NASA Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is hereby soliciting information from potential sources for Suborbital Crew (SubC) Space Transportation Services. NASA is seeking capability statements and other information identified below from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI), for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for an acquisition of Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services from commercial providers. The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received. Public Law 105-303, 51 U.S.C. 50131, et. seq., states that the Government shall acquire space transportation services from United States commercial providers whenever such services are required in the course of its activities. Accordingly, it is anticipated that any subsequent procurement will consider domestic sources only. Background: The emergence of human suborbital flight for commercial purposes offers significant opportunities to the broader NASA human research and exploration community. After years of development, commercial suborbital human space transportation systems are nearing operational readiness for passengers and may be more accessible than other options for NASA's mission needs. NASA recognizes the significant advancement of the commercial suborbital spaceflight industry and requests information to support commercially available flight services for NASA Astronauts and other NASA employees. Responses to this RFI will be used to inform NASA's planning for a system qualification (or assessment of vehicle design and operations for safe transportation of NASA personnel), an acquisition approach, and other areas where providers wish to inform NASA's planning. Description: To benefit from these emerging capabilities, NASA is hereby soliciting information from all potential sources for (i) ideas on a NASA approach to system qualification of commercial suborbital systems for NASA Astronauts and other NASA personnel, and (ii) commercial availability of eventual purchase of Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services to enable NASA capabilities including, but not limited to: Astronaut Training: In-flight opportunities to train NASA astronauts on tasks or techniques for ascent, microgravity, or reentry operations, and for development of training techniques and material for application to future NASA missions. Testing and Qualification of Spaceflight Hardware: In-flight testing of hardware (equipment, tools, etc.) tended by NASA astronauts or other NASA personnel to provide confidence in new systems and components in the flight environment to support eventual qualification. Human-Tended Microgravity Research: In-flight engineering and science experiments including, but not limited to, existing materials processing and life sciences experiments, research payloads developed for other vehicles that have not yet been manifested, new experiments in fields such as planetary sciences, and new materials processing and life sciences experiments specifically designed for suborbital applications. System Qualification: NASA requires review and approval of hazardous activities involving NASA personnel in commercial human spaceflight missions outside of NASA's operational control. For Suborbital Crew opportunities, NASA will analyze risks and take steps to assess the safety and operational readiness of suborbital vehicles for use by NASA Astronauts and other NASA personnel. Because providers are offering services already under development, NASA is seeking industry input on how best to meet the intent of NASA policy while enabling the purchase of commercial services. Acquisition Approach: In conjunction with a system qualification of suborbital transportation systems, NASA is considering acquisition of Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services for NASA Astronauts and other NASA personnel from one or more U.S. providers through commercial services contracts. Depending on mission requirements, NASA may purchase single seats, multiple seats within one mission, or seats for an entire - charter mission. NASA is seeking pertinent information from industry which may be used to formulate one or more solicitations related to the SubC effort. Requested Information: NASA seeks information from the suborbital spaceflight community to support the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate's (HEOMD) system qualification of suborbital spaceflight systems for NASA Astronauts and other NASA personnel and its proposed, subsequent acquisition of commercial Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services. Specifically, NASA is requesting the following information, as applicable: Company name including physical address, DUNS number, CAGE code, number of employees, number of years in business, business size and category, point of contact name, phone number, e-mail address, and nature of interest in Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services including affiliate information (parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, prime contractor (if potential subcontractor), or subcontractors (if potential prime)). Provide sufficient information to determine if your company qualifies as a United States commercial provider of space transportation services as defined in Public Law 105-303, Commercial Space Act of 1998. To establish a system qualification approach for acquisition of Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services, NASA requests details on the provider's approach to determine flight readiness for missions with and without passengers, including, but not limited to: general information regarding operator and design safety requirements; accident survivability and mitigation; recommended passenger safety standards; the approach by which passengers serve as part of system safety; system reliability; and other relevant information. While NASA does not intend to duplicate actions by the Federal Aviation Administration for purposes of licensing, information on how the provider identifies and controls hazards; analyzes failure modes, effects, and criticality of systems; addresses fracture control and failure tolerance; and establishes and maintains reliability of critical systems for suborbital passage of humans to space is also requested. Programmatic information including approximate date of suborbital crew space transportation service availability; regulatory, airworthiness, or liability constraints; approximate costs to the Government per seat and per flight; frequency of suborbital spaceflights for passengers available per month or per year and potential/firm constraints on availability; Government licensing