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

17 -- ELECTRIC WINCHES FOR THE X-38 FLIGHT TEST VEHICLES SOL 9-BE13-18-8-48P POC Yolande B. Harden, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 483-9953, Fax (281) 244-5337, Email yolande.b.harden1@jsc.nasa.gov -- Yolande B. Harden, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 483-9953, Fax (281) 244-5337, Email yolande.b.harden1@jsc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/date.html#9-BE13-18-8-48P. E-MAIL: Yolande B. Harden, yolande.b.harden1@jsc.nasa.gov. NASA/JSC plans to issue a Request for Offer (RFO) for the development, manufacture and delivery of two (2) 270 volt brushless dc winches in support of development of the X-38 flight test vehicles, with options for an additional six (6) units. The winches will be used to operate the parafoil control lines, first to steer the vehicle to the landing site, then at landing, to abruptly retract both the port and starboard lines to flare the parafoil to provide a soft touchdown. Offerors will be required to make full use of any existing designs, or adaptations of existing designs. Delivery of the initial units is required within 6 months of contract award with delivery of the option units by the fall 1999. The winches must be able to retract 20 feet of control line, within 10 seconds, against a resistance load that increases essentially linearly from 200 lbs at the fully extended position, to 2500 lbs at the 20 ft full retract position. The winches must be able to deliver the required performance with the supply voltage range of 205 to 300 volts, and a motor controller range of 28 +/-2v dc. The winches must respond smoothly to guidance computer steering commands; these will be updated every 0.04 sec, will range from 0.8 to 3 ft/sec, and will occur against both aiding and opposing line loads. The update signals will be a 0 to 10 volt analog rate-command, concurrent with a discrete direction command. Each winch must include redundant 0 to 10K ohm position sensors to provide feedback-loop closure in the flight computer. Each winch must also incorporate redundant over travel limit switches to protect against potential overtravel command errors. The winches must incorporate a self-actuated mechanical brake to hold the load when the motor is "off." Additionally, the winch drum must include a passive, load-relief clutch that will allow the line-load to "back-off," should an anomalous aero-induced load in the control lines exceed 3200 lbs. The winches must be capable of meeting full performance following exposure to the shuttle launch vibrations, to a temperature environment that may cycle between -50 to 150 deg F, and to sustained space vacuum, especially as the sustained vacuum applies to gearbox lubricants and potential "vacuum-welding" of close-contact parts. Finally, winch mounting and performance characteristics must permit the winch to function in either the port or starboard position, although minimal hardware reconfiguration is permitted. This procurement is being conducted under the Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP), Part 13.5. The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR PART 12. The SIC Code and Size Standard are 3812 and 750 employees, respectively. The DPAS Rating for this procurment is DO C9. The anticipated release date of RFO 9-BE13-18-8-48P is on or about October 9, 1998 with an anticipated proposal due date of on or about October 30, 1998. All qualified responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. 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 WWW address, or URL of the NASA/JSC Business Opportunities home page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/class.html. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this 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/nnotes.htm. Posted 09/22/98 (D-SN252946). (0265)

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