September 29, 2014

Image Caption: SNC's Dream Chaser on runway at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at dawn. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation/NASA

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) has filed a formal protest over NASAs decision to grant a total of $6.8 billion in contracts to Boeing and SpaceX for the construction of next-generation vehicles to transport American astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

Those agreements, which were announced earlier this month, could pay Boeing up to $4.2 billion for use of their commercially owned and operated CST-100, and another $2.6 billion to SpaceX for use of their Dragon spacecraft. The goal is to have domestically-made vehicles available for use in manned missions by 2017.

SNC, which was also under consideration for those contracts, said that their bid could have saved NASA up to $900 million and that statements made by officials at the US space agency indicate that there are serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process, said Reuters reporters Andrea Shalal and Mohammad Zargham.

With the current awards, the U.S. government would spend up to $900 million more at the publicly announced contracted level for a space program equivalent to the program that SNC proposed, Sierra Nevada said in a statement. SNC, therefore, feels that there is no alternative but to institute a legal challenge, it continued, noting that a thorough review of NASAs decision to award the contracts must be conducted.

Furthermore, Andy Pasztor of the Wall Street Journal pointed out that SNC said the US space agencys selection of Boeing and CST-100 would result in a substantial increased cost to the public despite near equivalent technical and past performance scores, and that NASAs own selection records and debrief indicate the presence of serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process.

A NASA spokeswoman told Pasztor that the agency would have no comment while the legal challenge is pending with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), which must determine whether or not the complaint is valid. That process can take several months, the Wall Street Journal reporter added. NASA has not publically released the selection criteria, or how each of the three firms ranked in terms of technical, management and cost issues.

While Pasztor said that SNC was the only bidder to propose a winged vehicle able to land on a runway during its return trip from the international space station, he added that sources had informed him the company lagged behind the other two bidders in some technical rankings. Sierra Nevada said in their statement that its proposal was the second lowest priced and that it had achieved mission suitability scores comparable to its rivals.

Here is the original post:

Sierra Nevada Challenges NASA Decision On Crew Transport Contracts