NASA, Johnson Space Center, BL2, Houston, TX 77058-3696

16 -- T-38A/N AIRCRAFT INLET PRODUCTION HARDWARE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND INSTALLATION SOL 9-BL2-12-6-01P POC Contract Specialist: Nancy Robb, (713) 244-9923 Contract Officer: Alice Jean Pursell, (713) 244-9922 It is NASA Johnson Space Center's intent to solicit and negotiate under the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1) with only one source, the Northrop Grumman Corporation, to acquire engineering,facrication, and installation (in whole or in part) T-38A/N engine inlet production hardware for retrofit of NASA's T-38A/N fleet of approximately 30 aircraft. An in-house NASA program has developed a new T-38A/N inlet design, and prototype hardware has been manufactured for a flight test program which is currently underway to proof the design concept. The goal of this program is to provide additional thrust from the T-38 aircraft's engines at low aircraft airspeeds and improve engine operation while minimizing the drag effects on the aircraft. The basic effort will be to convert the NASA prototype T-38A/N inlet design into a production design suitable for fabrication and installation into NASA's T-38 aircraft fleet. Completion of the design will require a thorough understanding of the basic aircraft's air flow characteristics as well as the characteristics of the new production inlet design using computational fluid dynamics modeling techniques. A thorough stress analysis of all affected aircraft structure using loads generated because of the new production inlet design will also be required for all regions of the T-38 aircraft's flight envelope. Weight, producibility, durability, reliability, maintainability, and cost of fabrication of the production design are critical elements of this effort. Fabrication of the production design hardware and subsequent installation of the production design hardware will be options. Northrop Grumman is the original equipment manufacturer and the patent holder for the T-38 aircraft design. They retain the basic data rights to the aircraft design based on their initial development investment which occurred in the mid 1950's, prior to the United States Air Force's original request for the T-38 aircraft proposal. Availability of these data as well as unique technique data in Northrop Grumman's possession and their intimate knowledge of the T-38 aircraft has led to NASA's intent for sole source completion of this effort. The proposed contract will be a firm fixed-price (FFP) contract with the basic providing for the conversion of the NASA T-38A/N inlet prototype design into a production design and five FFP options which include one option for the engine inlet production hardware for the T-38A/N aircraft fleet and four one-year options to install the production hardware into the T-38A/N aircraft fleet. If your company is capable of meeting the requirements described in this sources sought synopsis, provide specific information which demonstrates your capabilities by January 25, 1996, to Nancy Robb, NASA Johnson Space Center, Mail Code BL2, Houston, TX 77058-3696. This is NOT a Request For Proposal. (0016)

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