A -- NGST SCIENCE CENTER

Notice Date

March 26, 2001

Contracting Office

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 214.1, Greenbelt, MD 20771

ZIP Code

20771

Point of Contact

Steven T. Kramer, Contracting Officer, Phone (301)286-3840, Fax (301)286-1670, Email Steven.T.Kramer.1@gsfc.nasa.gov -- Michael E. McGrath, Contracting Officer, Phone (301)286-8085, Fax (301)286-1670, Email Michael.E.McGrath.1@gsfc.nasa.gov

E-Mail Address

Steven T. Kramer (Steven.T.Kramer.1@gsfc.nasa.gov)

Description

NASA/GSFC plans to issue a sole source Request for Proposal (RFP) to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) to provide products and services to formulate the science program, support the development of science techniques and algorithms, develop the ground systems, support trade studies, support testing of the design and fabrication of the spacecraft, and perform mission and science operations during the launch and commissioning of the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). AURA, operating for NASA the Space Telescope Science Institute (ST ScI) in Baltimore, Md., will provide scientific and operations insight for NGST during the formulation phase and assist the NGST Project in defining an observatory that will have high science return at the lowest possible lifecycle costs. The contractor will be responsible for the development of the end-to-end ground support system. This will encompass designing and developing most ground system elements; testing the ground system with the observatory during science instrument, Integrated Science Instrument Module, and observatory-level integration and test; managing scientific proposal generation and selection; and conducting and managing NGST flight operations (e.g., command and control, trend monitoring, and attitude determination) and science operations (e.g., planning and scheduling, science data processing and archiving). Additionally, the contractor will conduct fundamental ground-breaking science research in such areas as galaxy formulation and cosmology, and produce associated outreach programs for NGST throughout the mission life cycle. This includes outreach to the astronomical community, ensuring they are abreast of mission activities, decisions, and requirements that affect science, as well as general and educational outreach to the public. The period of performance for this contract is through launch of NGST plus one year, which is currently estimated at December 2009. NASA/GSFC intends to enter into a sole source contract with AURA under the statutory authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), only one responsible source. AURA is the only known source that possesses the required experience and expertise in all areas, including but not limited to, astronomy, operations, optics, detectors, systems engineering, and public affairs, to successfully meet the specific challenging mission requirements of the cryogenic infrared NGST mission. AURA's cumulative and ongoing knowledge of operations from 10 years of supporting HST makes them the only known source that has the necessary experience in operating long-term general observer spaceborne observatories similar in nature to NGST. The strong similarities in the area of ground system development between the requirements for NGST and the existing HST ground system allow for a high level of systems re-use. AURA's extensive knowledge of their design, capabilities and limitations is necessary to reuse these systems efficiently. AURA possesses the required expertise and experience to make the mission requirement and spacecraft or instrument design trades, to determine science and operations impacts required to drive design, fabrication, testing and operations costs lower while not sacrificing ground-breaking science. This role requires the in-depth knowledge of astronomy, infrared detectors, spectroscopy, operations, and optics acquired by AURA during years of HST operations and management. AURA created an original version of a guidestar catalogue to support the identification and use of Guide Stars for the pointing of HST. Their experience in the construction of a guide star catalogue database of its magnitude and depth, the development of algorithms needed to interpret the information and the translation of this information into spacecraft commanding instructions is unduplicated since no other satellites have the same stringent pointing requirements as HST or NGST. AURA is the only known source to conduct the necessary studies and simulations needed to determine how the guide star operations will work in conjunction with the wave front sensing and control approach while meeting the Preliminary Design Review scheduled for September 2003. The NGST mission deploys technology that provides extremely high angular resolution and sensitivity to faint objects in the infrared wavelength range from 0.6 microns to greater than or equal to 10 microns. It is critical to the NGST mission to have accurate and optimal instrument, detector, and spacecraft requirements for the needed hardware. AURA's significant knowledge and experience with HST's resolutions and sensitivities, which are similar to NGST, is required to produce the trade studies, design reference mission requirements, and operating concepts. AURA is the only source that has experience with these technologies and can produce requirements for this hardware by the System Requirements Review scheduled for March 2002. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. See Note 26. See Note 22. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact not later than 15 days after posting. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the agency. An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note "B". Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html

Web Link

Click here for the latest information about this notice (http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=51#RFP5-54321)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010328/ASOL003.HTM (D-085 SN50H3B5)