Request for proposal (RFP) - for the rapid spacecraft acquisition IV (rapid IV) on-ramp III

The Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition (RAPID IV) is a multiple award, IDIQ, Fixed Price type contract, for satellite bus core systems with any necessary modifications to meet specific Mission needs.  The scope of the work includes design and development of the spacecraft (i.e., Cubesats to Geosats), integration of Government provided scientific instruments, spacecraft/observatory integration and test, shipment of observatory to launch site, observatory launch support, on-orbit checkout of observatory, and on-orbit operations as required.

Periodically, within the contracts effective ordering period, the Contracting Officer will accept and evaluate proposals with the intention of adding contracts and/or modifying existing contracts to place additional core spacecraft and options in the Rapid IV Catalog.  This will be done via “On-Ramps.”

The range of possible NASA missions is broad in scope, type, and size. Potential missions (e.g. Landsat Next; Atmosphere Observing System – Polar (AOS-P); Atmosphere Observing System – Incline (AOS-I); NOAA Near Earth Orbit Network (NEON) program and others are considering using the Rapid IV contract to procure spacecraft. Therefore, the Rapid IV contract seeks heritage spacecraft buses of various sizes, capabilities, lifetimes, orbit use and mission suitability, to be ready to support a variety of mission needs quickly.

On-Ramp III for the Rapid IV contract is hereby opened to receive offers from vendors for the Rapid IV contract.  Proposals for On-Ramp III will be due to the RSDO Contracting Officer NLT 4:00 pm eastern time October 31, 2023.

Prospective offerors shall submit a written response of their intent to submit a proposal to Cynthia White via electronic transmission at Cynthia.L.White@nasa.gov, by October 10, 2023.

Proposals received in response to On Ramp III, shall be subject to the same proposal instructions and evaluation procedures as the updated Rapid IV Request for Proposal (RFP) 80GSFC19R0016 Rev4 dated September 18, 2023.  Proposal instructions and evaluation procedures are available in Sections L and M of the Rapid IV On-Ramp III RFP. Additional information on RSDO, may be obtained from the Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) website, https://rsdo.gsfc.nasa.gov.

Instructions for electronic submission of proposals are outlined in Section L, provision L.22 of the Rapid IV On-Ramp III RFP.

It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation amendments (if any).  Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any).  All contractual technical questions must be submitted in writing (e-mail).  Telephone questions will not be accepted.