SOLICITATION NOTICE
L -- PROPELLANT MANAGEMENT DEVICE "PMD" DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
- Notice Date
- 8/7/2009
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541330
— Engineering Services
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Ames Research Center, JA:M/S 241-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
- ZIP Code
- 94035-1000
- Solicitation Number
- NNA09308151Q-AKK
- Response Due
- 8/24/2009
- Archive Date
- 8/7/2010
- Point of Contact
- Karen Klaas, Purchasing Agent, Phone 650-604-6474, Fax 650-604-0932, Email karen.klaas@nasa.gov - Marianne Shelley, Contracting Officer, Phone 650-604-4179, Fax 650-604-0932, Email marianne.shelley@nasa.gov<br />
- E-Mail Address
-
Karen Klaas
(karen.klaas@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NASA/ARC has a requirement for the preliminary design and analysis of a PropellantManagement Device (PMD) for a spacecraft propellant tank. In a zero-g environment, aspacecraft cannot rely on gravity to direct propellant to flow out a drain at the bottomof the spacecrafts fuel tanks. Without a system for directing propellant to the tankdrain, the spacecrafts rocket engines could accidentally ingest gas instead of liquid,which would be hazardous. To prevent this, a PMD employing vanes and screens uses surfacetension to direct propellant to the tank drain. The design of these devices is anextremely complex and specialized task. NASA will use this preliminary design to reducerisk on the LADEE (Lunar Atmospheric Dust Environment Explorer) spacecraft project. Thepreliminary analysis will consist of a report analyzing the difficulty of designing a PMDwhich will reliably deliver propellant throughout the LADEE mission profile, and estimatethe level of effort required to design such a PMD. NASA/ARC intends to purchase the service from PMD Technology of North Andover, MA 01845under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) Soliciting from a single source. The design ofsurface tension-based Propellant Management Devices is an extremely specialized field inwhich there are very few competitors.Propellant tank manufacturers maintain their ownPMD design staffs, but NASA does not intend to procure a propellant tank. Instead, NASAwill procure an entire rocket propulsion system for LADEE from a large-scale systemintegrator. In order to evaluate proposals for this large procurement, NASA will obtainan analysis of its PMD requirements. There is only one independent analyst and designerof PMD systems who is not also a tank manufacturer, and who would thus be able to providean independent analysis.The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12.Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform theeffort in writing only to: Karen Klaas (Karen.Klaas@nasa.gov) not later than 12:30 p.m.Pacific time on August 24, 2009. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluatedsolely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on acompetitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed efforton a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solelywithin the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note "B".Information about major upcoming ARC procurement actions is available athttp://ec.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eis/admin/admin.cgi?center=ARC Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NASA/ARC/OPDC20220/NNA09308151Q-AKK/listing.html)
- Record
- SN01903190-W 20090809/090807235736-77e4fb7b4386eeb4061c4db6ae97e3bf (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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