Astrobee Announcement for Proposals (AFP).pdf

Na�onal Aeronau�cs and Space Administra�on

Astrobee Free-flying Robotics System Operations and Sustaining Engineering

Unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) to Transfer System Responsibility to Commercial Provider

Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Release Date: February 11, 2025

Proposals Due: March 21, 2025

International Space Station (ISS) Program

Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD)

For Questions Regarding This Announcement:

https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/afp https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/afp

AMENDMENTS AND HISTORY PAGE

Amend No.

DESCRIPTION

DATE

Announcement for Proposals (AFP): Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Purpose

1.3 Approach

1.4 Milestones

2. INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

2.1 General Information

2.2 Eligibility Requirements

2.3 Compliance with U.S. Laws, Regulations and Policies

2.4 Intellectual Property

2.5 Title and Rights in Personal Property

2.6 Anticipated Funding

2.7 Use of Government Resources

2.8 Ombudsman

3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSALS

3.1 Proposal Submittal

3.2 Proposal Content

4. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION

4.1 Process

4.2 Selection and Award

4.3 Personnel

APPENDIX A: DRAFT SPACE ACT AGREEMENT

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

NASA recognizes that a robust and competitive low-Earth orbit (LEO) economy is vital to continued progress in space. To support NASA's Strategic Goals and Objective 2.2 to “Develop a human spaceflight economy enabled by a commercial market," NASA is building and executing a targeted strategy for an “economy of space commerce” in LEO that is sustainable, cost-effective, and safe. The current strategy builds on and applies the lessons learned from over a decade of work and experiences with commercial companies. This activity is part of a continuing effort to establish a more affordable and sustainable future for human spaceflight in LEO and beyond.

This Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) solicits proposals for the operation, sustaining engineering, and utilization of the Astrobee free-flying robotic system aboard the ISS.

These robots provide a capability supporting researchers with technology demonstrations, scientific research, and STEM activities in the unique environment of space. The objective of this initiative is to transition operations and sustaining engineering of this Astrobee robotic technology to a non-NASA entity to manage the system and to continue advancement in private sector utilization of this unique capability for the future development of commercial capabilities in space.

The Astrobee system consists of three cubed-shaped robots, software, spares, and a docking station used for recharging. The robots use electric fans as a propulsion system that allows them to fly freely through the microgravity environment of the station. Cameras and sensors help them to “see” and navigate their surroundings. The robots also carry a perching arm that allows them to grasp station handrails in order to conserve energy or to grab and hold items.

Working autonomously or via remote control by astronauts, flight controllers, or researchers on the ground, the robots are designed to complete tasks such as taking inventory, documenting experiments conducted by astronauts with their built-in cameras, or working together to move cargo throughout the station. In addition, the system serves as a research platform that can be outfitted and programmed to carry out experiments in microgravity – helping to learn more about how robotics can benefit astronauts in space.

The Astrobees have operated for 5 years with only twice needing to be returned for repairs. One of those repairs was limited to SD cards replacement and the other required board replacement. Since Astrobee still has at least 2 spares of each board, it is expected that the Astrobee units will be serviceable well past 2030. The Astrobee software continues to be updated and is also expected to be maintainable past 2030.

More information about the Astrobee system and its capabilities can be found on in the “Astrobee Executive Summary” included as Appendix B to this AFPP and on NASA’s Astrobee homepage here: https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee/

As used in this AFPP, the Astrobee Facility refers to the ground personnel, hardware, and lab facilities used to support the Astrobee system on-orbit. More information about the Astrobee Facility can be found in the “Astrobee Facility Sustaining Overview” included as Appendix C to this AFPP.

As a result of this competition, NASA anticipates entering into an unfunded SAA with U.S.

private industry to meet this objective. This AFPP is not intended to preclude ongoing or future partnership discussions directly with NASA Centers or Mission Directorates for use of NASA technical data, expertise, services, facilities, equipment, lessons learned, and/or NASA-developed technologies.

1.2 Purpose

NASA is soliciting proposals from all interested and eligible U.S. entities that wish to enter into an Unfunded SAA for operations and sustaining engineering of the Astrobee free-flying robotic system. The purpose of this Agreement is transition operations and sustaining engineering of the Astrobee robotic technology to a non-NASA entity to manage the system and to continue advancement in private sector utilization of this unique capability for the future development of commercial capabilities in space.

This AFPP seeks proposals to support use of this capability through the end of ISS life and that could potentially support a continuous U.S. human presence in space.

Participants (those responding to this AFPP) will demonstrate an understanding of the function of the Astrobee system, how it plans to transition operations and sustaining engineering of the Astrobee system from NASA, provide its plans on how this Astrobee system capability will be utilized (markets targeted and potential customers), and its plans on how it will obtain the resources (financial and technical) needed to maintain this system in advance of the Participant’s commercial goals.

