Sources Sought: Lunar Exploration Ground Sites (LEGS) Public Private Partnership

1. Purpose 

NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) is conducting market research to identify capable commercial entities interested in supporting the Lunar Exploration Ground Sites (LEGS) Public Private Partnership (3Ps) initiative. This Sources Sought notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation or a commitment by the Government. 

NASA seeks information from industry regarding commercially viable approaches for providing communications and navigation services supporting lunar and cislunar missions. Responses will assist NASA in refining acquisition strategy, evaluating commercial capabilities, assessing schedule feasibility, and determining the appropriate level of competition and small business participation. No solicitation exists at this time. 

2. Background 

NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) Program is developing expanded communications and navigation capabilities to support missions operating beyond Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and throughout cislunar space. 

The LEGS initiative is intended to augment existing Near Space Network (NSN) capabilities through infrastructure and services that provide high-availability direct-to-Earth (DTE) communications coverage for missions operating from 36,000 kilometers (km) in Geostationary Orbit (GEO) to cis-lunar and other orbits out to 2 million km. NASA intends for the architecture to support lunar exploration activities associated with the Artemis campaign, NASA’s Moon Base, and broader Moon-to-Mars objectives. 

NASA is exploring partnership models that leverage commercial investment, infrastructure development, and operational expertise while enabling NASA mission support requirements. 

3. Desired Capability Outcomes 

NASA is interested in commercial approaches capable of achieving the following preliminary deployment objectives: 

Phase 1: At minimum, three (3) lunar DTE ground stations providing continuous coverage capability should be operational by July 2027 to support initial NASA mission requirements. 

Phase 2: A redundant architecture consisting of at minimum six (6) globally distributed lunar DTE ground stations (two per operational region) is desired by July 2028. 

Phase 3: Expanded network capacity and resiliency consisting of up to nine (9) lunar DTE ground stations (three per operational region) is desired by July 2029. 

Ground stations proposed under this effort may include infrastructure associated with Category 1.2 of the Near Space Network Services (NSNS) contract or other commercially available capabilities. 

4. Preliminary Technical Characteristics 

The following preliminary technical characteristics are provided for planning purposes only and may be refined in any future solicitation: 

• X-band and Ka-band uplink and downlink capabilities 

• Communications coverage extending from GEO through cislunar space to approximately 2 million km 

• Continuous coverage with geographically distributed ground sites 

• Integration into an operational service architecture capable of supporting NASA missions 

• High-availability operational support and sustainment 

• Scalable network operations capable of supporting multiple simultaneous users and future mission growth 

5. Government-Furnished Property (GFP) 

NASA anticipates providing the following Government-furnished property as part of the partnership: 

• One (1) LEGS antenna subsystem installed at NASA’s White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico 

• Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) support for the first NASA-provided antenna subsystem 

• Manufacture and storage of a second LEGS antenna subsystem 

NASA will retain ownership of Government-furnished antennas throughout the period of performance. Final disposition of Government-furnished property will occur in accordance with NASA direction at contract completion. 

6. Desired Partnership Structure 

NASA is considering a Public Private Partnership (3Ps) model under which commercial partners would provide operational communications services while leveraging both Government-furnished and commercially developed infrastructure. NASA currently anticipates the following preliminary partnership characteristics: 

• Firm-Fixed-Price contract structure for end-to-end communications services 

• Period of performance of no less than five (5) years 

• NASA mission priority over non-Government users 

• Ability of the partner to commercially utilize excess network capacity and provide services to non-NASA customers within the emerging cislunar and commercial space communications market. 

• NASA funding support for initial validation and integration activities associated with NASA-provided antennas 

• Contractor responsibility for all other development, infrastructure, operational, and sustainment costs 

The Contractor would be responsible for: 

• Integration of NASA-provided assets into the operational service architecture 

• Installation of the second antenna subsystem 

• Supporting infrastructure 

• Operations, maintenance, sustainment, and lifecycle support 

• Property accountability and risk management 

• Development and deployment of additional ground stations required to achieve operational objectives 

7. Capability Statement Instructions 

Interested parties are invited to submit capability statements of no more than ten (10) pages. Capability statements should include, at minimum: 

• Company overview, organizational capabilities, and relevant experience supporting comparable communications, ground systems, or space infrastructure efforts, including current and previous projects or contracts demonstrating the ability to support the operational objectives described herein. 

• An assessment of the viability of the arrangement outlined above, and a description of potential partnership structures, technical approaches, and business arrangements that maximize mutual benefit while ensuring reliable, high-availability support for NASA mission needs. 

• Evaluation of realistic deployment schedules, associated technical and programmatic risks, and proposed mitigation strategies necessary to achieve NASA mission timelines.  

Respondents are strongly encouraged to provide empirical proof of past performance to support schedule evaluation and technical capabilities. 

Description of the extent to which the proposed services, infrastructure, and capabilities represent commercial or commercial-type products and services in accordance with FAR 2.101, Definitions. 

Respondents may not submit confidential, proprietary, or export-controlled information, including International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) restricted information, in responses to this Sources Sought 

8. Acquisition Considerations 

NASA GRC is seeking capability statements from all interested parties, including all socioeconomic categories of Small Businesses and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)/Minority Institutions (MI) for the purposes of determining the appropriate level of competition and/or small business subcontracting goals for LEGS Public Private Partnership (3Ps). 

The Government reserves the right to consider a Small, 8(a), Women-owned (WOSB), Service-Disabled Veteran (SD-VOSB), Economically Disadvantaged Women-owned Small Business (EDWOSB) or HUBZone business set-aside based on responses received. 

9. Administrative Information 

This Sources Sought notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as a commitment by the Government. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with preparation or submission of responses. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the evaluation. 

No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring this website for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. 

All responses shall be submitted electronically via email to Ian Park, Contracting Officer at ian.park@nasa.gov and Claude David at claude.e.david@nasa.gov no later than June 9, 2026, at 5:00 PM EDT. Please reference 80GRC026RFI0001 in any response.