Like most government organizations, the Acronym shorthand is used extensively to shorten correspondence. We thought it would be useful to put this up front.
AO - Announcement of Opportunity
CO - Contracting Officer
COTR - Contracting Officers Technical Rep
CPAF - Cost Plus Award Fee contract
DO - Delivery Order
FFP - Firm Fixed Price
IDIQ - Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (type of contract)
LV - Launch Vehicle
PI - Principle Investigator
RFI - Request for Information
RFO - Request for Offer
RSA - Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition contract
RSDO - Rapid Spacecraft Development Office
SC - Spacecraft
SOW - Statement of Work
T&C - contract Terms and Conditions
The RSDO manages the Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition (RSA) contracts for NASA. In the context of the RSA, the role of the RSDO is to act as competition advocate and facilitator for any U.S. Federal Government agencies who wish to use the RSA to procure spacecraft or spacecraft components. RSDO is charged with the responsibility of assuring that each vendor is given a "fair and reasonable opportunity" to be considered for each Request for Offer.
The RSA (or 'Rapid', for short) contract is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Firm Fixed Price contract for the acquisition of proven spacecraft designs. Currently, there are 7 Rapid-III contractors (offering 11 proven spacecraft designs) which are under contract to provide spacecraft hardware, integration and test, instrument accommodation, launch support, and on orbit test support. Final acceptance of the spacecraft by the customer is on-orbit after completion of on-orbit testing. The concept of RSA is to reduce the cost of mounting a mission by leveraging the gains in commercial practices and taking advantage of the effort other programs have spent in developing spacecraft bus hardware. The spacecraft under the RSA contract have been developed under a variety of commercial and government programs, and therefore can be considered less "risky" than one-of-a-kind developmental spacecraft.
The RSA contract allows missions without extensive "unique" requirements to take advantage of previous commercial and government investments in spacecraft development. This, along with vendor competition, can lead to savings in both spacecraft cost and risk. The RSA contract can also benefit missions by reducing the government procurement cycle for a spacecraft acquisition to approximately 6 to 8 months (draft RFO release to Delivery Order award). The relatively short timeframe for a purchase benefits missions requiring short development schedules and those who do not enjoy long Source Evaluation Board activities.
Any US Government Agency can be a customer of the RSDO. RSA delivery orders require both a Civil Servant Contracting Officer and Contracting Officer Technical Representative. For missions supporting NASA initiatives, there is no charge for using RSDO. For other missions, there is a reimbursement fee.
Information about the RSA contract can be found at several sources. Information about individual spacecraft is available in the RSA Catalog . RSDO personnel are also available for consultation concerning your mission. After reviewing your missions requirements, we will help determine if RSA is the correct contract vehicle for your mission, and if so, how to proceed to support your mission. We suggest calling RSDO at (301-286-0429) to request a meeting or teleconference. RSDO has the capability and processes to protect sensitive mission information in support of competitive Announcement of Opportunity (AO) responses.
The RSDO can be contacted at any time. RSDO has supported missions in the Project Formulation phase and Implementation phase. In general, it is better to contact RSDO as early as possible. Early mission support entails a "compatibility assessment" with the catalog, and can help in defining mission approaches leading to a successful RSA delivery. During this time, RSDO can host a "Request for Information" for your mission. An RFI is an unfunded request to the Rapid Catalog vendors to survey capabilities. If time permits, it has been found useful to perform an "Accommodation Study" prior to releasing a spacecraft buy Request for Offer (RFO). An Accommodation Study is a funded study targeted to RSDO vendors for the purpose of determining feasibility of support. Accommodation Studies should occur within a year of spacecraft RFO. If time does not permit, RSDO can structure a procurement to meet your constraints.
RSA works best for missions that have clearly defined instrument interfaces and require minimal changes to the "core" spacecraft. That doesn't mean modifications are not allowed, but it does mean that any modification does involve some inherent change in risk and/or cost. This risk and cost is mitigated by the quality and completeness of your requirements. Part of the initial consultation is to determine whether your mission is "comfortable" with how your requirements fit with the RSA spacecraft. For any contract (FFP or CPAF, Rapid or non-Rapid), the success of the mission depends on the quality and completeness of the requirements. The Rapid contract is no different. The time and effort spent creating the Mission Requirements will increase the likelihood of a successful mission.
The RSA is extremely flexible in allowing mission unique modifications to the core spacecraft. The level of allowable modifications to the core spacecraft is dependent on two factors, the preferences of the mission and the allowances of the contract. Each mission has their own threshold of what is the acceptable level of modification and risk. However, the RSDO also analyses each vendor bid to ensure that the proposed bus has sufficient heritage to be considered the "core" bus which was included in the base contract. The RSDO will work with you to scope the expected mission unique modifications that will be required for your mission. Other changes, such as to delivery schedules, some contract terms and conditions, and the elimination or inclusion of tasks in the Rapid III Statement of Work, CDRL, and Mission Assurance Requirement documents are allowed. RSDO will work with the mission to discuss topics in these areas.
There is no requirement for anyone to use any RSDO service. If the RSDO is not providing a useful service to the community, then we will cease to be. The RSDO and the Rapid III contract and process are merely one mission implementation option that may not meet the needs of all missions.
Questions? Contact RSDO
NASA Official : M. Bruce Milam
Web Curator : Jennifer Brill