The ISS Transition Report (January 2022, found at: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2022_iss_transition_report-final_tagged.pdf) laid out NASA’s vision for the next decade of the microgravity laboratory that is returning enormous scientific, educational, and technological developments to benefit people on Earth, and enabling our ability to travel into deep space. In the future, the United States plans to transition its operations in low- Earth orbit to commercially owned and operated destinations to ensure continued access to essential research and technology development. In support of this effort, NASA is proposing transitioning sustaining engineering, operation, and utilization of the Astrobee robotic https://www.nasa.gov/astrobee/ technology to a responsible user who would be interested in managing it to further NASA’s mission to enable commercial and/or research activities.

Government resources provided through the Unfunded SAA will include the Astrobee hardware, spares, on-orbit stowage, documentation, and safety certifications, based on need as described in Section 2.7 of this Announcement. The Astrobee robots will remain NASA property and will be provided as a loan of Government property under the Unfunded SAA.

The SAA Partner would be required to accept responsibility for the cost of planning, use, and sustaining of the on-orbit Astrobee system assets, as well as any supporting ground test and training facilities (Astrobee Facility). These sustaining facility tasks may include (but not be limited to):

• Astrobee Facility maintenance and tracking (HW) o ISS & ground Astrobee hardware and software performance o Inventory tracking

• Software maintenance and tracking (SW) o Updates, licenses, and configuration management

• Lab maintenance (Lab) o Flight Assembly lab, Operations workstations, Granite or equivalent testing lab, lab workstations o Materials: CO2, Raw building materials, tools

• Joint Astrobee and ISS initial payload assessments with NASA

• Astrobee Payload Interface and Facility user training (Interface)

• Lab testing (Lab) o Payload software and hardware integrated testing with Astrobee facility and testing lab o Hardware/Software/Network interface testing o Operational Readiness Testing (ORT) o Test Reporting

• Operations (Ops) o Readiness testing and anomaly resolution in support of facility capabilities o Closure plans of on-orbit anomalies will be provided within a week of occurrence.

More information about how the Astrobee Facility is sustained today can be found in the “Astrobee Facility Sustaining Overview” included as Attachment C to this Announcement.

1.3 Approach

NASA plans to use its “other transactions” authority within the National Aeronautics and Space Act, 51 U.S.C. § 20113(e), to enter into an Unfunded SAA where the Agency provides goods, services, facilities, or equipment on a no exchange of funds basis to a domestic partner to accomplish an Agency objective where there is no direct benefit to NASA.

This Agreement is intended to facilitate a Partner’s (awarded an Unfunded SAA) access to NASA’s spaceflight resources which will include:

• Joint Astrobee and ISS initial payload assessments

• ISS nominal Payload Integration Process

• ISS Payload Operations planning (Planning) o procedures, crew training, increment scheduling.

• ISS Payload Operations activities (Ops)

• ISS Payload Data distribution

These capabilities will be available on a non-interference basis as resources permit.

NASA will commence its transition of Astrobee operations and sustaining engineering activities with the Partner upon execution of the SAA, which is targeted for mid-2025. The period of performance will be through ISS end-of-life, which is currently approximately September 2030.

Participants may propose a shorter period of performance.

The schedule for this competition is posted at https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/afp/. Participants are encouraged to refer regularly to this site for any updates to the schedule and other current news and information.

1.4 Milestones

The Astrobee SAA shall include the Partner’s milestones with objective success criteria that provide a measure of the Partner’s overall progress. The purpose of the milestones is to give NASA a guide for ensuring that the Partner is on track in developing Astrobee’ s commercial viability to justify continued support of NASA under the SAA. NASA will use data provided by the Partner to determine whether the Partner has successfully met the stated milestone criteria to confirm continuing viability of the project.

Each milestone shall include a descriptive title, objective success criteria, and planned achievement dates (month and year). Milestones should represent significant technical and business progress in the Partner’s program. As a general guideline, milestones should be reported on quarterly at a minimum. Milestones should show measurable progress and be reasonable and realistic. Milestones could include:

• Significant transition tasks and sustaining engineering activities.

https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/afp/

• Business progress such as financing and marketing achievement.

• Completion of customer missions and/or signing agreements with new customers

The participant’s milestone schedule shall assume that all use of Government resources which it identified in Appendix 2 of its proposal are provided; however, the participant accepts the risk of milestones not being met due to NASA’s inability to support all resource requests. Milestones shall not mention the U.S. Government.

2. INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS

2.1 General Information

Agency:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Responsible Office: ISS Program Office

NASA Johnson Space Center, Mail Code

OZ

Houston, TX 77058-3696

Proposal Due Date: March 21, 2025, at 1:00PM Central

Point of Contact: All questions shall be directed to the following NASA official as specified below:

Agreements Officer: Ashley Chaves

Telephone: 281.792.7921

Email: jsc-astrobee@mail.nasa.gov

Additional Information: The Announcement, as well as current news and other information, may be obtained at:

https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/jsc-procurement/afp/

2.2 Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for award of an Unfunded SAA under this Announcement, an entity must be organized under the laws of the United States or of a State and be more than 50 percent owned by United States nationals.

