FOE Airbus 20240724C San.pdf

Rev.:5/2024

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

Headquarters (HQ)

Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity Under the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program

Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract No. 80HQTR24DA001

For Task No. 80HQTR24FA045

Description of the action being approved: This justification documents the basis for issuing an order under the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program Indefinite Delivery

Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract No. 80HQTR24DA001 with Airbus DS Geo Inc. (Airbus) using an exception to the Fair Opportunity process.

Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs: This action is a firm-fixed price order for synthetic aperture radar data products from Airbus’s commercial satellite constellations for scientific use. The data will be used to support the NASA Indian Space Research

Organisation (IRSO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) calibration and validation (cal/val) activities post launch. The Airbus imagery will be used for cal/val of NISAR data, which are based on Level-1 science requirements for the NISAR mission. The cal/val activities span a broad range of disciplines such as solid Earth, cryosphere, and ecosystems. These activities are focused around select sites across the globe in order to achieve a representative distribution of conditions that may impact the observation. For example, the solid Earth cal/val sites are focused on areas of secular, transient, co-seismic or permafrost deformation with dense GPS networks or corner reflector arrays. Similarly, cryosphere sites are focusing on well monitored areas of slow, fast, time-varying motion. Accuracy of sea-ice velocity is also a cal/val topic in the arctic regions. While solid Earth and cryosphere applications are predominantly using the interferometric observations, the ecosystems observations primarily focus on the imagery itself. Ecosystem sites are distributed across the globe in different ecoregions and are located close to ecological monitoring sites, environmental research stations, or agricultural research sites. Furthermore, the X-band Airbus data expands the available frequency bands further from NISAR’s L- and S-band to X-band. This will allow for validation efforts where there are known scattering differences between microwave frequency bands such as in estimation of inundated areas, biomass, or snow water equivalent. With its tight orbital tube NISAR is highly tuned for mapping surface deformation and will not be able to generate digital elevation models, which describe the topography. The NISAR mission will benefit from the precision digital elevation models that can be generated using Airbus’ TerraSAR-

X and TanDEM-X satellites in bistatic acquisition mode. This will allow the NISAR science team to conduct an error analysis with different DEMs for NISAR interferometric products.

Airbus met the criteria of having existing small satellite constellations (1 or more fully commissioned satellites in non-geostationary orbit with consistent, large-scale -complete longitudinal- coverage) that produce Earth observing data sets and is the only contractor currently in the Sustainment Phase under the IDIQ contracts that provide the data required to support this effort, as described above. Emphasis was placed on data acquired by small-satellite constellations, affording the means of complementing NASA acquired data with higher resolutions, increased temporal frequency or other novel capabilities in support of existing Earth science and applications activities. Airbus provides both optical very high-resolution satellite imagery and Synthetic

Aperture Radar (SAR) Earth Observation Data.

The total estimated price of the proposed order is $3,142,980; and the estimated period of performance is twelve (12) months.

Identification of Exception to Fair Opportunity:

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(A), The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(D), It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E), For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(F) In accordance with section 1331 of Public Law 111-240 (15

U.S.C. 644(r)), contracting officers may, at their discretion, set aside orders for any of the small business concerns identified in 19.000(a)(3). When setting aside orders for small business concerns, the specific small business program eligibility requirements identified in part 19 apply.

Determination that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The Contracting Officer’s signature on this document indicates that the Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government will be fair and reasonable. The

Contractor has an existing contract pricelist previously determined to be fair and reasonable.

Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, an analysis will be performed comparing to the existing pricelist and similar, but not interchangeable, products of other CSDA IDIQ holders. The analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to pricing for the order is fair and reasonable. The proposed price(s) will be evaluated by the Contracting Officer’s

Representative and the Contracting Officer in conjunction with a management representative(s) of the Earth Science Division to determine that the price(s) associated with the unique data set and the identified supporting data and data use authorization are fair and reasonable.

Other Facts:

A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made:

The Agency will continue to examine the market for alternative solutions or new sources. At present, NASA is considering plans to formally re-engage the community every one to two years through its on-ramping efforts and in accordance with the contract as current contract holders complete the Evaluation Phase and are able to compete in the Sustainment Phase for Task Order awards.

Current CSDA IDIQ contract holders Capella Space Inc. and Umbra provide similar solutions, however their data products are still being evaluated by NASA for usability, per the contract. Once the Evaluation Phase for these vendors is complete, they will advance to the

Sustainment Phase where they will be able to compete amongst other CSDA vendors for future task orders. Furthermore, other vendors in the ongoing CSDA on-ramp (still in process) that provide similar data products could also potentially increase future competition for these requirements once their data has been evaluated.