Mar 22 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: C13-016 - NASA AWARDS CONTRACT MODIFICATION FOR SUPPORT AT MICHOUD ASSEMBLY FACILITY --WASHINGTON -- NASA has signed a one-year contract option with Jacobs Technology, Inc., of New Orleans to continue manufacturing support and facilities operations at the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The one-year contract option begins on May 1. The contract is a performance-based, cost-plus-award-fee, mission services contract with an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) portion. With the exercise of Option 2, the mission services value increases by approximately $38 million, and the IDIQ potential maximum order value increases by $100 million for a new maximum potential contract value of approximately $477 million. The contract was awarded in May 2009. The contract will support critical operations under way at Michoud to advance the nation's human spaceflight endeavors, including work on the Orion spacecraft and modifications to manufacture the core stage of NASA's Space Launch System rocket. Michoud, managed and operated by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is the agency's only large-scale advanced manufacturing facility -- a multi-tenant campus with 43 acres of advanced manufacturing space under one roof. A number of private companies and government projects take advantage of the facility's key capabilities, including large-envelope fiber placement equipment, friction stir welding systems, high-speed machining tools, material test labs and manufacturing infrastructure.

RELEASE: C13-017 - NASA EXTENDS HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE OPERATIONS CONTRACT --WASHINGTON -- NASA is extending its contract with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for the agency's Hubble Space Telescope Science Operations activities at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., for 36 months. The option the agency chose to exercise has a total estimated value of $76 million and extends the period of performance through April 30, 2016. The contractor will continue to be responsible for providing the products and services required to execute the science program and process, archive, and distribute the science data from Hubble. The contractor also will maintain and calibrate the onboard instruments; maintain the science operations ground systems; administer grants; conduct public and educational outreach; and conduct astronomical research.