ARDES II JOFOC 2024_Redacted.pdf

Rev.:4/2023

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

GEORGE C. MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER (MSFC)

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

(JOFOC)

For Aerospace Research Development and Engineering Support (ARDES II) Contract 80MSFC20D0004

1. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.303-2(b)(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), Marshall Space Flight Center

(MSFC).

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

2. FAR 6.303-2(b)(2) – The nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This justification is for contracting by other than full and open competition to modify the Aerospace, Research, Development, and Engineering Support (ARDES) II contract 80MSFC20D0004 with Johns Hopkins University (JHU)/Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) by increasing the contract’s maximum indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity (IDIQ) ceiling value from $3 billion (B) to $4B. The contract’s period of performance remains unchanged, consisting of a five-year base period (March 30, 2020 – March 29, 2025), and one five-year option (March 30, 2025 – March 29, 2030) that is unexercised as of the date of this JOFOC.

The ARDES II contract is a hybrid cost-plus fixed-fee and firm-fixed price IDIQ type contract. Work is awarded and authorized through the issuance of individual task orders that may be competitively and noncompetitively selected by NASA Headquarters. The ARDES II contract was awarded to JHU/APL on a sole source basis on March 30, 2020 and is currently in its third year of base period performance.

3. FAR 6.303-2(b)(3) – A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Agency’s needs (including the estimated value):

In order to accomplish NASA’s mission to discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity, the Agency has identified a critical and essential need to execute robotic space missions over the full mission life cycle from mission concept and formulation through design, construction, integration, and testing of spacecraft and instruments; launch support and mission operations; and data analysis and science support. Because of the specialized and highly complex skills required to successfully perform NASA’s mission, it is critical that NASA continue to supplement its expertise by leveraging JHU/APL’s essential and supporting capabilities to perform all aspects of end-to-end robotic space missions. Through the ARDES II contract and services that JHU/APL provides, NASA maintains an essential research capability in space systems engineering and science technology, with supporting capabilities required to perform all aspects of robotic space missions including, but not limited to: systems test and evaluation; information technology; and simulation, modeling, and operations analysis. The general nature of the tasks performed on the contract include supporting research and advanced technology development designed to make contributions to space systems engineering and space exploration, as well as assist NASA in the formulation and execution of its programs by providing technical advice, studies, advanced technology development, spacecraft instruments, spacecraft systems, spacecraft operations, and reports of investigations.

ARDES II contract five-year base period ordering period of 10 years.

As of 202 , task orders issued against the ARDES II contract total approximately $1.071B, leaving insufficient IDIQ ceiling value through March 2025 to accommodate the life cycle phases of current task orders and future task order awards for new missions.

Currently included under the ARDES II contract is a significant, high-profile Category 1 lifecycle mission task order, Dragonfly. This task order’s estimated value is currently at $5 7M in Phase B, Preliminary Design and Technology Completion, and is projected to reach a total life cycle cost of $2.224B to complete the mission objectives. Slated for launch in 2027 and destination arrival in 2034, Dragonfly will sample and examine dozens of promising sites around Saturn’s icy moon, Titan, and advance NASA’s search for the building blocks of life. The duration of the baseline mission is 2.7 years (32 months).

Additionally, numerous Announcement of Opportunities (AOs) projected at $2.692B in value from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) are planned to be solicited and awarded within the fiscal year 2025 (FY25) timeframe and NASA anticipates that JHU/APL will be submitting proposals for some of these future phased life cycle missions. Based on historical data, JHU/APL has received about one-third of the contract opportunities solicited under the AO process. This rate is likely to continue in the future, and if it does continue, NASA should reasonably anticipate resulting awards valuing approximately $897M by the end of FY25. It is, therefore, in the best interest of the Government to increase the ARDES II contract’s maximum IDIQ ceiling value by $1B from $2B to $3B for the base period of performance, March 30, 2020 – March 29, 2025. The IDIQ ceiling value for the unexercised option period will remain unchanged at $1B for a total maximum ceiling of $4B.

4. FAR 6.303-2(b)(4) – An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C.

§ 3204(a)(3)(B), as implemented by FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(ii) Industrial mobilization;

engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services, to establish or maintain an essential engineering, research, or development capability to be provided by an educational or other nonprofit institution or a federally funded research and development center.

5. FAR 6.303-2(b)(5) – A demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. § 3204(a)(3)(B) is as described below.

The ARDES II contract provides the means for maintaining this essential capability at JHU/APL. JHU/APL (a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC)) has the capability to perform all aspects of robotic space missions and has in-house resources to design, fabricate, assemble, test, and operate spacecraft. As a result, NASA competes these capabilities among other Federal Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), UARCs, Government Agencies (including NASA Centers) and Industry through NASA’s Announcement of Opportunity (AO), Broad Agency Announcement to be prime integrators for NASA missions. APL competes for these opportunities through AOs. JHU/APL has long been recognized for its expertise in the wide scope of activities required to perform end-to-end robotic space missions and related competency areas of this contract. JHU/APL has a lengthy history of developing new technology that it incorporates into space flight missions that have flown successfully. To date, JHU/APL has designed and constructed over 70 spacecraft and over 300 space science instruments which have flown on NASA, other U.S. Government agency (OGA), and foreign space agency missions. From 1978 to 2006, NASA relied on interagency authority to obtain JHU/APL’s essential engineering capabilities from the U.S. Navy (Navy) through the Navy’s contract with JHU/APL. In 2006, NASA determined it was no longer prudent to continue ordering JHU/APL services through the U.S. Navy contract. This determination resulted in the 2006 award of the first ARDES contract, followed by the ARDES II contract in 2020. NASA continues to avail itself of JHU/APL’s capabilities via both competed awards and non-competitively directed efforts. JHU/APL has demonstrated both scientific and technological capability in the fields of space physics and planetary exploration including exploration of the lunar surface. The following task order efforts highlight a variety of NASA’s essential mission requirements that require JHU/APL’s involvement and expertise:

a) Heliophysics Research: The Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission, launched in 2001, studied the dynamics of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere (MLT) portion of the Earth's atmosphere. The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) launch in 2006 was a solar observation mission utilizing two nearly identical spacecraft to enable stereoscopic imaging of the Sun and solar phenomena, such as coronal mass ejections. The Van Allen Probes are two robotic spacecraft used to study the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. The Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, has traveled through the Sun’s atmosphere, seven times closer than prior spacecraft, sending back information scientists have sought for more than six decades that will improve our ability to forecast solar flares and major space-weather events.

