1-RFP GMU-KS0903-26 LANDOLT Spacecraft Platform FINAL 09.03.pdf

Purchasing Department 4400 University Drive, MS 3C1, Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 703.993.2580; http://fiscal.gmu.edu/purchasing/

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

GMU-KS0903-26

ISSUE DATE: September 03, 2026

TITLE: RIDM LANDOLT Spacecraft Platform

PRIMARY PROCUREMENT OFFICER: Katherine Sirotin, Director SECONDARY PROCUREMENT OFFICER: Sara Siddall, Sourcing Manager

MANDATORY PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE: A Mandatory Virtual Pre-Proposal Conference will be held on September 10, 2026 at 2:00PM EST. See Section XV. L for the pre-proposal conference information and link. Proposals will only be accepted from those bidders/offerors who are represented at this preproposal conference.

QUESTIONS/INQUIRIES: Submit all inquiries through George Mason’s Bonfire Portal, no later than 4:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) on September 14 2026. All questions must be submitted through George Mason’s Bonfire portal. Only submit one question per entry. Do not include your name or the name of your firm/company in the Question Subject/Title or the Question Description. For assistance with technical questions related to Bonfire, contact support.procurement@eunasolutions or visit Bonfire’s Help Forum. Responses to questions will be posted to George Mason’s Bonfire portal by 5:00 PM ET on September 16, 2026.

PROPOSAL DUE DATE AND TIME: September 23, 2026 @ 2:00 PM ET. ATTENTION: PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED VIA EMAIL, MAIL, THROUGH eVA OR IN PERSON. SEE SECTION XI.A.1 FOR DETAILS ON ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL SUBMISSION.

IMPORTANT! All communication with Offerors will take place in Bonfire, to include negotiations. George Mason can only message individuals at your organization that have interacted in Bonfire for this specific RFP. Please ensure the appropriate person to handle negotiations and other RFP communication has individually logged into the system and either downloaded documents, submitted your proposal or asked a question.

In Compliance With This Request For Proposal And To All The Conditions Imposed Therein And Hereby Incorporated By Reference, The Undersigned Offers And Agrees To Furnish The Goods/Services In Accordance With The Attached Signed Proposal Or As Mutually Agreed Upon By Subsequent Negotiations.

Name and Address of Firm:

Legal Name: Date:

DBA:

Address:

By:

Signature

FEI/FIN No. Name:

Fax No. Title:

Email: Telephone No.

SWaM Certified: Yes: No: (See Section VII. SWaM CERTIFICATION for complete details).

SWaM Certification Number:

Check the box next to the option that applies to your proposal submission. See section IV. Final Contract for additional information.

☐ Option 1: Full Acceptance:

1. We have reviewed George Mason’s Standard Contract and all related documents.

2. We have no proposed changes.

3. We understand that if we are advanced to negotiations, no contract exceptions, redlines, vendor documents, or additional terms will be considered, unless proposed by George Mason.

☐ Option 2: Proposed Exceptions and/or Additional Documents Submitted:

1. We have reviewed George Mason’s Standard Contract and all related documents.

2. We have included a list of proposed exceptions and/or redlined contract documents with our proposal.

3. We understand that if we are advanced to negotiations, no additional contract exceptions, redlines, vendor documents, or additional terms will be considered beyond what has been submitted with our proposal, unless proposed by George Mason.

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Purchasing Department

This public body does not discriminate against faith-based organizations in accordance with the Governing Rules, § 36 or against a Bidder/Offeror because of race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other prohibited by state law relating to discrimination in employment.

OFFEROR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Offerors responding to this RFP should use this checklist to ensure all requested documents are completed and submitted with their proposal.

□ RFP Cover Page, accurately filled in and signed with checked off box confirming your proposal contains any exceptions to George Mason’s Standard Contract and all terms and conditions or subsequent Statements of Work that could apply over the life of any resulting contract.

□ All addenda, if any were issued and a signature line is included.

□ Attachment A - Small Business Subcontracting Plan. This is a requirement for all Offerors.

□ Exceptions (if any) to George Mason’s Standard Contract.

□ Any Statements of Work or supplemental document(s) George Mason may be required to sign, or that could potentially be incorporated into a final contract or apply during the term of a resulting contract.

□ Any agreement that George Mason would be required to sign with a third party.

□ State your payment preference as required in Bonfire. Only select one payment option.

□ If your proposal contains proprietary information, you must submit a second copy in accordance with Section XI.A.1.

General Requirements and Section XII.A.2.d. that outlines the specific submission format.

□ Complete the “Deliverables Checklist” electronically in Bonfire (see Section X. Item 4. Deliverables Checklist) AND include a copy of the checklist in your proposal that includes the section/page number in your proposal where this information is contained.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GMU-KS0903-26

SECTION DESCRIPTION PAGE

I. PURPOSE 5

II. PURCHASING MANUAL/GOVERNING RULES 5

III. COMMUNICATION 5

IV. FINAL CONTRACT 5

V. eVA BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT VENDOR REGISTRATION 6

VI. SWaM CERTIFICATION 6

VII. SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN 6

VIII. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE 6

IX. BACKGROUND 6

X. STATEMENT OF NEEDS 7

XI. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS 14

XII. INITIAL EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SUBSEQUENT AWARD 17

XIII. CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION 18

XIV. PAYMENT TERMS/METHOD OF PAYMENT 18

XV. SOLICITATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS 19

XVI. RFP SCHEDULE 20

ATTACHMENT A SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN 21

ATTACHMENT B STANDARD CONTRACT 23

ATTACHMENT C SAMPLE INVOICE FORMAT 53

ATTACHMENT D PAYLOAD PAPER PDF

I. PURPOSE: The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to solicit proposals to establish a contract through competitive negotiations with one firm to provide a flight-qualified spacecraft bus, payload integration and verification services, early hardware-in-the-loop testbed infrastructure, and integrated routine/orbital operations for a one-year astrophysics mission in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) in support of the NASA Landolt Mission (a federal grant awarded to George Mason University’s College of Science). George Mason University (hereinafter referred to as “George Mason,” “Mason,” or “University”) is a public institution of higher education and agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Project Schedule and Mission-Critical Timeline The University considers timely project delivery and adherence to the implementation schedule to be material requirements of this solicitation. The project timeline is mission-critical, and successful performance is dependent upon the Contractor's ability to meet all required milestones, deliverables, implementation dates, and completion deadlines established by the University.

