NASA Hosts March Industry Day for $1.5B Communications Recompete

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is seeking an industry partner to modernize its network infrastructure and provide a range of IT services at NASA facilities in the continental U.S. and abroad, according to a request for information released February 26. The agency will host an industry day on March 11-12 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The contract, which NASA is calling Advanced Enterprise Global Information Technology Solutions (AEGIS), represents a recompete of NASA Integrated Communications Services (NICS), a contract held by Science Applications International Corp. since April 2011. In 2013, SAIC spun off its aerospace, engineering, and biomedical research groups to form Leidos Holdings Inc., which initially maintained control of the NICS contract. However, Leidos sold ownership of the contract, a process known as novation?, back to the legacy SAIC in August 2014. NICS, which has generated more than $1.3 billion for SAIC and Leidos, expires in May 2021.

NASA will host an industry day on March 11-12 at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. At the industry event in March, the agency will offer an overview of the key requirements and hold a series of one-on-one conversations with industry. Interested parties must register for the industry day no later than Monday, March 9.

The AEGIS contract will support upgrades to services offered by NASA’s Communications Program (CP), which offers “critical data and voice services to connect Flight Projects to Space Communications and Network (SCaN) Tracking Networks and other resources, including Space Network (SN), Near Earth Network (NEN), Deep Space Network (DSN), Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF), Launch Complexes and satellite manufacturer and test facilities,” according to the announcement. Based on the scope of requirements and the size of the predecessor contract, Bloomberg Government projects that AEGIS could generate $1.5 billion or more in obligations over the next ten years.

The key focus will be to implementing a zero-trust network architecture that strengthens the agency’s cybersecurity posture through advanced automation and segmentation, the use of end-user identity and credential management tools, and machine-learning analytics, according to an attached performance work statement. AEGIS’s areas of focus include the following:

• Contract management – Providing program and financial management, logistics, transition management, safety and quality assurance, information security, and contract and subcontract administration.
• Enterprise services – Managing a single end-to-end infrastructure service provisioning organization for enterprisewide networks, including domain name system (DNS) configuration, virtual private network (VPN) services, data, and videoconferencing.
• Center and associated component services – Meeting the unique communications needs of a dozen U.S. NASA laboratories and space flight centers.
• Infrastructure projects – Implementing NASA infrastructure priorities, such as software-defined networking and access controls, support for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, enterprise cloud computing, and data center consolidation.
• Unique services – Supporting IT and communications requirements at NASA facilities in Russia, supporting NASA’s Hypersonic Network, and other miscellaneous services.

Since the start of fiscal 2016, no contractor has won more NASA IT services obligations than SAIC, with more than $1.1 billion over that span. The closest competitors are Perspecta Inc. ($414 million) and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. ($215 million). SAIC’s relationship with NASA may make it a difficult incumbent to dislodge. Nevertheless, the size and scope of AEGIS could present ample opportunities for small and mid-sized businesses to participate as subcontractors.

NASA had initially issued a recompete solicitation under NICS 2.0. Bloomberg Government has merged the previous solicitation under AEGIS here.

Chris Cornillie is a federal market analyst with Bloomberg Government.

To contact the analyst on this story: Chris Cornillie in Washington at ccornillie@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Snyder at dsnyder@bgov.com; Jodie Morris at jmorris@bgov.com