00_Final Request for Proposal (RFP) Cover Letter.pdf

– THE SCHEDULE

DRAFT RFP COVER LETTER

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center 2101 NASA Parkway Houston, Texas 77058-3696

October 9, 2026

BG-27-001

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Request for Proposal (RFP), Solicitation No. 80JSC027R0004, for the

Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destination Contract (CLDC) Acquisition

You are invited to submit a proposal in response to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destination Contract (CLDC) solicitation. The principal purpose of this requirement is for NASA to acquire services from a commercially owned and operated LEO Destination that can provide safe, reliable, and cost-effective end-to-end services to succeed the International Space Station (ISS). This will ensure NASA has a sustained human presence in LEO for crew members to perform science and exploration. As part of this service, the Contractor(s) will design, build, and operate the Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) which covers all aspects of development and certification, including design, manufacturing, activation, checkout, assembly, outfitting, qualification, production, transportation vehicles, including operational missions (cargo/crew) and utilization activities post CLD certification. Given the complexity of the contract, NASA is encouraging use of NASA personnel and expertise using a Government Collaboration Agreement (GCA). NASA has unique personnel and expertise that NASA is making available to the CLD Contractor.

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 336414 and the small business size standard is 1,300 employees.

This competitive acquisition will result in a Multi-Award Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with the ability to issue Firm-Fixed-Priced (FFP) task orders. The contract will have an effective ordering period of 8 years from the contract effective date, and two (2) option periods to extend the ordering period as follows: a 4-year Option Period 1 and a 3-year Option Period 2 for a total potential ordering period of 15 years.

The anticipated contract award date is April 15, 2027, with an effective date occurring on the same day as the award. The contracts will primarily be performed off-site at the Contractor’s facilities; Contractors may perform some aspect of the work on-site at NASA centers as enabled by NASA Collaborations or Government Task Agreements (GTAs).

Potential offerors should pay close attention to all solicitation instructions; however, the following requirements list is summarized to assist in proposal development. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and the solicitation terms and conditions and provisions in sections L and M take precedence:

1. The Pre-Proposal Conference will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams on October 15, 2026. Additional information can be found in L.4 NFS 1852.215-77 PREPROPOSAL/PRE-BID CONFERENCE. (APR 2015). To RSVP, please send an email to the Contracting Officer, Ashley Chaves, at jsc-cldc@mail.nasa.gov. In the email subject line input: “80JSC027R0004 Pre-Proposal RSVP” no later than October 13, 2026 with the information requested in the SAM.gov RFP posting. Participation is limited to a total of ten (10) individuals from each company/team.

2. The Pre-Proposal Conference One-on-Ones will be scheduled upon request and will be held in-person with a hybrid option at the Gilruth Center on October 16, 2026.

One-on-Ones will be limited to Destination Prime Offerors. To request a One-on-One please send an email to the Contracting Officer, Ashley Chaves, at jsc-cldc@mail.nasa.gov. In the email subject line input: “80JSC027R0004 Pre-Proposal One-on-One RSVP ” no later than October 13, 2026. Participation is limited to a total of eight (8) individuals from each company/team.

3. To be considered by the Government, GTA forms must be submitted to the applicable Center Partnership Office Point of Contact no later than twenty-two (22) days after final solicitation release. NASA will disposition all requests and notify Offerors within seven (7) days prior to proposal due date. NASA does not guarantee disposition of GTA requests received after the due date (reference section L.17.3(f).

4. NASA JSC appreciates the comments received in response to the release of the Draft RFP. These comments resulted in improvements to the quality and content of the overall RFP. Offerors should review the RFP in its entirety, as its content has changed from the Draft RFP version. The following list identifies some areas where significant the changes from the Draft RFP to the Final RFP.

a. Cover Letter Enclosure 1 - Summary of Changes Cover Letter Enclosure 2 - Redlined RFP, SOW and DRDs.

5. Be advised, in accordance with provision L.17.1 offerors need to encourage their references to submit their Past Performance prior to proposal due date.

6. Be advised that in Section L.17.4 JSC 52.215-114 Past Performance Information.

(NOV 2022) - VOLUME III, the threshold for “Major team members, subcontractors and suppliers are defined as those which Offerors anticipate having a total contract value of $100 million or more of the work during the 8-year base period” and for Pricing purposes in L.17.2 PRICE FACTOR – VOLUME I it is “team members, subcontractors and suppliers which Offerors anticipate having a total contract value of $100 million or more of the work for the entire contract period.”

