The U.S. Air Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program Office, part of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise, released a solicitation for the Orbital Services Program-4 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract today.
OSP-4 is a follow-on to the OSP-3 contract that is set to expire in November. OSP-4 will allow for the rapid acquisition of launch services to meet mission requirements enabling launch within 12-24 months from task order award on a competitive basis. It is designed to accommodate payloads greater than 400 lbs. The Air Force projects to procure about 20 missions over the nine year period.
Proposals are due by Aug. 29, 2019. The Air Force intends to award an IDIQ contract to multiple awardees by the end of the year with an opportunity to on-ramp new providers in future years.
Colonel Rob Bongiovi, director of SMC’s Launch Enterprise, said the OSP-4 contract will build on SMC's Rocket Systems Launch Program’s legacy of success dating back to the early 1960’s by supporting Department of Defense and U.S. government agencies’ small launch efforts for the next nine years. In today’s contested space domain, contracts must be flexible and responsive to meet the challenges facing the warfighter. The program balances technology, mission risk, and schedule while leveraging rapidly evolving market forces to cultivate a resilient and affordable launch capability for U.S. government needs.i.
Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Rose, Chief of the Small Launch and Targets Division at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, added that the OSP-3 contract was very successful and served the Launch Enterprise well with five awarded missions. For example, partnerships with NOAA, NASA and academia launched 24 satellites using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. This mission demonstrated innovations, like reusability, from new entrants that could drive down the cost and enhance reliability of National Security Space launch. And later this year Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems will launch a National Reconnaissance Office payload using a Minotaur launch vehicle. OSP-4 will be equally successful as a showcase for industry innovation and a gateway to even more affordable space launch, because more risks can be taken, more quickly, to produce high rewards for the Launch Enterprise.
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