NASA starts to craft engineering, tech services recompete
Aerial photograph of Johnson Space Center facilities taken from a U.S. Coast Guard H-65 helicopter. NASA / Bill Stafford
By
Ross Wilkers
The space agency is aptly calling this new contract ORBIT and using industry feedback to structure the competition.
NASA has started market research efforts to inform its work in creating a new small business set-aside contract supporting the agency’s Johnson Space Center, which houses spaceflight training and flight control operations.
The Operations, Research, and Broad Innovative Technology Services contract is being envisioned as a single vehicle that brings together mission engineering, specialized IT, mission support and other technology services.
Via this request for information posted Sept. 4, NASA is collecting capability statements to determine the level of competition and small business subcontracting goals for ORBIT.
ORBIT will be a multiple-award effort and succeed the current Mission Enabling Support Contract, which NASA awarded four spots on in 2020.
The agency has obligated $85 million in task order volume to-date against MESC ahead of its planned sunset in September 2027, according to Deltek data. Rothe Development has been the largest recipient at 43%, followed by Science Applications International Corp. at 29% and Mathematical Research at 21%. ASRC Federal represents the remaining 5%.
NASA has broken out ORBIT’s scope of work into four functional areas:
- Mission and systems engineering support
- Technical evaluation, analysis, and independent assessments
- Specialized IT and operations
- Advanced mission research-and-development
Work will support the Johnson Space Center’s Flight Operations Directorate and its affiliate organizations comprising approximately 2,500 individuals that include flight controllers, mission planners, trainers, astronauts flight directors, engineering support, and administrative staff supporting commercial, external, and international partners.
Responses to the RFI are due by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Oct. 6.