A--PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY DOCUMENT FOR THE PRECISION FORMATION FLYING (PFF) CONCEPT STUDY

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 591, is issuing this Partnership Opportunity Document (POD) for the purpose of openly soliciting information on the spacecraft bus concept that can support an integrated Precision Formation Flying (PFF) experiment system and technologies. Information is sought on bus availability, cost and capabilities, and on the proposing organizations qualifications to provide the bus. The selected partner will join the PFF concept definition study team and actively participate in the mission systems engineering of the flight experiment providing expertise primarily in the area of the spacecraft bus, and will contribute to the generation of the study report. These activities will begin approximately in April 2006 and will continue through September 2006. NMP selection of the ST-9 formulation refinement phase (Phase B) is expected in November 2006. Potential respondents are asked to contact the ST-9 PFF Formation Flying Systems Engineer or backup POC within one week after release of this document. This contact shall not be considered binding, but shall serve to help the ST-9 PFF team disseminate all relevant information to potential partners. Questions can be asked during the first week after release of this document. All questions and answers will be sent to those who express a desire to respond, while the source of the questions shall be held confidential. For purposes of this partnership opportunity, the primary contact is Dr. Jesse Leitner, PFF Concept Definition Study Lead (contact@example.gov) and backup POC Ms. Kate Hartman, ST-9 PFF Proposal Manager (contact@example.gov). Responses to the Partnership Opportunity Document shall: 1) Be in a presentation format (viewgraphs) that shall not exceed 40 pages. Facing page text is required, but does not count against the page limit. The font size for the briefing chart text shall be no smaller than 14 point. 2) Address all requirements noted in sections 4.0 through 7.0 of this document. Responses will be treated as proprietary information and controlled as such. The respondents shall deliver the requested information in a presentation format. Presentation packages must be received by 5:00 p.m. (EST) March 9. Please provide 10 hardcopies of the presentation and one CD, and deliver them to: Dr. Jesse Leitner NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Code 591 Building 11, Room C002H Greenbelt, MD 20771 contact@example.gov +1 (555) 000-0000 All respondents that intend to make presentations must provide written or electronic notice by 5:00 p.m. (EST), February 23. Notice may be by e-mail to Dr. Leitner at contact@example.gov, or in writing to the above address. Oral presentations will be conducted at GSFC, during the week of March 13. Presentations will be scheduled in two-hour blocks. Speakers will have one hour to present and the second hour will be used for questions and answers. For the concept study phase of this partnership opportunity there will be no exchange of funds between teaming partners. Funding will be available for the Formulation Refinement and subsequent phases should the ST-9 PFF team concept design be selected for development and eventual implementation. The requested information through this POD is for preliminary planning purposes only and does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that NASA will solicit the submitter for a procurement of any related effort in the future. NASA will not be responsible for any costs incurred by submitters in furnishing this information. This solicitation/synopsis is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for the information solicited. An ombudsman has been appointed. See Internet Note - B. The documents for this partnership opportunity will be in Microsoft Office Suite (Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, or PowerPoint 4.0) format and will reside on a World Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The WWW address, or URL, of the NASA/GSFC Business Opportunities home page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=C&pin=51. It is the offerors responsibility to monitor this cite for the release of the Partnership Opportunity Document and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the Partnership Opportunity Document and amendments, if any. Any referenced notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasanote.html.