RFI for COSMIC SSAEM.pdf

Description:

Request for Information

The United States Space Force (USSF) Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring (SSAEM) Program Office within the Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Sensing (SN) is performing market research to identify capable industry sources for a new SSAEM Sensor Support Contract.

Background:

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) program is a partnership between Taiwan and the United States (US). The US side of this partnership is led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but includes the United States Space Force (USSF). COSMIC-1 was a constellation of six low-Earth orbit satellites launched in 2006 to observe the Earth’s atmosphere and ionosphere. The follow-on mission, COSMIC-2, launched a system of 6 satellites into low Earth orbit in June 2019, which continue to provide operational atmospheric and ionospheric data until the present time.

The COSMIC-2 program operates under an international agreement between the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the United States.

Technical exchange between the US and Taiwan within the COSMIC-2 program is governed by a Technical Assistance Agreement (TAA) administered by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), as the AIT-TECRO representative. Under NOAA funding, UCAR also runs the US COSMIC-2 Data Processing Center (DPC), which provides COSMIC-2 data products to US operational and US/international scientific communities.

The SSAEM program provided all of the sensors on the COSMIC-2 satellites and the USSF is responsible for maintaining these sensors in operations throughout the COSMIC-2 mission life. There are three SSAEM sensors on each COSMIC-2 satellite: the primary Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSS RO) payload, TGRS (Tri-GNSS Receiver System), and two secondary payloads: the Ion Velocity Meter (IVM) and the Radio Frequency (RF) Beacon. The TGRS sensors were designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The IVM sensors were designed by the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and were manufactured for flight by UTD and Ball Aerospace. The RF Beacons were designed by SRI International and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and were manufactured for flight by Space Micro, Inc. and AFRL. Full data packages for these sensors are not available.

The current SSAEM Sensor Support Contract was awarded to UCAR in July 2019, shortly after the COSMIC-2 launch in June of that year and will expire at the end of August 2023. Activities supported by that contract included early orbit sensor performance evaluations, COSMIC-2 requirements compliance assessments, substantial technical analyses in support of sensor calibration/validation work and related space weather product development and validation, COSMIC-2 sensor on-orbit support (develop and send necessary sensor commands to the Taiwan COSMIC-2 operations center for upload to the COSMIC-2 spacecraft, routine monitoring of sensor health and evaluation of sensor anomalies), development and sustainment of IVM ground processing software within the UCAR DPC, and analysis and recommendations associated with periodic TGRS flight software uploads. To the degree that any of these activities are tied to the primary TGRS sensor, SSC provided UCAR with necessary TGRS sensor expertise through a separate SSC-funded task with the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) and JPL. It should be noted that while the current SSAEM Sensor Support Contract includes work associated with COSMIC-2 DPC ground processing of IVM data, it does not support analogous activities for the TGRS sensor. Primary sensor ground processing support at the COSMIC-2 DPC is supported by NOAA under the COSMIC-2 partnership. The secondary RF Beacon sensor does not require any COSMIC-2 DPC ground processing.

Description of Services:

The new SSAEM Sensor Support Contract will require the following support. Note that SSC will continue to separately fund JPL to provide TGRS sensor expertise to support the COSMIC-2 mission throughout the duration of the new SSAEM Sensor Support Contract.

1) Provide on-orbit support for all SSAEM sensors to include the following

a. Send SSAEM sensor commands to the Taiwan COSMIC-2 operations center.

Commands for TGRS sensors will be provided to the contractor by JPL. The contractor is required to be able to generate IVM and RF Beacon commands under the general direction and approval of the SSAEM Program Manager

(PM).

b. Continuously monitor the state of health (SOH) of the SSAEM sensors on orbit to rapidly detect any spurious conditions and identify engineering trends that may indicate future operating problems

c. Provide on-call 24/7 sensor anomaly support to include root cause determination and implementation of corrective actions

d. Advise the COSMIC-2 program partners on any operationally relevant issues associated with the SSAEM sensors

e. Perform routine checks of SSAEM sensor space weather product quality to ensure that no degradation over time occurs and to verify that any calibration parameters relevant to maintaining product quality remain up to date.

2) Provide support for periodic TGRS flight software updates

a. Advise SSC/SN concerning improvements that are needed in future TGRS flight software updates

b. Perform assessments of TGRS flight software update performance to establish whether update objectives have been met and to verify that there are no significant inadvertent negative impacts to existing TGRS products

3) Provide technical/science support to maintain and improve COSMIC-2 space weather products

a. Working together with the SSAEM product support team led by SSC/SN, perform analyses of the robustness and quality of existing COSMIC-2 space weather products to determine ways to improve these products and their operational impact through combinations of TGRS flight software changes and/or ground processing upgrades

b. Working together with the SSAEM product support team led by SSC/SN, determine approaches that could be employed to minimize the operational impact of degradation of the COSMIC-2 constellation over time (e.g., due to loss of one or more of the COSMIC-2 satellites)

4) Maintain the IVM sensor ground data processing capability so that it continues to produce accurate operational and scientific products

5) As requested by SSC/SN, provide technical assessments relevant to the use of evolving GNSS remote sensing techniques to meet USSF needs for space-based sensing of terrestrial and space weather requirements in the post-COSMIC-2 era

6) Support COSMIC-2 technical interchange with NOAA and Taiwan on an as-needed basis. This will require that the contractor becomes a signatory of the NOAA-TASA TAA.

