The UAB Engineering and Innovative Technology Development (EITD) research group was recently announced as a partner in a $500-million contract issued from NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) Program Office.

The Research, Engineering, and Mission Integration (REMIS) contract was awarded to Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE) with EITD listed as a partner on the project. “This is similar to some other contracts we’ve had in that NASA will issue task order requests, and we will submit proposals for the tasks that fit our areas of expertise,” said Lee Moradi, EITD director and professor of mechanical engineering. “The funding that comes to UAB will depend on which jobs our team is included on over the length of the contract, which is five years with a two-year option.”

REMIS is an IDIQ (Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity) contract and has a total of 16 contractors competing on the upcoming delivery orders.

While EITD is just one part of a larger team included in the contract, the likelihood that projects will come to UAB is high. EITD already has several contracts for ISS-related projects, including design and maintenance of a series of transportable freezer units, design of a permanent orbiting set of freezer units, and development of technology for rapid-freezing of scientific samples in orbit.