NASA/George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812

V -- NEXT GENERATION LAUNCH SERVICES ACQUISITION SOL RFI-03-01-2000 DUE 031600 POC Marlyce E. Alexander, Contract Specialist, Phone (256) 544-8344, Fax (256) 544-2812, Email marlyce.alexander@msfc.nasa.gov -- George E. Pendley, Contracting Officer, Phone (256) 544-2949, Fax (256) 544-9080, Email george.pendley@msfc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=62#RFI-03-01-2000. E-MAIL: Marlyce E. Alexander, marlyce.alexander@msfc.nasa.gov. THIS IS NOT A NOTICE OF SOLICITATION ISSUANCE. NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center is hereby soliciting information for potential sources for the Next Generation Launch Services (NGLS) Acquisition. This Request for Information (RFI) is being issued by NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center for comments and statement of interest for the Next Generation Launch Services Acquisition. In January 1999, the NASA Administrator signed the Launch Services Risk Mitigation Policy for NASA owned and sponsored payloads (NASA Policy 8610.7). This policy has established three tiers of risk for NASA payloads based upon launch vehicle demonstrated flight history. The categories are define as follows: Category 1 -- Launch vehicles have demonstrated no prior flight history; Category 2 -- Launch vehicles have demonstrated at least one successful launch; Category 3 -- Launch vehicles have demonstrated 95% reliability @ 50% confidence level (14 consecutive successful launches). In October 1998, NASA Kennedy Space Center awarded contracts for launch services in the Category 2 risk under the Small Expendable Launch Services -- Kennedy Space Center (SELVS-KSC) Acquisition. The NASA Launch Services (NLS) acquisition ( Proposals (RFP 10-99-0021) for Category 2 and Category 3 launch vehicles service is expected to be awarded in May 2000. This notice is to seek industry comments and statements of interest about NASA's possible acquisition of launch services for Category 1 vehicles with no prior demonstrated flight history. NASA's Space Transportation Architect Studies provided the Agency greater insight into the plans of emerging next generation launch systems. NASA is seeking information concerning the feasibility of establishing a contractual mechanism for new domestic services, as they become available. Accordingly, this Agency is considering the possibility of soliciting proposals from the industry in Calendar Year 2000 for launch services of NASA sponsored Cagetory 1 payloads. The current schedule indicates a DraftRequest for Proposals (RFP) release in the May 2000 timeframe and the RFP release would be approximately July, 2000. NASA has a series of university class explorers, university earth science missions, and small technology payloads, which may be suitable for the risk, associated with first flight of a new launch system. It is possible that many launch systems offer greater performance than the Agency requires, resulting in NASA payloads flying as a secondary or co-manifested basis with other commercial and/or government payloads. Vehicles completing a successful launch under the NGLS acquisition approach may potentially be eligible to participate under other NASA Category 2 launch services contracts. NASA is interested in determining the number of potential participants and any of their technical or performance issues. Please forward all comments and statements of interest to this notice by March 16, 2000 to Mr. George E. Pendley at the following address: NASA, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office/PS52-A, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812. This RFI is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government, nor will the Government pay for the information solicited. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. Any questions regarding this announcement should be directed to the identified point of contact. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See Internet Note "B". The solicitation and any documents 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 Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/MSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html Posted 03/01/00 (D-SN430141). (0061)

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