Space Commerce: NASA Changes Its Mind – Again

NASA commercial crew program shifts contracting strategy, Florida Today
“NASA today told industry partners it would abandon the use of Space Act Agreements in the next phase of the program developing commercial crew taxis, despite many companies’ preference for them. “We’ve made our decision and we recognize that not everyone will agree with it, but we’re at the point where we had to make one and move forward,” Brent Jett, deputy director of the Commercial Crew Program office, said during a meeting at Kennedy Space Center.”
Keith’s note: I love it when people with no apparent commercial experience in the real world make decisions like this regarding commercial partnerships. And then they wonder why companies are increasingly wary of entering into new ways of doing “business” with NASA when NASA is constantly changing the rules.
You can download slides from the NASA Commercial Crew Program Forum presentations here. There will be a Commercial Crew Transportation Technical Requirements Workshop on 4 October 2011 and an Industry Day on 5 October. Location TBA.