NASA, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight CenterP12, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812

A -- BANTAM TECHNOLOGY FLIGHT DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM SOL NRA 8-19 DUE 031297 POC Technical Representative, Curtis McNeal/EE61, 205-544-8538, Mark R. Stiles/GP54, 205-544-0381 /Contracting Officer, Kimberly J. Adams/GP54-I, 205-544-3689 /Contract Specialist WEB: MSFC Procurement Home Page, http://procure.msfc.nasa.gov/home.html. E-MAIL: Point of Contact, kim.adams@msfc.nasa.gov. NASA plans to issue a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) in March 1997 to solicit proposals for the Bantam Technology Flight Demonstration program continuing the Low Cost Boost Technologies (LCBT) project. The specific goal of the program is to stimulate the development of a commercial launch system(s) that can provide transportation of small payloads (100 kilograms design point) to orbit at a sustained recurring price of $1.5M. The NRA will have two proposal cycles. Cycle 1 will be for a six-month preliminary program planning effort which will result in conceptual design of a commercial launch system, a set of technical and business success criteria; a technical approach (including flight demonstration) and business approach to meet the criteria. The second proposal cycle will be for flight technology demonstration and business planning effort over a 24-month period of performance. Cycle 2 proposals will be submitted at the end of the six-month Cycle 1 effort. NASA's expectation is that only Cycle 1 contractors will be capable of successfully competing for Cycle 2, but all proposals will be considered. Multiple awards are anticipated under both proposal cycles. The Cycle 1 effort will describe a commercial launch system including vehicle and launch facility, operations, customer analysis and mission modeling, and a business plan that identifies economic metrics for a successful commercial venture. This effort will also include identification of technical and economic risks and a technology plan to abate the identified risks. The Cycle 2 effort will be a technology program that abates risks associated with low cost commercial launch. NASA feels that flight operations are required to completely demonstrate system feasibility. The high cost of space launch remains a central barrier to the expansion of research activity in near-earth space, particularly for lightweight low cost research payloads. NASA is seeking to mitigate this problem through both component and system level analysis and flight technology demonstrations of low cost launch system technologies. Ground demonstration of promising low cost technologies has already been initiated under the LCBT project. These technologies include in-house NASA initiatives such as the Fastrac LOX/RP-1 ablative chamber/nozzle engine and industry-led low-cost component and system technology developments which were authorized following NRA 8-15 selection. The NRA 8-15 technology initiatives involve low cost structures, engine components, avionics, and operations concepts and the results of these efforts will be available for industry utilization. NASA is encouraging participation of small businesses and businesses not traditionally associated with space flight, as well as traditional suppliers, with solutions to a low cost launch system. NASA is available to team with interested industry partners to accomplish this development effort by providing analysis, design, fabrication and test of components, subsystems, and systems within the capabilities and resources of the various field centers. The firm date for receipt of proposals and the required content of the proposals will be stated in the NRA. An industry briefing will be held at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Building 4200, Morris Auditorium, on March 12 and 13, 1997 beginning at 9:00AM each day -- Copies of the NRA will be available at the industry briefing or via downloading from the Internet -- Transmission by facsimile to 205-544-1630 or by Internet e-mail to kim.adams@msfc.nasa.gov is acceptable -- All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency -- An ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from offerors, potential offerors, and contractors during the preaward and postaward phases of this acquisition -- The purpose of the ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the contracting officer or the selection official, but to communicate concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations of interested parties to the appropriate Government personnel and to work to resolve them -- When requested, the ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern -- The ombudsman does not participate in the evaluation of offers, the source selection process, or the adjudication of formal contract disputes -- Interested parties are invited to call the installation ombudsman, Susan M. Smith at 205-544-1919 -- Concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations which cannot be resolved at the installation may be referred to the NASA ombudsman, Thomas S. Luedtke at 202-358-2090 -- Before consulting with any ombudsman, interested parties must try to resolve their concerns with the contract specialist or the contracting officer -- DO NOT CALL THE OMBUDSMAN FOR SOLICITATION REQUESTS/INFORMATION -- The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet -- These documents will be in ASCII format and reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using client browsers, such as, MOSAIC -- The WWW address, or URL, of the MSFC Procurement home page is: "http://procure.msfc.nasa.gov". (0027)

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