National Aeronautics and Space Administration

How to Win NASA Contracts

Winning work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administrationmeans understanding a procurement culture that blends rigorous compliance, deep mission focus, and a preference for vendors who can speak the agency's language from day one. This guide walks through how NASA buys, the vehicles it uses, and the steps your company should take to go from registered vendor to awarded contractor.

Understanding NASA Procurement

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration obligates roughly $18-22B in contracts annually across Artemis (human exploration), Science Mission Directorate (heliophysics, Earth science, planetary, astrophysics), Space Technology, Aeronautics, and supporting institutional programs at 10 field centers.

NASA spend concentrates on major primes (SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Blue Origin, Axiom, Ball, L3Harris), but the agency is also a significant small-business buyer, and SBIR/STTR at NASA is among the largest federal programs.

How NASA Buys

NASA operates SEWP VI (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement), a government-wide acquisition contract heavily used by NASA and DoW for IT products and services. Center-level procurement offices at JSC, KSC, MSFC, GRC, GSFC, LaRC, ARC, AFRC, JPL, and SSC run program contracts.

NASA uses BAAs, Announcement of Opportunity (AOs) for science missions, OTAs for commercial crew/cargo, and traditional FAR-based contracts. Cooperative agreements and Space Act Agreements add additional paths.

Major Contract Vehicles

• SEWP VI— NASA-operated GWAC for IT products and services, the preferred IT vehicle for NASA and a top-5 vehicle for DoW and civilian agencies.
• ESC III (Enterprise Services Center)— NASA IT services IDIQ for enterprise applications and operations.
• Human Landing System and Artemis Contracts— Major primes for lunar lander, Gateway, and Orion programs.
• Commercial Crew/Cargo Contracts— SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Space, Axiom, and others under commercial service agreements.
• SBIR/STTR— NASA’s small-business technology development program, among the most active in federal.

Step 1: Get Registered and Compliant

Step 2: Identify Opportunities

Step 3: Position Your Company

Step 4: Develop Winning Proposals

Winning Strategies

1. Use SBIR/STTR as a long-term NASA entry path; successful awardees build Phase III contracts.
2. Specialize by center and mission directorate. JSC human spaceflight is different from GSFC science.
3. Team with NASA incumbents on subcontract roles to build past performance.
4. Pursue SEWP as a hardware vendor or reseller for scalable IT flow.
5. Track Artemis and lunar commercialization programs for multi-year procurement waves.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Under-investing in safety and mission assurance culture on human-spaceflight proposals.
2. Treating field centers as interchangeable. Each center has distinct cultures.
3. Pricing cost-type work aggressively; NASA cost-realism adjustments can take proposals out of competitive range.

Small Business Programs

NASA consistently exceeds small-business goals across categories. 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, and SDVOSB are all active. SBIR/STTR is a major entry point for innovative small firms.

Key Contracting Offices

• NASA HQ Office of Procurement — Washington, DC
• Johnson Space Center Office of Procurement — Houston, TX
• Kennedy Space Center Procurement — Kennedy Space Center, FL
• Marshall Space Flight Center Procurement — Huntsville, AL
• Goddard Space Flight Center Procurement — Greenbelt, MD
• Langley Research Center Procurement — Hampton, VA

NASA by the Numbers