Happy Holidays from JSC Procurement

NASA JSC Solicitation: Sources sought for the SEA - Strategic Education Alliance Cooperative Agreement

"Posted Date: Dec 08, 2006 ... All responses shall be submitted to Kirby Condron no later than December 20, 2006 at 3:00 CST. In providing your response please reference SEA-SSS."

Editor's note: Notice the turnaround time: 12 calendar/8 working days - and the time of year. Either JSC already knows who they will fund - or they do not care if quality proposals are going to be prepared by educators who are in the midst of final exams before the holidays.

Mike Griffin's 10 11 Healthy Field Centers

Editor's note: If you go to this page you will see that APL is now listed as a NASA Center - not only at the top of the page - but also along with the award notices listed below. It would certainly seem that NASA sprouted another field center overnight (with a contract award amount of $750,000,000 for the 5 year base period and an option for and extensive of equal length and value) - one where its Administrator was last employed - and one that is also located in the home state of someone who could become the next chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that controls NASA's budget. I don't see any mention of this new "center" status in the press releases that were issued. Click on image to enlarge.

"APL is one of three government or university affiliated institutions with the capability to perform all aspects of robotic space missions. This contract will provide a means to preserve this essential capability at APL, consistent with NASA's evolving needs. The contract includes extension options for up to an additional five years."

GSA Wants to Halt NASA Computer Contract

GSA chief wants to end NASA contract, AP

"The head of the U.S. General Services Administration has taken the unusual step of asking the White House to deny NASA's request to extend a multibillion-dollar government-wide information technology contract. A $4 billion space agency contract for buying computers and other IT products from IBM Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Unisys Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and CDW Corp., among others, is scheduled to end next year and NASA has received bids to extend the deal."

Recent OIG Activity

Online - But Still Broken?

New Grant System Excludes Mac Users - Electronic Forms Compatible Only With Microsoft, Washington Post

"The new "Grants.gov" system, under development at a cost of tens of billions of dollars, aims to replace paper applications with electronic forms. It is being phased in at the National Institutes of Health, Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies. All 26 grant-giving agencies are supposed to have their application processes fully online by 2007."

Editor's note: NASA opportunities are also present on this system - but the accuracy of the information leaves something to be desired. Have a look at this announcement for the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter which was cancelled last year.

Reader note: "The University of Wisconsin has released a standalone package for using Grants.gov on Mac OS X as a service to the community. The package uses Citrix client software and a special settings file to access the central Citrix server provided by Grants.gov, allowing users to access and use the PureEdge software via the remote Windows machine running Citrix server software: http://apple.doit.wisc.edu/grants.gov/"

Responses to NASA Special Notice: Transforming the Private Sector Role in Space Operations, NASA

"NASA appreciates the thoughtful responses and questions submitted during the early phase of this RFI. It is important to keep in mind the purpose of this RFI, to gather ideas on what alternative management models might be feasible for NASA's field centers. There is not just one way to organize ourselves to accomplish the exploration strategy, hence we are gathering and studying multiple ideas. We have answered the questions we believe to be within the scope of this RFI, listed those we believe to be beyond the scope of this RFI, and in a few cases, provided alternate sources of additional information. We look forward to your creative and thoughtful ideas."

Read the responses: Responses to NASA Special Notice: Transforming the Private Sector Role in Space Operations, NASA

• 14 August 2004: NASA Special Notice: Transforming the Private Sector Role in Space Operations, NASA
  

NASA Special Notice: NASA Shared Services Center Presolicitation

Conference "Pre-solicitation Conference September 7, 2004. The initially planned date of September 1, 2004 was changed due to personnel/auditorium unavailability."

Read the pre-solicitation: NASA Special Notice: NASA Shared Services Center Presolicitation

NASA Special Notice: Plan for prioritizing teacher training, integrating existing math, science and engineering education intiatives; and exploring options for creating a virtual space academy, NASA

"In addition, the Commission cited the insufficient methods for students to acquire hands-on experience in the scientific and technical disciplines necessary for space commerce and exploration. They called for an alliance between NASA and universities to create a 'virtual' space academy."

Read the notice: NASA Special Notice: Plan for prioritizing teacher training, integrating existing math, science and engineering education intiatives; and exploring options for creating a virtual space academy, NASA

NASA Shared Services Center Revised Procurement Schedule

"The NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) Procurement schedule has been revised to accommodate (1) a pre-solicitation conference; and (2) finalizing lease terms and conditions for the available site locations."

Read the story: NASA Shared Services Center Revised Procurement Schedule

Modification to a Previous NASA Presolicitation Notice: Human and Robotic Technology

"This is a modification to the synopsis entitled Human & Robotic Technology (H&RT) which was posted on June 29, 2004. You are notified that the following changes are made: Due to the tremendous response to NASA's BAA for H&RT and the resulting server problems, we are extending the due date time for the NOI submision to August 16th, 2004 at 12:00 PM EDT. The due date time for responses is extended. Documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet."

Read the notice modification: Modification to a Previous NASA Presolicitation Notice: Human and Robotic Technology

NASA Notice of Prospective Patent License: Bigelow Development Aerospace Division, LLC

"NASA hereby gives notice that Bigelow Development Aerospace Division, LLC, having offices in Las Vegas, NV, has applied for an exclusive license to practice the invention described and claimed in Patent No. 6,354,540 entitled ``Androgynous, Reconfigurable Closed Loop Feedback Controlled Low Impact Docking System With Load Sensing Electromagnetic Capture Ring,'' Case No. MSC-22931-1."

Read the notice: NASA Notice of Prospective Patent License: Bigelow Development Aerospace Division, LLC

NASA Special Notice: Transforming the Private Sector Role in Space Operations

NASA Special Notice: Transforming the Private Sector Role in Space Operations

"In NASA decisions, the preferred choice for operational activities must be competitively awarded contracts with private and non-profit organizations and NASA's role must be limited to only those areas where there is irrefutable demonstration that only government can perform the proposed activity. One step to foster these goals would be to have operational activities done to the greatest extent possible by the private sector."

NASA Special Notice: Expanded Use of NASA Contractual Authority to Obtain Ideas, Technologies, and Management Tools for Accomplishing Space Exploration

"The Commission noted that if the Vision for Space Exploration is to succeed in an affordable, credible and sustainable way, it must access as much private sector technology as possible. The Commission also stated that an increase in the number and variety of commercial companies working in the field of space would vastly increase the processes and materials available for space exploration. The Commission spoke favorably of mechanisms to encourage private sector involvement in space such as prizes, tax incentives, regulatory relief, and settlement of property rights in space."