80MSFC24CA004 Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) _Redacted.pdf

Rev.: 9/2025

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

GEORGE C. MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (MSFC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Near Real Time (NRT) Solutions and TEMPO NRT Enhanced to

Support the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) Contract

80MSFC24CA004

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.104-1(a)(1) – Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition prepared by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

The procuring agency is NASA, and the contracting activity is MSFC.

2. FAR 6.104-1(a)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification provides the rationale for contracting by other than full and open competition to award a sole-source new work modification to contract 80MSFC24CA004 with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) for Tropospheric Emissions:

Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) for Near Real Time (NRT) solutions and Enhanced NRT solutions.

The current TEMPO cost-plus-fixed-fee contract was awarded to SAO with a period of performance (PoP) of March 26, 2024, through March 25, 2026, with a contract value of

. Development and some production of the Cycle 3 TEMPO NRT data products is currently on contract. This contract modification will extend Cycle 3 TEMPO NRT data production from March 2026 to March 2029, and add development and production of Cycle 4 TEMPO NRT Enhanced data products. Both Cycle 3 and Cycle 4 work will take the form of a 1-year extension to the current performance period with two, 1-year option periods.

Contract Period Period of Performance Current Base 03/26/2024 – 03/25/2026 1-Year Extension 03/26/2026 – 03/25/2027 Option Period 1 03/26/2027 – 03/25/2028 Option Period 2 03/26/2028 – 03/25/2029

Rev.:9/2025

The U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO) is the interagency coordination mechanism for Departments’ and Federal Agencies' civil Earth observations activities. USGEO established the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) to conduct a biennial collection of agency satellite observation needs for NASA to consider as part of its satellite systems engineering and budgeting processes. The USGEO Satellite Needs process provides the first-ever, whole-of-government approach to addressing agencies' civil Earth observation satellite needs. The SNWG Management Office (MO) conducts a biennial survey of the federal civilian agencies regarding high priority needs for satellite Earth observation data to fulfill the agencies’ key objectives. After receiving these survey responses, NASA works with Earth observation providers to assess each submitted need and identify candidate solutions that meet the needs of multiple agencies. NASA then reports the assessment outcomes to the submitting agencies. Depending on the funding received, NASA is responsible for managing the development and implementation of new data products, services, and expanded data system capabilities to meet agencies needs identified by the survey. The MSFC SNWG MO, within NASA’s Earth Science Data System Program, was established to support the biennial SNWG survey cycle and manage the resulting implementation activities starting with the 2020 survey.

The TEMPO Near Real-Time solution was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and NASA was directed to implement the solution during the SNWG-2020 (Cycle 3) assessment cycle. TEMPO NRT Enhanced was approved by OMB for implementation during the SNWG-2022 (Cycle 4) assessment cycle

3. FAR 6.104-1(a)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required, to meet the

Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

The SNWG MO seeks to engage SAO’s unique qualifications to develop low latency or faster retrieval products from the baseline mission TEMPO Level 0 (L0) and Level 1 data stream. Development of NRT and enhanced products is expected to provide significant benefit to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and several other Federal agencies whose high-priority objectives include:

• Characterizing the 3-dimensional distribution of key pollutants and pollutant precursors on a routine and systematic basis, particularly for communities near heavily industrialized areas that may experience disproportionate exposure to toxic pollutants

• Supplementing the sparse ground-based air quality monitoring networks in order to improve and more rapidly update emissions inventories for urban air quality forecasting

• Obtaining NRT trace gas observations to support intensive airborne field operations

• Long-term routine monitoring of trace gas concentrations to assess air quality model performance, evaluate pollutant sources and sinks, and support international assessments of climate and air quality