Request for Information
THIS IS *NOT* A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, QUOTATION, OR INVITATION TO BID NOTICE.
Description: QuickIce Instrument
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Laser is currently seeking an industry partner to assist with the development of a lidar instrument on the proposed QuickIce mission.
The purpose of this RFI is to solicit specific capability information from industry/aerospace on a rapid acquisition and deployment of a space-based instrument that matches the best-case on-orbit performance capability of the ICESat-I/GLAS instrument. See the attachment for details on these requirements.
The goal of this RFI is to insure that the best and widest possible set of capabilities is considered for the QuickIce mission. If this acquisition is approved, it is expected that the instrument will be purchased on a firm-fixed price contract arrangement.
It is not NASA's intent to publicly disclose vendor proprietary information obtained during this solicitation. To the full extent that it is protected pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and other laws and regulations, information identified by a respondent as "Proprietary or Confidential" will be kept confidential.
It is emphasized that this RFI is for planning and information purposes only and is NOT to be construed as a commitment by the Government to enter into a contractual agreement, nor will the Government pay for information solicited.
No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized in FedBizOpps and on the NASA Acquisition Internet Service. It is the potential offeror’s responsibility to monitor these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis.
The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in section 31.205-18, Bid and proposal cost, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.
Although “proposal” and “offeror” are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It shall not be used as a proposal.
Interested organizations are invited to submit to the NASA point of contact listed below a description of their space-based lidar technical and resource/facility capabilities relevant to air and space applications. Lidar instrument designs that match the ICESat-I/GLAS design are preferred. All instrument components and subsystems must be at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6. This submittal should also describe the organization's experience and past performance in the areas of air and space-based laser instrument systems.
In addition, please provide a description of key technical, schedule and price drivers and options for mitigating price or traded for price reductions.
Capability Statements should include an executive summary, not to exceed two pages, to address any major items that the organization wishes to highlight. As part of its assessment of industry capabilities, the NASA-GSFC may contact respondents to this Request For Information, if clarifications or further information is needed.
Information on the first ICESat mission (a.k.a. ICESat I) can be found at: http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
The baseline QuickIce performance requirements are the same as ICESat-I/GLAS instrument with the following exceptions:
1) No green (532 nm wavelength) channel on the transmitter or the receiver
2) No requirement for the Laser Profile Array (LPA) or Laser Reference Sensor (LRS)
Two publications describing the ICESat/GLAS instrument can be found at:
-“ICESat's laser measurements of polar ice, atmosphere, ocean, and land”
Author(s): Zwally HJ, Schutz B, Abdalati W, Abshire J, Bentley C, Brenner A, Bufton J, Dezio J, Hancock D, Harding D, Herring T, Minster B, Quinn K, Palm S, Spinhirne J, Thomas R
Source: JOURNAL OF GEODYNAMICS Volume: 34 Issue: 3-4 Pages: 405-445 Published: OCT-NOV 2002
- The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS)
Author(s): Abshire JB, Smith JC, Schutz BE
Conference Information: 1998 Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF-98) - Progress in Expanding the Space Frontier, JAN, 1998 ALBUQUERQUE, NM
Source: SPACE TECHNOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL FORUM - 1998, PTS 1-3 - 1ST CONF ON GLOBAL VIRTUAL PRESENCE; 1ST CONF ON ORBITAL TRANSFER VEHICLES; 2ND CONF ON APPLICAT OF THERMOPHYS IN MICROGRAV; 3RD CONF ON COMMERCIAL DEV OF SPACE; 3RD CONF ON NEXT GENERAT LAUNCH SYST; 15TH SYMP ON SPACE NUCL POWER AND PROPULSION Book Series: AIP CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS Issue: 420 Pages: 33-37 Published: 1998
Technical questions should be directed to Thomas Feild Code 599; Tel. 301-286-6686; email thomas.c.feild@nasa.gov.
Procurement related questions should be directed to Glenn Stewart, Code 210.7, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771; Telephone 301-286-5716; email Glenn.P.Stewart@nasa.gov.
Comments and questions regarding this RFI are encouraged and solicited. Please provide the information requested herein no later than 4:00 PM Eastern time on November 26, 2008 to Glenn Stewart, Code 210.7, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771; Telephone 301-286-5716; Fax 301-286-7977 email Glenn.P.Stewart@nasa.gov. If you respond my mail or fax please provide an electronic copy in either Microsoft Word or ADOBE PDF format.
The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The Internet site, or URL, for the NASA/GSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=51 It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offeror’s will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.