7. Throughout the RFP, NASA designates “TBD” to identify information that will be completed under future modification and “Offeror fill-in” or “OFI” to designate a section to be filled-in/proposed by the Offeror.

8. Below is a list of the Source Selection Authority (SSA) and voting members along with their associated NASA JSC organizational codes, for the Source Evaluation Board (SEB). The names provided are for informational purposes only and other than the Contracting Officer, Ashley Chaves, these individuals must not be contacted regarding this acquisition. The Government may change personnel associated with this acquisition at its discretion.

SSA

Joel Montalbano, Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate (HSMD)

Voting Members Angela Hart, KA, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Program

Rodney Nabizadeh, KD, LEO Program, Commercial Destination Office

Christopher Zuber, KA, LEO Program

Jacilyn Maher, KS, LEO Program, Safety & Mission Assurance Office

Ashley Chaves, BG, International Space Station and LEO Procurement

9. Offerors are required to have a Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code that matches the corporate address submitted with its proposal.

10. An electronic Technical Documents Library (TDL) is available for various types of reference data and other pertinent applicable documents and information regarding this acquisition and its requirements. The CLDC electronic library is available at www.SAM.gov and at the acquisition’s website. The Technical Library will continue to be updated until Final RFP.

http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/cldc/

11. All offeror requests for indemnification must be submitted in accordance with FAR

50.104-3, Special procedures for unusually hazardous or nuclear risks and NFS 1850.104-3, Special procedures for unusually hazardous or nuclear risks. NASA intends to pursue approval of such requests for indemnification under Public Law 85- 804 for unusually hazardous risks identified in fulfilling the requirements of the CLDC contract.

Offerors are encouraged to refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provision 52.215- 1, INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS–COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION, in particular paragraph (f)(4) which discusses the Government’s right to award a contract without negotiations (except clarifications).

In order to control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy required all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). While the RFP’s Price Volume exhibits are in PDF format, the Offeror’s Price Volume proposal must include completed Price Volume exhibits in Microsoft Office Excel format with working cell formulas.

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments and links to online reference/technical/bidders library will be attainable electronically through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NFS 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds- Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf

This RFP does not commit NASA JSC to pay any proposal preparation costs, nor does it obligate NASA JSC to procure or contract for these services. This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this solicitation.

In accordance with Executive Order 14434, Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence, this solicitation uses the terminology “Super Intelligence (SI)” exclusively. This includes SI-enabled capabilities such as machine learning, large language models, and foundation models. Please note that certain existing government reference materials and documents predating this solicitation may still contain legacy terminology, as they were previously issued before the establishment of Executive Order 14434.

http://www.sam.gov/ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf

Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation are due no later than December 08, 2026.

Proposals for this solicitation are required to be submitted through NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Potential offerors, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s EFSS Box, are encouraged to review the solicitation instruction entitled “Electronic Proposal Delivery - Proposal Marking and Delivery Through NASA’s EFSS Box” which provides instructions related to the submission of proposal via EFSS Box. Offerors are encouraged to check with their corporate IT staff to determine if there are firewall restrictions that would need to be addressed prior to the submission of proposal files through NASA’s EFSS Box.

In accordance with NFS Companion Guide 1815.11(i), a “Blackout Notice” has been issued to NASA personnel. All inquiries/communications pertaining to this acquisition must be directed only at the Contracting Officer listed below.

All questions regarding this RFP should be submitted in writing, electronically to Ashley Chaves, Contracting Officer, at jsc-cldc@mail.nasa.gov on or before October 21, 2026 at 1:00 pm Central. Offerors are encouraged to submit questions as soon as possible for consideration.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Ashley Chaves Contracting Officer

Enclosure:

Cover Letter Enclosure 1 - Summary of Changes Cover Letter Enclosure 2 - Redlined RFP, SOW and DRDs (3 files) Cover Letter Enclosure 3 - RFP 80JSC027R0004 Cover Letter Enclosure 4 - CLDC RFP Feedback Template

DRAFT RFP COVER LETTER