Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Engineering Test Unit (ETU) Telescope

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center has a requirement for the design, development, fabrication, alignment, testing, verification, delivery, and associated post-delivery support services for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Engineering Test Unit (ETU) telescope. As part of its contribution to the European Space Agency (ESA)-led mission, NASA GSFC will deliver the LISA ETU telescope to ESA, which is required to efficiently transfer laser power between optical benches across 2.5 million kilometers in order to transfer enough laser light between spacecraft.  

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire the items and services from L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (L3Harris) under statutory authority 10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

L3Harris involvement with LISA began with the LISA Study Office design study in 2018, which was issued to multiple industry partners through a task under NASA’s Mechanical Integration Services and Technologies (MIST) contract. The purpose of the study was to examine the Government’s strawman optical and mechanical design and requirements, assess how it could be built, supply a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate, and a list of risks for building the Structural Thermal Model (STM) and the Engineering Development Unit (EDU) telescopes. The information gained from the study led to a competitive procurement to produce the STM and the EDU telescopes for LISA. L3Harris was awarded NASA GSFC contract 80GSFC20C0056 in 2020 for the development of the LISA STM and EDU telescopes. L3Harris’ first telescope in the EDU telescope development program was the STM. It successfully demonstrated the telescope build process and verified that the design and material met the very demanding LISA stability requirements. The second telescope, known as EDU1, was built to meet all LISA requirements, and demonstrated excellent optical performance. L3Harris successfully demonstrated that an all-glass telescope that met the extremely demanding LISA performance requirements could be built.

Leveraging the existing procedures, equipment, and facilities at L3Harris will enable the Government to design, test, build, and deliver the LISA ETU telescope to ESA on schedule and within the budget constraints that would otherwise be impossible if another vendor was selected either to continue the current design and/or start from scratch with the LISA telescope requirements. A duplication of the resources already spent by NASA dating back to 2018 would cost millions of dollars and take at least another three (3) years to bring another industry partner to the stage of design/development that L3Harris is currently at with the LISA telescope.

To meet the LISA ETU telescope delivery date to ESA, NASA GSFC must continue the development and production of the LISA ETU telescope as soon as possible in order to receive the LISA ETU telescope no later than March 2028.. Failure to deliver the ETU telescope in the required timeframe will result in significant cost impacts that cannot be absorbed by the LISA project. It will additionally result in unacceptable schedule impacts that would be magnified in the flight production phase and ultimately could result in the cancellation of the mission.

The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial product or commercial service using FAR Part 12.

Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort electronically via email to Contracting Officer Stefan Flessa at stefan.d.flessa@nasa.gov no later than 5:00PM EDT on May 21, 2025. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct this acquisition on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this acquisition on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.

NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at : https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf