NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BE

18 -- THERMAL INSULATION TILES FOR THE X-38 SOL 9BE13-09-7-89P DUE 101597 POC Lisa Rea-Phillips, Contracting Officer, Phone (281) 483-8395, Fax (281) 244-5337, Email lreaphil@ems.jsc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/date.html#9BE13-09-7-89P. E-MAIL: Lisa Rea-Phillips, lreaphil@ems.jsc.nasa.gov. The NASA/Johnson Space Center intends to issue a Request for Offers (RFO) for the production of approximately 600 silica-based ceramic thermal protection system tiles which will be used on the X-38 Vehicle 201 prototype Crew Return Vehicle (CRV). The majority of the tiles shall be machined from an advanced, lightweight density (~8.5 pounds per cubic foot (pcf)) substrate material, and coated with the Toughened Unipiece Fibrous Insulation (TUFI) coating. A small number of the tiles (less than 10%) shall be machined from a stronger advanced, high density (~12 pcf) substrate material, and coated with the TUFI coating. A small number of the tiles (less than 10%) shall include instrumentation (surface thermocouples or pressure ports). Additional tiles produced for a fin qualification unit (approximately 150 tiles) and various test articles shall also fall under the scope of this RFO. The ceramic tiles required will be advancements of the current Lockheed Insulation (LI-900) tiles used on the Space Shuttle Orbiter. The bulk material shall be a silica fiber based rigid ceramic in the form of a tile. In addition to the silica fibers, the fibers of the bulk material may be composed of combinations of either alumina, or aluminum borosilicate. A boron nitride binder and a silicon carbide grit may also be used. The tiles shall be waterproofed with either methyltrimethoxysilane or Dimethylethoxysilane. The density of the un-coated and un-densified ceramic insulation shall be no greater than 8 pcf (11). The ceramic tile shall be coated with Toughened Uni-piece Fibrous Insulation (TUFI) coating on five surfaces. The coating shall cover the outer mold line surface of the tile, and extend 0.5 inches down the four sidewalls of the tile. Offerors will be requested to provide the cost impact associated with providing tiles densified on the inner mold line surface with either tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) or Ludox. The average ultimate strength of the low density tile substrate shall be a minimum of 25 pounds per square inch (psi) for the through-the-thickness direction (perpendicular to fibers) and 60 psi for the in-plane (primary fiber direction) direction. The thermal conductivity of the material shall be required to meet requirements specified in the RFO. Similar requirements for strength and thermal conductivity for the higher density substrate material will be included in the RFO. The contract award will be segmented into several discrete options, representing the various sections of the X-38 vehicle, i.e., forward fuselage, starboard and port fin, aft lower fuselage and base region. An option for approximately 150 tiles for a fin qualification unit will also be included, as will options for several potential small test article tiles and an option for a second set of flight tiles for X-38 vehicle 202. All parts shall be manufactured with documented process specifications. Specifications utilized shall be provided to and approved by JSC Engineering prior to manufacturing start. Requirements for certification and guidelines for quality control will be provided in the RFO. The tiles are to be manufactured direct from computer-aided design (CAD) files which will be provided by the JSC. These CAD files will represent the exact tile geometry, i.e., no additional CAD work will be required by the vendor. This procurement is being conducted under the NASA MidRange Pilot Test Program approved by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. See Numbered Note 26. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency. The anticipated release date of the RFO is on or about 9/15/97 with an anticipated offer due date of on or about 10/15/97. An ombudsman has been appointed -- See Note "B". The solicitation and any documents related to this procurement will be available over the Internet. These documents will be in MS-Word format and will reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using a WWW browser application. The WWW address, or URL, of the NASA/JSC Business Opportunities home page is http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/JSC/class.html. Prospective offerors shall notify this office of their intent to submit an offer. It is the offeror's responsibility to monitor this site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Any referenced numbered notes can be viewed at the following URL: http://genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/nnotes.htm. (0231)

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