ES-MCAT Mirror Shipping Crate
Awarded Limited / Sole Source Justification Posted
- Solicitation number
- 80JSC025PA006
- Agency
-
Johnson Space Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- Contract number
- 80JSC025PA006 Federal contract award
- Awardee
- Optical Coating Laboratory, LLC
- NAICS code
- 811210 Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance
- Place of performance
- California 95407, United States
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
NASA Johnson Space Center issued this Limited/Sole Source Justification Notice for contract 80JSC025PA006 to procure mirror recoating and shipping container manufacturing services for the 1.3-meter ES-MCAT telescope located at Ascension Island Auxiliary Airfield. The Orbital Debris Program Office requires the telescope's primary mirror to be recoated due to rapid degradation caused by environmental exposure and inferior quality coating applied previously, with the new shipping container required to withstand forces up to 30 gravitational units. Viavi Solutions was awarded as the sole-source contractor based on its exclusive possession of the mirror, specialized technical capabilities, and cleanroom control expertise necessary to prevent contamination during the recoating process, container manufacturing, and mirror transfer—a capability no other vendor can provide. The total estimated contract value is $390,356.00, with the container manufacturing component estimated at $8,000, and the contractor is expected to deliver the final mirror product approximately four weeks after receiving tooling and qualification approval, with total delivery anticipated approximately nine months after order receipt. Market research posted on SAM.gov in January 2026 yielded no viable alternative sources, further supporting the sole-source justification under 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1).
Notice text
The Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) at NASA Johnson Space Center operates and maintains the 1.3-m ES-MCAT telescope at Ascension Island Auxiliary Airfield (AAF). The primary objective of the ES-MCAT mission is to extend observations of orbital debris in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) to smaller/fainter objects than can be tracked by the Department of Defense (DoD). The current mirror coating has suffered rapid degradation due to a combination of environmental effects. Therefore, the mirror needs to be recoated as soon as possible and earlier than expected due to the poor quality of the coating that was previously applied. After the mirror has been recoated by Viavi Solutions, it needs to be shipped back to Ascension Island. The original shipping container degraded severely upon arrival at Viavi’s location and it is no longer useable. The vendor will now be required to rebuild a new container that will fit the mirror and be able to withstand up to 30g’s of force. The rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)1 is because Viavi is the only known source available that has the requisite knowledge, experience, staff, tooling, and capacity to meet the requirement of both recoating it to the prescribed specifications and building the necessary shipping container. Viavi already has the mirror in its possession and it is the only vendor available to handle the mirror and maneuver it into a new container without disrupting the clean room environment the mirror must be stored in after it is recoated. Introducing a new company at this juncture introduces unknown contaminants into the cleanroom environment, which could introduce unknown contaminants onto the mirror surface after it has been recoated. In order for Viavi to guarantee a perfect coating, it must be the vendor that maintains control of the mirror, which also means controlling the manufacturing of the shipping container and the transfer of the mirror into the new container.
Awarded contract 80JSC025PA006 to unknown vendor for unknown amount on 2026-02-05.
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