By submitting a proposal, the Offeror represents and warrants that it has thoroughly reviewed the scope of work, schedule requirements, resource commitments, and all project dependencies and has determined that it possesses the personnel, expertise, capacity, and resources necessary to successfully meet the proposed schedule. Offerors shall not submit proposals contingent upon the future availability of personnel, subcontractors, equipment, or other resources necessary to satisfy the project timeline.

Offerors must identify any known scheduling constraints, dependencies, risks, or assumptions that could impact timely performance. Failure to disclose known schedule risks may be considered in the University's assessment of Contractor performance.

The University expects Offerors to commit to the proposed implementation schedule and all key project milestones included in their proposal. Following award, any inability or failure to meet agreed-upon milestones due to inadequate staffing, resource limitations, competing engagements, or poor project planning may be considered a material performance deficiency and may result in the assessment of contractual remedies, including but not limited to corrective action requirements, withholding of payments tied to milestones, termination for default, or other remedies available under the Contract.

II. PURCHASING MANUAL/GOVERNING RULES: This solicitation and any resulting contract shall be subject to the provisions of the Commonwealth of Virginia Purchasing Manual for Institutions of Higher Education and their Vendor's, and any revisions thereto, and the Governing Rules, which are hereby incorporated into this contract in their entirety. A copy of both documents is available for review at: https://vascupp.org

III. COMMUNICATION: Communications regarding the Request for Proposals shall be formal from the date of issuance until a contract has been awarded. Unless otherwise instructed offerors are to communicate with only the Procurement Officers listed on the cover page. Offerors are not to communicate with any other employees of George Mason.

IV. FINAL CONTRACT: ATTACHMENT B to this solicitation is George Mason’s standard two-party contract. It is the intent of this solicitation to base the final contractual documents off of George Mason’s standard two-party contract and George Mason’s General Terms and Conditions as outlined in Attachment B – Standard Contract. Any exceptions to our standard contract and General Terms and Conditions must be denoted in your RFP response. Other documents may be incorporated into the final contract, either by way of attachment or by reference, but in all cases this contract document and George Mason’s General Terms and Conditions shall jointly take precedence over all other documents and will govern the terms and conditions of the contract.

As a public institution of higher education and agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia, George Mason cannot agree to any of the following terms in any documents:

A. An express or implied waiver of sovereign immunity.

B. An agreement to indemnify, defend or hold harmless any entity.

C. An agreement to maintain insurance.

D. An agreement providing for binding arbitration.

E. An agreement providing for the payment of attorneys' fees, costs of collection, or liquidated damages.

F. Waiver of jury trial.

G. Choice of law or venue other than the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Contracts will only be issued to the FEI/FIN Number and Firm listed on the signed cover page submitted in your RFP response. Joint proposals will not be accepted.

Note: The Offeror must include any and all terms and conditions, additional documents, and/or statements of work that could potentially be incorporated into a final contract or apply during the term of a resulting contract. As outlined in Attachment B

– Standard Contract, Statements of Work (“SOW”) for specific engagements may only include the work to be performed during scope of the specific engagement. Additional terms and conditions will not be accepted on any SOW submitted during the course of the contract. All SOW’s must be on a form approved by George Mason prior to the start of the contract.

In addition to the above note, the Offeror must submit with their proposal any agreement that George Mason would be https://vascupp.org/ required to sign with a third party.

FEDERAL FLOWDOWNS AND GRANT REQUIREMENTS

This procurement is funded, in whole or in part, through a federal grant, cooperative agreement, contract, or other federal funding source. As a condition of award, the successful Offeror shall be required to comply with and accept all applicable federal requirements, including but not limited to the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 C.F.R. Part 200), all mandatory federal contract provisions, and any grant-specific terms, conditions, certifications, representations, assurances, and flow down requirements imposed by the sponsoring federal agency or incorporated into the University's prime award.

Offerors are advised that such federal flow downs and federally mandated provisions are material requirements of this solicitation and any resulting contract. These provisions are non-negotiable and must be accepted in their entirety. The University does not have the authority to waive, modify, or negotiate federally mandated terms except where the University, in consultation with the sponsoring agency, if necessary, determines that a particular provision is not applicable to the scope of the award.

By submitting a proposal, the Offeror acknowledges and agrees that it will accept and comply with all applicable federal flow down requirements incorporated into the resulting contract. Any exceptions, objections, redlines, alternate language, limitations of liability, conflicting terms and conditions, or other proposed modifications that would alter, restrict, or negate a required federal flow down may result in the Offeror being deemed non-responsive, non-responsible, or otherwise ineligible for award.

Should an Offeror refuse to accept or comply with any applicable mandatory federal requirement, the University reserves the right to reject the proposal, discontinue negotiations, remove the Offeror from further consideration, or make award to another Offeror whose proposal complies with all applicable federal requirements.

