ARES wins $226M safety support recompete
The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA photo
By
Ross Wilkers
The company will take over a program involving two of NASA's main scientific spacecraft and instrument development teams.
ARES Corp. has won a potential $226 million contract to help one of its main space research laboratories carry out occupational health and safety policies for protecting scientists and engineers.
This third iteration of the Safety and Mission Assurance Services III contract will have a five-year base period followed by a single six-month option, NASA said Monday.
NASA has tasked ARES to conduct independent surveillance, audits, reviews and assessments across mission areas such as spacecraft design, development and testing. ARES touts a list of teammates for the program as including KBR, APT Research, Systems Planning & Analysis, Summit Technologies & Solutions,
Work primarily supports the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, that counts approximately 10,000 civilian employees and contractors in the total workforce. They collaborate on the development and operation of scientific spacecraft, instruments and other new technologies.
SMAS III’s scope also includes support for the Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which is primarily used for rocket launches involving science and exploration missions for NASA and other federal agencies.
Wallops’ total workforce includes roughly 1,100 NASA employees and another 1,000 contractors.
ARES can claim SMAS III as a new business win given that Axient is the incumbent on the current SMAS II iteration, which is slated to expire on Nov. 30. Axient inherited the program through one of its predecessor companies in Millennium Engineering and Integration, which won the award in 2017 at a $185 million ceiling over five years.
NASA has obligated approximately $157 million in task order volume to-date against SMAS II, according to GovTribe data.