2.3 Compliance with U.S. Laws, Regulations and Policies

Participants must comply with all applicable U.S. laws, regulations, and policies, including but not limited to safety, security, export control, environmental, suspension and debarment laws and regulations, and establishing an Interconnection Security Agreement when applicable.

With respect to export control, any entity awarded an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA shall be required to comply with all U.S. export control laws including Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Awardee shall be responsible for ensuring that all persons who will perform work under the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA are eligible under export control laws, EAR, and ITAR.

Additionally, pursuant to The Department of Defense and Full-Year Appropriation Act, Public Law 112-10, Section 1340(a); The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriation Act of 2012, Public Law 112-55, Section 539; and future-year appropriations (hereinafter, "the Acts"), NASA is restricted from using appropriated funds to enter into or fund any agreement of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally with China or any Chinese-owned company, at the prime recipient level and at all subrecipient levels, whether the bilateral involvement is funded or performed under a no-exchange of funds arrangement. Accordingly, proposals involving bilateral participation, collaboration, or coordination in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company, whether funded or performed under a no-exchange-of-funds arrangement, will be ineligible for award. By submitting a proposal, participants are certifying that they are not China or a Chinese-owned company, and that the Participant will not participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally with China or any Chinese-owned company, at the prime recipient level or at any subrecipient level, whether the bilateral involvement is funded or performed under a no-exchange of funds arrangement. “China or Chinese-owned Company” means the People’s Republic of China, any company owned by the People’s Republic of China, or any company incorporated under the laws of the People’s Republic of China. This restriction does not apply to the purchase from Chinese-owned entities of commercial items of supply needed to perform the agreement.

Section 889 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019, “Prohibition on Certain Telecommunications and Video Surveillance Services or Equipment,” prohibits, inter alia, the Federal Government, Federal Government contractors, and grant and loan recipients from procuring or using any equipment, system, or service that uses “covered telecommunications equipment or services” (as defined in Section 889(f)(3)) as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system. Due to the nature of the work to be executed under this Agreement, in performing this Agreement, Participant agrees to not acquire or use, in any manner whatsoever or at any tier, “covered telecommunications equipment or services” (as defined in Section 889(f)(3)) as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.”

Entities that intend to rely on Russian suppliers shall comply with the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (P.L. 106-178, amended by P.L. 107-228, P.L. 109-112, P.L. 109-353, P.L. 110-329, P.L. 112-273, P.L. 116-94; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) (INKSNA) and any other applicable sanctions law (including, but not limited to, the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, 22 U.S.C. 5601 et seq.; Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, P.L. 115-44 (Aug. 2, 2017); and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) during the agreement performance.

INKSNA prohibits payments to organizations or entities that are now or were in the past under the jurisdiction or control of Roscosmos (the Russian Federal Space Agency), or to any other organization, entity, or element of the Government of Russia for goods or services directly related to human spaceflight, other than for work on the ISS. INKSNA currently prohibits NASA from making payments in cash or in kind after December 31, 2030, for work on the ISS to the foregoing listed entities and imposes reporting and assessment requirements. NASA has applied the restrictions in this Act to include NASA funding of Russian entities via U.S. entities.

Participants’ attentions are further directed to the following non-exhaustive list of potentially applicable U.S. laws, regulations, and policies:

• U.S. Space Transportation Policy, November 2013

• U.S. National Space Policy, December 2020

• 51 U.S.C. Chapter 501 – Space Commerce

• 51 U.S.C Chapter 509 – Commercial Space Launch Activities

2.4 Intellectual Property

Under Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA, Partners will retain intellectual property rights to the maximum extent allowed by law and regulation, as set forth in each Partner’s SAA. In general:

1. NASA will not obtain rights in a Partner’s background intellectual property (data and inventions developed at private expense that existed or were made prior to, or outside of the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement with NASA).

2. For privileged or confidential technical data (engineering, software, etc.) first produced by a Partner and provided to NASA under an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement, NASA will disclose and use such data only for U.S. Government purposes.

3. For data first produced by NASA under an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement that may have some commercial or proprietary value (e.g., a trade secret or confidential commercial information) to the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering Partner, NASA will protect such data from disclosure for up to five (5) years from the date of development.

4. Under Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreements, generally ownership of invention rights stems from the inventors. For any inventions made by employees of

Partners in performance of work under an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement, NASA will normally not obtain any rights to such inventions.

5. For any inventions made by NASA employees in performance of work under an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement, NASA will use reasonable efforts to grant the Partner a license (on terms and conditions to be later negotiated).

6. A Partner’s proprietary data, both existing proprietary data and data arising from work conducted under this agreement which a participant considers proprietary, shall be appropriately marked by the Partner, and protected by NASA, consistent with law.

