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THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) is issuing this Sources Sought Synopsis as a means of conducting market research or as a market survey to determine the availability of potential qualified vendors with the technical capability to provide all management, supervision, administration, and labor for the Assessment of Domestic and International use of Operating Experience (OpE) in Digital systems in Nuclear Power Plants and Safety Critical Industries. Services are anticipated to be performed primarily at the contractor location.

The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code assigned to this procurement is 541690.

THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for sources and vendor information does not constitute a request for proposal; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred.

The purpose of this announcement is to provide potential sources the opportunity to submit information regarding their capabilities to perform work for the NRC free of conflict of interest (COI). For information on NRC COI regulations, visit NRC Acquisition Regulation Subpart 2009.5 (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting/48cfr-ch20.html).

All interested parties, including all categories of small businesses (small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZone small businesses) are invited to submit a response. The capabilities package submitted by a vendor should demonstrate the firm's ability, capability, and responsibility to perform the principal components of work listed above. The package should also include past performance/experience regarding projects of similar scope listing the project title, general description, the dollar value of the contract, and name of the company, agency, or government entity for which the work was performed.

Organizations responding to this market survey should keep in mind that only focused and pertinent information is requested. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. Submission of additional materials such as glossy brochures or videos is discouraged.

Background

Many regulators, including the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), mention the use of operating experience (OpE) in the regulations and guidance governing digital instrumentation and control (DI&C). Relevant examples within the NRC’s guidance include (1) RIS 2002-22, Supplement 1, “Clarification on Endorsement of Nuclear Energy Institute Guidance in Designing Digital Upgrades in Instrumentation and Control Systems,” (ML18143B633); (2) BTP 7-19, “Guidance for Evaluation of Diversity and Defense-In-Depth in Digital Computer-Based Instrumentation and Control Systems;” and, (3) the “Design Review Guide (DRG), Instrumentation and Controls for Non-Light-Water Reactor (non-LWR) Reviews” (ML21011A140). Internationally, positions are often in line with the WGDIC CP-14, “Consensus Position on the Qualification of Instrumentation and Control Platforms for Use in Systems Important to Safety at Nuclear Power Plants,” where OpE is insufficient on its own, but that credit may be given for it to support other means of assurance. However, to staff knowledge at U.S. and foreign nuclear power plants, there is limited amount of operating experience being used to justify to the regulator the reliability of DI&C. To the extent that it is being used, the data is often held as propriety.

Required Services

The NRC is seeking sources that can assist with obtaining and assessing information on the use of OpE to justify to the regulator the reliability of DI&C devices and associated software development tools used in nuclear power plants, and in safety critical industries, both domestically and internationally. The purpose of this work is to provide the NRC with concrete information in order to provide more specific guidance than the general guidance currently in the above examples. This would support NRC staff performing independent evaluations of industry claims using such data, and future updates to NRC guidance on the use of OpE.

The NRC is interested in an evaluation of OpE information that has actually been provided by a licensee and in OpE actually available for systems designed for use in safety critical applications that could potentially come to be used in nuclear power plants. In many cases, the actual OpE records may be proprietary. The NRC would be interested in the contractor’s ability to make arrangements for viewing of this information, or, where it is not possible, the manner in which they are able to characterize the nature of the OpE and its use. As part of the project, NRC would want expert input into the use of this OpE should it be used in a regulatory environment that could be put into guidance for NRC staff or for licensees.

For clarity, this is different than the few events collected as part of reporting requirements for systems in nuclear power plants. This is for data regarding wide use of devices that could be used to justify their reliability such as could be used in the example NRC guidance above or other licensing actions.

Required Capabilities

1. Expertise in state-of-the-art and state-of-practice in OpE in safety critical digital systems in nuclear power plants, including the nature of the OpE data as well as its use to justify reliability.

2. Expertise in state-of-the-art and state-of-practice in OpE in safety critical digital systems in other industries that could, in the future, be utilized in nuclear power plants including the nature of the OpE data as well as its use to justify reliability.

3. Ability to provide ready access to information sources on DI&C OpE that has been or would be suitable for support to reaching a safety conclusion regarding installation of a DI&C device within a nuclear power plant. This is in contrast to the several known failure reporting databases within nuclear industries for singular incidents involving devices already installed in nuclear power plants.

4. Ability to provide ready access to information sources on OpE on software tools used in the development of safety critical systems in nuclear power plants and other industries.

5. In lieu of or in addition to information sources in 3 and 4 above, the ability to characterize such information, ideally in a referenceable way, such that it can fully meet the needs described above.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

If your organization has the capability, capacity, and responsibility to perform, as a prime contractor, one or more of the services described in this notice, then please respond to this notice and provide written responses to the following information. In your response do not include any proprietary or otherwise sensitive information in the response, and do not submit a proposal. Proposals submitted in response to this notice will not be considered.

1. Organization name, address, emails address, Web site address and telephone number.

2. What size is your organization with respect to NAICS code identified in this notice (i.e., "small" or "other than small")? If your organization is a small business under the aforementioned NAICS code, what type of small business (i.e., small disadvantaged business, woman-owned small business, economically disadvantaged woman-owned small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business, 8(a), or HUBZone small business)? Specify all that apply.

3. Separately and distinctly describe which of the required capabilities listed above that your organization possesses and indicate your organization's role (prime contractor, first tier subcontractor, and/or supplier) in related contracts. Please also provide the contract number, contract type, customer name, address and point of contact phone number and email address, contract value, thorough description of supplies and services included in the scope of that contract, indication of how they differ from the required capabilities described in this notice, period of performance (for services) or delivery date (for products), and any other relevant information.

4. Indicate whether your organization offers any of the required capabilities described in this notice on one or more of your company's own Federal Government contracts (i.e., GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract or Government wide Acquisition Contracts) that the NRC could order from and, if so, which services are offered. Also, provide the contract number(s) and indicate what is currently available for ordering from each of those contract(s).

5. Provide a standard, non-proprietary commercial price list or similar standard non-proprietary commercial pricing information for how your company sells, as a prime contractor, required capabilities described in this notice that your organization has experience providing if available. Also, indicate what is included in that pricing.

6. Is your organization currently performing or have in the past performed same or similar services as those listed above for any of the licensees regulated by the NRC? If so, which licensees? See http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/regulatory/licensing.html for more information on NRC licensing.

7. Has your organization previously faced organizational conflict of interest issues with NRC? If so, what were they and how were they mitigated or resolved?

Interested organizations responding to this Sources Sought Synopsis are encouraged to structure capability statements in the order of the area of consideration noted above. All capability statements sent in response to this notice must be submitted electronically, electronically, via e-mail, to Rachel Glaros, at rachel.glaros@nrc.gov either MS Word or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), by April 17, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT. Please note that all responses to this notice must be 20MB or smaller in size; otherwise, the NRC server may reject the response.

DISCLAIMER AND NOTES: Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization’s potential capability and capacity to perform the subject work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in SAM.gov. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation.

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