Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destination Contract (CLDC) Request for Proposal

What they want

• Design, build, certify and operate a commercial space station (the destination) that can host NASA crews, then provide station services.
• CLIN 1, Initial Development: design through critical design review and an Integrated Progress Review; last milestone no later than 18 months after award, with 15 months desired.
• CLIN 2, Development and Certification: build, test and certify the final system, including an uncrewed activation and checkout.
• CLIN 3, Mission Services: end-to-end crew and cargo missions (Mission A: no less than 3 crew, short duration; Mission B: no less than 4 crew, 6 months, limited research; Standard Mission: no less than 4 crew, 6 months, full NASA research). At least 2 crew on each are U.S. Government crew, and the first mission includes the crewed demonstration.
• CLIN 4, pre-priced additional services (extra crew seats, extra science capability, external cargo) and CLIN 5, special tasks and studies.
• Transportation: do delta certification (extra approval work) for crew and cargo vehicles already certified, or request NASA-provided transportation, called Government Furnished Transportation and Support Services (GFTSS), for the first four missions.
• Meet NASA's minimum research needs, sized at about 50% of the ISS, and provide 2 crew seats per increment while pricing 3 and 4 seats as well.
• Optional: ask for NASA staff help (Government Collaboration Agreement) or NASA facilities and services (Government Task Agreement).

What they'll judge offers on

• Technical Approach and Management Approach (subfactors and weights are in Section M, which was not read in full)
• Past Performance (Volume III): relevance is considered and each offer gets a confidence rating from Very High to Very Low Level of Confidence, or Neutral with no record
• Price (Volume I): includes a Total Evaluated Price that adds the cost of any Government Task Agreements
• Financial and market development viability, including non-NASA investments

What to include when you submit

• Proposal volumes named in the text read: Volume I Price, Volume III Past Performance, Volume IV Responsibility and Volume V Model Contract. Volume II is not described in the text read.
• Volume I Price exhibits must be completed in Microsoft Excel with working cell formulas.
• Volume III Past Performance is requested early on November 24, 2026 but is not officially due until the response due date. Ask your references to send their past performance information before the response due date.
• For past performance, major team members, subcontractors and suppliers are those expected to have $100 million or more of work during the 8-year base period. For pricing, the $100 million measure covers the entire contract period.
• Volume IV Responsibility: include an Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) plan, the Prime/Subcontractor Identification and SOW Division of Work Listing, the Domestic Source Certification and Financial Capability Disclosure Information.
• Volume V Model Contract: sign it with a person authorized to commit your firm, complete every fill-in, submit every page, and make no deletions or revisions to Government requirements.
• If you include a Government Task Agreement (GTA), copy the fill-in table from Attachment L-08 into Attachment J-15 and submit it with Volume V. The agreement needs signatures from your representative, the NASA performing organization, the NASA partnership office and the LEO Program Office to be valid.
• Describe your approach to Government Collaboration Agreements through data requirement description (DRD) CLDC-104, the Insight and Collaboration Implementation Plan.
• Document pre-award any data produced wholly at your expense, using Attachment J-04 (Authorized Limited Rights and Restricted Rights Data).
• Optional supplements: a Public Law 85-804 indemnification request and an exception request under 51 U.S.C. 50131.
• Send a test file through EFSS Box no less than 5 days before the response due date (encouraged).

After award, you must have

• Fill in the contract security classification specification (DD 254) before CLIN 3 starts. From CLDC Final RFP Pre-proposal Conference Charts.pdf: Note: Required by start of CLIN 3…

Current contractor

No incumbent is named. The buy is meant to succeed the International Space Station. NASA plans two CLIN 1 awards at contract award and one CLIN 2 award after CLIN 1, with flexibility for a leader and follower model.

Not in the notice text

• Most of the Final RFP, including Section L (proposal instructions) and Section M (evaluation factors), the pricing tables and clauses, is attached but not read here; check the full RFP on SAM.gov.
• Page limits, what Volume II contains, and the order or weight of the evaluation factors are in the unread parts of the RFP.
• Attached but not read: Price Template (Attachment L-01), Past Performance Matrix (L-02), Contractor Responsibility Matrix (L-04), Business Case Analysis Template (L-07), the CLDC-012, CLDC-013, CLDC-014 and CLDC-212 spreadsheets, and the RFP Feedback Template.
• Small business subcontracting plan rules (Attachment J-08 and DRD-CLDC-008) and any small business participation goals are not in the text read; the small business section of the conference charts has no content.
• Whether SAE AS9100 certification is required (the RFP table of contents lists clause H.15, Contractor Certification for SAE AS9100) is not in the text read.
• Indemnification, liability and the other insurance clauses (H.26, H.27, H.42) are in unread pages.
• The Technical Library with reference documents is on SAM.gov under notice ID 80JSC025_CLDC_TECH_LIBRARY and needs a request form.