07262016_STPSat-6_NOCA.pdf

SMC FBO Notice Template

FBO Guide: https://www.fbo.gov/downloads/FBO_Buyer_Guide.pdf

1. Agency/Office: Space and Missile Systems Center/Advanced Systems and Development Directorate Contracting Division (SMC/ADK)

2. Contracting Office Location: 3548 Aberdeen Drive, Kirtland AFB New Mexico 87117

3. Type of Solicitation: Sole source

4. Solicitation Number: FA8818-16-C-0026

5. Date Posted: 26 July 2016

6. Title: Space Test Program (STP) Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) Integration Services

7. Classification Code: AC

8. NAICS Code: 336414, 1250 Employees

9. Is this a Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action? No

10. Response Date: (15 Days after time of posting)

11. Primary Point of Contact: Edgar Alonso-Bernal, Major, USAF, 505-853-7664

12. Secondary Point of Contact: Mr. Mark Johnson, 505-846-6604

13. Description: NOTICE OF CONTRACT ACTION (NOCA)

26 Jul 2016

This announcement is a Notice of Contracting Action (NOCA) by the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), Advanced Systems and Development Directorate (AD), Contracting Office (ADK), Kirtland AFB, NM. This NOCA does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), nor is it to be construed as a commitment by the Government to further evaluate capability briefs, release a competitive solicitation, or award a contract.

The United States Air Force (USAF) Space Test Program (STP) program intends to issue an RFP to Orbital ATK (OATK) for STP Satellite-6 (STPSat-6) Integration Services consisting of a four year base Period of Performance with a one-year option for on-orbit support.

This will be a sole-source action, and the RFP will be issued no earlier than fifteen (15) days after publication of this NOCA solely to the prospective source identified above. The statutory authority for this action will be contracting by Other than Full and Open Competition, 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.

The USAF owns an OATK A-500 satellite bus that is specifically designed for operation in geo-synchronous orbit (GEO). The OATK A-500 was acquired by another U.S. Government agency program through a competitive procurement. This satellite bus was designated “excess to needs” by the original https://www.fbo.gov/downloads/FBO_Buyer_Guide.pdf

Government program office and was transferred to the STP for use on the planned STPSat-6 mission.

Based on STP’s mission and requirements analysis, this OATK A-500 satellite bus is the best technically suited spacecraft that is readily-available for the STPSat-6 mission. Its use as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) is both effective and efficient to meet the STP’s strict budget and schedule constraints.

Through “Request for Information” (RFI) market research, the Air Force determined that alternative STPSat-6 approaches to filling mission requirements would be cost and schedule prohibitive and would unacceptably increase mission risk. These alternatives included procuring another new satellite bus, or extensively modifying another available but lesser technically-suited GFE satellite bus design, in addition to the payload integration effort that is also required. Utilizing the OATK A-500 as the best-suited and available GFE satellite bus reduces design, engineering, testing, and validation requirements that supports the STPSat-6 schedule and budget limitations while also satisfying mission risk requirements.

The Air Force has conducted market research in accordance with FAR Part 10 by issuing a Sources Sought Synopsis (SSS), Reference Number SN: 15-125, posted 24 August 2015. This Synopsis resulted in three responses from industry. However, additional market research has shown that, out of the different solutions presented by industry, only the GFE OATK A-500 satellite bus is able to meet the technical requirements within budget and schedule constraints for this effort. OATK is the original developer and provider of this spacecraft satellite bus.

Market Research results also revealed that any contractor other than OATK would need to re-engineer the entire OATK A-500 satellite bus architecture and rewrite the flight software to support the sensor payload for use with their own systems. This would result in a significant cost increase, time delay, and program risk compared to original supplier/developer of this OATK A-500 satellite bus. Therefore, if this effort were performed by any contractor other than OATK, it would result in substantial duplication of cost and schedule delays that the Government would not recover through competition.

