Sole-Source Memo -NAS9-98114 Redacted.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION – JUSTIFICATION FOR SOLE-SOURCE

Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106 1(b) for

COMCAST, NAS9-98114

Modification 72: 75-month Extension of Services

(1) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This action is a modification to the existing JSC contract, NAS 9-98114, with Comcast of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for continued lease of Comcast’s dark fiber optic point to point link between NASA/ JSC’s offsite Software Development and Integration Laboratory (SDIL) at NASA/JSC’s Sonny Carter Training Facility (SCTF), and the Electronic Systems Test Laboratory (ESTL) on-site JSC’s Building 44. The 6-year 3-month (75 month) lease extension will begin on July 1, 2024, through September 30, 2030, and will include 24-hour Maintenance.

The total estimated price for the extension effort is .

(2) Brief description of supplies/services required to meet the agency’s needs and the intended use (including the estimated value).

The requirement supports JSC’s Avionics System Division/EV under the Engineering Directorate.

Under NASA/JSC’s contract, NAS 9-98114, with Comcast, Comcast provides critical and secure fiber optic connectivity and maintenance support to JSC (Houston, Texas) for the International Space Station (ISS) through its planned decommission in September 2030 (originally 2024).

Following a full and open competition, the contract was awarded on November 12, 1998, to Comcast (previously TCI Network) to construct, maintain, and lease to the government secure connectivity for ISS data transmission and software testing, between JSC and the newly launched ISS into low Earth orbit. The 6.5-mile dark fiber cables which runs between JSC’s SDIL and ESTL, are owned by Comcast, and were installed at JSC in 1998 by Comcast. The link currently also includes a JSC Mission Control Center (MCC) interface to the SDIL through the ESTL for both testing and for access to real mission data for anomaly resolution due to crew privacy concerns. The point-to-point secure solution includes a 24-hour repair requirement to minimize disruption to ongoing testing and data transfers in the event of an on-orbit anomaly investigation. Upon decommissioning of the fiber link the contract includes a requirement for the vendor to remove and/or demolish the cable run that is on JSC property within the tunnel system.

In 2022, the United States (US) approved NASA’s request for an extension of operations for the US ISS until 2030 – necessitating a Comcast contract end-date coterminous with that of the ISS.

The required extension of the current services will provide for critical support of ongoing data transmission and software testing of sensitive spacecraft systems, non-industry standard