80NSSC22FA326 Justification and Approval (Redacted).pdf

LSJ-2022-005

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC)

Brand-Name Justification for Limiting Sources for 80NSSC22Q0065 FreeFlyer® Software License Renewal

This is a brand-name justification for limiting sources prepared by the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) Enterprise License Management (ELM) Team [ordering office] with technical support from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Software Engineering Division [requiring office].

The anticipated action is a firm-fixed price delivery order to renew 64 maintenance agreements, as noted below, for existing FreeFlyer® Software licenses.

The ordering office intends to award with sole-source authority by placing an order to a.i. Solutions Inc under the Information Technology Federal Supply Group of the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Service (FSS). The Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract, GS-35F- 0268R expires 17 Jan 2025. The special item number (SIN) for this order is 511210 –Software Licenses, which includes both term and perpetual software licenses and maintenance.

The total estimated price for this proposed order is with a 1-year period of performance that will begin 01 Jul 2022 and end 30 Jun 2023. This order will not include option periods of performance.

Authority Cited and Rationale:

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(A). An urgent and compelling need exists, and following normal procedures would result in unacceptable delays.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(B). Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(C). In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original GSA FSS order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable GSA FSS ordering procedures. The original order or BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.

FAR 8.405-6(b), Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer. An item peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one

Product Code Product Qty

560003NM FreeFlyer Mission Network Maintenance 05 560003NMVOL1 FreeFlyer Mission Network Maintenance Vol 1 05 560003NMVOL2 FreeFlyer Mission Network Maintenance Vol 2 01 560003MVOL2 FreeFlyer Mission Node-Locked Maintenance Vol 2 24 560004NM NASA Solution Pack Network Maintenance 05 560004NMVOL1 NASA Solution Pack Network Maintenance Vol 1 04 560004MVOL1 NASA Solution Node-Locked Maintenance Vol 1 01 560004MVOL2 NASA Solution Node-Locked Maintenance Vol 2 19

Totals 64

Rev.:10/2020 manufacturer. A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer.

Rationale:

The FreeFlyer Software provides capabilities to design, deliver and operate modernized space mission ground systems. The astrodynamics software has supported the Goddard Center Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis (CARA) program since 2005 to solve the same or similar problems the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will encounter on a daily basis for Space Traffic Management (STM). FreeFlyer is a trajectory and flight visualization software useful for modeling and predicting the behavior of objects in space.

In the performance of flight design functions, NASA has designed and developed unique software of its own that supplements and interfaces with FreeFlyer software. Available from the NASA Technology Transfer Program, a NASA-developed software for autonomous systems, Automation Framework Designed for Flight Dynamics Products Generation (XFDS), relies on applications such as FreeFlyer in its framework to automate the generation of flight dynamics products by providing a unified and consistent graphical interface to various tools.

FreeFlyer Software products were carefully implemented for specific functional and technical integration requirements. The Program Office has determined that this particular brand-name product, FreeFlyer Software, is essential to nine mission-support projects at GSFC.

FreeFlyer is embedded in the core of operational tools for the MMS and GOES-R, the Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) programs which includes Aqua, Aura, GPM, ICESat-2, Landsat 7 &8, Terra, and POES/MetOP, and is part of the planned ground system architecture for PACE, OSAM-1, and JWST missions. FreeFlyer is used for mission design analysis (e.g. trajectory/orbit design, lifetime analysis), orbit determination analysis, and operational support (e.g. acquisition data delivery, launch support). Because the software is built into these operational systems, removing or replacing the software would result in a significant costs to the projects.

To simply replace FreeFlyer at this point is not an option, especially for missions currently in operation, like JWST, and those that are close to launching. FreeFlyer is a built-in component of operational software for these missions and to replace it would cost months, even years, of development testing and scripting before a new software would be valid for operations. It would take two or three years in labor hours to develop new tools and bring those tools up to the level of sophistication and capability as FreeFlyer, which is not a feasible timeline. To begin development

CARA Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis for Space Situational Awareness FDF Flight Dynamics Facility GOES-R Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite -R Series JWST James Webb Space Telescope LS-9 Landsat 9, an Earth Observation Satellite MDL Mission Design Lab MMS Magnetospheric Multiscale for Solar-Terrestrial Probe OSAM-1 On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, Manufacturing, a Robotic Spacecraft PACE Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem

Essential Projects Using FreeFlyer® Software at Goddard Space Flight Center

Rev.:10/2020

The FDF finds FreeFlyer especially useful because the FreeFlyer mission plans already contain all the logic to generate Space Network (SN), Near Earth Network (NEN), C-Band, and Very High Frequency (VHF) acquisition data in vector formats (making it easier for quality assurance checks and easier for ground stations to process them). FreeFlyer also allows for a lot of customization and scripting, which is useful when a mission is unique. The analyst can truly personalize their own mission sequence instead of being forced to use a built in program (similar to Ansys Government Initiative’s (AGI) System Tool Kit (STK)). On JWST, FreeFlyer is used for orbit design activities and analysis, and is absolutely mandatory of the program. It is the core of the JWST launch window, and is the main tool being used to ingest the separation stage and Launch Vehicle upper stage. JWST is also using FreeFlyer to plan Mid-Course Correction (MCC)1a, 1b, MCC2, and is also used for reconstruction/calibration for these maneuvers. In ESMO, FreeFlyer is used for 37 operational scripts including those used to generate ephem products for CARA screening and Cooperative Awareness Messages (CAM) generation. FreeFlyer is also used for lifetime analysis, and maneuver planning analysis for all ESMO missions. On OSAM-1, because it is a rendezvous mission, FreeFlyer was chosen as the primary mission design tool because of its unique scripting ability. Multiple nested loops can be scripted to handle the complex rendezvous sequence, which couldn’t be done in another tool. OSAM-1 also required visualization of the relative orbits with 3-D spacecraft models. FreeFlyer makes it very easy to do complex modeling and visualization. Finally for GOES, FreeFlyer is the core of the maneuver planning and orbit determination processes. FreeFlyer has significant advantages and capabilities for missions in their design and operational phases. It is a core tool to Goddard, especially Branch (Code 595), and has been that way for many years.

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 in the future for alternative solutions or new sources before executing any subsequent acquisitions for the same requirements. Due to the nature of the expressed requirement, there are no known actions which the Agency may take to give consideration to other manufacturers for the requirements described herein. To change vendors at this time would entail unnecessary risk without any appreciable gain for the Government.