SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY DOCUMENT FOR NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER HEAVYNUCLEI EXPLORER SPACECRAFT LAUNCH AND ON ORBIT SUPPORT
- Notice Date
- 10/9/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 336419
— Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 210.S, Greenbelt, MD 20771
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- NASA-GSFC-POD-HNX
- Response Due
- 10/24/2014
- Archive Date
- 10/9/2015
- Point of Contact
- Laura Ottenstein, HNX Proposal Manager, Phone 301-286-4141, Fax 301-286-0341, Email Laura.Ottenstein-1@nasa.gov - Julie A. Janus, Contracting Officer, Phone 301-286-4931, Fax 301-286-0341, Email Julie.A.Janus@nasa.gov
- E-Mail Address
-
Laura Ottenstein
(Laura.Ottenstein-1@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Partnership Opportunity Document for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Heavy Nuclei eXplorer (HNX) Spacecraft, Launch, and On-Orbit Support 1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION Contracting Office Address NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Code 210.S Greenbelt, MD 20771 2.0 INTRODUCTION/SCOPE This proposal opportunity is in response to the NASA Announcement of Opportunity (AO), Astrophysics Explorers Program, 2014 Small Explorer (SMEX), NNH14ZDA013O, which was released on September 17, 2014. The Goddard Space Flight Center is developing a mission concept called Heavy Nuclei eXplorer (HNX) to be proposed for this AO.The partnership opportunity is being issued to select a teaming partner to provide a sample return spacecraft (host for a hosted payload), instrument to spacecraft integration support, launch vehicle, launch, on-orbit mission and science operations for a minimum of 20 months (nominal mission of 24 months), spacecraft and payload safe return to earth, safe recovery, and de-integration support of the payload from the spacecraft. The proposed mission is currently in pre-Phase A. This phase ends with a Step 1 proposal which is due December 18, 2014. If the proposal is down-selected, the next step in the proposal process is a mission concept study culminating in a Concept Study Report, which is the Step 2 proposal and a Site Visit. The following schedule should be used as a basis for responses to this opportunity: Partnership Opportunity Document releasedOctober 2014 Responses dueOctober 24, 2014 Partner Selection announcedOctober 31, 2014 Step 1 Proposal in response to SMEX AODecember 18, 2014 Phase A mission concept studySummer 2015 Summer 2016 Begin Phase BEarly 2017 Flight ReadinessNLT December 31, 2020 2.1COST Total cost and cost fidelity are important issues for the mission trade studies. The cost cap for this AO is $175 million, if the proposal includes provisions for launch services. This cost includes the instruments, spacecraft, instrument to spacecraft integration support, launch vehicle, mission and science operations for a minimum of 20 months and a nominal mission lifetime of 24 months, safe return of the spacecraft and HNX payload to Earth, spacecraft and HNX payload recovery and delivery to the U.S.A., de-integration support of the HNX payload from the spacecraft, and post mission processing, as well as required contingency (25% or greater reserves).Reserves will be held at the Project level, and not with the partner. The Phase A mission concept study (Step 2 down-selection) has a total cost cap of $1 million for all partners. There will be no exchange of funds between the teaming partners for the portion of this partnership opportunity dealing with the preparation of the initial submission (Pre-Phase-A, Step 1 proposal) to the SMEX AO.Funding will be available for subsequent phases should the candidate mission concept be competitively selected for those additional phases. 2.2DESIRED MISSION SERVICES GSFC is interested in formally establishing a partner to provide the following services for this SMEX Astrophysics mission: hosting of two instruments simultaneously (together known as HNX) on a low Earth orbiting safely recoverable spacecraft, instrument to spacecraft integration support, launch vehicle, launch, on-orbit mission and science operations for a minimum of 20 months and a nominal mission lifetime of 24 months, safe return of the HNX payload and spacecraft to Earth, spacecraft and HNX payload recovery and delivery to the U.S.A., and de-integration support of the HNX payload from the spacecraft. The primary science instruments will be provided by GSFC for accommodation. All interested parties are required to respond to this POD in accordance with Section 4 below. 2.3PROPOSAL SUPPORT It is expected that the selected POD respondent will provide support using their own resources to help develop the required SMEX proposal elements in response to the Step 1 Pre-Phase A NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) AO in the area of a well-defined and documented spacecraft, instrument accommodations, instrument to spacecraft integration support, launch vehicle, launch services, mission and science operations for a minimum of 20 months with a nominal on-orbit lifetime of 24 months, safe return of the spacecraft and HNX instruments to Earth, HNX payload recovery and safe delivery to the U.S.A., and de-integration support of the HNX payload from the spacecraft. This will involve meeting with the Principal Investigator (PI) and other proposal team members to help define the end-to-end performance requirements, including providing well-defined interfaces to the spacecraft in the form of Interface Control Documents (ICDs), to define the system architecture, to identify study topics, and to predict