Schedule:

The new contract is anticipated to have a one-year period of performance with four one-year options.

Request for Statements of Capability:

Interested parties who believe they have the capability to perform as a prime contractor in support of this effort must submit a Statement of Technical Capabilities (SOC), within 30 days from RFI release that includes the following information:

General Information - Personnel/Size Standard, Company Name, Mailing Address, Point of Contact and Telephone Numbers, Business Size Classification (NAICS Code is 541330 (Engineering Services), Small or Other than Small Business, and experience-specific work previously performed relevant to this effort.

Technical Capabilities - The SOC must address the party’s technical experience in the area of flight hardware sustainment and GNSS sensing and demonstrate the ability to provide the required services, as mentioned in the “Description of Services” section. At a minimum, the SOC should address the party’s ability to perform the following required services:

(1) The ability to provide on-orbit sensor support for the COSMIC-2 sensors,

(2) Technical/science analysis of GNSS RO and IVM payload data,

(3) Ability to generate and maintain IVM data products

(4) Collaboration with TASA under COSMIC-2 TAA

Additional Information – Provide in your SOC a list of documents and information required to perform the SSAEM sensor support activities, COSMIC-2 science data analysis, and IVM product generation. The SOC must conform to 8.5 X 11-inch pages, with font no smaller than 12-point, 1 inch margins (left, right, top and bottom), and it shall not exceed twenty pages. The SOCs must be submitted by 31 May 2024, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. Submit an electronic copy of the SOC via email to Capt Benjamin Black at benjamin.black.7@spaceforce.mil, and Mr. Andrew Garcia at andrew.garcia.34@spaceforce.mil.

mailto:benjamin.black.7@spaceforce.mil

ATTN: Maj Mark Zakner, Contracting Officer, 483 N. Aviation Blvd, El Segundo, California 90245- 2808. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. The SOC will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining the respondent’s ability to meet the government’s requirements and schedule as described above. A determination not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis is based upon responses to this notice and is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government will use the SOC to help determine the interest and ability of qualified sources in the marketplace. This announcement is for information and planning purposes only. It does not constitute a RFP and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The Government will not pay any cost associated with the submittal of information solicited herein. The SOC and all related communications that contain proprietary information should be marked as such.

Ombudsman:

An Ombudsman has been appointed to hear concerns from potential respondents. The Ombudsman is Colonel Quocnam Nguyen. Contact information for Colonel Nguyen is quocnam.nguyen@spaceforce.mil or 310-653-1786. The purpose of the Ombudsman is to receive and communicate concerns from potential respondents when a respondent prefers not to use established channels to communicate his/her concerns during this proposed acquisition.

The Ombudsman will communicate certain respondent issues, disagreements, and recommendations on this proposed acquisition into the proper channels. The Ombudsman’s role is not to diminish the authority of the Program Director, Program Manager, or the Contracting Officer but to advocate a respondent’s concern on a non-attribution basis. The Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern when requested by the respondent. The Ombudsman will not participate in the evaluation of SOCs for this proposed acquisition. Routine questions, such as clarification, are not considered to be “significant concerns” and should be communicated directly to the POCs listed above.

Small Business Consideration:

Small Business firms with the capability to perform this requirement are encouraged to participate. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this effort is 541330 - Engineering Services. The small business size standard is $38.5M. If you are interested only in subcontracting opportunities please indicate clearly in your submission. Participation from small and small disadvantaged businesses is highly encouraged. Small Businesses must submit their responses to the PCO/Ms. Cathy Butler, cathy.butler@us.af.mil.

Disclaimer and Notes:

This synopsis is not to be considered a formal Pre-Solicitation notice. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked PROPRIETARY will be handled accordingly. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations.

The Space Force will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation mailto:olalani.kamakau@us.af.mil mailto:cathy.butler@us.af.mil in any future solicitation, if one is issued.

The SSC/SN has entered into contracts with The Aerospace Corporation, Tecolote Research Incorporated, Booz Allen Hamilton Incorporated, Science Application International Corporation (SAIC), Systems Planning and Analysis (SPA), and/or others. These companies support the SN program office by performing technical reviews, systems engineering and integration analyses, cost estimation, and other advisory services. Respondents are hereby notified that all responses may be provided to our support contractors for their services to the U.S. Space Force. If respondent disagrees with the release of its RFI response to any of the aforementioned firms, respondent must clearly state this restriction in the cover letter accompanying the RFI response.