United Space Alliance(USA), 600 Gemini Avenue, Houston, Texas 77058

18 -- SPACE SHUTTLE ORBITER COCKPIT AVIONICS UPGRADES SYSTEM -- FLIGHT SOFTWARE SOL USA-SSU-A02 POC Allison R. Maddox, (281) 282-6953 E-MAIL: Click here to contact USA via e-mail, allison.r.maddox@usahq.unitedspacealliance.com. Purpose of this Request for Information (RFI): United Space Alliance (USA), LLC, a joint venture company of The Boeing Company and Lockheed-Martin Corporation, through its offices located in Houston, Texas, anticipates the issuance of a Request for Proposal (RFP) on or about August 18, 2000 for the acquisition of flight software in support of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrade System. This acquisition is in support of USA's prime contract NAS9-20000 -- Space Flight Operations Contract (SFOC) with the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) located in Houston, Texas. This RFI is a revision to the RFI released on June 7, 2000 and is being provided to determine the interest of potential vendors/contractors in attending a bidders conference scheduled for August 25, 2000 at the USA facility located at 1150 Gemini Avenue, Houston, Texas. The tentative agenda for the bidders conference is as follows. Morning Session: Program Overview, Procurement Strategy Overview, Hardware Architecture Overview, Software Architecture Overview and Responses to Previously Submitted Questions. Afternoon Session: Scheduled One-on-One Sessions for Proprietary Discussions. Characteristics of the individual vendors or vendor teams with whom USA wishes to do business for this portion of the cockpit avionics upgrades project are: Have an established and verifiable software safety program; Have an established and verifiable software quality program; Have verifiable past performance in developing safety critical software; Possess an SEI CMM rating of 3 or higher or can pass a Software Development Capability Evaluation (SDCE) of comparable scope; Can provide verifiable productivity statistics for development of safety critical software; Can provide verifiable information attesting to the first-time quality of previous software development efforts; Have established and verifiable configuration management and change control systems; Can identify past customer points of contact to verify performance; and Have auditable financial and work scheduling systems which plan, track, and report cost, technical performance, and schedule progress. Interested firms may request copies of the RFP on or after August 15, 2000, and may submit questions of clarification that will be answered at the bidders conference. After the bidders conference, firms intending to bid must submit a bid letter to USA no later than August 28, 2000. Firms not responding by this date will not receive further consideration. USA anticipates the formal RFP will be released August 18, 2000 with the proposal due September 15, 2000. USA further anticipates contract award and start-up prior to October 15, 2000. This notice is solely for invitation to attend the bidders conference and does not in any way constitute a RFP, Invitation for Bid, or Request for Quotation and is not to be construed as a commitment by USA to enter into a subcontract. Firms interested in participating in this project are subject to the requirements of the U.S. Department of State International Traffic and Arms Regulation (ITAR) and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Administration Regulations (EAR) including the bidders conference. Program Description: The Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project is a limited scope effort to modify the Orbiter cockpit avionics system to improve the flight crew situational awareness and to simplify and reduce the crew's workload. This particular element of the project is limited to the development of the flight software, support of the integration of the flight hardware and software, and support of the system certification for flight. The flight hardware, which will be integrated with a real time operating system, is being procured under a different contract. Details of the hardware procurement will be described at the bidders conference. The current process monitors, commands, and controls the Orbiter subsystems during normal operations and determines projected abort scenarios for anomalous conditions (abort situational awareness) during ascent, de-orbit and landing. Changes to both the cockpit avionics hardware and software are required to increase the flight crews' insight into and understanding of the Orbiter health / status during all operations. These changes will improve the content and quality of the control mechanisms available to the crew. The portion of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Cockpit Avionics Upgrade project addressed by this procurement is the development of Command and Display Processor (CDP) resident applications software to drive enhanced displays for the Vehicle Display Management System. USA anticipates use of the C++ Programming Language for this project. Procurement Strategy: To compensate for a compressed procurement schedule, USA has adopted for this program an approach for developing the flight software in a "team" environment where USA uses its unique experience and capabilities in Shuttle flight software in concert with contractor capabilities in development and testing. Software development will be conductedin two increments with the first increment focused on Shuttle Abort Flight Management (SAFM) and displays and the second on Enhanced Caution and Warning (ECW). The base contractual effort will consist of requirements development and initial design. USA will lead this initial effort with personnel familiar with the existing Shuttle systems with which this new software must interface. Planning for this activity is underway and the contractor will join the team upon contract award. The software identified above will be delivered in 2 increments. Option 1 (Increment 1) will feature contractor-led software development but with extensive USA participation for the purpose of making USA expertise and experience available to the development contractor and to insure that USA will be fully capable of maintaining and sustaining the software at the completion of the contract. Increment 1 will require detailed design, unit coding and debug, software integration and unit test of the SAFM system and associated cockpit displays. Contractor support will also be required for USA-led efforts in integration and test of the flight software with the flight hardware, certifying the upgraded avionics suite for flight as well as support for the first flight of the new system. Option 1 (Increment 2) will also feature contractor-led development of ECW software and associated displays with USA participation as in Increment 1 and will include the contractor support of USA-led efforts in integration and test of the flight software with the flight hardware. Contractor support will also be required for USA-led efforts in certifying the upgraded avionics suite for flight as well as support for the first flight of the new system. Schedule Summary: The following are key dates regarding this procurement: Notice of Intent to Attend Bidders Conference -- August 15, 2000; RFP Release -- August 18, 2000; Bidders Conference -- August 25, 2000; Notice of Intent to Bid -- NLT August 28, 2000; Proposals Due -- September 15, 2000; and Contract Award -- October 15, 2000. Intent to attend the Bidders Conference: USA requests that firms interested in attending the bidders conference notify USA in writing no later than August 15, 2000 to confirm attendance. Attendance will be limited to three (3) company representatives who are U.S. citizens and/or permanent resident aliens. All questions and responses will be shared and distributed to conference attendees. Correspondence should be sent to: United Space Alliance, LLC, 555 Gemini Avenue, Houston, TX 77058, Attention: Allison Maddox, Subcontracts Management, Mail Code USH 801A, E-Mail: Allison.R.Maddox@USAHQ.UnitedSpaceAlliance.com, Telephone: (281) 282-6953, Fax: (281) 282-3703. Posted 08/04/00 (W-SN482221). (0217)

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