NASA Sources Sought Notice: Pressure Suits to Protect Crews From Hostile Environments Throughout All Mission Phases to Support the Vision for Space Ex

General Information

Document Type: Sources Sought Notice
Solicitation Number: NNJ05ZBH001L
Posted Date: May 23, 2005
Original Response Date: Jun 22, 2005
Current Response Date: Jun 22, 2005
Original Archive Date: May 23, 2006
Current Archive Date: May 23, 2006
Classification Code: A — Research & Development
Naics Code: 927110 — Space Research and Technology

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH

Description

This notice is issued by the NASA/JSC to post a Request for Information (RFI) via the internet and to solicit responses from knowledgeable parties.

This document is for information and planning purposes and to allow industry and academia the opportunity to verify reasonableness and feasibility of contemplated concepts.  

Pressure suits will be necessary to protect the crews from hostile environments throughout all mission phases of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE).

The following pressure suit capabilities will be required: 1) Crew protection and survivability during launch, entry and abort scenarios, including spacecraft depressurization, 2) Zero-gravity extravehicular activity (EVA) capability for in-space activities such as contingency EVA (including crew transfer between vehicles), assembly, maintenance or repair, and 3) Surface EVA capability for planetary exploration.  

The Government is currently conducting a trade study to determine the quantity and type of pressure suits that may be required to meet the requirements of the VSE.

Parties are asked to provide information detailing the technical feasibility, challenges of, and potential evolutionary pathway for meeting all of the VSE requirements with a single suit approach.

Respondents are asked to give consideration to technical requirements (such as vehicle interfaces, mobility, comfort and environmental conditions), commonality, logistics, maintenance and sparing, operational impacts and life cycle costs.

Respondents are also asked to provide information on associated technologies that could make a single suit concept feasible. Please submit input in the form of a technical white paper, not to exceed 20 pages in length.

Submittals should be mailed to:

NASA, Johnson Space Center,
Attn: James P. Gips, Projects Procurement Office,
Mail Code BH,
2101 NASA Parkway,
Houston, TX 77058.

Electronic submittals may be e-mailed to james.p.gips@nasa.gov but must be followed by a hard copy submittal that is to be provided to the address listed above.

Any e-mail submissions should include the following cc: addresses jessica.m.niebuhr@nasa.gov and lara.e.kearney@nasa.gov.

No phone calls will be accepted.

Comments, questions, and technical white papers are due not later than June 22, 2005.  

This RFI is for planning and information purposes only.

It is NOT to be construed as a commitment by the Government nor will the Government pay for information solicited hereunder. Parties responding to this RFI will not be notified directly of the results, answers, and/or any determination that the Government makes.  

An ombudsman has been appointed — See NASA Specific Note “B”. 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/JSC Business Opportunities home page is   http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/bizops.cgi?gr=D&pin=73     

It is the offeror’s responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any).

Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments, if any.

Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.

Point of Contact

James P. Gips, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 244-7878, Fax (281) 483-6336, Email james.p.gips@nasa.gov – Jessica M. Niebuhr, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 483-3916, Fax (281) 483-6336, Email jessica.m.niebuhr@nasa.gov

Email your questions to James P. Gips at james.p.gips@nasa.gov