Small Spacecraft Prototyping Engineering Development and Integration - Space Solutions (SSPEDI)

Air Force Materiel Command awarded this Master IDIQ on September 18, 2018, to procure small spacecraft prototyping, engineering, development, and integration support including payloads, spacecraft subsystems (life support, attitude control, guidance and navigation, command and data handling, communications, power, thermal control, propulsion, structures), ground systems, and launch infrastructure. Ordering closed on September 16, 2023, and the vehicle is no longer active for new task orders.

The IDIQ served as a follow-on to the RRSW and MSV contracts and carried a combined potential value of $750 million. All six awarded task orders total $10.1 million in combined potential value, with $10.1 million obligated (100% of ceiling). Activity concentrated in the vehicle's first year—four orders awarded at award—with one order in 2021 and one in 2022; the most recent order closed in December 2022.

Actual procurement activity diverged sharply from the vehicle's original scope. Four task orders totaling approximately $594 thousand addressed Tactical Persistence Study and ORS8 Space Segment work. Two larger orders totaling $9.4 million both supported Launch and Early On-Orbit Testing, Ground Sustainment, On-Orbit Host Support, and closure of the Space Based Infrared Systems - Experimental Sub-System (SBIRS ESS) program, awarded to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation in May 2021 and December 2022. Northrop Grumman captured 93% of combined potential value across two orders. Sierra Nevada Company, LLC, Orbital Sciences LLC, and Lanteris Space LLC each held smaller awards. All orders were unrestricted competitive, and all funding came from Air Force Materiel Command.

Task orders ranged from approximately $96 thousand (Cost Plus Fixed Fee on ORS8) to $6.3 million (Firm Fixed Price on SBIRS ESS), with most using Firm Fixed Price pricing. No additional ordering activity is possible; the vehicle's ordering window closed nearly three years ago.

The SSPEDI IDIQ is serve as a follow-on to the RRSW and MSV contracts in the continued pursuit of innovative and affordable approaches through basic research, applied research, and advanced development focused on, but not limited to, payloads, buses (i.e. spacecraft subsystems such as life support; attitude control; guidance, navigation and control; command and data handling; communications system and antennas; power; thermal control; propulsion; and structures and trusses), ground systems / infrastructure and launch systems.