V. eVA BUSINESS-TO-GOVERNMENT VENDOR REGISTRATION: The eVA Internet electronic procurement solution, website portal www.eVA.virginia.gov, streamlines and automates government purchasing activities in the Commonwealth.

The eVA portal is the gateway for vendors to conduct business with state agencies and public bodies. All vendors desiring to provide goods and/or services to the Commonwealth shall participate in the eVA Internet eProcurement solution by completing the free eVA Vendor Registration. All bidders or offerors agree to self-register in eVA and pay the Vendor Transaction Fees prior to being awarded a contract. Registration instructions and transaction fees may be viewed at: https://eva.virginia.gov/

VI. SWaM CERTIFICATION: Vendor agrees to fully support the Commonwealth of Virginia and George Mason’s efforts related to SWaM goals. Upon contract execution, eligible vendors (as determined by George Mason and the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity) shall submit all required documents necessary to achieve SWaM certification to the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity within 90 days. Vendors currently SWaM certified agree to maintain their certification for the duration of the contract and shall submit all required renewal documentation at least 30 days prior to existing SWaM expiration. https://www.sbsd.virginia.gov/

VII. SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN: All potential offerors are required to fill out and submit Attachments A with their proposal.

Note: Invoices shall only be submitted to George Mason by the entity awarded a contract. Subcontractors cannot submit invoices to George Mason under any resulting contract.

VIII. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: From Effective Date of contract through the federal award period of performance end date, currently September 30th, 2029. The federal award has an allowed one-year no cost extension to September 30th, 2030 which George Mason University intends to exercise. The contract end date may be further extended as negotiated.

IX. BACKGROUND: George Mason University is a leading public research university committed to advancing knowledge, expanding opportunity, and preparing students to lead in a rapidly changing world. Our work strengthens communities, drives innovation, and contributes to a more just and prosperous society. To achieve our goals at the highest level, we engage with vendors who bring expertise, creativity, and excellence to help George Mason meet our mission. Visit gmu.edu/about for more information about the university.

George Mason University (GMU) is the lead institution for NASA's Landolt Space Mission, a $19.5 million NASA PIONEERS Program astrophysics mission and the first NASA-led space mission awarded to George Mason University. The mission is named in honor of renowned astronomer Arlo Landolt, whose foundational work in stellar photometric standards has been used by astronomers worldwide for decades. The Landolt mission seeks to improve the accuracy of astronomical measurements by deploying a precisely characterized light source, often described as an "artificial star," into geostationary Earth orbit (GEO).

https://eva.virginia.gov/ https://www.sbsd.virginia.gov/

The mission's primary scientific objective is to establish an unprecedented level of absolute flux calibration for ground-based and space-based astronomical observations. Current limitations in the calibration of telescopes introduce uncertainties in measurements of stellar brightness, supernovae, exoplanets, and other celestial phenomena. By placing a calibrated light source approximately 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above Earth in the neighborhood of geostationary orbit, scientists will be able to compare the known brightness of the Landolt artificial star against observations of natural celestial objects, enabling the creation of a new generation of highly accurate stellar brightness catalogs and improving the precision of astrophysical measurements. These improvements are expected to support research into some of Astronomy’s most significant questions, including the expansion rate of the universe and the nature of dark energy.

The Landolt mission is a collaborative effort involving GMU, NASA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and numerous university and industry partners. GMU serves as the mission lead and will host mission management and operations activities from its Fairfax, Virginia campus. The mission payload is being developed in partnership with NIST to ensure highly accurate and traceable photon emission measurements, thereby establishing a calibration source with a known and stable optical output.

As part of its responsibilities under the NASA award, GMU is developing and integrating a space-based observatory that will operate in the neighborhood of geostationary orbit for approximately one year. The mission requires a spacecraft platform capable of supporting the Landolt payload, payload integration and testing, spacecraft qualification, launch integration, on-orbit commissioning, spacecraft operations, orbital maintenance, and mission support services. The resulting observatory will serve as a first-of-its-kind calibration reference for the astronomical community, providing data that will improve the accuracy of telescope observations and enable more precise measurements of stars, supernovae, exoplanets, and cosmological phenomena.

The purpose of this procurement is to obtain the spacecraft, associated engineering services, mission integration support, and operational capabilities necessary to successfully implement the Landolt mission and achieve the scientific objectives for absolute astronomical flux calibration

X. STATEMENT OF NEEDS: George Mason University seeks proposals from qualified offerors to establish a contract through competitive negotiations with one firm to provide a spacecraft bus, payload integration and verification services, early hardware-in-the-loop testbed infrastructure, and integrated routine/orbital/mission operations for a one-year astrophysics mission in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) in support of the NASA Landolt Mission (a federal grant awarded to George Mason University’s College of Science).

1. MISSION INTRODUCTION:

1.1. OVERVIEW:

Landolt is an accurate astrophysical calibration mission to establish SI-traceable absolute flux calibration in the VIS/NIR.

The spacecraft will operate in the neighborhood of geostationary orbit providing an artificial ‘standard star’ for ground-based telescopes.

The Landolt mission requires the following activities to be performed by the Contractor:

1) Mission Review and Documentation Support Phases B-E.

2) Payload integration.

3) Spacecraft (and payload) AI&T.

4) Mission Operations.

5) Launch Integration.

6) Launch Provider Coordination.

1.2 ORBIT/REGIME & DURATION:

1.2.1 Ideally Geostationary orbit (GEO) for stable, predictable visibility to partner observatories. Primary mission duration nominally ~12 months (commissioning + science ops), then disposal per NPR 8715.6.