2.5 Title and Rights in Personal Property

All personal property acquired or developed by a Partner for the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering activity will remain with the Partner. NASA will retain title to the Astrobee property on-orbit and on the ground for the term of the SAA.

2.6 Anticipated Funding

NASA will not provide any funding to Partners through the Unfunded SAA awarded under this Announcement. The Partner is expected to secure all the funding necessary to perform their obligations under the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering agreement from non- NASA sources.

The Government’s obligation to enter into and continue performance of this agreement is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds and continued non-interference with NASA operations.

2.7 Use of Government Resources

As described in section 1.2, the purpose of this agreement is transition operations and sustaining engineering of the Astrobee robotic technology to a non-NASA entity to manage the system and to continue advancement in private sector utilization of this unique capability for the future development of commercial capabilities in space. In responding to this Announcement, NASA encourages Participants to be as specific as possible in their proposals about the type of Government resources, the amount of each type, and the anticipated schedule that they are requesting.

If partner wants to use assets like crew time or upmass/downmass, requests will need to be coordinated through the normal payload process which includes ISS National Lab/CASIS. For questions about coordinating with ISS National Lab/CASIS, please contact: Robbie Hampton at robert.l.hampton@nasa.gov

Government resource types will be in two categories:

mailto:robert.l.hampton@nasa.gov

1. Support provided in the Unfunded SAA: The following resources will be provided at no cost to the Partner, as resources permit and on a non-interference basis, as part of NASA’s obligations in the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA.:

• NASA partnership point of contact

• NASA guidance with regard to activities permitted on-board ISS and implementation of the existing payloads review and approval process

• NASA guidance with regard to requirements of NASA Mission Directorates and the ISS

National Lab in supporting ISS activities

• NASA attendance at regularly scheduled reviews of progress under the partnership

• NASA observation of Partner milestones

• NASA review of Partner-provided data

• Access to NASA technical data, lessons learned, and expertise support.

• Astrobee On-Orbit system

• Astrobee hardware and spares on the ground for the Astrobee On-Orbit system

• Joint Astrobee and ISS initial payload assessments with partner

• ISS Payload Integration Service

• ISS Payload Operations planning (Planning) o procedures, crew training, increment scheduling.

• ISS Payload Operations activities (Ops)

• ISS Payload Data distribution

2. Support Available on a Reimbursable Basis: This support will be unique and should be described in the proposal. It may consist of specific:

• Information about NASA-developed technologies

• Assistance in obtaining Software Usage Agreements (SUA), Data Usage Agreements

(DUA), License Agreements, and/or Loan Agreements.

• Use of NASA equipment and/or facilities, such as:

• Astrobee Facility maintenance and tracking (HW) o ISS & ground Astrobee hardware and software performance o Inventory tracking

• Software maintenance and tracking (SW) o Updates, licenses, configuration management

• Lab maintenance (Granite Lab) o Flight Assembly lab, Operations workstations, Granite or equivalent testing lab, lab workstations o Materials: CO2, Raw building materials, tools

• Joint Astrobee and ISS initial payload assessments with NASA

• Astrobee Payload Interface and Facility user training (Interface)

• Lab testing (Granite Lab) o Payload software and hardware integrated testing with Astrobee facility and testing lab o Hardware/Software/Network interface testing o Operational Readiness Testing (ORT) o Test Reporting

• Operations (Ops) o Readiness testing and anomaly resolution in support of facility capabilities o Closure plans of on-orbit anomalies will be provided within a week of occurrence.

This support requested should be described by the Participant in Proposal Appendix 2. Support of both types may be provided at no cost to the Partner, as resources permit, as part of NASA’s obligations in the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA.

Some Partner uses of NASA data may require a separate Data Usage Agreement. Partner uses of some NASA software may require a separate Software Usage Agreement. Partner’s uses of NASA technology may require a separate License Agreement. The Partner use of loaned NASA equipment may require a separate Loan Agreement.

Upon receiving an Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering award and during the term of its Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering SAA, the Partner may request additional support for NASA to consider providing. This is accomplished via regular communications between the NASA and Partner management representatives identified in the SAA. During the term of the SAA, NASA and the Partner may determine that the SAA will need to be amended to reflect certain support requests, revise the Partner’s Milestones, and/or the responsibilities of NASA and/or the Partner as may arise during Partner’s operation and sustaining engineering efforts of the Astrobee capability.

