KBR wins $1.9B NASA mission support recompete

Gettyimages.com / Xia Yuan

Pending debriefs, KBR is poised to extend its work under this and predecessor contracts to two decades of support for space exploration programs.

KBR has won a potential nine-year, $1.93 billion contract to continue mission and flight crew operations support work for NASA's human space exploration programs.

This third iteration of the Integrated Mission Operations Contract has an initial five-year base period followed by a pair of two-year option periods that would stretch the full duration to September 2032, NASA said Thursday. Barrios Technology and Leidos will be the major subcontractors for IMOC III.

Pending the debriefs to all bidders, this award would extend KBR's work under the IMOC contracts to 21 years.

The former Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies won the second and current iteration of IMOC in 2014 at a $1.3 billion ceiling over up to nine years, then was acquired by KBR in 2018.

NASA has obligated approximately 68% of the current contract's ceiling to-date, according to Deltek data. The last date to order is Sept. 30.

The contract covers products and other professional services at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, as well as related support for the exploration systems development and space operations mission directorates.

Some programs of focus for the IMOC contract include the International Space Station and Artemis, the ongoing program to return humans to the Moon.

NASA also uses the contract's operations support function to define requirements for future human space exploration initiatives including those categorized as human research, commercial crew and cargo, and commercial low-Earth orbit.

SGT's win of IMOC II unseated the incumbent at that time in United Space Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin stood up in 1995 to focus on spaceflight operations support. USA won the original contract in 2008.