1.2.2 N–S Station-Keeping: The spacecraft shall maintain inclination i≤0.1 degrees during designated primary umbra campaigns.

1.2.3 E–W Station-Keeping: The spacecraft shall maintain sub-satellite longitude within ±0.05° degrees.

1.2.4 Degraded Ops Option: A late-mission inclined- or near-GEO mode up to i≤2 may be exercised for fuel savings with updated calibration/ops plans

1.3 KEY DRIVERS:

1.3.1 Absolute pointing & jitter stability to hold metrology footprint within photometric apertures.

1.3.2 Thermal stability of laser wavelengths/power and onboard monitors for SI traceability.

1.3.3 Downlink/latency coordination and precise spacecraft ephemeris generation with observatory schedules and umbral windows.

1.4 SCHEDULE DRIVERS:

PDR – March 2027, CDR – July 2027, BUS Delivery – March 2028, SV I&T – April 2028 Start, LRR – September, 2028

2 PAYLOAD REFERENCE DESCRIPTION:

See Attachment D - Payload Paper for more information

2.1 FUNCTIONAL SUMMARY:

Two independent light-source units provide discrete-wavelength laser beacons with wheel mounted onboard photodiodes/ESRs for in-flight monitoring. Sources will be modulated (on/off and sequencing) to enable background subtraction and color ratio measurements.

TABLE 1. Payload Mass/Volume/Power/Data Budgets – Current Best Estimates (CBEs)

System Mass CBE [Kg]

Volume CBE [U] Peak Power at Eclipse CBE [W]

Max Data Storage CBE [MB/Day]

Max Data Rate CBE [Kbps]

Laser Instrument

5 4.6 20 45 4

Opto-Thermal Shield

0.15 0.1 0 0 0

Substructure 2 0.2 0 0 0

Element Wheel Allocation

2 2 7.5 15 1

Total 9.15 6.9 27.5 + 10 (LI2

SB)

60 5

Margin 10% 26% 20% ~ 50 Days Storage

~ 90%

Requested >12 Kg > 12U 45 3 GB Total 100

2.2 INTERFACES TO SPACECRAFT:

Bus <-> Laser Instrument A

• Power harness Command & Data harness, including a feedback Request-For-Reset I/O

Bus <-> Laser Instrument B (redundant instrument)

Bus <-> Element Wheel Instrument

• Knowledge of the ripple (noise level) on the regulated power harness lines

2 Thermal Straps minimum

Notes:

• Power and Command/Data lines are not sharable across the Instruments.

• Each instrument is activated by Bus by Power_ON.

• Instrument is turned OFF by a time tag or feedback Request-For-Reset I/O

2.3 PERFORMANCE TARGETS:

Parameter Target (example) Traceability Absolute irradiance per band ≤0.5% (0.75% thr) per star L2.S.1/L2.S.2 Spectral ratio (color) ≤0.3% (0.5% thr) L2.S.3 Beam divergence < TBD mrad (Gaussian) Pointing/jitter budgets On-orbit stability Drift ≤ TBD ppm/hr (per wavelength) SI traceability chain

Duty cycle Per observatory cadence Ops scheduler constraints

3 OPERATIONS CONCEPT & GROUND SEGMENT:

3.1 MISSION PHASES & NOTATIONAL DURATIONS:

Phase Duration Key Activities Pre-Launch & Integration — Payload AIT at GMU; Bus design/construction by vendor; NIST calibration; delivery to bus; LV integration.

Launch & Deployment ~4 days Separation; arrays deploy; safe state; initial comm; HK downlink.

Early Ops & Commissioning

~8 weeks Bus checkout; orbit stabilization; payload outgassing; ESR/laser checkout; beam mapping.

Primary Science Ops ~10 months Scheduled calibrations; umbral windows; multi-telescope coordination; routine trending.

Closeout & Disposal <=3 Month, Will begin month 7 of science

Final dataset; passivation; graveyard orbit per

NPR 8715.6.

3.2 OBSERVING MODES:

Mode 1: Track star; satellite passes through FOV.

Mode 2: Track satellite; star passes.

Mode 3: Half-tracking between rates.

Mode 4: Sequential (star then satellite).

3.3 GROUND OBSERVATORIES (BASELINE SET):

Observatory Instrument/Capability Notes GMU 0.8 m Optical & NIR imagers; narrow-band filters Dedicated Landolt time; umbral ops when possible.

Palomar 5 m (WIRC) NIR imaging; sky-nod sequences Sequential modes; narrow-band filters.

UH 2.2 m (SNIFS) 0.35–0.98 µm spectrophot.; imager Queue/umbral strategies; exposure timing via Landolt.

Rubin (LSST & AuxTel) Wide-field imaging; AuxTel slitless calib

Scheduler-integrated Landolt observability; data through standard pipelines.

3.4 CONTACTS, DATA VOLUME & LATENCY (BASELINE EXPECTATIONS):

Item Baseline Vendor Notes Contacts/day 2 State assumed GSN and visibility at GEO for each day.

Downlink volume <1 GB/day Provide link budgets & margins

(uplink/downlink) to show capability.

Latency ~ hours State achievable latency for calibration windows.

Autonomy ≥4–7 days Safe ops during missed passes; onboard scheduling.

Confirm no thrusting within 2–3 h pre-window and no in-window momentum management; Provide plume keep-out geometry vs. payload CSZ and TVAC contamination test showing QCM recovery ≤ 3 h post-representative burn; Show monitor trending and thermal loop settling data from a flight-like configuration. QCM rate (CSZ), ≤ baseline + 0.1 ng·cm⁻²·hr⁻¹ for ≥ 60 min, verifies post-burn re-adsorption has settled.

