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| Science & Technology | |
| Bezos sues NASA in tantrum over SpaceX winning moon contract. | |
| 2021-08-17 | |
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[SpaceNews] Blue Origin has filed suit against NASA in federal court, arguing that the agency failed to properly evaluate its proposal for the agency’s Human Landing System program, a procurement won by SpaceX. Blue Origin filed suit Aug. 13 in the Court of Federal Claims, which has jurisdiction over bid protests after reviews by the Government Accountability Office. The company sought a protective order, sealing documents it filed in the case. The court granted that protective order Aug. 16. The company said it requested the protective order “to protect confidential, proprietary, and source selection information contained in the Complaint, and other filings and hearing transcripts in this bid protest.” Only in the motion to seal filings in the case did Blue Origin explicitly state that the case was about the HLS “Option A” award that NASA made to SpaceX in April. “More specifically, this bid protest challenges NASA’s unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals submitted under the HLS Option A BAA,” or broad agency announcement, the company said in the motion. “Blue Origin filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in an attempt to remedy the flaws in the acquisition process found in NASA’s Human Landing System,” the company said a statement to SpaceNews. “We firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes must be addressed to restore fairness, create competition, and ensure a safe return to the Moon for America.” Blue Origin and Dynetics filed separate protests with the GAO in April, arguing NASA improperly evaluated their proposals compared to SpaceX, and that NASA erred in making only a single award rather than revising the competition or canceling it entirely. The GAO rejected those arguments, denying the protests July 30. The GAO went into more detail about its denial of the protests in an Aug. 10 public version of its decision document. It found no evidence that NASA improperly evaluated the proposals, concluding that “the record adequately supports NASA’s evaluation of the protesters’ proposals and was consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation, and the terms” of the solicitation. The GAO also concluded that NASA was within its rights to make only a single award, as the agency made clear in the Option A solicitation that it could make multiple awards, a single award or none at all. During the GAO protest, NASA halted work on the HLS award to SpaceX, but transferred $300 million to the company on July 30, the day the GAO denied the protests. It was not immediately clear if the Blue Origin suit in the Court of Federal Claims will force another stop-work order on the contract. Related: Blue Origin: 2021-07-21 Jeff Bezos giving $100 million to CNN fellas José Andrés, Van Jones after Blue Origin rocket flight Blue Origin: 2021-07-10 France as a flanking potential of NATO in the war with Russia Blue Origin: 2021-06-23 Congress is against SpaceX because they can't use it as a ‘jobs program’ Related: Washington Post: 2021-08-15 Biden Admin Pleads with Taliban to Go Easy, So as to Win Approval of ‘International Community' Washington Post: 2021-08-15 Afghanistan veterans are 'riveted in horror' by Taliban's 'faster-than-expected' takeover Washington Post: 2021-08-12 Taliban have completely besieged the provincial capital of Badghis and are advancing towards the city center ... | |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #3 The issue is what the different companies are trying to achieve. SpaceX is about launching things into space. Blue Origin and ULA are more about farming the government for contracts. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2021-08-17 09:15 |
| #2 Then NASA needs to bring all the Space Contractors to a 'meeting' and play for keepers |
| Posted by: Clusose the Wicked7490 2021-08-17 06:51 |
| #1 Unstated: SpaceX was the only bid that was inside NASAs budget. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2021-08-17 06:45 |