Ongoing sustainment support of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and NOAA-20 Satellites

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is seeking potential vendors for a requirement to continue on-going sustainment support for the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and NOAA-20 satellites, both of which serve as a NOAA Operational asset.  The Government anticipates awarding a contract that will provide five (5) years of engineering and anomaly support to NOAA’s Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) to adequately operate the SNPP and NOAA-20 satellites that uses Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC)’s proprietary BCP-2000 heritage spacecraft bus. The engineering and anomaly support includes but is not limited to required operational maintenance support and anomaly resolution support for the spacecraft, spacecraft to instrument interfaces, simulator maintenance and support, and flight software maintenance and associated updates, and spacecraft to ground interfaces. To successfully complete this requirement, a vendor must:(1)

Have the expertise to recommend modifications to the current operational NOAA-20 BCP-2000 spacecraft configuration that will address on-orbit anomalies, failures, or aging issues;(2) Have the ability to modify, validate and deliver SNPP and NOAA-20 BCP-2000 spacecraft flight software loads to address on-orbit anomalies, failures and aging;(3) Have SNPP/NOAA-20 BCP 2000 test beds and simulators for anomaly troubleshooting and resolution, and flight software modification and validation;(4) Be capable of integrating the SNPP and NOAA-20 instrument Engineering Development Units (EDU) into the SNP and NOAA-20 test bed(s) for instrument on-orbit anomaly troubleshooting; and(5) Be capable of upgrading all SNPP and NOAA-20 BCP-2000 simulators or developing new SNPP and NOAA-20 BCP-2000 simulators if required due to obsolescence.The Government does not have transferrable government rights in BATC’s proprietary information or testing equipment.  Thus, an interested vendor should demonstrate their capability to (1) independently access BATC’s proprietary information concerning specifications of the SNPP and NOAA-20 spacecraft bus and (2) provide in-depth technical support with the requisite testing beds and simulators developed under the SNPP and NOAA-20 programs to ensure the continued operational status for the satellites. It is anticipated that the contractor shall perform the following tasks:Spacecraft Systems SupportSupport reviews of spacecraft and payload status including: Operations Status Review, JPSS Spacecraft Anomaly Review Board (JSCARB), NOAA Anomaly Resolution Team (ART), and other reviews as needed.Participate in telecons and working group meetings to define operations concepts, interfaces, and test plans as needed.Participate in status, peer, and readiness reviews as needed.Provide inputs to test plans, test analyses, discrepancy reports, and final test reports as needed.Provide spacecraft systems analysis and routine assessments of spacecraft performance.Evaluate and characterize subsystem telemetry and trends to determine spacecraft state-of- health and identify and mitigate adverse performance, to include but not limited to the following activities:For non-nominal spacecraft performance, provide support in the development of corrective operational procedures or configurations to minimize the impacts of operational or performance impacts.Perform research for satellite subsystems and ground systems that affect spacecraft operations and spacecraft health and safety.Support updates of NOAA operational training material for NOAA.Provide support for Mission Planning including inputs for spacecraft commanding and memory/table loads.Perform special studies/task assignments relating to the development, implementation, characterization, qualification, operation and mission life extension of the satellite.Provide technical progress reporting that include monthly trends, assessments on performance, navigation, spacecraft events; e.g., maneuvers, configuration changes.Provide a spacecraft status report, which summarizes the annual performance of all bus subsystems.Anomaly Resolution SupportProvide continuous mission critical support in real-time for mission threatening on-orbit anomalies until the mission is stabilized or restored to nominal operations.Support development of corrective actions and procedures that restore spacecraft mission and minimize adverse effects of the anomaly.Support anomaly investigations and testing and report any significant development in the process of an investigation to the JSCARB.Conduct investigations into satellite performance or anomalies.Generate and document findings resulting from investigations and make recommendations to resolve anomalies and improve performance.Support contingency meetings, Operations Review Board (ORB) meetings, and anomaly tiger teams.Brief the NASA/NOAA personnel on anomaly activities.Flight Software MaintenanceThe Contractor shall maintain the flight software and documentation to ensure reliability, maintainability and operability, along with the environments, emulators, and test software necessary to develop and verify these systems.Update S-NPP and JPSS-1 Software Maintenance Plans that contain information required to sustain the software, including detailed procedures and functionalities, as needed.Support reviews for development, ground testing and on-orbit check-out of all routine flight software changes such as table loads to verify that flight software modifications provide the intended functionality.Maintain a configured image of S-NPP and JPSS-1 operational flight software, as appropriate, and conduct periodic audits between flight and ground images.Utilize available spacecraft simulators or emulators to load and test flight software to validate routine flight software modifications and to test all satellite command products required for the upload operation to a satellite.Provide software modifications for simulators and test beds.Provide training and documentation to support software modifications.Spacecraft Simulator MaintenanceMaintain the Spacecraft Simulator and documentation to ensure reliability, maintainability and operability, along with the environments, emulators, and test software necessary to develop and verify these systems.Provide simulator maintenance support including but not limited to the following activities:Managing the simulator database and associated simulation files.Documenting problems with the simulator.Maintaining concurrency of the simulator with the on-board flight software and current mission configuration.Providing audit reports on a periodic basis.Replenishment of simulator spares.Provide upgrades to the simulator.Specific fidelity upgrades shall include: incorporation of S/C Sim model updates, such as Electrical Power Distribution System (EPDS) and Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS), and enhanced operational scenario support.Enhanced operational scenario support includes but is not limited to: simulated EEPROM in support of table uploads/downloads, Command Storage Memory (CSM), and Command Block Memory (CBM); Command and Data Handling (CDP) and Spacecraft Control Computer (SCC) commanded reset telemetry behavior support; low fidelity 1394, 1553 and SpaceWire remote terminal modeling for instruments and Solid State Recorder (SSR); and telemetry support for the satellite Virtual Channels (VC).Test Bed Operations and MaintenanceMaintain and operate the S-NPP and JPSS-1 test beds to support the resolution of both spacecraft and instrument anomalies.Provide routine and preventative test bed maintenance on a regular basis.Provide a maintenance summary report identifying current spares and performed maintenance.Perform periodic checks to ensure system reliability.Replenishment of test bed spares.Support End-Of-Mission Testing, Decommissioning, and De-Orbit CommandingProvide support to define the satellite passivation configuration.Provide support to define the end-of-mission testing, decommissioning, and de-orbit commanding.Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing via email to the identified points of contact no later than 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time on November 22, 2022. A determination by the Government on the form of this procurement shall be based upon responses to this notice and is solely within the discretion of the government.Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.