4 DELIVERABLES CHECKLIST (RED IS MANDATORY, BLACK IS OPTIONAL):

The checklist below is provided as a guide for offerors to structure their proposal. At a minimum, offerors should address the mandatory requirements/deliverables in the checklist below in red font with the word “Mandatory” next to them as part of their offer. The items in black are optional.

If you have selected one of the items on the checklist please specifically reference where in your proposal (which section, page number, etc.) this information is addressed. We encourage offerors to provide as much of the information as necessary to demonstrate their strategy, capabilities, and ability to meet the deliverables listed below. You will be required, through the Bonfire system, at time of proposal submission, to select each deliverable you are responding to on the checklist by selecting “Yes” if you are responding to that mandatory or optional item or “No” if you are not responding to that mandatory or optional item.

[ ] Spacecraft–Payload ICD (mech/elec/thermal) – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Space-to-Ground ICD (bands/protocols) – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Mass/Power/Thermal Budgets (with margins) – Mandatory (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Pointing & Jitter Performance (plots/PSD) – Mandatory (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Link Budgets (UL/DL, margins) – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] ΔV Budget & Propulsion Lifetime – Mandatory (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Radiation/Charging & Parts Assurance Plan – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Environmental Test Plan (GEVS) & Matrix – Mandatory (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Reliability/FMECA & Fault Mgmt Plan – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Configuration Mgmt Plan (BOM, drawings/models list) – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Ground Segment/GSN Plan & Costs – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Mission Ops Concept (staffing, hours, SLA/latency) – Mandatory (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Schedule (IMS) with Long-Lead Items – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Price/BOE with Option CLINs – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

[ ] Exceptions/Deviations Log – Optional (Section/Page #________________________________)

5 CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION:

East–West (E–W) control matters even “just a few minutes” of longitude slip can negatively affect a precision, umbra-centric calibration mission like Landolt.

Why minutes matter:

5.1 STAYING IN FULL UMBRA DURING THE EXPOSURE TRAIN:

5.1.1 GEO full-umbra lasts ~60–70 min at equinox. A typical run might be: 12–15 min thermal soak after entry, then 5×8-min exposures with short overheads (≈45–50 min total).

5.2 If the sub-satellite longitude drifts 5 min (≈1.25°, and less than the duration of a single 8-minute exposure), the pre-planned cadence may start too early (penumbra entry) or end too late (penumbra exit), contaminating one or more exposures with changing stray light and thermal transients. Sub-percent flux work hates “partial-umbra” frames.MULTI-OBSERVATORY

OVERLAP:

5.2.1 Cross-calibration often needs simultaneous or time-locked observations across sites (e.g., Rubin AuxTel vs. a 2–4 m photometer). A ±5 min shift at the spacecraft can erase the overlap window at one site (start/end constraints, filter changes, scheduled blocks) while still being fine at another ruining the joint solution.

5.3 ELEVATION/AIRMASS SLOPE NOT HUGE, BUT NOT ZERO:

5.3.1 Near practical elevations (35–50°), the airmass curve vs. time is shallow near transit and steeper off transit. A 5-min move can change elevation by ~0.3–1.0° depending on geometry; at 35°, 1° costs ~2.7% in airmass; this is large compared to a 0.5–0.75% per-band accuracy budget and adds unnecessary and undesirable noise and covariance.

5.4 THERMAL STABILITY GATING:

5.4.1 The payload stability specification (wavelength drift, output drift) assumes a fixed soak time post-umbra entry. If umbra “slides” by minutes, either we wait idle (wasting scarce dark time) or start early (before stability is within spec). Both reduce the effective SNR budget.

5.5 LASER SAFETY & OPS CHOREOGRAPHY:

5.5.1 Airspace/observatory constraints (NOTAMs, keep-outs, slit-mask changes, scheduled queue slots) are minute-level detailed. A few minutes of E–W drift can push a run across a boundary, forcing a no-go even though the spacecraft is healthy and the sky is clear, inadvertently eliminating valuable run windows.

5.6 SCHEDULING RISK IS MULTIPLICATIVE:

5.6.1 Each site has its own quirks (filters, readout, guiding). Small spacecraft timing slips compound with ground overheads and human factors. Tight E–W control keeps predictive ephemerides true to the second, reducing “missed window” probability.

5.7 E-W CONTROL (LONGITUDE) – PROPOSED TOLERANCE:

5.7.1 E–W control governs how tightly you hold the sub-satellite longitude (and thus umbra local time) and limits apparent E–W drift on the sky during an observation.

5.7.2 Without E–W control, the spacecraft drifts toward the GEO “stable longitudes” and can move ~0.1–1.0°/day, which quickly degrades predictability for coordinated multi-site windows.

5.8 RECOMMENDED TOLERANCE FOR LANDOLT (PRIME SCIENCE):

5.8.1 Longitude box: Goal ±0.05°, Threshold ±0.10° about the commanded longitude.

5.8.2 Intuition: 1° of longitude = 4 min of local solar time. So ±0.05° ≈ ±12 s, ±0.10° ≈ ±24 s—keeps umbra timing and elevation almost invariant night-to-night.

5.8.3 Sky-plane rate during umbra: Goal ≤ 0.3″/s, Threshold ≤ 0.6″/s (apparent non-sidereal rate at the observatory while in full umbra), so long exposure trains don’t fight guiding limits.

5.9 TYPICAL ΔV CONTEXT:

5.9.1 Holding N–S near zero at GEO: ~45–55 m/s/yr (drive by luni-solar).

5.9.2 Holding E–W in a ±0.05–0.10° box: few m/s/yr.

(Exact values depend on bus area-to-mass, SRP model, and operator strategy.)

