The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) proposes to contract with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) of Denver, Colorado, to continue the spacecraft design effort for a mission to Venus called Vesper, in response to a NASA Headquarter (HQ) Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Discovery Program. The Vesper team is led by a Principal Investigator from the GSFC and utilizes the unique expertise of LMSSC for the spacecraft design. This team was selected by NASA HQ under the Discovery Program 2006 AO to perform a 7-month Phase A concept study, to further define the mission design and overall programmatic requirements. At the conclusion of this study, HQ intends to down-select to one Discovery mission to continue into the implementation phase. LMSSC is exclusively qualified to perform the necessary work. LMSSC has contributed extensively to the Vesper Mission concept through prior teaming arrangements, and therefore has developed unique detailed knowledge of the Vesper concept that cannot be duplicated by any other source to meet the Discovery program requirements. In addition, LMSSC's unique experience in designing and developing spacecraft and systems for a previous mission to Venus called Magellan, as well as other interplanetary missions that are comparable to Vesper make them uniquely qualified to perform this work. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. See Note 26. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact not later than 4:30 p.m. local time on December 22, 2006. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. An Ombudsman has been appointed. See NASA Specific Note "B". Any referenced notes may be viewed at the following URLs linked below.

Bid Protests Not Available