Susan McClain, Director of NASA LaRC’s Office of Procurement, requested that the following information, issued by Assistant Administrator for Procurement Karla Smith Jackson on August 24, 2022, be shared with LaRC Contractors Steering Council members.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently updated their guidance and recommendations for COVID-19 risk, prevention steps, post-exposure precautions, and actions to take when individuals are sick or test positive for the virus. To align with recently published CDC guidance, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force identified changes to COVID-19 safety protocols for Federal Agencies. Therefore, NASA is providing updated COVID-19 guidance regarding access to NASA buildings and facilities to onsite contractor employees, grant and cooperative agreement recipients, and other visitors. Specifically, the following policy changes are effective immediately:

1. COVID-19 Vaccination. NASA will stop COVID-19 screening testing programs that differentiate among individuals based on their vaccination status, regardless of community levels.
   • Testing is no longer required for unbadged on-site contractor employees, on-site grant and cooperative agreement recipients, and other unvaccinated visitors coming on center. 
   • Testing will continue where it is required for operational reasons as determined by NASA.
2. Vaccination Status. NASA will not require on-site contractor employees, on-site grant and cooperative agreement recipients, and other visitors to provide information about their COVID-19 vaccination status via the Certification of Vaccination form, regardless of community levels.
3. Post-Exposure Precautions. NASA will no longer require individuals who are not up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations to quarantine after a COVID-19 exposure as long as they remain asymptomatic. However, individuals are required to follow CDC guidance on post-exposure precautions regardless of community levels.

The guidance above is separate and distinct from requirements of Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors. As stated in previous guidance dated December 9, 2021, NASA continues to take no action to enforce NASA FAR deviation clause 52.223-99, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, in contracts or contract-like instruments implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, absent further written notice from the agency.

Additional information about the coronavirus, including preventative best practices and lessons learned is being continuously updated. Contractor employees and grant and cooperative agreement recipients are responsible for monitoring local radio, television stations, and other communications channels for updates.

I appreciate your cooperation and continued commitment to safety and the NASA mission. Please direct any other questions concerning this letter to your cognizant NASA contracting officer or grant officer.

Update_to_COVID-19_Safety_Protocols_Jackson_220824.pdf

Susan McClain, Director of NASA LaRC’s Office of Procurement, requested that the following Safety Briefing be shared with LaRC Contractors Steering Council members.

As the number of people on center increases, we are seeing an increase in safety incidents and close calls.  LaRC’s Safety Office has prepared the attached Returning to On-Site Work Safety Briefing with great reminders.  Please share the presentation and continue to make safety a focus during your discussions with your employees.

Stan Smeltzer, the Acting Director for our Safety and Mission Assurance Office, will be visiting the Langley Contractor Steering Council at our April 21, 2022 to talk about on-site safety and the presentation is being added to the LCSC webpage. 

Returning to On-Site Work Safety Briefing Slides, April 5, 2022

LaRC Deputy Center Director Dave Young requested that the following announcement be shared with LaRC Contractors Steering Council members.

We are pleased to announce that effective Monday, April 4, NASA Langley will move to Stage 1 of the Agency’s Return to On-Site Work Framework with the on-site occupancy limit increasing to 75%.

Each center organization has developed Stage 1 plans and will now have the opportunity to implement them.

Below we provide an overview of some of the major changes in Stage 1.

Center Access

All personnel will have full access to the center; however, we ask that you coordinate with your supervisors. While on center, be sure to badge in buildings and office spaces to assist with contact tracing, if needed.

The Integrated Engineering Services Building (Building 2102) will no longer require badging from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. weekdays.

Monitoring the Environment

The Hampton region meets the criteria to move to stage 1 due to being identified as low risk based on the revised CDC COVID-19 Community Level metrics. We will continue to monitor these levels and share any new or changing protocols quickly and broadly through our usual communication channels, including email and Inside Langley.