5.10 CONTAMINATION CONTROL:

The vendor should provide a comprehensive strategy, as part of their offer, to mitigate contamination (provide control strategies) for the mission.

5.11 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

The following section is informational and provides background around the payload details. Offerors should take this information into consideration when developing their proposal and strategy to meet the project requirements.

Numeric limits for NVR, particle fallout (PFO), and optical throughput loss ΔT(λ) by band, sized to keep contamination a small (≲⅓) slice of your overall sub-percent photometry error budget.

5.11.1 SURFACE CLEANLINESS LIMIT TARGETS (NVR & PFRO):

Zone NVR at Payload Delivery (mg/m²)

Max NVR at Launch (mg/m²)

Allowed On-Orbit Growth (Prime Mission) (mg/m²)

Particle Fallout Level (IEST- 1246D)

Large Particle Cap (≥100 µm, per 0.1 ft²)

Spacecraft – General Surfaces 100 150 ≤50 PL-100 ≤1 Contamination-Sensitive Zone (CSZ) within ~0.5 m of payload apertures/LOS

10 20 ≤10 PL-50 0–1

5.11.2 OPTICAL THROUGHPUT LOSS BUDGET, ΔT(λ) PER BAND, FOR PAYLOAD OPTICS FOR REFERENCE:

Band (define exact edges in §2.2)

Nominal λ₀ (nm)

Per Umbra Run (≤ ~1 h) ΔT(λ)

Pre-Launch Total ΔT(λ)

On-Orbit Growth (Prime) ΔT(λ)

Total to EOM ΔT(λ)

VIS-Blue 480–500 ≤0.02 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.30 % VIS-Red 640–670 ≤0.02 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.30 % NIR-0.76 µm ~760 ≤0.02 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.36 % NIR-0.98 µm ~980 ≤0.02 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.36 % NIR-1.31 µm ~1310 ≤0.02 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.40 % NIR-1.55 µm ~1550 ≤0.02 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.40 %

5.11.3 LASER WAVLENGTH BANDS FOR PAYLOAD FOR REFERENCE:

Centers must lie within the band edges; avoid filter edges, Balmer/Paschen lines, and high-opacity atmospheric regions.

Band ID Name Lower Edge [nm]

Upper Edge [nm]

Target Center λ₀ [nm] Notes/Traceability

VIS-UV1 Optical 349 364 Over Balmer jump; SNe-friendly VIS-Blue1 Optical 403 405 VIS-Blue2 Optical 415 428 g band window (DE) VIS-Blue3 Optical 439 455 g band window (DE) VIS-Green Optical 512 541 Peak stellar BB; ~Gaia BP ~535; g/r edge ~530 VIS-Red1 Optical 611 622 r band (DE) VIS-Red2 Optical 633 650 r band (DE) VIS-Red3 Optical 661 665 VIS-i1 Optical 743 755 i band (DE) VIS-i2 Optical 772 808 785 nm mission-fixed inside this window VIS-y Optical 988 999.7 LSST y NIR-J1 Infrared 1230 1251 Preferred J-ish window NIR-J2 Infrared 1287 1303 Near J edge (watch water; 1310) NIR-H1 Infrared 1545 1568 1550 nm mission-fixed inside this window NIR-H2 Infrared 1586 1598 NIR-H3 Infrared 1617 1635 NIR-H4 Infrared 1693 1725

5.11.4 CONTAMINATION BUDGET (NUMERIC LIMITS):

Numeric limits sized to keep contamination ≤ ~1/3 of the per-band photometry error budget. Units: NVR in mg/m² (1 mg/m² = 0.1 µg/cm²).

Zone

NVR at Payload Delivery [mg/m²]

Max NVR at Launch [mg/m²]

Allowed On- Orbit Growth (Prime) [mg/m²]

Particle Fallout Level (IEST- 1246D)

Large Particles ≥100 µm (per 0.1 ft²)

Spacecraft – General Surfaces 100 150 ≤50 PL-100 ≤1 CSZ (≤0.5 m of apertures/LOS) 10 20 ≤10 PL-50 0–1

5.11.5 OPTICAL THROUGHPUT LOSS ΔT(λ) PER BAND FOR PAYLOAD FOR REFERENCE:

Band (see §2.2) Nominal λ₀ [nm] Per Umbra Run ΔT(λ)

Pre-Launch Total ΔT(λ)

On-Orbit Growth (Prime) ΔT(λ)

Total to EOM ΔT(λ)

VIS-Blue 480–500 ≤0.02 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.30 % VIS-Red 640–670 ≤0.02 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.15 % ≤0.30 % NIR-0.76 µm ~760 ≤0.02 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.36 % NIR-0.98 µm ~980 ≤0.02 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.18 % ≤0.36 % NIR-1.31 µm ~1310 ≤0.02 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.40 % NIR-1.55 µm ~1550 ≤0.02 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.20 % ≤0.40 %

Background stability: ΔB ≤ 0.2% of median sky per umbra run (VIS), ≤ 0.3% (NIR); verify with reference apertures and sky annuli.

6. PRICING AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS: Offerors shall propose pricing on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) basis for all work required under this solicitation, including but not limited to the provision of a spacecraft bus, payload integration services, mission assurance and verification activities, systems engineering, launch preparation support, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testbed infrastructure, mission operations infrastructure, routine and contingency spacecraft operations, orbital operations, ground segment services, and all other requirements necessary to successfully execute the NASA Landolt Mission.

