Flight-like Advanced Materials Reactors Units for the Hydrogen Recovery by Carbon Vapor Deposition

NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has a requirement for the development and acquisition of a flight-like advanced materials reactor (FLAMR) units for the hydrogen recovery by carbon vapor deposition (CVD) system beyond preliminary design to the critical design phase. The reactor being designed on this contract is a low mass flight-like reactor that can withstand the high temperatures required by the CVD process and will be designed and sized so that it can be easily integrated into a Methane Pyrolysis Brassboard skid. NASA/MSFC intends to issue a new work modification to contract 80MSFC21CA010 to acquire these services from Honeywell under the statutory authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.” Pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, the Hydrogen Recovery by Carbon Vapor Deposition (CVD) is a new proprietary technology developed by Honeywell and funded by a NASA contract 80LARC17C0014 for a Brassboard version of the system. NASA needs an upgraded reactor to perform long term testing, as well as, to demonstrate the technology on the ISS. NASA’s plan is to retrofit the new reactor to replace the Brassboard version of the reactor while keeping the balance of the plant intact. As the technology developer, Honeywell has the corporate knowledge to most efficiently produce a flight-like reactor that integrates smoothly into the existing system. Additional rationale supporting the use of 10 U.S.C 2304(c)(1) is as follows, a. Honeywell funded technologies contributed to the progress made in maturing Technical Readiness Level (TRL) and reducing development risk. They are leveraging the proprietary technology they have for making airplane brakes for this effort. Company proprietary information not funded by the Government would not likely be available to a new vendor, making it almost impossible to make progress comparable to that proposed by Honeywell within the period of performance of this contract. b. Honeywell has a long-term collaboration with NASA in advancing and maturing the key CVD technologies through the Game Changing Development/Spacecraft Oxygen Recovery (GCD/SCOR) contract. Since the investment cannot be replicated in a timely or cost effect manner, continuing this collaboration on the planned schedule is critical to achieving the project goals. c. Honeywell assembled a team uniquely qualified to carry out the proposed scope. The team had institutional and personnel involvement in the development of the Hydrogen Recovery by CVD and have already demonstrated maturation of the TRL of critical component-level technologies and supporting efforts through the GCD/SCOR program. This team has also leveraged technology that was developed by Honeywell, containing proprietary information and at company expense, which has been adapted for this application; this includes integrated modeling, fabrication and CVD processes, key approaches, and technologies. This technology is of high value to NASA’s human exploration missions to accomplish the goal of advancing the state-of -the art atmospheric revitalization system technologies required for success. The Government does not intend to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort electronically via email to Cynthia Hubbard at [email protected] and to Laura Bullington at [email protected] not later than 11:00am CST on November 25, 2022. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this acquisition on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this acquisition on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government. NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at : https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/Procurement-Ombuds-Comp-Advocate-Listing.pdf