December 19, 2003
Policy Changes planned for the 2004 MIDEX Announcement of Opportunity
For a MIDEX, the NASA OSS Cost is limited to $170M in Fiscal Year 2005
dollars, including funding for all phases and all elements except for NASA
provided launch services.
Basic launch services on a Taurus or Delta II expendable launch vehicle
will be provided at no charge against the NASA OSS Cost cap. There will be
a charge of $9M (FY05) against the NASA OSS Cost cap for Delta II-H launch
services. There will also be a charge against the NASA OSS Cost cap for
mission unique services beyond the basic services offered. Contributed
launch services and launch vehicles are not solicited, nor are secondary or
co-manifested payloads on commercial or larger ELVs.
The Space Shuttle transportation, standard services, and special services
costs required for ISS-attached payloads will be provided at no charge
against the NASA OSS Cost cap. There will be a charge against the NASA OSS
Cost cap for special services (mission uniques).
The duration of the competitive Phase A period has been lengthened to 11
months and the funding during Phase A will be $1M for a MIDEX. The
expectation is that additional trade studies and risk reduction will take
place during the lengthened Phase A.
At the investigation's Confirmation Review to enter Implementation (Phase
C), the PI will be required to demonstrate a minimum unencumbered cost
reserve of 25% or larger, commensurate with mission complexity and
risk. Funded schedule reserves, in addition to the cost reserve,
commensurate with mission complexity and risk, are required. No rephasing
of Phase E costs to Phase C/D will be permitted after Confirmation.
International Letters of Endorsement (LOEs) are due at the same time as the
proposal. LOEs for all contributions must provide evidence that the
contributor will commit the appropriate technical, personnel, and funding
resources to the proposed investigation if selected by NASA. Proposals
without required LOEs will be deemed noncompliant and returned to the
proposer without review.
There are additional requirements for describing any proposed international
participation including a discussion of mitigation plans, where possible,
for the failure of funding or contributions to materialize when they are
outside the control of the PI.
The weight of the evaluation criteria is approximately: 40% for scientific
merit of the proposed investigation; 30% for scientific implementation
merit of the proposed investigation; and 30% for technical, management, and
cost feasibility, including cost risk, of the proposed investigation.
NASA particularly welcomes comments on these changes in policy. All
comments should be directed to the Explorer Program Scientist. Comments
are preferred in writing and may be sent by fax or E-mail; the character
string "MIDEX DRAFT AO" (without quotes) should be included in the subject
line of all transmissions.
Dr. Paul Hertz
Explorer Program Scientist
Scientist, Code SZ
Office of Space Science
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001
U.S.A.
Tel.: (202) 358-0986
FAX: (202) 358-3097
E-mail:
paul.hertz@hq.nasa.gov