Center Preparations

Center operations has been working to prepare buildings and workspaces, including the following:

• Increased HVAC ventilation
• Increased custodial cleaning in occupied buildings and high traffic areas
• Hand disinfectant stations established at entrances to buildings and other key areas
• Purchased and installed approximately 83 touchless water fountain bottle fillers
• Installed approximately 74% of the 5,300 HVAC MERV-13 filters purchased and received which will remove more droplets/particulate from the air
• Installed 75 bipolar ionization units for HVAC air handler units for 15 key high-occupancy buildings which will deactivate the virus and enhance removal of particulates from the air
• LENEL center and building access control system available for contact tracing

Visitors (Non-Permanently Badged)

We are returning to our pre-pandemic processes for visitors. PIV badge holders can request visitor access using LF103.

Foreign Nationals

Badged foreign nationals will be permitted after fully updating and gaining approval for their Security Technology Transfer Control Plan (STTCP). They will also require an escort 100% of the time while on center.

Visiting foreign nationals will require approval from the Office of the Director. Please coordinate any requests through your supervisor or organizational director.

Meetings and Events

Meetings and events are up to the discretion of the organizational director. It is important to ensure events and activities align with the latest COVID safety guidance (e.g., group size, social distancing, mask wearing) and accommodate a hybrid workforce with virtual interfaces.

After-hour events, clubs and other on-site activities are permitted.

Status of Exchange services

Food services are ramping up on center. You’ll find additional details here.

Additionally, the fitness center has resumed operations, and the Langley Child Development Center will reopen soon.

Travel

Domestic and international travel will resume to pre-pandemic processes. Organizations are encouraged to evaluate in-person and hybrid participation in conferences and meetings.

Interns

Thank you for all that you have done to provide opportunities for students over the past few years—your efforts have made it possible for Langley to maintain some of the highest numbers of interns across the agency, illustrating a continued commitment to our future workforce.

We anticipate that most internships will be virtual for the upcoming summer session and that we will move to more face-to-face internships for the fall session and beyond. We expect that remote internships will remain an option when possible, providing access to students who may not be able to travel due to families and community roles.

Existing agreements for virtual internships will remain unchanged – we will not ask a student to be on-site if that is not how the opportunity was advertised – under no circumstances should a student be working on-site without a mentor present. For future on-site internships, students will need to comply with the CDC and Federal COVID guidelines in effect at the time of the internship.

As you plan for the upcoming sessions, there are a few things we would ask you to consider:

• Does the work your intern will do require center access?
• Do you have supervisor approval to bring an intern into the workspace?
• Do you have an approved physical space for the intern to work?
• Taking into account travel and cost of living, is the intern able and willing to work on site?

If the Langley Internships Team can be of assistance as you answer these questions, please reach out to Dr. Garnise Dennis.

Future of Work Mindset

Let’s move forward with an eye toward the future. We look forward to seeing how each organization approaches experimentation and learning what best meets their needs. Additionally, let’s ensure we are having the conversations and acting so that we have a path to putting the appropriate telework and/or remote work agreements in place by the May 15 deadline.

On April 13 we will be holding a Langley Future of Work Supervisor Forum providing an opportunity to discuss what the future will look like at Langley and how we will get there.

Also, please be sure to review the latest resources provided by the agency Future of Work site and navigating work flexibilities on the new Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) site.

Welcome Back!

We are looking forward to seeing many of you on center in the coming months. This is more change, and we recognize that it may pose opportunities and challenges for some. Let’s be there for one another, leverage new tools and best practices to succeed in a hybrid environment and work together to achieve NASA’s amazing mission.

Susan McClain, Director of NASA LaRC’s Office of Procurement, requested that the following updated COVID-19 requirements from Deputy Director Dave Young be shared with LaRC Contractors Steering Council members.

Effective Friday, March 4, NASA Langley will update masking and testing requirements in accordance with new guidance and metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that categorize the level of COVID-19 community risk as high, medium, or low.

Currently, the COVID-19 Community Level for Hampton is low. Consistent with CDC guidance, therefore, all NASA badged personnel – vaccinated or not – entering and working on center do not have to wear masks or provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test. The current policies for visitor attestation and testing remain in place pending further guidance.

Mask wearing is left to each individual’s personal preference. Many people will choose to continue to wear masks, and those choices should be respected. However, masks are not required. Individuals who are immunocompromised should check with their physicians to determine the need to wear a mask.

At this time, we remain in Stage 2 of the NASA Framework for Return to On-Site Work and this change does not impact the current center maximum occupancy level of 50%.

