Draft RFP - MTN Cover Letter.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Goddard Space Flight Center

Greenbelt, MD 20771

April 2, 2026

Reply to Attn of: 170

TO: All Potential Offerors

SUBJECT: Draft Request for Proposal (DRFP), Solicitation No. 80GSFC26R0011, for Mars

Telecommunications Network (MTN)

You are invited to review and comment on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA) Mars Telecommunication Network (MTN) DRFP. The principal purpose of this requirement is to provide the design, development, integration, launch, and on orbit, continuous communications in support of a Mars sample return mission and future Mars surface, orbital, and human exploration missions. The MTN is expected to support autonomous operations, onboard processing, and extended mission duration capabilities.

Potential offerors are encouraged to comment on all aspects of the draft solicitation, including the requirements, schedules, proposal instructions, and evaluation approaches, any perceived safety, occupational health, security (including information technology security), environmental, export control, and/or other programmatic risk issues associated with performance of the work.

Potential offerors should identify any unnecessary, burdensome, or inefficient requirements and are also encouraged to comment on the DRFP CLIN structure, any unique terms and conditions, and on the Evaluation Criteria.

NASA will conduct this acquisition as a full and open competition. This competitive acquisition will result in a Firm-fixed Price Contract with an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity

(IDIQ) component. The contract will have a Core Requirement for the Delivery of the MTN, with

Optional Requirements for Launch Services, Integration, On-Orbit Commissioning and Five (5) years of Mission Operations; with the ability to issue Time and Materials (T&M) task orders for studies that will further confidence and understanding of the design, planning activities, feasibility studies, or trade studies related to MTN capabilities or future enhancements.

This Draft RFP does not preclude the addition of a NASA selected science payloads but does not yet reflect recent Agency direction. A subsequent update will incorporate more detail on candidate payload(s) and procurement structure for industry feedback.

The current planned anticipated release date for the Final Request for Proposal (RFP) is on or about

May 1, 2026, with proposals due approximately 30 calendar days later.

As previously announced, and in accordance with the advisory multi-step process described in

FAR 15.101(e), potential offerors are highly encouraged to submit nonbinding information addressing their statutory eligibility with The Working Families Tax Cut (WFTC) Act, formerly known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBBA) as codified in 51 U.S.C § 20306. In this phase, the Government will review preliminary information submitted by potential offerors to advise on the likelihood that it will be a viable competitor in the subsequent phase of the acquisition.

To enable NASA to issue advisory determinations, offerors should provide the below information to the Contracting Officer NLT five (5) calendar days from the release of the Draft RFP:

• Documentation to demonstrate that the offeror is US commercial provider.

• Documentation to demonstrate that the offeror received NASA funding in FY 2024 or FY 2025 for commercial design studies for Mars Sample Return.

• Documentation to demonstrate that offeror proposed a separately and independently launched

Mars telecom orbiter to support an end-to-end Mars Sample Return mission.

Potential offerors may submit the information in any format or manner they determine most suitable, provided it enables the Government to determine viability as outlined above

The Government will evaluate each potential offerors' submission against the criteria identified The

OBBBA and provide the following in response to potential offerors:

• Potential offerors considered likely to be viable competitors will be encouraged to participate in the resultant acquisition.

• Potential offerors considered unlikely to be viable competitors will be advised accordingly along with the general basis for that opinion.

Potential offerors, regardless of the advisory result, may still choose to participate in the resultant acquisition.

The following additional information is provided to assist in understanding the resultant acquisition.

For the resultant acquisition,

1. The Government will make available existing Government Furnished Property (GFP) for offsite use at the Contractor's facility as described in the DRFP.

2. The MTN Industry Day will be held on April 9, 2026.

3. Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use During Contract Performance.

Offerors are required to disclose any intent to propose, or plan to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to perform contract requirements.

4. AI Use Transparency Disclosure: The planned use of the AI system being acquired is not likely to include high-impact use cases, as defined in OMB M-25-21, Accelerating Federal Use of

AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust. The documentation required and other requirements to enable NASA to complete the required AI Impact Assessment are included in Enclosure 1: Performance Work Statement (PWS).

5. General Requirements: Offerors shall develop and submit a Performance Work Statement (PWS) as part of Volume II, Technical Proposal. The PWS shall demonstrate the Offeror's understanding of the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN) requirements and ability to achieve the Government's objectives defined in Exhibit 1, Statement of Objectives (SOO).

6. Oral Technical Proposal Presentations (MS Teams): The Technical Proposal will also be presented in the form of an Oral Technical Proposal. Written documentation shall be submitted in accordance with the guidelines provided in the table under Section A.6.

7. Commitment to the Small Business Program: Offerors must briefly describe the work that small businesses will perform to meet the stated requirements. Proposals shall also identify any work to be subcontracted that is considered “High Technology.”

8. Past Performance: Offerors shall provide, at a minimum, information in support of its proposal to facilitate the evaluation of the Offeror's past performance as related to the requirements of the proposed contract.

9. Price: The Total Proposed Firm Fixed Price (including all options) will be evaluated to ensure that a "fair and reasonable" price is paid by the Government.

To control and protect sensitive data owned by the Government and its Contractors, NASA policy requires all acquisition-related documents be released in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Documents related to this acquisition, including this letter, the solicitation, attachments, exhibits, any amendments, and links to online reference/technical library will be attainable electronically from the

World Wide Web through the Government-wide point of entry website at www.SAM.gov. Potential

Offerors are requested to periodically monitor the websites for updates.

NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) clause 1852.215-84 OMBUDSMAN, is applicable. The Ombudsman for this acquisition is Raymond “Ray” Rubilotta, raymond.j.rubilotta@nasa.gov, and 301-286-5867.

This DRFP is not a solicitation, and NASA is not requesting proposals. This DRFP does not commit

NASA to commit NASA to pay any proposal preparation cost, nor commit or obligate NASA to procure or contract for this requirement. This request is not an authorization to proceed and does not authorize payment for any charges incurred by the offeror for performing any of the work called for in this draft or resultant solicitation.

Any comments regarding the DRFP should be submitted electronically in writing, Alisha Mercadante, Contracting Officer, alisha.m.mercadante@nasa.gov, within 10 calendar days after the release of this DRFP. However, if you have questions that you will potentially http://www.sam.gov/ mailto:raymond.j.rubilotta@nasa.gov mailto:alisha.m.mercadante@nasa.gov liked answered at the industry day, please submit those questions within 5 calendar days after the release of this DRFP.

If a respondent believes their comments contain confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive, or business information, those questions/comments shall be marked appropriately. However, questions that are marked as containing confidential, proprietary, competition sensitive or business information will not be provided as a Government response. The Government will consider all comments received in preparation of the Final RFP. To the extent a comment leads the Government to revise the acquisition approach or requirements, the change will be reflected in the Final RFP. Some DRFP questions and comments may receive a posted response to the

GPE if the Contracting Officer determines that a response would facilitate additional understanding of the solicitation. The Government may also respond via the GPE to comments and/or questions received following the issuance of the Final Request for Proposal (RFP).

Alisha M. Mercadante

Contracting Officer

Enclosures:

Draft RFP 80GSFC26R0011