b) Planetary Exploration: The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), launched in 1996, was a robotic space probe designed by JHU/APL for NASA to study the near-Earth asteroid Eros from close orbit over a one-year period and was the first satellite to orbit an asteroid.

The JHU/APL-led MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) mission, launched in 2004, is the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet.

JHU/APL’s New Horizons, launched in 2006, completed a historic flyby of Pluto in 2015, and on New Year’s Day 2019 flew past 2014 MU69, the farthest object ever explored by a spacecraft. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) is a space probe launched in 2022 which successfully demonstrated the kinetic effects of crashing an impactor spacecraft into an asteroid moon for planetary defense purposes. The mission proved that a spacecraft impact could successfully deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

c) Mission Operations and Data Analysis (MO&DA): The activities leading to new science discoveries from NASA’s operating space missions are conducted under the MO&DA program. Each of JHU/APL’s operating missions is led by a project scientist and project manager who administers the MO&DA budgets to the mission’s participating scientists, data processors, controllers of the mission’s spacecraft and instruments, and the analysts and engineers who maintain the spacecraft and repair hardware and software problems that develop during the mission’s lifetime.

d) Space Systems Engineering Studies: JHU/APL’s broad space systems engineering expertise is used frequently for a wide variety of directed independent studies and review boards. Recent examples of JHU/APL review support include GSFC’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission Standing Review Board (SRB); the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope Independent External Technical/Management/Cost Review (WIETR) Review Board; and the Orion Guidance Navigation and Control (GN&C) Fault Detection, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR) assessment.

The task order efforts mentioned above demonstrate JHU/APL’s expertise in supporting other NASA mission directorates, including Space Technology and Heliophysics, as well as other areas within the SMD, including earth science and astrophysics. These examples demonstrate the essential capabilities of JHU/APL that NASA requires in order to pursue its robotic space flight missions over the next decade, though this list does not exhaustively catalog all of JHU/APL’s accomplishments and capabilities. JHU/APL has provided a full range of science and space technology support to NASA, which, as indicated herein, is an essential capability provided by only one other domestic educational or nonprofit institution (i.e., JPL).

JHU/APL’s essential capabilities have been and remain critical to NASA. Thus, it is imperative that NASA increase the ARDES II contract’s maximum IDIQ ceiling value to maintain these capabilities. NASA will have critical gaps in support and impacts to ongoing project budgets, technical work, and schedule if the ARDES II contract’s maximum IDIQ ceiling value is not increased. These impacts would introduce significant performance risk to the projects and lead to a possibly untenable situation in meeting NASA SMD Planetary Sciences Division (PSD) needs. Considering the time and effort required to stand up the ARDES II effort, pursuing an alternative contract vehicle at this stage would not only prove to be duplicative and cost prohibitive, but it would also jeopardize current schedules and missions if work stops because of insufficient IDIQ ceiling value on the ARDES II contract.

6. FAR 6.303-2(b)(6) – A description of the efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

The Contracting Officer has determined that synopsis is not required because the proposed contract action is being made pursuant to FAR 6.302-3 and satisfies FAR 5.202(a)(10).

7. FAR 6.303-2(b)(7) – A determination by the contracting officer 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. For current proposals on existing ARDES II task orders, the Government has performed cost analysis and determined that proposed costs are reasonable. For future proposals, the Contractor will be required to submit a proposal to be evaluated and negotiated by the Government. Prior to execution of the contractual instrument, a proposal analysis will be performed. The proposal analysis will ensure that the final agreed-to price for the contract action is fair and reasonable. JHU/APL is required to submit proposals for task order modifications issued under the ARDES II contract. The contracting officer will ensure that task order modifications issued under the contract will follow the procedures outlined in FAR 15.4, to include requiring certified cost or pricing data when applicable. In addition, technical representatives will development Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCE) for each required task order, and the contracting officer will perform a cost analysis to ensure that the costs to the Government are fair and reasonable. The Government will monitor JHU/APL’s performance, reviewing and analyzing required technical progress and financial management reports. The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) will review all costs incurred for allowability.

8. FAR 6.303-2(b)(8) – Description of the market research conducted, and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted:

Market research was not conducted because the proposed contract action is being made pursuant to FAR 6.302-3 to maintain the essential engineering, research, or development capability of an educational and nonprofit organization.

9. FAR 6.303-2(b)(9) – Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition:

None.

10. FAR 6.303-2(b)(10) – A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in writing in the acquisition:

No other sources were solicited or expression of interest received.

11. FAR 6.303-2(b)(11) – A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

NASA will continue to review the need for maintaining JHU/APL’s essential engineering, research, or development capability before executing any additional ceiling value increase to the ARDES II contract or follow-on effort based on the use of FAR 6.302-3 authority.

ARDES II – 80MSFC20D0004

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIGNATURE PAGE

I certify that the facts presented in this justification are accurate and complete.

I hereby certify that the above justification is complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

CONCURRENCES:

ARDES II – 80MSFC20D0004

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIGNATURE PAGE