6.1 General Pricing Requirements: Proposed pricing shall be complete, transparent, and fully burdened, and shall include all costs necessary to perform the work in accordance with the solicitation requirements, statement of work, technical requirements, schedule, and contract terms. No separate charges shall be permitted except as expressly authorized in the resulting contract. Pricing shall include, without limitation:

Direct labor and indirect labor.

Program management and supervisory personnel.

Systems engineering and mission assurance support.

Spacecraft bus design, manufacturing, assembly, and integration activities.

Payload integration and testing services.

Verification and validation activities.

Hardware-in-the-loop and testbed development, implementation, maintenance, and operation.

Mission planning and readiness activities.

Ground systems and mission operations infrastructure.

Routine spacecraft operations and anomaly resolution support.

GEO orbit operations and station-keeping support.

Any Software licensing and software maintenance.

Hardware, equipment, tools, instrumentation, and facilities.

Materials, consumables, and components.

Travel, lodging, meals, and incidental expenses (if applicable).

Shipping, freight, packaging, handling, customs brokerage, and transportation costs.

Import/export compliance costs.

Tariffs, duties, value-added taxes, customs fees, and similar governmental charges not otherwise exempt.

All Subcontractor and supplier costs.

Insurance required to perform the contract.

Administrative expenses, overhead, and profit.

Any other costs necessary to successfully perform the contract requirements.

The University will not be responsible for any costs omitted from an Offeror's proposal. Any omitted costs shall be deemed included in the fixed-price proposal.

6.2 Pricing Breakdown: Offerors shall provide a detailed pricing workbook and narrative sufficient to permit a complete understanding of the proposed pricing structure. At a minimum, Offerors shall provide pricing broken out by major project phase and deliverables.

Offerors shall clearly identify all assumptions, dependencies, exclusions, and required Government- or University-furnished resources upon which their pricing is based.

6.3 Deliverable-Based Payment Plan: Offerors shall submit a proposed payment schedule tied to objective, measurable, and accepted contract deliverables and project milestones. The proposed payment schedule shall demonstrate a reasonable relationship between the value of work completed and the payment requested. As an entity of the Commonwealth of Virginia and as a recipient of federal funding, the University is generally unable to provide:

• Up-front deposits.

• Advance payments.

• Mobilization payments.

• Prepayments for future work.

• Payments based solely on the passage of time.

• Payments based solely upon project commencement.

All contract payments must be associated with the successful completion and acceptance of defined deliverables, milestones, reviews, reports, hardware deliveries, testing events, or operational capabilities. Examples of acceptable payment milestones may include:

• Preliminary Design Review (PDR) completion.

• Critical Design Review (CDR) completion.

• Delivery and acceptance of hardware-in-the-loop testbed capabilities.

• Delivery and acceptance of the spacecraft bus.

• Payload integration completion.

• Environmental and qualification testing completion.

• Flight readiness review completion.

• On-orbit commissioning completion.

• Operational readiness milestones.

• Successful completion of defined mission operations periods.

• Final mission closeout and delivery of required documentation and data products.

The final milestone payment structure will be negotiated during contract the contract negotiation phase and shall be subject to University review and approval.

6.4 Invoicing and Financial Reporting:

Invoices shall clearly identify:

• Purchase Order Number

• Contract number.

• Applicable milestone or deliverable.

• Invoice amount.

• Cumulative amount invoiced to date.

• Percentage of total contract value invoiced.

• Supporting documentation demonstrating completion and acceptance of the applicable milestone or deliverable.

The University reserves the right to require supporting documentation sufficient to validate all invoiced amounts and achievement of contractual milestones.

Upon request, the Contractor shall provide financial and project status reporting that includes:

• Progress against milestones and schedule.

• Deliverable completion status.

• Risks affecting performance, schedule, or cost.

• Planned activities for the next reporting period.

• Identification of any actual or anticipated changes impacting contract performance.

6.5 Pricing Firmness and Escalation: The Contractor's proposed pricing shall remain firm throughout the contract term unless otherwise expressly authorized in the resulting contract. Proposed pricing shall account for all anticipated labor increases, material cost fluctuations, supply chain impacts, tariffs, duties, transportation costs, inflationary pressures, and other business risks. No additional compensation shall be provided for cost increases incurred by the Contractor unless specifically authorized through a written contract modification executed by the University.

6.6 Best Value and Price Reasonableness: The University reserves the right to analyze, negotiate, and evaluate all proposed pricing for fairness, reasonableness, realism, completeness, and consistency with the technical approach. Pricing may be evaluated for alignment with the proposed technical solution, mission schedule, staffing approach, risk posture, and deliverable structure.

Offerors are strongly encouraged to propose pricing structures that align contractor incentives with successful mission execution, achievement of key technical milestones, delivery of flight-qualified capabilities, and successful completion of the one-year geostationary orbit (GEO) mission.

6.7 Reporting Requirements: The selected contractor will be expected to participate in regular, virtual, meetings to assist the project team in documenting project elements necessary to report back to the sponsor.

XI. PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS:

1. RFP Response: In order to be considered, Offerors must submit a complete response to George Mason's Purchasing Office prior to the due date and time stated in this RFP. Offerors are required to submit one (1) signed copy of the entire proposal including all attachments and proprietary information. If the proposal contains proprietary information, then submit two (2) proposals must be submitted; one (1) with proprietary information included and one (1) with proprietary information removed (see 2.d. below for details on how to submit a redacted proposal). The Offeror shall make no other distribution of the proposals.

At the conclusion of the RFP process proposals with proprietary information removed (redacted versions) shall be provided to requestors in accordance with Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act. Offerors will not be notified of the release of this information.

