GAO denies protest of $6.7B NASA space taxi awards to Boeing and SpaceXAmerican City Business Journals
Jill R. Aitoro Senior Staff Reporter- Jan 5, 2015, 12:07pm EST
The Boeing Co. will deliver it's CST-100 — one of two manned capsules that will fly humans to Earth orbit and the International Space Station by 2017 under a $6.7 billion contract. Boeing will share the win with SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., which will deliver a manned version of its Dragon capsule that has already traveled to the space station under its contract for cargo delivery. The Boeing Co.The award of contracts to Boeing Co. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to deliver space taxis that will transport astronauts to the International Space Station will stand.
The Government Accountability Office denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp., which argued NASA didn't properly evaluate proposals and placed undue emphasis on the planned schedule to obtain a transportation system by the end of 2017.
NASA announced in September its decision for the Commercial Crew Program, awarding Boeing and SpaceX contracts to move forward with development of commercial human spaceships that will transport astronauts. Sierra Nevada had offered its Dream Chaser crew transportation system at a price of $2.55 billion — less than Boeing's $3.01 billion pitch for its CST-100 crew transportation system, but more than SpaceX's $1.75 billion price for the Dragon crew transportation system.
According to the GAO decision, NASA recognized Boeing's higher price but also considered Boeing's proposal to be the strongest of all three proposals in terms of technical approach, management approach and past performance. NASA also recognized several favorable features in the Sierra Nevada and SpaceX proposals, but ultimately concluded that SpaceX's lower price made it a better value than the proposal submitted by Sierra Nevada.
So what about the timeline?
GAO found no undue emphasis on NASA's consideration of each offeror's proposed schedule, and likelihood to achieve crew transportation system certification not later than 2017.
"Contrary to Sierra Nevada's assertions, the RFP clearly advised offerors that their proposals would be evaluated against the goal of certification by the end of 2017," the decision noted.
The protest, filed Sept. 26, delayed progress under the program only slightly. NASA suspended performance as is customary during protest proceedings for only two weeks, deciding Oct. 9 to exercise its statutory authority to proceed, arguing that "failure to provide the …transportation service as soon as possible poses risks to the International Space Station crew, jeopardizes continued operation of the ISS, would delay meeting critical crew size requirements, and may result in the U.S. failing to perform the commitments it made in its international agreements."
Chicago-based Boeing, which touts a regional headquarters in Arlington and employs more than 3,200 in the Washington area, got the larger of the two contracts at $4.2 billion. SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, was awarded $2.6 billion for a manned version of its Dragon capsule that has already traveled to the space station under its contract for cargo delivery.
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