ars TECHNICA by Eric Berger - 7/23/2024
NASA wants a "robust" commercial space community. But it has a long way to go.There is an emerging truth about NASA's push toward commercial contracts that is increasingly difficult to escape: Companies not named SpaceX are struggling with NASA's approach of awarding firm, fixed-price contracts for space services.
This belief is underscored by the recent award of an $843 million contract to SpaceX for a heavily modified Dragon spacecraft that will be used to deorbit the International Space Station by 2030.
The recently released source selection statement for the "US Deorbit Vehicle" contract, a process led by NASA head of space operations Ken Bowersox, reveals that the competition was a total stomp. SpaceX faced just a single serious competitor in this process, Northrop Grumman. And in all three categories—price, mission suitability, and past performance—SpaceX significantly outclassed Northrop.
Although it's wonderful that NASA has an excellent contractor in SpaceX, it's not healthy in the long term that there are so few credible competitors. Moreover, a careful reading of the source selection statement reveals that NASA had to really work to get a competition at all.
"I was really happy that we got proposals from the companies that we did," Bowersox said during a media teleconference last week. "The companies that sent us proposals are both great companies, and it was awesome to see that interest. I would have expected a few more [proposals], honestly, but I was very happy to get the ones that we got."
More:
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/spacex-just-stomped-the-competition-for-a-new-contract-thats-not-great/
