SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Gateway Commercial Opportunities - Request for Information
- Notice Date
- 6/18/2018
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 54171
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life SciencesT
- Contracting Office
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Headquarters Acquisition Branch, Code 210.H, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20771
- Solicitation Number
- NNH18-AES-GCU-RFI-1
- Point of Contact
- Lee Pagel, Phone: 202-358-0623
- E-Mail Address
-
k.l.pagel@nasa.gov
(k.l.pagel@nasa.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a Request for Information (RFI) only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will take action in this matter. NASA is working with its international and domestic partners to define a lunar orbiting Gateway which will enable NASA's human space exploration goals and provides an opportunity to support commercial activity in the vicinity of the Moon. Specifically, NASA seeks to identify areas where industry is prepared to make use of, or enhance the, capabilities of the Gateway to further commercial space business. NASA is not only interested in technical solutions to advance these goals, but also in contract or agreement structures that potential offerors would see as beneficial to advance private sector demand for the Gateway. NASA does not have unique funds for this activity. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation or an update to an existing solicitation is developed from this RFI it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offeror's responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. Introduction: This RFI is being used to determine private sector or commercial market interest in taking advantage of the proposed Gateway to be located in cislunar space in order to advance economic development in space. NASA will use the results of this RFI to guide development of Gateway requirements and architecture appropriate to the Agency's objective of fostering a self-sustaining commercial marketplace in space and consistent with NASA's space exploration objectives. NASA is seeking industry ideas to stimulate economic development through the use of the Gateway as well as other commercial uses for the planned Gateway architecture. The Gateway: NASA is working to define a Gateway which will enable its Human Exploration Objectives (reference HEOMD-001 Revision A for detailed Exploration Objectives) and provide an opportunity to support commercial activity in the vicinity of the Moon. The proposed Gateway is intended as a small orbital outpost in cislunar space from which NASA and its partners can base future exploration missions to the lunar surface and then on to Mars and other deep space destinations. The conceptual Gateway architecture will include power and propulsion, habitation capabilities, enable EVAs via an airlock, and a logistics resupply capability. Additional capabilities include a robotic arm, scientific airlock and lunar communications. The Gateway would also serve as a port for lunar landers as well as a demonstration platform for the integrated testing of the transportation capabilities needed for missions between the Earth and Mars system - subsystems and autonomous operations addressing communications delays. The Gateway will be located in a Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) around the Moon and can be relocated in cislunar space for utilization purposes. The Gateway will also include multiple docking ports for visiting vehicles and spacecraft, including the Orion crew vehicle. At this time, NASA plans for the Gateway to be human-tended, not continuously occupied, with Orion delivering the crew via the Space Launch System on an annual basis beginning as early as 2023. NASA anticipates that the Gateway could provide opportunities for non-government entities and seeks industry input in ideas for utilization of this unique capability proposed under this RFI. Plans for life support are being developed, however with relatively short mission durations planned by NASA, industry should not assume that there is excess life support system capabilities. Gateway requirements are being developed now, so responses to this RFI may affect the final architecture of the system. Funds Available to Enable the Activity: At this time, NASA's budget does not include any dedicated funding to enable partnership(s) for use of these limited availability, unique capabilities. Information Requested from Responders: NASA is interested in information from responders concerning possible non-NASA activities you foresee using the Gateway. These could include the inclusion of non-NASA hardware, facilities or modules to the Gateway. Your response should include: •Unique Gateway capabilities the responder is interested in with a description of proposed use. •Discuss how the ability of the Gateway to translate to/from different cislunar orbits impacts your proposed use. •Resources needed for the responder's proposed activity (things such as power, thermal, structural, pointing/view, number of required docking ports, communication/data within Gateway, communication/data beyond Gateway (and to where), number of dock/undocks per year, and number of airlock transfers per year). •If the responder's activity adds appreciable volume or mass (e.g. responder provides their own module) to Gateway please provide bounding ranges. •Need dates and minimum durations that the capability would be required. •How this activity will advance economic development and private sector demand for access to cislunar space. Results of market studies, if available. •Minimum criteria to be met in order to retain on-going use of the capability and timelines for terminating use of the capabilities if ongoing evaluation indicates the use of the capability is no longer meeting the minimum criteria. •How the offeror plans to fund and sustain their capability on Gateway. Details of your business case to justify both your investment and NASA provision of the Gateway resources. •How the offeror plans to obtain crew or cargo transportation, if required. •Suggestion of ways NASA can incentivize a partner to stimulate economic development at the Gateway with minimal to no unique NASA direct investment. •Identification of specific barriers to proposed commercial use of these capabilities. •Identification of any international industry partners. Activity Terms and Conditions: Responders are invited to provide suggestions on what terms and conditions are beneficial for industry and NASA for these partnerships. Specific Requests: •Describe your preferred transaction type (Space Act Agreement, Cooperative Agreement, no-cost contract, other) with rationale. •Specify any government furnished equipment, facilities, and/or services that would be needed by the responder to enter into an appropriate transaction for use of the unique capability requested. •Identify fund raising and development milestones that the responder would need to achieve to meet their part of the activity. Include the dependencies between any critical government commitments (equipment delivery, facilities usage or services such as unique analysis) that are required to enable the responder to meet these milestones. •Specify any specific intellectual property clauses, marketing or advertising agreements, or other conditions that are required to enable the responder to meet their part of the activity. Company Information: •Company name, point of contact name, phone number, e-mail address. Response Preparation and Transmittal: This is a request for information only. It is not a procurement, commitment to procure items or services, or request for proposals. NASA will not reimburse any costs incurred for preparation or submission of information in response to this RFI. NASA reserves the right to share all information received in response to this RFI throughout NASA and to use all information submitted in response to this RFI in NASA's formulation of one or more partnerships for or related to the stimulation of economic development activities at the Gateway. NASA does not wish to receive any competition sensitive data that requires protection. However, if it is necessary to submit competition sensitive data to answer any of the questions in this RFI that data should be clearly segregated and marked as sensitive. Although information contained herein represents current program content and acquisition planning, it is subject to change. Questions and responses shall reference this RFI. Interested parties should submit a response of no more than 20 single-sided pages indicating their interest as described herein. A cover page may be added in addition to the 20 pages. Point of Contact: Questions concerning this RFI shall be submitted via email to Lee Pagel at k.l.pagel@nasa.gov. Electronic submission of the responses is due by August 4th, 2018, by 5:00 pm eastern daylight time.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/964a06098f5f3f41d981b1734215d5d5)
- Record
- SN04958294-W 20180620/180618230737-964a06098f5f3f41d981b1734215d5d5 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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