Special Notice for the Allied Partner CCP Space Food System Challenge.pdf

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION {NASA}

OPPORTUNITY NOTICE TO PARTICIPATE IN ITS PRIZES, CHALLENGES AND CROWDSOURCING

PROGRAM (CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES) AS AN ALLIED PARTNER

Contracting Office Address:

NASA Headquarters, Space Technology Mission Directorate, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546-0001

This Opportunity Notice (hereinafter “NOTICE”) is for informational/planning purposes only and the Government will not pay for the information received. This NOTICE is NOT to be construed as a commitment by the government to enter into any agreement or other obligation or to conduct a prize competition.

This NOTICE is issued in accordance with the NASA Prize Authority, 51 U.S.C. § 20144.

I. INTRODUCTION

Through this NOTICE, NASA seeks to identify potential partner organizations (hereinafter “Allied Partners”) for a

Space Food Systems Challenge (tentative title) to be conducted for the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s

Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing program. This challenge will be conducted under the Centennial Challenges program, NASA’s flagship initiative for technology prize competitions.

NASA will provide the monetary prize purse (which can be supplemented by outside organizations) that is awarded to competition winners. NASA will not provide any funds or cost reimbursement to an Allied Partner for their work on this Challenge. Allied Partners may administer the Challenge with their own funding and/or they may acquire the funding from partnerships with sponsoring organizations or through other means. Sponsoring organizations are those entities that partner with an Allied Partner to contribute funding for administrative expenses or in-kind support through separate agreements between the Allied Partner and the sponsoring organization.

Organizations interested in becoming an Allied Partner should submit a response describing their capabilities and/or their capability to acquire the necessary support and/or funding from a sponsoring organization. Details on the essential capabilities of Allied Partners are provided in Section VII of this NOTICE.

Based upon a review of the capabilities of each proposed Allied Partner, NASA may consider partnerships with several proposed Allied Partners to pursue proposed Challenges. Participation in a Challenge as an Allied Partner will be contingent upon evaluation and selection by NASA and negotiation of an appropriate Non-Reimbursable

Space Act Agreement between NASA and the proposer.

II. ELIGIBILITY TO BE AN ALLIED PARTNER

Under 51 U.S.C. § 20144, NASA is only allowed to partner with private, domestic, U.S. non-profit organizations as

Allied Partners for a Challenge. Organizations of any type, and individuals, may collaborate and submit a joint response describing their support of a designated private, domestic, U.S. non-profit organization that would lead the

Challenge effort as the Allied Partner.

Neither Allied Partners, their collaborators, nor employees, associates nor students associated with the proposing institutions will be eligible to win a prize funded by NASA in a Challenge that they manage. Allied Partners, collaborators, and their officers and employees may not have a financial or other interest in any teams that compete in any Challenge they manage.

Multiple otherwise eligible organizations may form partnerships to manage a Challenge and may submit a joint proposal.

III. SPACE ACT AGREEMENT

A Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (SAA) will specify the contributions and responsibilities of NASA and the Allied Partner for execution of the Space Food System Challenge.

The agreement will address intellectual property rights, concurrence on rules, team agreements, media rights, insurance, registration fees and eligibility, term, and related areas as well as other requirements imposed by 51

U.S.C. § 20144 and applicable law. NASA reserves the right to select for SAA negotiations all, some, or none of the responses submitted to this NOTICE, and in the event no responses are selected, NASA reserves the right to post an additional NOTICE or NOTICES with respect to new Challenges. Respondents will be responsible for funding their own activities associated with responding to this NOTICE, as well as further developing and conducting the

Challenge. Allied Partners are permitted to collect reasonable registration fees from competitors but the use of registration fees as a primary means to cover Challenge administration costs is discouraged.

For additional information regarding Space Act Agreements, see NASA Policy Directive 1050.1 “Authority to Enter into Space Act Agreements” (https://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/OPD_docs/NAII_1050_1D_.pdf).

