The IDIQ contract is for a period of five years that starts from April 2022

NASA_HQ_Building

NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. (Credit: NASA/Wikipedia.org)

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a $359m Software Engineering Support III (SES III) contract for software products, services, and engineering support to Oklahoma City-based Mitchell Vantage Systems.

According to the US space agency, the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract is for a period of five years that begins from April 2022.

The agency said that individual task orders could be extended for up to one year after the expiry of the ordering period.

Mitchell Vantage Systems will be responsible for providing products and service expertise to support flight and ground software, science data systems, along with software technology infusion, software engineering, and mission environments, among others.

The NASA stated: “This contract supports work in NASA’s Engineering and Technology Directorate that focuses on the development of reusable, secure flight and ground architectures and frameworks to reduce mission cost, maximise development schedules, minimise customer programmatic/technical risks, and increase the scientific value of information products.”

The work will be carried out mainly at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In a separate development, the US space agency has awarded its Systems And Software Assurance Services 2 (SAS2) contract to Virginia-based Millennium Engineering and Integration. The contract has a maximum ordering limitation of around $170m.

NASA said that the SAS2 contract will support its independent verification and validation (IV&V) programme in Fairmont, West Virginia.

The IV&V programme of the agency aims at lowering the inherent risk in its ability in software procurement, development, deployment, and operation within desired cost, schedule, and performance goals.

The five-year contract will begin from May 2022. The work related to it will be undertaken at the Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility, Millennium Engineering and Integration facilities, and at sites mentioned in the individual task orders.

The contract work includes system and software assurance services and specialised system and software engineering. The services will be carried out on selected systems being developed by or for the space agency, as well as other state, federal, and local government agencies, commercial entities, or other institutions and organisations.