Enabling Industry Readiness for Commercial Lunar Space Transportation Systems

1. SUMMARY Through this Request for Information (RFI), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is seeking industry feedback in advance of the development of NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) Lunar Exploration Transportation Services (LETS) acquisition, which is being accelerated to meet NASA's needs for a routine cadence of human transportation services to and from the Moon in the late 2020s. Consistent with law and national space policy, NASA is seeking commercial partnerships to provide routine transportation services to the Moon from the Gateway lunar outpost in the late 2020s. Therefore, NASA is seeking input on how to enable U.S. industry readiness for this endeavor. At an informational briefing to industry on May 3, 2021, NASA will provide high level acquisition strategy information consisting of the LETS acquisition definition, general structure, and draft acquisition milestones. NASA will also present potential acquisition activities anticipated to occur prior to the LETS solicitation, including a potential new NextSTEP-2 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Appendix to enable early engagement with U.S. industry on sustaining requirements development and risk reduction activities. This RFI contains a series of questions for industry in section 5 regarding NASA's early BAA engagement approach. At the May 3rd briefing, NASA will also provide details on potential BAA Appendix content. Responses to the section 5 questions are sought broadly from U.S. industry and will be used by NASA to inform future lunar surface transportation acquisition planning and strategy development. 2. BACKGROUND All human landing systems will need to include the elements and/or systems necessary to transport crew from Gateway in Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) to the surface of the Moon, to enable crew to perform EVAs, and to return the crew safely to Gateway. This includes an integrated lander with launch vehicles and NASA-provided surface suits, along with any refueling elements needed to support reusability. NASA plans to define, solicit, and award the LETS contract to one or more industry partners through full and open competition. Through the LETS contract, NASA plans to utilize additional human landing systems to provide service transportation missions to the lunar surface in the late 2020's. Prior to the LETS solicitation, NASA plans to offer partner engagement opportunities to support early sustainable lander requirements development and concept risk reduction activities. NASA currently plans to issue a new appendix against the NextSTEP-2 BAA to fund selected partner sustainable development efforts beginning in 2021 and lasting approximately seven to twelve months or until the LETS solicitation is released. The new BAA solicitation will be fully open to U.S. industry for competition. NASA will offer Government subject matter expertise and appropriate resource utilization as part of the new BAA, along with direct HLS Program engagement for requirements maturation and operations concept development. Each partner's proposal will be required to detail the subject matter expertise and Government facilities requested to develop their sustainable human lander system concepts and accomplish partner risk reduction activities. 3. RESPONSE GUIDELINES NASA will provide an industry briefing on May 3, 2021 detailing its current LETS acquisition approach and planned use of a new NextSTEP-2 Appendix to allow early engagement with industry prior to the LETS solicitation. This briefing will focus on U.S. industry feedback for the below section 5 questions as a first step to enabling the advancement of commercial partners to a point where they are certified to provide human transportation services from the Gateway to the lunar surface. Since this will be an informational briefing, no evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to respondents. Interested parties are requested to respond to the questions in section 5 through electronic submittal'email to hq-hls-baa@mail.nasa.gov'no later than 5 pm CT on May 6, 2021. NASA requests that interested entities submit responsive information on company letterhead with proprietary markings and restrictive legends as appropriate. Responses should include the name, address, and telephone number of the firm, as well as the name of the author. In addition, please provide point of contact information if different from the author, number of years in business for your firm, approximate number of employees, indicate whether your firm is a U.S. entity, and identify any potential major partners you are considering for this type of work. Please limit responses to no more than five (5) single-sided pages in length, including any attachments, and please use a minimum font size of 12 in either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF. Respondents are requested to focus on the questions presented below, as well as to provide any related, relevant information identified by the respondent. NASA will not disclose the specific feedback received from one firm with any other interested entities. 4. NOTICE THIS IS AN RFI ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute a solicitation or any other form of request for quotes or proposals, nor is it a commitment to issue any such item in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Further, NASA is not seeking proposals at this time and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Please do not request a copy of the solicitation, as no solicitation currently exists. Responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in responding to this RFI; all such costs shall be solely at the interested party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future procurements. If NASA releases any related solicitation in the future, it will be synopsized on the beta.sam.gov and the NASA Acquisition Internet Service (NAIS) websites. It is the responsibility of interested parties to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this RFI. Respondents will not be notified of any results of this RFI. The information received in response to this RFI will not be released in its submitted form outside of the Government, but may be used to develop and refine requirements and NASA's acquisition strategy. Therefore, the information may be recognizable. NASA's preference is to not receive proprietary or confidential/business-sensitive information in responses. However, if respondents believe such information is necessary for NASA's informational purposes in order to be responsive to the questions presented below, and such information is provided, NASA will not publicly disclose it and will protect it in accordance with all applicable laws and Agency policies. 5. QUESTIONS TO INDUSTRY NASA is seeking U.S. industry feedback on the following questions, will hold an information briefing with industry on May 3, 2021. Ultimately, any new BAA is expected to be an enabler for the LETS acquisition. As such, NASA is seeking industry input in advance of the LETS acquisition to better understand the specific work, tests, etc. that industry needs in order to be ready for the LETS competition, which is tentatively scheduled for a summer 2022 solicitation release. If NASA were to issue a BAA ahead of the LETS acquisition, would your firm be interested in competing? Would your firm be interested in competing for the LETS acquisition providing recurring services to the Moon for HLS? For contracts issued from a pre-LETS BAA, NASA is considering making multiple awards of up to $15M per award, with performance periods of approximately seven to twelve months. Please comment on the viability of this amount and time span. NASA is considering providing subject matter experts and equivalent personnel to assist the industry partner's efforts for the BAAs. Comment on any skills and NASA expertise that would benefit your firm. NASA is considering providing unique resources through Government Task Agreements for the BAAs. Comment on specific facilities of interest for your firm. Would maturing the HLS sustaining requirements ahead of the LETS solicitation release be beneficial? What other tasks would be beneficial to your firm in advancing your ability to compete for the upcoming LETS acquisition? What other factors could enable industry to compete for the LETS acquisition that could be incorporated into the new BAA Appendix? Interested parties are requested to respond to the questions in section 5 through electronic submittal'email to hq-hls-baa@mail.nasa.gov'no later than 5 pm CT on May 6, 2021. Virtual Industry Forum - May 3, 2021: NASA will host a virtual informational briefing to industry on May 3, 2021 from 12:15 - 1:45 p.m. EDT. NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Advanced Exploration Systems Mark Kirasich and HLS Program Manager Lisa Watson-Morgan will provide high level acquisition strategy information and insight to potential acquisition activities enabling early engagement with U.S. industry on sustaining requirements development and risk reduction activities. Pre-registration is not required to attend; however, attendees are encouraged to provide their name, affiliation, and email address to heather.hall@nasa.gov no later than 11 a.m. EDT May 3. An industry participant list will be posted to this webpage to facilitate partnering among potential offerors. To opt out of this list, please notify us by email at heather.hall@nasa.gov by May 4, 2021. Instructions for WebEX and participation in the Industry Forum: WebEx Link: https://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=m3fce051d8c1d76c1bb73f657257a1d8b Meeting Number: 199 160 0826 WebEx Passcode: Industry21!