IV. CENTENNIAL CHALLENGES BACKGROUND

Centennial Challenges, now part of the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Prizes, Challenges, and

Crowdsourcing Program, was established to conduct prize competitions to generate innovative solutions to technical problems of interest to NASA and the nation. Those competing for the NASA monetary prizes can be individuals, independent teams, student groups, research organizations or private companies, but they cannot receive government funding to support any of their work related to the technical area of the prize Challenge.

Centennial Challenges seeks unconventional solutions from non-traditional sources and, thereby, strives to identify new talent and stimulate the creation of new businesses. Unlike contracts and grants based on proposals, prizes are only awarded after competitors have successfully demonstrated their innovations. Competitors retain ownership of their intellectual property.

To be eligible to win a NASA Centennial Challenges monetary prize, an individual or entity shall have registered to participate in the competition pursuant to any rules promulgated by NASA; shall have complied with all the rules of the competition and requirements of applicable law; in the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and shall not be a Federal entity or

Federal employee acting within the scope of their employment.

Centennial Challenges typically require several phases or levels of competition to occur before the total prize purses have been claimed. Competitions may be conducted in a first-to-demonstrate format or in a head-to-head contest format. The competition events, especially in the head-to-head contest format, typically involve public spectators and/or televised or webcasted coverage and are high-visibility opportunities for public outreach and education.

Additional information can be found at www.nasa.gov/winit

V. ALLIED PARTNERS – ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES

Allied Partners will be responsible for some, or all, of the following activities during the formulation and execution phases: Challenge planning, challenge formulation and execution; competitor recruitment, registration, and competitor management; Challenge administration and reporting; and Challenge marketing and publicity.

VI. CHALLENGE CONCEPT

For space exploration, the current food system is mainly made up of prepackaged foods that are prepared on the ground and shipped to the International Space Station (ISS). When humans return to the lunar surface, the early missions will continue to use prepackaged foods, however, preparing to extend the duration of lunar missions and sustaining the astronauts on transit and surface missions to Mars will require an independent and complete food system. Thus, examining the possibilities for the complete food system will need to consider options for the design and integration of different components, while also identifying steps for testing in terrestrial environments, low-earth orbit and on the Moon for future applications on transit vehicles and in an eventual

Mars habitat.

From 2021 to 2024, NASA successfully executed the Deep Space Food Challenge which focused on identifying individual technologies with potential to contribute to the overall food production system. The challenge identified an opportunity to explore how different concepts and technologies could be combined and integrated into current support systems to provide a complete food system.

This new challenge will seek to incentivize the design of a complete space food system for a planetary surface that integrates a variety of food sources and associated technologies that meets all of the crew’s variable nutritional needs within the space environment.

The prize purse provided by NASA is anticipated to be no less than $250,000. Any subsequent development and demonstration phases will be led by the Allied Partner. A description of the Allied Partner’s responsibilities is provided in the appendix to this NOTICE. Further refinements and creative enhancements of the Challenge concept by the Allied Partner, with concurrence by NASA, are encouraged.

VII. SELECTION CRITERIA

NASA will select Allied Partners based on the following:

A. Proposed activities for continued development and demonstration:

a. Support the competing teams through accelerator and/or incubator activities.

b. Prototyping and demonstration activities. This would be accomplished through internal financial resources of the Allied Partner or firm commitments of sponsors. Existing financial resources or sponsor commitments will be a positive factor in evaluation of proposals.

B. Capabilities and approach of the organization to administer the Challenge and competition events, including:

a. Challenge Development & Execution

i. Support NASA in the development of the Challenge including the competition rules, evaluation criteria and execution plans.

ii. Provide appropriate competition venues and supporting equipment and personnel support as needed.

iii. Select and recruit qualified judges; manage, train and oversee the judging panel; and ensure the judging panel executes the evaluations per the Challenge rules.

iv. Receive multi-document submissions from competitors and manage the assignment and distribution of the evaluations to the judging panel.

b. Communications & Outreach

i. Promote the technical and educational goals of the Challenge through creative use of public media, including websites and social media.

ii. Attract and encourage the participation of individuals, groups, students, and businesses, especially those outside the traditional aerospace community and with wide geographic distribution.

c. Competitor Management

i. Conduct competitor registration and verify the eligibility requirements.

ii. Maintain communication with competitors and coordinate with NASA to respond to all questions and inquiries as appropriate.

d. Reporting

i. Collect and report aggregate data on competitor progress and performance.

ii. Report competition results to NASA and to the public.

