Contract · Federal · No Set aside used

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Frequency Reference System (FRS) Flight

Agency: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION / NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Location: Boulder, CO
Amount: Amount not listed
Posted: Sep 4, 2026
Set-aside: No Set aside used
NAICS code: 336414 look up NAICS codes
PSC code: 1675

Timeline

Posted

Sep 4, 2026
Status

Closing soon

What contracts like this typically pay

No award history yet for this category (NAICS 336414).

What this contract is for

Agency: NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION / NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
Location: Boulder, CO
Set-aside: No Set aside used
NAICS: 336414
Scope: Federal

NASA/GSFC has a requirement for the design, fabrication, qualification, and delivery of flight Frequency Reference System (FRS) hardware for NASA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, consisting of three Flight Models and one Flight Spare.

Each FRS unit comprises two tightly coupled subsystems, the FRS optical reference cavity (FRS-O) and the FRS frequency-locking electronics (FRS-E), which together stabilize the laser frequency using a Pound-Drever-Hall lock to meet LISA's picometer-scale measurement needs, with deliveries required on an aggressive schedule between February 2029 and May 2030.

Minimal post-delivery support is included.

NASA/GSFC intends to issue a sole source contract to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems Inc. (BAE SMS) under the authority of FAR 6.103-1, to acquire the LISA FRS flight hardware.

Based on a publicly issued Sources Sought Notice, only BAE SMS is capable of meeting the full FRS-O and FRS-E requirements within the fixed delivery schedule.

BAE SMS possesses directly relevant flight heritage across both the FRS-O and FRS-E subsystems, including the GRACE Follow-On and GRACE-C optical cavities that are heritage to the LISA FRS-O, and it is already under contract with NASA GSFC developing mature, pre-flight LISA FRS hardware through a full Technology Readiness Level and Engineering Test Unit phase.

This existing hardware baseline, combined with BAE's established relationships with the specialized suppliers of the custom, long-lead FRS components, positions BAE SMS to meet the aggressive delivery dates required for NASA system-level integration and subsequent delivery to ESA under the NASA-ESA Memorandum of Understanding.

No other source possesses the hardware maturity, technical heritage, or supplier relationships to successfully meet...

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