Notice of Intent to Sole Source for Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Extended Host Operations

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) has a requirement to continue hosting on-orbit operations for the NASA-developed Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) Instrument as a Hosted Payload (HP) on an Intelsat IS-40e spacecraft and delivery of the TEMPO Hosted Payload data.

The host contractor shall provide the following services under this requirement: Operate the host geostationary spacecraft (IS-40e) at 91W longitude to include supporting the power, thermal, and data interfaces with the TEMPO Instrument. Pass commands to the TEMPO Instrument from another Government contractor. Relay TEMPO scientific and housekeeping data from the TEMPO Instrument on-orbit to another Government contractor data processing facility.

Monitor host spacecraft health and status for any anomalies that may impact the TEMPO Instrument or TEMPO operations and ensure the safety of the TEMPO Instrument during host spacecraft anomalies. Safely deactivate the Hosted Payload at the end of the Hosted Payload mission. Meet all legal and commercial requirements, including ITU-R S.1003.1, for orbital debris/end of life disposal of the host spacecraft.

Develop and provide Host Spacecraft predicted ephemeris data in accordance with the Extended Operations Host Requirements Document. NASA LaRC intends to issue a sole source contract to acquire these services from SES Space and Defense under the authority permitting other than full and open competition implemented by FAR 6.103-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The Government intends to acquire a commercial service using FAR Part 12. TEMPO hosted payload services are currently provided by SES Space and Defense using its Intelsat 40e geostationary communications satellite under the United States Space Force contract FA8814-14-D-0003, Delivery Order FA8814-19-F-0001.

SES Space and Defense owns and operates both the host satellite to which the TEMPO Instrument is integrated and operating on in-orbit, and the ground stations that the commands and data pass through to the host spacecraft. No other company is involved with providing these services as no other company is permitted to send commands to the host spacecraft nor intercept and decode the data downlink.

Interested organizations having the required capabilities necessary to meet the above requirement shall submit a capability statement of no more than 5 pages indicating the ability to perform all aspects of the effort. All responses shall be submitted electronically via NASA’s Box at https://nasagov.app.box.com/f/473c649f875a42058d40f71029c6fc67. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct this acquisition on a competitive basis.

A determination by the Government not to compete this acquisition on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at : https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf