NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 287 Greenbelt, MD

99 -- UNIDIRECTIONAL GRAPHITE/EPOXY COMPOSITE STRAPS SOL RFP5-14859/239 POC Ellen Ollendorf, Contracting Officer, (301)286-4240. NASA intends to award a sole-source contract to Structural Composites Industries, Pomona, CA for the necessary services, materials and facilities to fabricate, test, inspect, and document 48 unidirectional graphite/epoxy composite straps which will be used to support the liquid helium tank inside a support canister which is part of the X-Ray Spectrometer (XRS) Detector System. An optional requirement for 24 additional straps will be included. The authority is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source. The XRS will fly on the Astro-E spacecraft. The deliverable straps shall be fabricated of graphite fiber of the unidirectional, longitudinal continuous type. The straps must satisfy the competing requirements of being able to withstand significant dynamic loads while minimizing the thermal conductance along the straps. They must have a shelf life of 8 years at storage temperature between 65 to 85F. The operational temperature ranges from 1.3K to 310K. The straps will operate in a vacuum environment with pressure less than or equal to 0.00001 torr. Delivery of the 48 unidirectional graphite/epoxy composite straps shall be 10 weeks after contract award. Delivery of the optional quantity will be 8 weeks after exercise of the option. Structural Composites Industries has fabricated and qualified composite straps for spaceflight use and at the low liquid helium temperatures (-459F) which this acquisition requires for prior GSFC missions (COBE and SHOOT). Any other firms desiring consideration are requested to identify their interest and capabilities within 15 days of the publication of this synopsis to the NASA/GSFC office and contact listed above. Interested companies must provide strength and fatigue data on similar straps at both ambient and liquid helium temperatures as well as documentation of space flight qualification of the firm's resin system. See Note(s): 22. (0118)

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