If there are insufficient resources to grant a Partner’s resource request, the Partner may opt to seek the resource via a separate Reimbursement Space Act Agreement with NASA. The current Astrobee Facility project is operated through the NASA Ames Research Center. NASA has multiple ground assets that include the Granite lab and Communications Relay Server located at the Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) at Marshall Space Flight Center. The Ames granite lab is connected to the HOSC via ISS loaned Payload Rack Checkout Unit router enabling end to end testing. There is a dock and two Astrobees in the Granite lab. The dock is mounted to the wall and connected to power and a wired LAN. Both the wired LAN and wireless LAN are setup to replicate the ISS Joint Station local area network. Ames’ capability also includes the Astrobee Relay Server, a set of redundant Linux server’s setup at the HOSC to facilitate data uplink/downlink before and after an activity, commanding, and telemetry data links during an ISS activity. A Data Distribution Service (DDS) network gateway application is also running on the server to facilitate the real-time commanding and telemetry to user operated ground control stations.

Participants interested in more information about the Ames lab facilities described above and pricing for use of these facilities may contact:

Matthew Holtrust, Ames Agreements Manager, matthew.j.holtrust@nasa.gov

2.8 Ombudsman

An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear and facilitate the resolution of concerns from interested parties concerning the selection process for this Announcement. Interested parties include the participants, potential participants, and agreement signatories. The existence of the Ombudsman is not to diminish the authority of the NASA Agreements Officer, the Participant Evaluation Panel, the Selection Authority, or any formal adjudication of a matter related to this Announcement. Interested parties are not to contact the Ombudsman to request copies of the Announcement, verify proposal due date, or clarify provisions of the Announcement. Such inquiries shall be directed to the NASA Agreements Officer as specified in Section 2.1 of this Announcement. Before consulting with the Ombudsman, interested parties must first address their concerns, issues, disagreements, or recommendations to the NASA Agreements Officer for resolution.

If resolution cannot be made by the NASA Agreements Officer, interested parties may contact the Ombudsman. At her discretion, the Ombudsman may request that an interested party submit any concerns, issues, disagreements, or recommendations in writing. Submissions or inquiries made to either the NASA Agreements Officer or the Ombudsman will not suspend the selection process, the award(s), or the performance of the resulting agreement(s). The Ombudsman may be contacted at:

Donna M. Shafer JSC Associate Director Phone: 281-483-4258 Email: donna.m.shafer@nasa.gov Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center 2101 E NASA Parkway, Mail Code AA Houston, TX 77058-3696

3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSALS

3.1 Proposal Submittal

3.1.1 NASA will not issue paper copies of this Announcement. NASA reserves the right to select for due diligence all, some, or none of the proposals in response to this Announcement. NASA provides no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Proposals submitted in response to this Announcement will not be returned. It is the policy of NASA to treat all proposals as sensitive competitive information and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation.

3.1.2 The proposals shall consist of multiple sections and three appendices as described in Announcement section 3.2. Section I, Executive Summary, shall be limited to two pages. The remaining sections shall not exceed 10 pages. There is no page limit on the appendices. Any information included in an appendix which is out of scope of that appendix as defined herein shall not be considered.

A page is defined as one side of a sheet, 8½” x 11”, with at least one-inch margins on all sides, using not smaller than 12-point type, with the exception of tables and figures, which may use 8-point type (anything larger than this will be considered two pages, e.g., foldouts). Title pages, Section and Appendix Cover pages, tables of contents, list of figures, list of tables, and acronym listings are excluded from the specified page counts.

3.1.3 The participant shall submit its proposal via NASA’s Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box (EFSS Box), a FedRAMP Moderate certified platform. Electronic submissions shall not contain hidden formulas or tables, be locked, be password protected, or contain links to data not included in the electronic copy. All electronic submissions should be searchable and should not contain scanned documents, except those documents that must be provided in their native format (e.g., signature pages). The participant shall ensure documents are free from viruses and malware, as documents determined by NASA to contain a virus, or malware will not be opened or evaluated.

3.1.4 Prior to the submission of proposal files, participants interested in submitting a proposal in response to this solicitation should notify Ashley Chaves of their intent to submit a proposal at least 48 hours prior to the intended submission date, at the following email address jsc-astrobee@mail.nasa.gov. Participants, especially those that have not previously submitted a proposal utilizing NASA’s App Box, are encouraged to coordinate the submission of a test file with the Agreements Officer several days in advance of the date and time specified for proposal submission in order to allow time to work through any submission issues.

3.1.5 The participant shall submit all proposal files to:

https://nasagov.app.box.com/f/2ad20f65b2834450b8c111e7929a35cf The Participant shall follow instructions regarding proposal submission found at https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/other/EFSS-Box-Offeror-Proposal-Submission- Instructions.pdf .

3.1.6 Participants are encouraged to include all individual proposal files within a single .zip file.

Electronic file names shall be limited to letters, numbers, and single spaces, with the exception of the period that is required before the file extension (e.g., .zip, .pdf), in order to successfully upload and download files from the EFSS Box system. The participant shall not use special characters “/” or “\” in file names. The participant shall clearly label the contents of the file and include the name of the of participant in the individual file name. Examples of acceptable individual file names are as follows:

mailto:jsc-astrobee@mail.nasa.gov mailto:jsc-astrobee@mail.nasa.gov https://nasagov.app.box.com/f/2ad20f65b2834450b8c111e7929a35cf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/other/EFSS-Box-Offeror-Proposal-Submission-Instructions.pdf https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/other/EFSS-Box-Offeror-Proposal-Submission-Instructions.pdf

Company Name - Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering - Proposal.pdf

Company Name - Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering - Appendix 1.pdf.

