both the Development of CDCA, Integration and Verification Tasks
and the Operational Support of CDCA Task. The projected timeframe for these tasks are as follows:
Development of CDCA, Integration and Verification: December 7th 2015 to December 31st 2015
Operational Support of CDCA: January 1st 2016 to March 31st 2019
ESTIMATED COST
The estimated cost of the proposed contract, including options, is $ 87,000 US, taxes extra.
SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION
The CSA considers the Qualtrics, LLC, offline Apple iPad Enterprise application to be in a unique position
to fulfill the requirement for the following reasons:
1. Ethics approval has been granted for the Qualtrics platform for the ground-based survey
support. To change the platform for the ground survey baseline data collection is not feasible
since ethic approvals would have to be sought again, thereby introducing important delays into
the schedule. In addition, USOS crew members have all ready begun to be recruited based on
this platform and they have performed the survey online via Qualtrics internet-based survey
software on the ground.
2. No Canadian-based company is known to support the type of survey software platform required
(offline enterprise App that runs on an Ipad) to achieve the on-orbit science requirements.
3. The CSA requires access to the Qualtrics survey data servers for on-orbit and on the ground data
reconciliation. For IP reasons, Qualtrics may refuse to provide access.
4. Cost associated with development of offline CDCA are lower since the offline application
platform all ready exists.
5. Schedule window associated with the offline CDCA is small and Qualtrics can support the
required integration and verification testing window imposed by NASA given that the offline
application platform all ready exists.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no other provider with this unique combination of assets and
skills that are necessary for the successful completion of the specified tasks.
LIMITED TENDERING REASON:
The contract is proposed under the Government Contracting Regulations, Section 6 (d) that states “only
one person or firm is capable of performing the contract”.
This requirement is not subject to the trade agreements.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The Canadian Space Agency has determined that any intellectual property rights arising from the
performance of the Work under the resulting contract will belong to the company, on the following
grounds:
- the main purpose of the contract, or of the deliverables contracted for, is to provide professional
services.
SUBMISSION OF STATEMENT OF CAPABILITIES
Suppliers who consider themselves fully qualified and available to provide the services/goods described
herein, may submit a statement of capabilities in writing to the contact person identified in this Notice
on or before the closing date of this Notice. The statement of capabilities must clearly demonstrate how
the supplier meets the advertised requirements.
The CSA file number, the contracting officer's name and the closing date of the ACAN must appear on
the outside of the envelope in block letters or, in the case of a facsimile transmission, on the covering
page. E-mail submission will not be considered.
The Crown retains the right to negotiate with suppliers on any procurement.
Documents may be submitted in either official language of Canada.