This contract effort will integrate satellite bus components to accommodate the approved Space Experiments Review Board (SERB) STPSat-6 payload suite. This includes the Space Atmospheric Burst Reporting System (SABRS)-3, and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) payloads, and up to six other hosted payloads. Also included are the integration, test, and ground activities associated with the completed OATK A-500 spacecraft’s readiness to launch. The contractor will identify payload accommodations to support hosting, mechanical and electrical connections, data transfer and command uploads. The contractor will ensure the completed OATK A-500 spacecraft meets all radiation hardening requirements to support the specific SABRS-3 payload mission life and data reporting. Work includes the payload suite assessment to ensure adequate power and mass requirements meet full mission life.

The contractor will perform environmental tests on the completed spacecraft including thermal/vacuum, vibration/sine-wave, and mass property validation. As part of this testing process, the contractor will perform spacecraft aliveness testing to ensure the vehicle and its payloads can operate after major tests and on-orbit. The contractor will ensure the spacecraft communications equipment supports payload requirements including the Government-furnished COMSEC equipment that will be integrated into the OATK A-500 satellite bus. The contractor will also transport the completed spacecraft to the launch range at Cape Canaveral AFS, FL, support the spacecraft’s launch, and provide support for the spacecraft’s initial on-orbit check-out and operations.

The nature of STPSat-6's mission requires a spacecraft with highly-specialized 3-axis pointing capabilities, the ability to survive in geosynchronous orbit for a minimum of 8 years, the capability to power a minimum of 9 payloads, and the ability to survive and recover from a prompt dose of continuous X-ray exposure as well as any System-Generated Electromagnetic Pulses (SGEMP) for the mission’s duration. Due to the highly-specialized payload sensors and other equipment that it will host, the STPSat-6 spacecraft must meet extremely narrow and highly accurate pointing requirements, to include 0.006° pointing accuracy and it must have onboard pointing knowledge and correction capability. The spacecraft must be able to accommodate drift requirements of <0.001° with 1-sec updates to the payload and two-dimensional raster scanning and polar pointing capability. Also, payload thermal control within +20° to +30°C is required for this STPSat-6 mission because of the duration and payload operating requirements. The Government’s existing OATK-500 satellite bus is the only readily-available spacecraft that can meet these requirements within the strict budget and schedule constraints that the Air Force has available for this mission. Acquiring a new, different, and un-validated satellite bus capable of meeting these stringent requirements would jeopardize the STPSat-6 mission schedule. Using another available GFE satellite bus with lesser existing technical capabilities would require a drastic redesign and validation effort in order to meet mission requirements. Either of these two lesser capable approaches would not only exceed the STPSat-6 mission’s stringent schedule and budget limitations, but they would also considerably increase the operational risk of the mission.

This sole-source satellite integration and support services contract will require OATK to integrate the GFE OATK A-500 satellite bus and hosted payloads in to a completed STPSat-6 spacecraft ready for launch in 2019. This sole-source contract action will result in a single award contract with an estimated contract value of $60M to $85M, with a delivery date of no later than four years from award meeting the Air Force’s strict budget and schedule requirements. The contract will include complete spacecraft integration, delivery to the launch range, launch support and initial operations and check-out, one year of on-orbit support, and an option for an additional year of support during the on-orbit operations phase.

Any persons or companies interested in this notice may respond to the requirement(s) and submit their capabilities to the Procurement Contracting Officer; Major Edgar A. Alonso-Bernal via e-mail at edgar.alonsobernal@us.af.mil. The capabilities statement may address why the company believes that the sole-source contract justification is not valid.

This notice of intent is for informational purposes only, and is not a request for competitive proposals.

However, parties (to include small and small disadvantaged businesses) may identify their interest and technical capability, and submit information for consideration by the agency in regard to future requirements the USAF may have. Please keep the responses to 15 one-sided pages or less, with 1-inch margins on all sides, and in Times New Roman 12-point font. This announcement constitutes the only notice for this sole-source STPSat-6 contract.

14. Place of Contract Performance: Contractor Facility

15. Set Aside: Not set aside mailto:edgar.alonsobernal@us.af.mil