On February 22, 2006, NASA released a synopsis to potential offerors of the Agency’s planned procurement strategy for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). NASA is now revising the acquisition approach for LDCM to include separate procurements for the instrument, spacecraft, and mission operations elements. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) will serve as the system integrator for the mission and launch services will be provided by the NASA Launch Services (NLS) contract managed by the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
NASA plans to issue an openly competed Request for Proposal (RFP) for the instrument element before the end of CY 2006 that will result in a cost reimbursable contract award in CY 2007. NASA continues to assess alternatives for the inclusion of a thermal spectrum sensing capability. NASA plans to use the Rapid Spacecraft Development Office (RSDO) contract to acquire the LDCM spacecraft element. An RSDO “On-Ramp” solicitation will be issued to permit all qualified spacecraft vendors to be added to the current RSDO catalog. The LDCM will be one of the first spacecraft procured through RSDO after this “On Ramp” process is completed. We anticipate that the LDCM RSDO spacecraft will be awarded in the 4th quarter of CY 2007. Additionally, NASA in coordination with the US Geological Survey (USGS) plans to issue a separate RFP for the LDCM Mission Operations Element (MOE) that is anticipated to be awarded in the 4th quarter of CY 2007. NASA plans to issue all the solicitations with 5 one-year options for extended sustaining engineering support.
The LDCM will have a 5-year mission life with 10-year expendable provisions. Following a prescribed on-orbit verification period, NASA plans to transfer ownership of the observatory and the associated contracts to the USGS, which will then operate the spacecraft and manage the data.
Opportunity for industry comment on the instrument and mission element solicitations will be provided when draft versions of each RFP are released for comment.
Point of Contacts:
Name: Patricia Dombrowski, Title: Contracting Officer Phone: (301) 286-0621 Fax: (301)286-0383 Email: Patricia.M.Dombrowski@nasa.gov
Name: B. Faye Johnson, Title: Contracting Officer Phone: (301) 286-4317 Fax: (301)286-0383 Email: Betty.F.Johnson@nasa.gov