Individual files cannot exceed 150 GB per file. Unless specifically authorized by the solicitation instructions, alternate proposal submissions shall not be submitted.

3.1.7 Immediately after all files have been uploaded and the proposal has been submitted in its entirety, the participant shall notify the Agreements Officer at jsc-astrobee@mail.nasa.gov with a listing of all documents by filename that were submitted via NASA’s Agency MSFC Box. If any problems are experienced with the NASA’s App Box system (e.g., login, file transfer), please contact Rasha Shreim with a copy to the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering inbox via e-mail as soon as possible.

3.1.8 The participant is responsible for ensuring its proposal reaches the Government office designated in the solicitation by the date and time specified in the solicitation. The Government is not responsible for any failure attributable to the transmission or receipt of documents submitted using electronic means, including the missing of any submission requirements and established deadlines. Please note that uploading documents via EFSS Box and the transmission of the files from the participant to the Government may not be instantaneous. To ensure timely delivery, the participant is encouraged to submit its proposal at least 24 hours prior to the deadline specified in the solicitation. The electronic submission of the proposal shall contain all information required by the solicitation to be determined responsive.

3.2 Proposal Content

3.2.1 Outline

All proposals shall be submitted using the following outline:

Section I Executive Summary

Section II Business Approach

B1 - Business Overview B2 - Development Plan B3 - Compliance B4 – Financing Plan B5 - Business Risks

Section III Technical Approach T1 - Sustaining Operations and Maintenance Plan T2 - Safety and Mission Assurance T3 - Technical Risks

Appendix 1 Proposed SAA

Appendix 2 Proposed Government Resources

Appendix 3 Supplemental Business Data

3.2.2 Section I: Executive Summary

Proposals shall include an Executive Summary of up to 2 pages describing the prominent and distinguishing features of the business and technical approach for the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering effort. The Executive Summary should summarize the following:

• Business and technical approach to bring the proposed Astrobee capability to market, and

• If known, government resource types that would be requested under the proposed partnership (e.g., testing, access to expertise).

• The Executive Summary shall confirm whether:

• The Participant meets the eligibility requirements of Announcement section 2.2.

• The Participant complies with the requirements of Announcement section 2.3.

• The proposal is contingent upon acceptance by NASA of any changes to the terms and conditions of the SAA contained in this Announcement.

The Executive Summary shall stand alone and not directly reference the other sections of the proposal.

3.2.3 Section II: Business Approach

This section shall describe the Participant’s approach for operating a sustained entity that will supply the Astrobee capability to the market. Participants shall provide sufficient information to establish confidence in its plan. Non-profit entities should answer the questions where applicable, such as by addressing its financing plan in terms of obtaining donations and revenue.

B1. Business Overview:

This section shall provide an overview of the Participant’s business as it relates to the proposed Astrobee capability and shall include the following:

• Business strategy,

• Market analysis,

• Products and services,

• Management team (resumes of key personnel may be included in Appendix 3).

B2. Utilization Plan:

The Participant shall summarize the business aspects of its utilization and operations plan. This plan shall include the following:

• A plan and schedule for marketing the Astrobee capability,

• Identification of key participant resources such as personnel, facilities, intellectual property, and other assets required. State which of these do not yet exist and indicate how the participant plans to acquire those.

• Any major partners and suppliers including respective roles and contributions to the project and status of the relationship. Partners and suppliers can include for-profit, non-profit, and government entities.

If the Participant has any proposed or current Government relationships, such as contracts or agreements, that are directly related to the proposed SAA activity, the Participant shall identify them and describe how they are related.

B3. Compliance:

The Participant shall describe compliance with the eligibility requirements specified in section

2.2. The Participant shall describe compliance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and policies specified in section 2.3. If Participants intend to rely on Russian suppliers, the Participant shall explain how its Russian supplier is not a prohibited entity under INKSNA or any other applicable sanctions law, and how the Participant will conduct its commercialization effort without providing technical assistance to the prohibited entity during the term of the Agreement.

B4. Financing Plan:

The Participant shall describe the plan to acquire the funds needed to operate and sustain the Astrobee capability. This shall include:

• Estimate of total cost for Astrobee operations and sustaining engineering, including a commercialization plan, and financing plan to enable marketing and supporting commercial use of Astrobee. Supporting cost data may be included in Appendix 3.

• Plan to acquire the funds needed beyond what the Participant currently controls through operational readiness including schedule of any planned financing events. To support its financing plan, the Participant may provide historical and pro-forma financial statements, letters of intent, and other supporting business data in Appendix 3.

