NASA awards space centre contract to Qinetiq

NASA announced on 18 November that the contract has a base period of five years with three one-year options and that the maximum potential value of the award is approximately $1.96bn (£1.22bn).

Qinetiq said in a statement that Qinetiq North America is in discussions with NASA to finalise the details of the contract, including the scope of work expected under the initial increments of the indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ), which will not equate directly to the headline ceiling value of the award.

The work will be undertaken by Qinetiq’s US Services business and its partners and is likely to include design and development of ground systems and equipment for handling, test, checkout, servicing and other ground processing of launch vehicles, spacecraft and payloads.

Qinetiq is also likely to provide flight systems engineering and support engineering for space flight hardware and software; development of technology that addresses NASA mission requirements and operational needs; and operation of laboratories and developmental shops.