NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 213, Greenbelt, MD 20771

A -- TEAMING OPPORTUNITY FOR SPARTAN 400 STRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT DUE 042700 POC Gary A. Sneiderman, Spartan 400 Mechanical Systems Engineer, Phone (301) 286-1054, Fax (301) 286-1673, Email Gary.A.Sneiderman.1@gsfc.nasa.gov -- Mary S. Walker, Spartan 400 Study Manager, Phone (301) 286-2570, Fax (301) 286-1694, Email Mary.Walker@gsfc.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=51#RFP5- 00001-013. E-MAIL: Gary A. Sneiderman, Gary.A.Sneiderman.1@gsfc.nasa.gov. The GSFC is currently teamed with a Principal Investigator from the University of Wisconsin to conduct a study and prepare a competitive proposal for a large aperture UV telescope. This UV planetary mission, called OPUS, is being proposed to NASA Headquarters Code S in response to the Announcement of Opportunity (AO) AO 00-OSS-XX: "Final Discovery", to be released in early April 2000. A draft of the AO can be found at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oss/research/future.htm . The Spartan Project, Code 860.G, will be providing the spacecraft bus and the University of Wisconsin will provide the scientific instrumentation. Approximately four to six Discovery Mission investigations will be selected under this AO and will be awarded contracts to conduct concept studies with options for the follow-on phases. NASA will review the results of the concept studies and intends to select one investigation for flight. However, NASA reserves the right to select and approve additional investigations for flight, based on funding availability and overall compelling scientific merit. The Spartan 400 is intended to be a flexible carrier capable of supporting a large single instrument or a collection of smaller instruments. The Sp400 provides three axis stabilized stellar, nadir, or solar pointing. It is launched and retrieved on the space shuttle and will be reused. To meet the requirements of this large aperture telescope, the Spartan Project is interested in adding a partner with capabilities in structural design and development for Space Shuttle payloads, to meet the needs of this mission. Figure 1 includes the requirements imposed on the carrier by the OPUS mission. It is expected that the partner would support the Spartan portion of the OPUS proposal and, if selected by this AO, the Spartan portion of the concept study. The Discovery Program is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for Solar System exploration, one of four themes for the Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters. Investigations proposed to be accomplished as flight projects in the Discovery Program include, but are not limited to, remote observations from Earth-orbiting spacecraft, flyby and/or endezvous/orbiter spacecraft, soft landers and/or penetrators, and sample return missions. Responses from interested parties will be considered from all US responsible companies with applicable experience. If the mission is selected to proceed to development by NASA Office of Space Science, GSFC plans to issue a negotiated contract to the provider for delivery of the fully qualified structure. The provider is expected to become a full member of the mission implementation team. Interested parties should provide the GSFC with a short information package, no more than 10 pages in length, addressing each of the partnership priorities listed below. This information should contain a definition of what your organization is willing to accomplish in partnership with the Spartan team, how that would be accomplished, and resource estimates (e.g., cost, weight, dimensions, performance capabilities, etc.). Partnership opportunities will be assessed based on the following priorities in the following order of importance: (1) Recent relevant experience, past performance, technical capability and availability of key personnel; (2) Cost and schedule control; and (3) suitability of structural concept for the OPUS mission. These criteria are defined as follows: 1. Recent relevant experience, past performance, technical capability and availability of key personnel: Of key importance to the Spartan team is the respondent's relevant recent experience, past performance in similar development activities, technical capability to perform the development and key personnel available for the development. A successful partner should provide substantive evidence of successful participation in similar efforts. Please provide customer references with points of contact and current telephone numbers and email addresses. The technical ability to complete the development and availability of key personnel with appropriate experience skill levels will also be assessed. 2. Cost and Schedule Participation: The Spartan project expects that an industry partner will substantially participate in this development activity. The partner's investment of resources and ability to control both cost and schedule will be assessed. A potential partner should identify available resources (facilities, manpower, etc.) that would be applied in the proposed contract arrangement. In addition, please provide evidence of successfully controlling cost and schedule for similar developments, and discuss how project management schedule and cost control processes are implemented. The potential partner should provide recurring and nonrecurring ROM costs. Because more than one structure may eventually be built for other programs, lower recurring costs are desirable. 3. Suitability of structural concept and associated ground support equipment for the OPUS mission: The OPUS mission requirements are shown in Figure 1. The successful potential partner will demonstrate a viable structural concept for the OPUS mission. The proposer is expected to list the salient characteristics of the proposed design in descending order of importance. The potential partner shall include illustrations and/or other information necessary to convey the design approach. It is expected that the partnering organization will participate actively in the initial proposal, which is due 90 days from the release of the AO. Should the mission be selected to accomplish a concept study, active participation in the concept study is also expected. The concept study will be a four-month effort from selection to submission of the report. It is not the intent of the GSFC to reimburse organizations for the cost of submitting information in response to this announcement, or to pay for any proposal preparation costs incurred by the selected partner. It is expected that selection of the OPUS mission for development would result in a contract for the selected partner. This teaming opportunity announcement does not represent a guarantee of selection for award of any contacts, nor is it to be construed as a commitment from NASA to pay for the information solicited. It is expected that the partner selected would provide (at no cost to NASA) conceptual designs, technical data, proposal inputs, project schedules, and cost estimates consistent with the study guidelines provided by the Discovery Program during the proposal process. The information package shall be submitted no later than April 28, 2000 to: Spartan Project Office NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Mail Code 860.G Greenbelt, MD 20771 Posted 04/07/00 (D-SN442180). 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