B5. Business Risks:

The Participant shall describe the most significant business risks associated with the effort and its plans to manage them.

3.2.4 Section III: Technical Approach

This section shall describe the Participant’s proposed technical approach for operating and sustaining the Astrobee system. Participants shall provide sufficient information to establish confidence in its plan.

T1. Sustaining Operations and Maintenance Plan

The Participant shall describe how it will accomplish sustaining engineering and user support of the Astrobee capability, including:

Sustaining Engineering:

• Hardware maintenance (HW)

• Software maintenance (SW)

• Lab maintenance (Astrobee System Labs)

• Operations (ground and on orbit supportability)

User Support:

• User community support

• Assessment and technology demonstration (Feasibility Assessment with ISS)

• Integration, safety, and verification (Astrobee Facility Assessments with the Payload, submittal of integrated ISS Safety products and ISS Interface Verification)

• Lab testing (Astrobee Facility, the Payload, and ISS)

• Ops planning (Planning and on Orbit Activities)

• Data distribution

T2. Safety and Mission Assurance:

The Participant shall summarize its approach for safety, reliability, maintainability, supportability, quality, software assurance, and risk management. Where humans are involved, whether during ground or spaceflight operations, the participant shall describe its approach to safety.

T3. Technical Risks:

The Participant shall describe the most significant technical risks associated with the effort and its plans to manage them.

3.2.5 Appendix 1: Proposed Space Act Agreement

The Participant shall provide an Unfunded SAA using the Unfunded SAA template included in Appendix A of this AFPP. Participant inputs needed are generally highlighted in yellow. Any Participant-proposed changes to the SAA template terms and conditions are discouraged, but if included, must be highlighted, and include rationale explaining why the proposed change is requested. NASA seeks to use standard clauses/approaches for all Participants and plans to use the Unfunded SAA template in Appendix A. Any proposed changes to standard terms will be evaluated for acceptability and will be presented to the Selection Authority. Unacceptable changes to standard terms can impact a Participant’s selection. Additionally, please also note that the Government does not anticipate that post-selection negotiations will include revisions to terms of the Unfunded SAA.

Within Article 4 of the Unfunded SAA, the Participant shall provide a list of proposed sustaining engineering and operations milestones and utilization activity projections. These should be consistent with the guidelines in section 1.4 of this AFPP, shall be what the Participant proposes to achieve under its Space Act Agreement, and that the Participant will perform for its own purposes. The purpose of this is to give NASA a guide for ensuring that the Partner is on track in developing its operations and sustaining engineering goals to justify continued support of NASA under the SAA.

In compliance with Section 841 of the NASA Transition Authorization Act (NTAA) of 2017, the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering Unfunded SAA will be publicly posted without redaction. Thus, Participants shall not include any information in the Unfunded SAA not intended for public release.

3.2.6 Appendix 2: Proposed Government Resources

The Participant shall identify the Government resources requested for its Astrobee sustaining engineering and operations effort as described in paragraph 2.7 of this AFPP as succinctly as possible. The Participant should identify the major anticipated NASA resources to be requested by Government Fiscal Year (October 1 through September 30). This identification shall be an estimate and is not binding. Actual resource requests shall be made by a Partner and considered by the Government during execution of the SAA. The Participant should identify any alignments with existing Government contracts or agreements and how requested Government resources are not in furtherance of work required under such Government contracts or agreements. Estimates may include:

• Types of data to be requested

• Quantity and type of assessments, simulations, and/or analyses

• Quantity and type of tests

• Quantity and type of other services

• Use of Equipment

• Use of Facilities

• Information about NASA technologies that might be available under license

• Loan of NASA property

3.2.7 Appendix 3: Supplemental Business Data

Participants may provide resumes of key personnel and supplemental business data in this appendix as identified in sections B1 and B4 of paragraph 3.2.3.

4. PROPOSAL EVALUATION AND SELECTION

4.1 Process

4.1.1 This Section 4 describes the evaluation process NASA intends to use for the selection of the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering Space Act Agreement(s). Participants are reminded that this process does not involve the procedures set forth in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) nor the NASA FAR Supplement since this AFPP will not result in the award of a contract.

4.1.2 The first step of this process will be a review to determine that proposals comply with the requirements of 3.1 of this AFPP. The Participant Evaluation Panel (PEP) will then review the Executive Summary. The PEP shall not continue evaluation of any proposal when it is determined from the Executive Summary that the proposal is unacceptable because (1) it does not represent a reasonable initial effort to address the objective of the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering Initiative; or (2) clearly demonstrates that the Participant does not understand the objective.

4.1.3 The second step of the process will be an evaluation of the full proposals that are compliant with this AFPP to assess how well the proposal meets the following criteria:

• Feasibility of the business approach to achieving commercial viability of the Astrobee system.

• Feasibility of the technical approach to achieving commercial viability of the Astrobee system.