and permitting requirements (e.g., 14 CFR Subchapter C) and safety approvals already fulfilled; liability and insurance requirements (including those for Government and non-Government payloads); partnering needs and/or opportunities, and related information. Technical information including: a. Flight system parameters that describe, in technical terms, what crew and payloads might experience during flight. (Examples include pressure suit or environmental control and life support system capabilities, seating and restraint configurations, integration parameters for on-board experimentation, passenger medical considerations, and any other limitations of crew, passenger and payload capabilities.) b. Operational flight information that describes, in technical terms, what enables passengers to maintain safety while providing opportunities to perform scheduled experiments and test programs. (Examples include microgravity duration and levels; trajectory descriptions; flight environment information, such as cabin acoustics, vibrations, or accelerations; flight constraints; loss of crew studies; and any relevant system testing and analysis.) c. Pre-flight, post-flight, and contingency processes, capabilities and inspections that further contribute to the safety of crew and passengers and opportunities to conduct scheduled payload experiments and test programs. (Examples include pre-flight training and testing; integration among crew, NASA astronauts, commercial passengers, and payloads; abort reliability and effectiveness; and availability of services and/or facilities including those for emergency medical needs, payload preparation and vehicle test and checkout.) Other pertinent information that may assist NASA with establishing an approach for system qualification for Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services. This is a request for information only. It is not a procurement commitment to procure services, or a request for proposals. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by NASA to form a binding agreement or contract. NASA is under no obligation to issue a solicitation or to enter into any agreement or award any contract on the basis of this RFI. NASA will not pay for any information solicited. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on beta.SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. NASA reserves the right to share all information received in response to this RFI throughout the Government and its support services contractors and to use all information submitted in response to this RFI in NASA's formulation of one or more solicitation(s) seeking competitive proposals related to initiatives described herein. NASA is not requesting competition sensitive or export controlled data that requires protection. However, if it is necessary to submit competition sensitive data to answer any of the questions in this RFI, that data should be clearly segregated and marked as sensitive. NASA will protect such data from public disclosure to the extent permitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other laws and regulations. Additionally, any International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) restricted information should be appropriately labeled in response to the RFI. Although information contained herein represents current program content and acquisition planning, it is subject to change. Instructions: All responses submitted in response to this RFI shall be submitted as a single PDF file via email to Ms. Emily Weiland (emily.weiland@nasa.gov) and Mr. Joseph Bell (joseph.m.bell@nasa.gov) no later than August 7, 2020 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time. The email subject line should be in the following format: Company Name - SubC Sources Sought. NASA intends to update this notice on beta.SAM.gov to announce future opportunities for NASA and industry dialogue regarding the SubC effort. RFI Amendment (June 24, 2020): This is a notification to industry that the Suborbital Crew Office (SubC), an element of the Commercial Crew Program, is offering to conduct one-on-one meetings via teleconference to discuss interest and capabilities for NASA Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services. To schedule a one-on-one meeting, attendees will need to submit a request and provide the company name and requested meeting date via email to Ms. Emily Weiland at Emily.weiland@nasa.gov and Mr. Joseph Bell at joseph.m.bell@nasa.gov. The Government requires this request for one-on-one discussions no later than July 24, 2020. Please start the subject of the email with "Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services One-On-One Discussions". Any requests for one-on-one meetings received after July 24, 2020, will be reviewed and considered. Update (July 23, 2020): Updated to attach Questions and Answers document. Update (September 28, 2020): SubC Webcast Announcement The SubC office continues market research and planning for system qualification of commercial suborbital systems for NASA Astronauts and other NASA personnel and eventual purchase of Suborbital Crew Space Transportation Services. NASA will conduct a virtual webcast with industry to provide an update on SubC efforts. The webcast will be held virtually 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT on Wednesday, October 14, 2020. Each interested organization may register to attend by providing the following information: names, titles, phone numbers, and email addresses to Emily Weiland (emily.weiland@nasa.gov) by 5:00 pm EDT on Monday, October 12, 2020. Instructions to join the webcast will be provided to registrants prior to the event. Participants may submit questions in advance via email to Emily Weiland (emily.weiland@nasa.gov). Update (October 16, 2020): SubC & Industry Webcast Charts Updated to post the charts presented at the SubC & Industry Webcast on October 14, 2020. Q&As are forthcoming. Update (November 12, 2020): Interagency & Industry Roundtable Schedule Update The Interagency & Industry Roundtable previously targeted for November 19, 2020 is moving into the early 2021 timeframe to accommodate further interagency coordination for the SubC system qualification approach. NASA intends to create a new posting on beta.sam.gov to announce details for the roundtable in advance of that event. Additionally, this notice will be updated soon to post the Questions and Answers from the SubC & Industry Webcast. Update (November 16, 2020): Q&A from SubC & Industry Webcast This notice is updated to attach the Questions and Answers from the SubC & Industry Webcast held on October 14, 2020, including answers to questions that were submitted in writing.