2021 Dual Use Technology Development Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) at Marshall Space Flight Center

The Marshall Associate Director, Technical, oversees and directs Center-wide technology development efforts. A goal of Marshall’s technology efforts is to provide technology for programs and projects through leveraged technology investments and development partnerships with industry, academia, government agencies, and national laboratories. At Marshall, this includes providing technology development capabilities in specific engineering disciplines, developing advanced technologies that leverage MSFC’s expertise in propulsion systems, space transportation, space systems, and scientific research, and providing technology solutions to address both Center and Agency-level technology needs through joint partnerships. One of Marshall’s objectives is to facilitate the development of new technologies to help meet technology needs for NASA missions at MSFC through technology partnerships. This Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) is one method of accomplishing this objective. The purpose of this CAN is to identify candidate technology partnerships with U.S. industry and academic/non-profit organizations that complement the technology development interests of MSFC. The goal is to support collaborative, resource-sharing projects where the NASA partner is developing a technology primarily for its own public purposes, and NASA can provide financial support or other assistance. This notice is seeking responses from potential U.S. industry, academic, and/or non-profit organization partners interested in entering into a cost-sharing or matching cooperative agreement with NASA for the joint development of technologies to meet partner needs as well as those of MSFC. These MSFC technology development projects are sponsored by the Marshall Associate Director, Technical, and this CAN solicitation is managed at the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama. However, any cooperative agreement(s) resulting from this CAN will be issued and administered through the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) located at the Stennis Space Center (SSC), Mississippi. To minimize unnecessary proposal efforts on the part of Offerors, the CAN partnership selection is a two-step process that consists of the submission of an initial Step-1 White Paper, proposing a new technology development concept related to one or more of MSFC’s Technology Focus Areas as identified within this announcement. The Marshall Associate Director, Technical will then assess whether the proposed technology development concept effectively complements the technology interests and needs of MSFC. Offerors whose Step-1 White Paper technology concepts are selected by the Marshall Associate Director, Technical will be invited by the MSFC Agreement Officer to submit a Step-2 Project Proposal. All White Papers and Project Proposals shall be submitted in accordance with the instructions in this announcement and shall meet the project requirements identified. Proposals will be selected for NASA Cooperative Agreement project awards based on the criteria described in the following sections of this announcement and consideration of available NASA resources at the time of the selection decision. NASA reserves the right to reject any proposal which it determines does not meet the stated requirements. Under this notice, NASA will award cost-sharing cooperative agreements to U.S. industry, academia, and/or non-profit entities in accordance with the requirements at 14 CFR 1274 and 2 CFR 200, respectively, and as further implemented within the Grant and Cooperative Agreement Manual (GCAM). The GCAM is available at: https://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/srba/documents/Grant_and_CooperativeAgreementManual.pdf