David Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC                      July 24, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1730)

Susan Hendrix
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
(Phone:  301/286-0045)

RELEASE:  c98-j

NASA SELECTS QUICK RIDE CONTRACTOR

     NASA has awarded a contract to a Maryland firm to procure 
excess space aboard commercial satellites for various scientific 
and engineering missions.

     NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, has 
awarded an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract known 
as "Quick Ride" to Final Analysis, Inc. of Lanham, MD.  The 
contract, which has a maximum value of $49 million and a minimum 
ordering amount of $1,000, will allow for the placement of firm, 
fixed-price task orders within 30 days.

     Under NASA's current contract consolidation initiative, any 
NASA Center along with other government agencies will be able to 
purchase excess space aboard commercial satellites for various 
Earth science, space science and technology instrumentation 
payloads, thus resulting in faster, better, cheaper science 
missions.

     During contract performance, NASA will be developing a 
catalog for potential customers, which will include information 
regarding satellite launch dates, intended orbits, and 
configuration of available space for each contractor participating 
in Quick Ride.

     A precedent setting contractual mechanism under the Quick 
Ride contract called "On-Ramps" will allow NASA to solicit 
additional proposals and accept unsolicited proposals from 
commercial satellite firms during the contract's five-year 
performance period, thus allowing NASA to provide additional Quick 
Ride services to potential customers.

     NASA's intent is for Quick Ride to conform with commercial 
industry practices. Government-provided instrumentation and/or 
payloads will be expected to conform to the accommodations onboard 
the commercial satellites in order to prevent any impact to 
commercial integration and launch schedules or primary payloads.


                            -end-