flight performance. This will include cost estimation for mission phases. The period of performance for this interval is expected to last 2 months, starting in October 2014. If the proposal is down-selected for a Phase A Mission Concept Study, this will consist of a one year concept study phase culminating in a Mission Concept Study Report as the Step 2 proposal and on-site support of a Site Visit (location and exact date TBD). This period is expected to last from summer 2015 to summer 2016. Partial funding will be provided to the partner for the Phase A mission concept study support, Mission Concept Study Report, and Site Visit. If the mission is selected for development and launch (Phases B-F), the partner will be responsible for the design and development of the spacecraft, instrument accommodations and integration support, launch vehicle, launch, on-orbit mission and science operations for a minimum of 20 months and a nominal mission lifetime of 24 months, safe return of the spacecraft and HNX payload to Earth, spacecraft and HNX payload recovery and delivery to the U.S.A., and de-integration support of the HNX payload from the spacecraft. The period of performance for this interval is expected to last approximately 6 years, starting early 2017, including 2 years of on-orbit operations. These dates and times may change depending on selection timelines and budget allocations or phasing. 3.0MISSION OVERVIEW In order to meet the mission requirements, the spacecraft needs to have a minimum 20 month (24 month nominal) on-orbit lifetime followed by a safe return of the payload/instruments to earth and instrument recovery for post mission processing. HNX consists of two instruments which must be accommodated on a single spacecraft that is launched to low earth orbit. The orbit inclination must be between 51 and 90. The science is not highly dependent on the altitude, although in general, higher altitudes are preferred. HNX will be managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center in partnership with the chosen partner who will host the instruments on an existing spacecraft which uses high-heritage subsystems and proven, well-tested engineering design. Proven launch to space and safe return space flights of payloads must be demonstrated in the submission in response to this POD. Mechanical, electrical, pressure, and thermal interfaces must be well defined by providing the HNX team with fixed Interface Control Documents (ICDs) that the HNX team can use to show maturity of the HNX design and design interfaces to the spacecraft and low risk of change or non-conformance. The Small Explorer missions are classified as Category 3 missions (per NPR 7120.5E) with Class D payloads (per NPR 8705.4). 3.1LAUNCH VEHICLE The launch vehicle and launch services are included as part of this partnership agreement. The partner must show heritage and previous launch success for the proposal launch vehicle. Launch loads and acoustic levels for the launch environment must be well known and shall be provided to NASA. Historic and predicted ROM costs for launch of the proposed spacecraft on the proposed launch vehicle shall be provided in the response to this POD. 3.2LAUNCH MANIFEST HNX intends to fly in a ride-sharing mode to lower flight costs. The vendor must commit to manifesting the HNX instruments together simultaneously in a single spacecraft and launch vehicle in a timeframe commensurate with the requirements of the 2014 SMEX AO. The instruments are required to be launched ready no later than December 2020.However, the HNX project is maintaining cost reserves to cover a potential launch slip of up to one year if necessary to either find a ride share payload or due to launch vehicle delays. 4.0POD RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS Potential respondents are asked to contact the GSFC Small Explorer HNX team with a Notice of Interest (intentionally not called a notice of intent). This Notice of Interest does not create an obligation to respond to the POD, but allows the GSFC Small Explorer team to disseminate additional details on the mission parameters and requirements and to provide answers to questions from potential partners. All Notice of Interest respondents will receive a document containing additional details on the proposed mission, which can be used to facilitate a focused response to the partnership opportunity. These details are proprietary and competition sensitive and are not to be shared outside the teams necessary to prepare a full response. In addition, the second document will contain partner selection criteria. After receipt of the mission document, respondents may send questions to the GSFC Small Explorer HNX Team at the e-mail address listed below. All questions and answers will be made available to those who respond to the Notice of Interest.The source of the questions shall be held confidential. Questions and answers that contain information unique to a respondents proprietary approach will not be shared if they are identified as such. Notice of Interest shall be sent to Laura.Ottenstein-1@nasa.gov via email with Notice of Interest in the subject line, a simple sentence of two expressing interest, and an email address to send further information. For purposes of this partnership opportunity, the GSFC Small Explorer Team contact is Laura Ottenstein, Laura.Ottenstein-1@nasa.gov, 301-286-4141. It is the responsibility of potential respondents to monitor the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS), GSFC Procurement Site for information concerning this POD: http://code210.gsfc.nasa.gov/podhome.htm
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