C. Experience of the organization in similar or analogous activities that demonstrate competence, integrity, commitment to safety, and ability to work cooperatively in partnering arrangements.

D. Ability of the organization to plan and conduct competition events which could include providing and supporting appropriate competition environment(s), arenas, facilities, etc. needed for the competition tasks through internal financial resources and/or firm commitments of sponsors. Existing financial resources or sponsor commitments will be a positive factor in evaluation of proposals.

https://www.nasa.gov/prizes-challenges-and-crowdsourcing/centennial-challenges/deep-space-food-challenge/

E. Access of the organization to technical expertise in the area of the Challenge topic.

F. Interest and goals for participating as an Allied Partner for the Space Food System Challenge.

VIII. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Responses to this NOTICE should be no more than seven pages in length, not including any letters of commitment from sponsoring or partner organizations. Pages in excess of the page limitations for each section will not be evaluated. A page is defined as one (1) sheet 8 1/2 x 11 inches using a minimum of 12-point font size for text and 8-point for graphs. Proposals should not include proprietary information. Submitted information will be shared within

NASA and with contractor personnel associated with the Centennial Challenges Program.

The proposal shall consist of:

Page 1: Cover page including:

● Name of organization;

● Mailing address and phone number of organization;

● Web site of organization (if applicable);

● Name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number of primary officer of the organization;

● Name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number of organization’s point-of-contact for the proposal

(if different from primary officer);

● Date of submission

Page 2: Briefly describe your organization, including history, primary activities, interests, capabilities, and financial and personnel resources. Include any experience of the organization that is similar or analogous to the proposed

Challenge administration, and that demonstrates competence, integrity, commitment to safety and ability to work cooperatively in partnering arrangements. List any current or previous (for the past five years) contracts, grants or agreements with your organization and any federal agencies that exhibit these abilities.

Page 3: Describe your organization’s interest in the Space Food System Challenge and your reasons for wanting to manage it. Describe any goals that you would have for the Challenge, above and beyond those of NASA.

Pages 4, 5, & 6: Describe your capability and approach to support the Challenge and meet the criteria as described in Section VII.

Page 7: Describe the financial resources that your organization has or expects to obtain through sponsorships or in-kind contributions to conduct this Challenge. Provide a schedule that identifies major milestones toward securing funding, or other resources needed for Challenge development or management. Discuss any dependencies between securing these resources and milestones for registration and the competition.

Page 8: Describe your approach to staffing for long-term Challenge administration and for conducting competition events. Identify the person with primary responsibility for management of the Challenge and the anticipated level of effort.

Include attachments for:

● Letters of commitment from any known sponsoring organizations or others providing financial or in-kind contributions;

● Letters of commitment from any partner organizations

All proposals in response to this NOTICE, including signed letters of commitment, must be submitted in a single

PDF file as an attachment to an electronic mail message to HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges@mail.nasa.gov no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time on July 30, 2025. Paper submissions will not be reviewed.

IX. GENERAL INFORMATION

NASA will notify all proposers of the results of the evaluation and selection process. NASA may ask clarification questions to resolve minor or clerical errors. After the completion of the evaluation and selection process, as appropriate, NASA will begin negotiations with selected proposers to finalize the terms and conditions of a Non-

Reimbursable Space Act Agreement. All work, as required, will commence after the parties execute a Space Act

Agreement. Selection of an Allied Partner for this NOTICE is expected to occur within 30 days of the submission deadline.

X. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

The point of contact is Angela Herblet, Acting Deputy Program Manager, Centennial Challenges, NASA/MSFC/ST21, Huntsville, AL 35812.

Questions regarding this NOTICE should be directed to Angela Herblet, Acting Deputy Program Manager for

Centennial Challenges, Space Technology Mission Directorate; HQ-STMD-CentennialChallenges@mail.nasa.gov.

For further information on Centennial Challenges see: http://www.nasa.gov/winit.