Human Space Flight Support II Bridge Action

The Department of the Air Force's 325th Contracting Squadron has issued a sole source bridge contract modification to ManTech Advanced Systems International to ensure uninterrupted support for the Human Space Flight II mission at Detachment 3, Patrick Space Force Base, Florida. This Special Notice, posted on September 24, 2025, with a due date of October 24, 2025, informs the contracting community of the awarded six-month firm-fixed-price bridge contract with three additional two-month options. The contract was awarded under the Fair Opportunity Exception authority FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i) to maintain continuity of mission-critical Department of Defense support to NASA's crewed space flight operations. ManTech, as the incumbent contractor, will continue providing essential services supporting NASA's Artemis, Commercial Crew, and Soyuz missions. The bridge contract runs from September 10, 2025, through September 9, 2026, while the competitive source selection for the follow-on HSFS III contract is completed.

The primary objective of this sole source award is to prevent any operational disruption to mission-critical human spaceflight support services while the Air Force conducts a competitive procurement for the longer-term HSFS III contract. The required services encompass comprehensive mission support including planning, coordination, execution, and sustainment of DoD capabilities for launch, landing, and contingency operations for human spaceflight missions. A Sources Sought notice posted on May 15, 2024, received fourteen responses, but only a few were deemed sufficiently responsive to the complex requirements. The government determined that ManTech International is currently the only contractor capable of providing these highly integrated services without causing operational disruption to the critical NASA missions. The contract includes specialized services such as logistics, airfield coordination, recovery operations, project management, communications planning, exercise development, and inter-agency coordination support.