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WASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Office has provided more details on its decision to reject protests filed by two companies for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) award to SpaceX.
GAO released a 76-page decision on August 10 denying protests filed in April by Blue Origin and Dynetics against NASA’s decision to award a single HLS prize, worth $ 2.9 billion, to SpaceX. GAO announced its decision on July 30 but withheld the official decision note until a version suitable for public release, with editors, was available.
The GAO rejected claims by the protesting companies that NASA erred in awarding a single award when it discussed its desire to award multiple awards. The “clear terms” of the solicitation, GAO concluded, “clearly warned protesters that NASA may issue multiple awards, one award, or no award.”
The GAO decision provides further details on the financial constraints faced by NASA when evaluating HLS proposals. NASA received $ 850 million from Congress in fiscal 2021 for the HLS program and identified an additional $ 96 million from other programs that could go to HLS. However, $ 389 million of that funding was already committed to NASA’s “base period” awards to Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX in 2020, and $ 202 million earmarked for internal and other program costs. That left $ 355 million available for the new HLS pricing.
All three companies have requested up-front milestone payments above that amount, though the exact numbers are redacted in GAO’s public document. NASA has asked SpaceX, the lowest bidder, to revise its payment structure to address this. The document does not reveal the new value of that initial milestone payment, although government contract records show that NASA paid SpaceX $ 300 million on July 30, the day GAO rejected the protests.
Blue Origin and Dynetics, GAO concluded, “have not submitted proposals that will allow NASA to award multiple awards with funding available for the HLS program.” While questions about the importance of several competitors, the GAO added in its ruling, “may merit further public debate, they do not establish that NASA violated any applicable procurement law or regulation. markets “.
The GAO also rejected claims by Blue Origin and Dynetics that their proposals were unfairly assessed against SpaceX’s proposal. These range from Blue Origin’s criticism of how its lander’s communication system was rated to the mass of Dynetics’ lander that “far exceeds” its allocation.
GAO dismissed the allegations, concluding that “the case adequately supports NASA’s assessment of the protesters’ proposals and complied with applicable law, regulation and supply terms” of the solicitation.
However, GAO accepted a claim from protesters about how NASA assessed SpaceX’s proposal. SpaceX’s concept of operations for its Starship lunar lander requires 16 launches: one from the lander itself, 14 “tanker” Starships to refuel it, and another with a drafted purpose. Protesters argued that NASA erred in not requiring a flight readiness examination (FRR) for every launch.
GAO agreed that, under the terms of the solicitation, one FRR is required before each launch, rather than one for the entire series of launches. NASA asked SpaceX to modify its proposal to include two additional FRRs, but GAO said that still did not meet the requirements of the solicitation.
However, the GAO also concluded that this oversight did not have a significant impact on competition, stating in the document that “the record reflects that NASA’s assessment was largely reasonable and that the relative competitive position of the bidders with respect to factors other than price would not change materially.
Dynetics did not comment on the GAO report and, in a July 30 statement, said that “while disappointed, we respect GAO’s resolve.” Blue Origin, however, offered no concessions even after the report was released.
“The GAO report confirms NASA’s desire for multiple awards and confirms that there were significant issues with the way NASA conducted this procurement process,” the company said in a statement from 11. August. “We maintain our assessment that SpaceX has received preferential treatment by conducting exclusive negotiations with them.”
The company said it had urged NASA to select a second supplier, which agency officials said they support but lack funding to do so currently. “Two suppliers ensure greater security and mission success, promote competition and control costs. “
SpaceX has not commented on the report beyond tweets from company founder and CEO Elon Musk address an aspect of the report regarding the need for 16 launches to support a single Starship lunar lander mission. “16 flights are extremely unlikely,” he said, estimating a “max of 8” flights to fill the tanks given Starship’s expected payload capacity, and possibly as few as four.
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