NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BE

A -- CREW RETURN VEHICLE FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SOL 9-BE13-27-9-1P DUE 012299 POC Wendy L. Boudreaux, Contract Specialist, Phone (281) 483-5338, Fax (281) 244-5331, Email wendy.l.boudreaux1@jsc.nasa.gov -- Yvette D. Garner, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 244-7246, Fax (281) 244-7563, Email yvette.d.garner1@jsc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/date.html#9-BE13-27-9-1P. E-MAIL: Wendy L. Boudreaux, wendy.l.boudreaux1@jsc.nasa.gov. NASA/JSC plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP)for delta design effort required to convert the Experimental Crew Return Vehicle (X-38) into an operational Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station. The contract effort will include internal system integration activities as well as necessary system integration with space shuttle and ISS. Selected contractors will be required to participate in flight test tasks as well. This contract will result in the establishment of a production baseline configuration for the operational CRV. All drawings, prints, schematics, software, etc. resulting from this contract will be owned by the Government. The draft Statement of Work for this requirement is contained in the attached document. Documents referenced in the SOW are available on the X-38/CRV Homepage. Interested parties should contact John Hooper via email at john.c.hooper1@jsc.nasa.gov for information pertaining to access to the site. The acquisition of the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) is being conducted in three parts. Part 0 is the unfunded observation period now underway, in which the potential bidders for the production CRV are attending X-38 meetings and reviews, participating in X-38 test activities, and requesting specific data products from the X-38 project. Part 1, the subject of this RFP, is a funded activity during which multiple contractors will assess the maturity of the CRV design requirements, assess the capability of the X-38 design to meet the CRV requirements, and perform delta design tasks required to evolve the X-38 design to the operational CRV. Part 2 is the production phase, in which the selected contractor will perform further design engineering to establish the production baseline configuration; and fabricate, test, certify, and deliver operational vehicles for use as the Space Station Crew Return Vehicle based on the design and planning performed during Part 1. Participation of the contractors in the Part 1 activities assures a detailed understanding of the X-38 design and the NASA plan to evolve the X-38 design into the operational CRV. The tasks in this SOW are divided into two major sections. Section 1 tasks are directed towards assuring that the CRV requirements and supporting documents are appropriate and represent accurate and attainable capabilities; and that the X-38 vehicle design and subsystems are consistent with the goal of evolving that design to the operational CRV in a cost-effective manner. Section 2 tasks provide support to NASA in the development, ground test, and space flight test of the X-38 and its systems; and in the further definition of specific aspects of the design of the operational CRV. Results from the specific tasks may be used by the government in defining revisions or updates to the final CRV design requirements or specifications for the Part 2 acquisition process, but to maintain the competitive nature of the acquisition process, the documentation produced in Part 1, section 1 will be considered proprietary until the Part 2 contract award is completed. This first set of tasks will be performed by all of the contractors selected to participate in the Part 1 activities. The section 2 tasks will be divided among the winning contractors, so each contractor will not be responsible for every task in this set. However, the results of these tasks will be made public and will form a part of the database for the Part 2 procurement. The provisions and clauses that pertain to this RFP are those in effect through FAC 97-8. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. See Note 26. The SIC Code and Size Standard are 3761 and 1000, respectively. The DPAS rating for this procurement is DO-C9. This contract will include cost type completion effort in the form of IDIQ (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) DO's. Delivery orders will be competed among selected contractors. Multiple contracts will be awarded for this effort and each contract will include a not-to-exceed amount. The contract period of performance is approximately one year. The anticipated release of a draft RFP is planned for late January, 1999 and release of the final RFP in March, 1999 with an anticipated proposal due date in May 1999. No solicitation exists at this time. Upon issuance of the RFP, offerors will be requested to provide information responsive to items similar to those set forth below. It will be incumbent upon offerors to include in their proposals any further discussion they believe to be necessary or useful to demonstrate their ability to perform the work under the contemplated contract. Sample Delivery Orders (DO's)will be provided as part of the RFP. These sample DO's have scenarios which represent the type of work which is expected to be ordered under this contract. Offerors will be expected to provide the appropriate information related to the sample DO's as part of their proposal. The responses will be evaluated under technical understanding. The proposal evaluation criteria will be provided in the solicitation document. Offerors are requested to provide responses/feedback to the following questions to the point of contact identified below by January 22, 1999: 1. What type of contractor vehicle certification accountability is planned/proposed for Part 1 and Part 2 CRV effort (flight readiness statement)? 2. Which CRV capabilities are planned/proposed for certification based on the X-38 program design? Are there any anticipated difficulties perceived with making the Part 1 certification assessments binding during the Part 2 CRV effort? 3. Please provide recommendations and rationale for contract type for both Part 1 and Part 2 of the CRV effort. What type of contractor/Government relationship is anticipated? 4. Identify risks associated with delivery of a flight vehicle by 2003. Please prioritize the level of risk and identify risk mitigation opportunities. 5. Provide recommendations for Government provided tasks, products, certifications necessary for the CRV effort. An ombudsman has been appointed. See Internet Note "B". The solicitation and anydocuments related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in Microsoft Office Suite (Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, or PowerPoint 4.0) format and will reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The WWW address, or URL of the NASA/JSC Business Opportunities page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/class.html. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the aforementioned Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html. Posted 12/23/98 (D-SN283107). (0357)

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