We are working to remove and replace outdated signage from work areas.

The new CDC metric, found at CDC COVID-19 Heat Map, considers three key statistics:

1. New COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 population in the past seven days
2. The percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
3. Total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past seven days

We will continue to communicate updates and information as they become available.

Susan McClain, Director of NASA LaRC’s Office of Procurement, requested that the following information, issued by Assistant Administrator for Procurement Karla Smith Jackson on February 11, 2022, be shared with LaRC Contractors Steering Council members.

Update to COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors – Guidance Regarding Access to NASA buildings and facilities

The purpose of this memorandum is to restate safety protocols and clarify testing procedures for NASA Contractors when working onsite in NASA federal buildings or facilities of which a substantial portion of occupants are NASA federal employees. Executive Order (E.O.) 13991, Protecting the Federal Workforce and Requiring Mask-Wearing (the Order), issued January 20, 2021 provides guidance for on-site Federal contractors, and other individuals working onsite in Federal buildings and on Federal lands; and requires Federal contractors to wear masks, maintain physical distance, and adhere to other public health measures, as provided in CDC guidelines.

Therefore, contractor employees working onsite in NASA Federal buildings or facilities must still follow Federal agency workplace safety protocols as follows:

For fully vaccinated on-site federal contract employees and other visitors: In areas of low or moderate transmission, as defined by CDC guidelines, fully vaccinated people generally can safely participate in most activities, indoor or outdoor, without needing to wear a mask or maintain physical distance, and do not need to undertake regular testing. NASA facilities are monitoring the transmission rates and will have mask policies consistent with local transmission rates and CDC guidance. Regardless of vaccination status, in areas of high or substantial transmission, Federal employees, Federal contract employees, and other visitors must wear a mask inside Federal buildings. The current mask usage requirement status for the NASA facility can be found at https://nasapeople.nasa.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus.htm.

For on-site federal contract employees and other visitors not yet fully vaccinated, nonvaccinated or vaccination status was not declared or is unknown: Individuals in this category must continue to comply with the following safety protocols while on a NASA facility:

1.  Wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission level, physically distance, and comply with travel requirements.

2.  Physically distance in federal buildings or on federal lands.

3.  Contractors working onsite are required to adhere to NASA health and safety protocols including COVID-19 screening testing. NASA will not provide testing for contract employees and visitors and contract employees and visitors must adhere to applicable travel restrictions. 

4.  Contractors must be able to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result weekly if coming on site regularly, or within 3 days of a single visit or infrequent visits. The test results should be provided to the contractor employee’s company. The test must be from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized test to detect current infection and produce a dated result. Testing that may result in increased contract costs should be minimized to the maximum extent practical.

For “transient” and construction contractor employees:

• “Transient” contractor employees who are making deliveries to a NASA facility or site (e.g. package delivery services; propellant supplier) but will not enter a Federal Building for an extended period of time, are not required to complete and submit a Certification of Vaccination Status or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result report; and  
• Construction contractor employees, who principally work outside, can be exempt from the attestation and testing requirements. Consideration should begiven to limiting indoor activities for these employees, such as limiting them to only food pickup at a dining facility.

Center/facility leadership has discretion to approve additional exemptions, for other infrequent situations where access of individuals does not represent increased risk of exposure or spreading of COVID-19 in the facility/installation. These exemptions may be most efficient when applied to a contract company when all their employees represent the same low risk.

Additional information about the coronavirus, including preventative best practices and lessons learned is being continuously updated. Contractors are responsible for ensuring that its employees monitor local radio, television stations, and other communications channels. For the latest NASA information, follow all communications from the NASA Center/facility and Agency including the NASA People web page.

The guidance above is separate and distinct from requirements of Executive Order 14042. NASA continues to take no action to enforce NASA FAR deviation clause 52.223-99, Ensuring Adequate COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, in contracts or contract-like instruments implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042, absent further written notice from the agency, as stated in previous guidance dated December 9, 2021.

I appreciate your cooperation and continued commitment to safety and the NASA mission.
Please direct any other questions concerning this letter to your cognizant NASA contracting officer.

Attachments:

Update_on_Facility_Access_Jackson_220211.pdf