SATPC0037078 Tab 06 RDSS..pdf

Page 1 V2.0 3-15-2017

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER

RECOMMENDATION AND DETERMINATION TO SOLICIT FROM ONE SOURCE

OR BRAND NAME

PICK ONE

Sole Source:

☒I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate with Noqsi Aerospace Ltd only for the development of a two channel Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) timing and spectroscopy system. The total estimated cost of this effort is and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is December 15, 2024 through September 30, 2025.

OR

Brand Name Justification:

☐I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate with only with vendors who can provide the subject band name from Manufacture Name for Enter Supply or Service to be procured. The total estimated cost of this effort is Enter Dollar amount and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is Date.

This recommendation is for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source/only one manufacture. Competition is impractical for the following reasons (please answer the questions below):

1. What are the reasons for soliciting only the suggested source/suggested brand name? Please provide the unique characteristics of the items or services along with the supporting rationale and the market research performed to substantiate your reason for the suggested source/brand name.

Noqsi Aerospace Ltd (hereinafter Noqsi) is uniquely positioned to complete the work required to advance the design of detector electronics currently used on the NASA flight program called NICER for the development of an instrument concept funded by the DALI (Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation) program. Noqsi was the developer (as a subcontract to MIT) of the NICER detector electronics and is therefore uniquely capable of making the design modifications for our new applications. Noqsi is fully aware of the requirements from the original NICER design which will translate to our new system. The amount of time and costs to make these requirements accessible to another company would be substantial and result in a higher overall cost and an inability to meet the development schedule. Additionally, Noqsi has corporate knowledge of previous design successes and pitfalls pertaining to performance requirements, increasing schedule certainty. Lastly, NASA invested substantial resources in ground support equipment (GSE) and software to handle the specifics of the NICER electronics design. Noqsi will be building from these resources saving substantial expenditures of time and costs to develop new GSE and software to accommodate a design which did not leverage the NICER design investments.

2. What is the impact to the government if another vendor/brand is used? Include any dollar, schedule, or compatibility impacts if possible.

Substantial labor and hardware costs would be required to develop new GSE and software to accommodate an electronics design that does not stem from NICER. It is estimated that 1-2 FTEs of effort and in hardware would be required to develop and test a new infrastructure. Noqsi developed GSE and support software for the NICER detector electronics and would ensure the advanced detector electronics design is compatible with existing GSE and software. This is a substantial cost savings to NASA.