An Offeror may not request any of the following be proprietary and/or confidential in their proposal:

a. Pricing or any calculation used to determine pricing;

b. A notation or footer on the bottom of every page with “proprietary and confidential;”

c. Entire contents of company history or executive summary;

d. A case study, social media post, or billboard already available to the public;

e. Name of company or firm listed as a reference;

f. Any resulting Statement of Work (SOW), Order Form, or Invoice.

ELECTRONIC PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: ATTENTION: PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE

ACCEPTED VIA EMAIL, MAIL, THROUGH eVA, OR IN PERSON. George Mason will only accept electronic proposal submissions via Bonfire for this Request for Proposals.

The following shall apply:

a. You must register with Bonfire and submit your proposal, and it must be received prior to the submission deadline, by submitting through the online Bonfire portal at https://gmu.bonfirehub.com.

b. The Offeror must ensure the proposals are uploaded and submitted through Bonfire sufficiently in advance of the proposal deadline. Plan Ahead: It is the Offeror’s responsibility to ensure that electronic proposal submissions have sufficient time to make its way through Bonfire’s submission portal. George Mason recommends you submit your proposal the day prior to the due date.

c. Submissions by other methods will not be accepted. Minimum system requirements: Microsoft

Edge, Google Chrome, Safari, or Mozilla Firefox. JavaScript and browser cookies must be enabled.

d. Offerors should contact Bonfire at support.procurement@eunasolutions.com for technical questions related to submission or visit Bonfire’s Help Forum.

e. Submission materials should be prepared in the file formats listed under Requested Information for this opportunity in the Bonfire Portal. The maximum upload file size is 1000 MB. Documents should not be embedded within uploaded files, as the embedded files will not be accessible or evaluated.

f. All solicitation schedules are subject to change.

g. Go to George Mason’s Bonfire Portal for all updates and schedule changes.

https://gmu.bonfirehub.com

h. All communication with Offerors will take place in Bonfire, to include negotiations. George Mason can only message Offerors that have interacted with this specific RFP. Please ensure the appropriate person to handle negotiations and other RFP notifications has submitted the Offerors proposal in Bonfire.

2. Proposal Presentation:

a. Proposals shall be signed by an authorized representative of the Offeror. All information requested must be submitted. Failure to submit all information requested may result in your proposal being scored low.

https://gmu.bonfirehub.com/ https://procurement-help.eunasolutions.com/hc/en-us https://gmu.bonfirehub.com/

b. Proposals should be prepared simply and economically, providing a straightforward, concise description of capabilities to satisfy the requirements of the RFP. Emphasis should be on completeness and clarity of content.

c. Proposals should be organized in the order in which the requirements are presented in the RFP. All pages of the proposal should be numbered. Each paragraph in the proposal should reference the corresponding section of the RFP. It is also helpful to cite the paragraph number, sub letter, and repeat the text of the requirement as it appears in the RFP. The proposal should contain a table of contents which cross references the RFP requirements. Information which the Offeror desires to present that does not fall within any of the requirements of the RFP should be inserted at the appropriate place or be attached at the end of the proposal and designated as additional material.

d. Except as provided, once an award is announced, all proposals submitted in response to this RFP will be open to inspection by any citizen, or interested person, firm or corporation, in accordance with the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. Trade secrets or proprietary information submitted by a firm prior to or as part of its proposal will not be subject to public disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act only under the following circumstances: (1) the appropriate information is clearly identified by some distinct method such as highlighting or underlining; (2) only the specific words, figures, or paragraphs that constitute trade secrets or proprietary information are identified; and (3) a summary page is supplied immediately following the proposal title page that includes (a) the information to be protected, (b) the section(s)/page number(s) where this information is found in the proposal, and (c) a statement why protection is necessary for each section listed. A statement simply noting “trade secret” is not a sufficient reason for redaction. The firm must also provide a separate attachment of the proposal with the trade secrets and/or proprietary information redacted. If all of these requirements are not met, then the firm’s entire proposal will be available for public inspection.

IMPORTANT: A firm may not request that its entire proposal be treated as a trade secret or proprietary information, nor may a firm request that its pricing/fees be treated as a trade secret or proprietary information, or otherwise be deemed confidential. If after given a reasonable time, the Offeror refuses to withdraw the aforementioned designation, the proposal will be rejected.

3. Oral Presentation: Offerors who submit a proposal in response to this RFP may be required to give an oral presentation/demonstration of their proposal/product to George Mason. This will provide an opportunity for the Offeror to clarify or elaborate on their proposal. Performance during oral presentations may affect the final award decision. If required, oral presentations will be scheduled at the appropriate time.

George Mason will expect that the person or persons who will be working on the project to make the presentation so experience of the Offeror’s staff can be evaluated prior to making selection. Oral presentations are an option of George Mason and may or may not be conducted; therefore, it is imperative all proposals should be complete.

B. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS: Proposals should be as thorough and detailed as possible to allow George Mason to properly evaluate the Offeror’s capabilities and approach toward providing the required services. Offerors should submit the following items as a complete proposal. Proposals should be 11-point font or larger. Any images, tables, font or text should be clearly legible and not so small or blurred as to make details difficult to ascertain.

1. Procedural information:

a. Return signed cover page and all addenda, if any, signed and completed as required.

b. Return Attachment A - Small Business Subcontracting Plan.

c. Exceptions (if any) to George Mason’s two-party contract, Attachment B including the Uniform

Guidance and mandatory federal flow downs.

d. Any SOW or supplemental document George Mason may be required to sign or incorporate into our standard contract. See section IV. Final Contract

e. State your payment preference as required in Bonfire. (See section XV.)

f. Answer the below questions with your proposal submission through Bonfire, as required.

o Are you and/or your subcontractor currently involved in litigation with any party?

o Please list any investigation…