Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (LEIA) -Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) NextSTEP-3 Appendix A - Draft Solicitation

NASA Glenn Research Center seeks technology maturation and capability demonstration across five lunar and cislunar infrastructure areas through its Lunar Enabling Infrastructure Accelerator (LEIA) NextSTEP-3 Appendix A solicitation (80GRC026R0008), with proposals due in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026 approximately 30 days after final solicitation release and award anticipated in Q1 FY2027.

This is a full and open competition with no set-aside. Place of performance is at contractor facilities nationwide. The solicitation targets advancement of technology readiness levels from TRL 5–6 through firm-fixed-price contracts with a maximum 3-year performance period. NASA anticipates one to three awards per topic area. The five topics are: Topic 1—Vertical Solar Array (10 kW class, 120 VDC standardized interface, 10-meter minimum height, thermal control for lunar South Pole); Topic 2—In Situ Resource Utilization Oxygen from Regolith Production System (integrated end-to-end oxygen production scalable to 10 metric tons per year, 48-hour continuous operation demonstration); Topic 3—Stirling Radioisotope Generator System (50–150 We baseline extensible to 300 We, 1 W/kg power density, 5-year design life, Americium 241 fuel); Topic 4—In-Space Advanced Manufacturing (multi-feedstock systems for reduced-gravity and microgravity, autonomous monitoring and fault management, mission-relevant component production); Topic 5—Innovative Nanomaterials Production (one- and two-dimensional nanomaterial assemblages, carbon nanotubes, boron nitride nanotubes, graphene, and hybrids for structural and non-structural space applications). Each eligible offeror may submit one proposal per topic as prime but may participate in multiple proposals as a team member. Eligible offerors include U.S.-based educational institutions, industry, and not-for-profit entities; ineligible parties include non-U.S. organizations, NASA civil servants, Jet Propulsion Laboratory employees, national laboratories, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers as prime contractors. Proposals must comply with China funding restrictions and export control requirements. Submissions are electronic via NASA Enterprise File Sharing and Sync Box with 150 GB individual file limits. No cost-share is required, and no industry day will be held. Evaluation considers past experience (acceptable/unacceptable), proposal relevance (acceptable/unacceptable), technical merit using a five-tier adjective scale with technical merit weighted significantly more heavily than price, and price reasonableness. Proposals rated "Poor" on technical merit are ineligible for award. NASA reserves the right to select one, multiple, or no proposals and to conduct post-selection negotiations. The NAICS code is 541715; the PSC code is AR12.