• Feasibility for NASA to provide the requested resources.

For each proposal, the PEP will assign a color rating for each of these criteria as defined in the illustration below. NASA will also estimate the cost of any requested resources beyond what NASA is providing as described in Section 2.7 Use of Government Resources. NASA reserves the right to ask questions via teleconference to obtain clarification of information provided in the proposals. The proposals most favorably evaluated will be selected for further due diligence, with consideration given to the range of planned activities proposed.

4.1.4 The third step of the process will be due diligence with participants whose proposals were selected in the previous step. This may include virtual and/or on-site meetings. Participants will be notified of selection for due diligence at least one week in advance of the first such meeting.

As part of the notification, NASA will provide the participants with findings from the initial evaluation and any questions resulting from the initial evaluation. During the diligence meetings, participants will have the opportunity to present their overall business approach, technical approach, and respond to the findings and questions provided by NASA. In addition, NASA will work with the participants to resolve any issues associated with the SAA and negotiate milestones. NASA reserves the right to ask questions during the diligence meetings to obtain clarification of information provided in the proposals or presentation materials. At the conclusion of due diligence, NASA shall review and revise, if necessary, the evaluation results of the previous step.

4.2 Selection and Award

4.2.1 After completing due diligence, NASA will present the results of the proposal evaluation to the Selection Authority (SA). The SA will compare the proposals against the criteria of the AFPP and select a participant whose proposal best meets the objectives of the Astrobee Operations and Sustaining Engineering Initiative. Additional considerations in the selection of an SAA partner may include how entities plan to commercialize the Astrobee capability, proposed business models including target markets for the capability use and intended partnering arrangements.

NASA intends to award a single Unfunded SAA.

4.2.2 Following selection, NASA will complete negotiations with the selected Participant on its proposed SAA. The purpose of the negotiations is to finalize the milestones and any other open items with the proposed SAA. The competitive process will conclude with execution of an SAA between NASA and the selected Participant. All participants will be notified of the outcome of this competition in a reasonable time period after its conclusion.

4.3 Personnel

The Government may use contractor support personnel to assist in providing technical and business expertise in the evaluation of executive summaries and proposals. Any support contractor involvement in the evaluation process shall be free of conflicts of interest, will be bound by appropriate conflicts of interest provisions and non-disclosure agreements to protect proprietary and competition sensitive information, and must have accepted limitations on future contracting.

By submitting a proposal under this AFPP, the Participant is deemed to have consented to release of data in its proposal to NASA contractors supporting evaluation of proposals under suitable protective conditions.

APPENDIX A: DRAFT SPACE ACT AGREEMENT

UNFUNDED SPACE ACT AGREEMENT

BETWEEN

THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

AND [Name of Partner]

FOR UTILIZATION AND SUSTAINING OPERATIONS OF THE ASTROBEE FREE-

FLYING ROBOTICS SYSTEM

ARTICLE 1. AUTHORITY AND PARTIES

In accordance with the National Aeronautics and Space Act (51 U.S.C. § 20113(e)), this Agreement is entered into by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B.

Johnson Space Center, located at 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas 77058 (hereinafter referred to as "NASA" or "NASA JSC")] and [Name of Partner] located at [Partner’s Address] (hereinafter referred to as "Partner" or "[insert Partner name or acronym, as appropriate]").

NASA and Partner may be individually referred to as a "Party" and collectively referred to as the "Parties."

ARTICLE 2. PURPOSE

The purpose of this Agreement is to facilitate the transition to [Name of Partner] of management of sustaining operations and utilization of the Astrobee free-flying robotics system and to continue advancement in private sector utilization of this unique capability for the future development of commercial capabilities in space. Support provided by NASA under this Agreement that is not already captured in the Responsibilities will be summarized by the Parties in writing in Appendix 1, NASA Furnished Services, Facilities, and Technologies. This Agreement is aligned with NASA’s strategy for advancing commercial space-related efforts that primarily benefit the development and growth of a robust and competitive U.S. commercial economy in low Earth orbit. The Parties anticipate that this Partner’s commercial efforts could include the following:

a) {Participant to complete this section with their potential targeted markets or plans to commercialize Astrobee}

ARTICLE 3. RESPONSIBILITIES

A. NASA will use reasonable efforts to:

1. Provide a point of contact for Partner within the International Space Station Program Office within 30 days after the effective date of this Agreement.

2. Provide Partner access to the following NASA capabilities and resources at no cost to the Partner:

a) NASA guidance with regard to activities permitted on-board ISS and implementation of the existing payloads review and approval process.

b) NASA guidance with regard to requirements of NASA Mission Directorates and the ISS National Lab in supporting ISS activities.

c) Access to NASA technical data, lessons learned, and expertise support.

d) Astrobee On-Orbit system through a separate loan agreement

e) Astrobee hardware and spares on the ground for the Astrobee On-Orbit system through a separate loan agreement

f) Joint…