United Space Alliance(USA), 600 Gemini Avenue, Houston, Texas 77058

18 -- SPACE SHUTTLE ORBITER COCKPIT AVIONICS UPGRADES SYSTEM -- FLIGHT SOFTWARE SOL USA-SSU-A02 POC Francis V. Carlos, (281) 282-3163 WEB: See Description, http://www.unitedspacealliance.com/. E-MAIL: See Description, francis.v.carlos@usahq.unitedspacealliance.com. United Space Alliance (USA), LLC, a joint venture company of The Boeing Company and Lockheed-Martin Corporation, through its offices located in Houston, Texas, anticipates the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP) on or about July 15, 2000 for the acquisition of flight software in support of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrades System. This acquisition is in support of USA's prime contract NAS9-20000 -- Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) with the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) located in Houston, Texas. This Request for Information (RFI) is being provided to determine the interest of potential vendors/contractors in attending a pre-solicitation conference scheduled for July 11, 2000 at the USA facility located at 1150 Gemini Avenue, Houston, Texas. Characteristics of the individual vendors or vendor teams with whom USA wishes to do business for this portion of the cockpit avionics upgrades project are: ISO 9001 certified; have an established and verifiable safety program; have an established and verifiable quality program; have verifiable past performance in developing safety critical software; possess an SEI CMM rating of 3 or higher or can pass a Software Development Capability Evaluation (SDCE) of comparable scope; can provide verifiable productivity statistics for development of safety critical software; can provide verifiable information attesting to the first time quality of previous software development efforts; have established and verifiable configuration management and change control systems; can identify past customer points of contact to verify performance; have auditable financial and work scheduling systems which plan, track, and report cost, technical performance, and schedule progress. USA anticipates releasing a draft Statement of Work, schedule and deliverables list on June 30, 2000. This will be posted on the USA Shuttle Upgrades Web Site which can be found at http://www.unitedspacealliance.com/. Interested parties may submit questions of clarification that will be answered at the bidders conference. After the conference, firms interested in receiving the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be required to submit an intent to bid letter to USA not later than July 14, 2000. Firms not responding by this date will not be considered further and will not receive the RFP. USA anticipates the formal RFP will be released on or about July 15, 2000 with the proposal due August 20, 2000. USA further anticipates contract award and start-up prior to September 30, 2000. This solicitation is solely for invitation to attend the pre-solicitation conference and does not in any way constitute an RFP, Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation and is not to be construed as a commitment by USA to enter into a subcontract. The cockpit avionics upgrade acquisition is subject to review by NASA and USA or cancellation at any time. Firms interested in participating in this project are subject to the requirements of the U.S. Department of State International Traffic and Arms Regulation (ITAR) and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Administration Regulations (EAR) including the pre-solicitation conference. Program Description: The Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrades project is a limited scope effort to modify the orbiter cockpit avionics system to improve the flight crew situational awareness and to simplify and reduce the crew's workload. This particular element of the project is limited to the development of the flight software, support of the integration of the flight hardware and software, and support of the system certification for flight. The flight hardware, which has been integrated with a real time operating system, is being procured under a different contract. Details of the hardware procurement will be described at the bidders conference. The current processes to monitor, command, and control the orbiter subsystems during normal operations and to determine projected abort scenarios for anomalous conditions (abort situational awareness) during ascent and de-orbit and landing are cumbersome. Changes to both the cockpit avionics hardware and software are required to increase the flight crews' insight into and understanding of the orbiter health and status during all operations and to improve the content and quality of the control mechanisms available to the crew. The portion of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project addressed by this requirement is the development of the Command Data Processor (CDP) resident software to drive enhanced displays for the Vehicle Display Management System. Procurement Strategy: To compensate for a compressed procurement schedule, USA has adopted for this program a three (3) phased approach for developing the flight software in a "team" environment where USA uses its unique experience and capabilities in shuttle flight software in concert with contractor capabilities in development and testing. Phase 1 will consist of requirements development and initial design. It will be led by USA personnel familiar with the existing shuttle systems with which this new software must interface. Planning for this activity is underway and the contractor will join the team upon contract award. Phase 2 will be contractor led but with extensive USA participation for the purpose of making USA expertise and experience available to the development contractor and to insure that USA will be fully capable of maintaining and sustaining the software at the completion of the contract. Phase 2 will consist of detailed design, unit coding and debug, software integration and unit test. Phase 3 will be a support phase whereby the contractor supports USA led efforts in integration and test of the flight software with the flight hardware. Contractor support will also be required to USA led efforts in certifying the upgraded avionics suite for flight as well as support for the first flight of the new system. Intent to attend the pre-solicitation conference: USA requests that firms interested in attending the pre-solicitation conference notify USA in writing no later than July 6, 2000 to confirm attendance. Attendance will be limited to three (3) company representatives who are U.S. citizens and/or permanent resident aliens. All questions and responses will be shared and distributed to conference attendees. Correspondence should be sent to: United Space Alliance, LLC, 555 Gemini Avenue, Houston, TX 77058, Attention: David W. Finkel, Subcontract Management, Mail Code USH 130C. Posted 06/07/00 (W-SN462212). (0159)

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