Direct contracting with NASA
A company may compete for work NASA buys directly, including competitive acquisitions and small-business opportunities. That route has its own registration steps, solicitation rules, and customer expectations.
Prepare Your Business for NASA and Prime-Contractor Opportunities
Pursuing a space-industry opportunity requires more than identifying a solicitation. Your business also needs the leadership, technical capability, operational discipline, and capacity to deliver. SLI helps organizations identify readiness gaps and prioritize practical improvements.
Two routes into the NASA marketplace
Subcontracting or supplying a NASA prime contractor
A company may also support a NASA program by selling to a prime contractor. Primes set their own supplier qualification, due diligence, and performance expectations. Those are not the same as a direct NASA award.
Each route has its own requirements, customer expectations, and qualification processes. Registration alone does not mean an organization is ready to perform.
What L.I.F.T. means for small businesses
NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs created L.I.F.T.—Leveraging Industry and Supply Chains for Future Technology—to strengthen the space industrial base, address supply-chain gaps, and expand small-business connections with NASA procurement officials and prime contractors.
On September 15, 2026, NASA OSBP held L.I.F.T. at Space Center Houston. That event is complete. NASA’s official page remains the place to review the agenda and the 2026 presentation materials NASA has posted.
The industrial-base and supplier-readiness focus of L.I.F.T. is the part that connects to SLI’s work. SLI helps organizations strengthen leadership, operations, workforce, risk management, and execution. That is independent capability development. It is not a NASA program, and it is not a path SLI controls.
SLI is an independent consulting organization. NASA L.I.F.T. is a NASA OSBP initiative. SLI does not represent NASA, did not operate L.I.F.T., and does not guarantee contract awards or prime-contractor introductions.
Readiness areas to discuss with SLI
These ten topics are a discussion guide for a consultation. They are not an official NASA qualification standard, and they are not a checklist that every company must complete in the same way. Cybersecurity, export control, quality, registration, and other compliance topics apply only as the opportunity and its requirements require.
Business registration and contracting fundamentals
Whether core registrations and contracting basics are in place for the kind of work the company wants to pursue.
NAICS and market alignment
Whether the company’s codes, capabilities, and target customers describe the same work.
Technical capability
Whether the organization can explain what it does and how that work addresses a real customer need.
Leadership and organizational accountability
Whether roles, decision rights, and management capacity are clear enough to perform under a contract.
Relevant past performance
Whether the company can show results a NASA buyer or a prime contractor can evaluate.
Staffing, facilities, and contract execution capacity
Whether people, facilities, and suppliers can support the work if the company is selected.
Compliance and risk awareness
Where cybersecurity, quality, safety, export control, or data-handling expectations may apply. This is awareness of gaps, not legal advice or a certification service.
Opportunity selection and capture planning
How the company chooses which opportunities fit, and what it would need before pursuing them.
Capability statements and proposal preparation
Whether the company can describe its capabilities clearly and organize a response. SLI can help leaders assess that organizational readiness. SLI does not provide proposal-writing or legal services.
NASA and prime-contractor engagement planning
How to use public NASA OSBP resources, outreach, and a prime contractor’s own supplier process. SLI does not arrange government introductions.
Discuss a Mission Readiness Assessment
A Mission Readiness Assessment is a consultation topic, not a scored product with a fixed price or a guaranteed package. In a conversation, SLI can walk through where the organization is strong and where work is still needed before it pursues NASA or prime-contractor opportunities.
Assess
Review the business, its target opportunities, and how it operates today.
Identify gaps
Separate what is already in place from what still needs attention.
Prepare an action plan
Prioritize practical next steps the leadership team can own.
Improve readiness
Use that plan to strengthen capability before competing.
Topics a discussion may cover include a readiness scorecard, a gap analysis, risk priorities, a 90-day action plan, and a management briefing. What is actually produced depends on the engagement you agree to. SLI does not assign a numerical score, issue a NASA certification, or decide eligibility.
Proposed assessment categories:
Ready
Developing
Gap
Official NASA and contracting resources
These are external government sites. SLI does not host NASA presentations. NASA’s L.I.F.T. page is the current source for 2026 event materials, including presentation PDFs NASA has posted there.
NASA L.I.F.T. 2026
Official event page from NASA’s Office of Small Business Programs, including posted 2026 materials.
Doing Business with NASA
NASA OSBP guidance for companies that want to understand how to do business with the agency.
NASA Office of Small Business Programs
The office that leads NASA’s small-business programs, including L.I.F.T.
SAM.gov
The federal system used for entity registration and many contracting notices.
Where Does Your Business Need to Get Ready?
Discuss your capabilities, target opportunities, and organizational readiness with Space Leadership Institute.