PATHFINDER TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR MISSION OPERATIONS FOLLOW-ON (PTD FOLLOW-ON) CONTRACT

NASA, Ames Research Center (ARC) negotiate a firm-fixed price modification with Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, Inc. only for the Pathfinder Demonstration (PTD) Follow-on Contract one and a half month extension of CLIN 0002 on contract 80ARC025CA003. 

This recommendation is made pursuant to FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source. Competition is impractical for the following reasons:

1. This requirement cannot be competed due to the highly customized and unique design of the nano- satellite airbuses that Tyvak has built and currently operates. Tyvak is the only source that has the expertise to provide the mission operations of the PTD space vehicles. There are no other companies that have the ability and expertise required for PTD space vehicle operations or modifications. The proprietary and technical constraints of the PTD project also reinforce the sole- source justification. The PTD-4 spacecraft is the only vehicle currently flying Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS) cells, which have been under development for six years by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). The LISA-T solar arrays, which incorporate these cells, represent a unique system designed to demonstrate wireless power transmission in space.

2. As Tyvak is the only operator of the PTD space vehicles, NASA would incur significant cost and there would be substantial challenges to transfer mission operations to another entity (government or private) in the time available before the spacecraft orbit decays ending the mission. Additionally, the Mission Operation System that the PTD space vehicles utilize requires unique intellectual property (IP) associated with operating the Space vehicle. Transferring this IP to another entity (government or private) would incur substantial costs related to intellectual property transfer and training and could result in significant delays.