This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Artemis

GAO Denies Blue Origin and Dynetics Protests Over NASA HLS Award

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
July 30, 2021
Filed under , , , ,
GAO Denies Blue Origin and Dynetics Protests Over NASA HLS Award

GAO Statement on Blue Origin-Dynetics Decision – Protests Denied
“On Friday, July 30, 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied protests filed by Blue Origin Federation, LLC, of South Kent, Washington, and Dynetics, Inc.-A Leidos Company, of Huntsville, Alabama. The protesters challenged their non-selection for awards and the award of optional contract line item numbers to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), of Hawthorne, California, under Option A to Appendix H of Broad Agency Announcement (the announcement) No. NNH19ZCQ001K. Broad Agency Announcements typically provide for the acquisition of basic and applied research for new and creative research or development solutions to scientific and engineering problems. The rules for these procurements are not the same as those for standard competitive federal procurements, as agencies generally enjoy broader discretion in selecting the proposals most suitable to meeting their research and development needs when utilizing broad agency announcement procedures. The announcement was issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), for a demonstration mission for a human landing system for lunar exploration.”
In denying the protests, GAO first concluded that NASA did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award. NASA’s announcement provided that the number of awards the agency would make was subject to the amount of funding available for the program. In addition, the announcement reserved the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no award at all. In reaching its award decision, NASA concluded that it only had sufficient funding for one contract award. GAO further concluded there was no requirement for NASA to engage in discussions, amend, or cancel the announcement as a result of the amount of funding available for the program. As a result, GAO denied the protest arguments that NASA acted improperly in making a single award to SpaceX.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “GAO Denies Blue Origin and Dynetics Protests Over NASA HLS Award”

  1. Ben Russell-Gough says:
    0
    0

    Good. Hopefully National Team and Dynetics will now cease being a spoke in this particular project’s cogwheels.

  2. Russel aka 'Rusty' Shackleford says:
    0
    0

    Hell yes!!!

  3. ed2291 says:
    0
    0

    Justice triumphs!

    What was lost was until now NASA could not coordinate with Space X about Starship. Time to make up for lost time.

    I hope it is not forgotten how Blue Origin and Dynetics acted in bad faith against the interests of the United States.

    • BeanCounterFromDownUnder says:
      0
      0

      Oh I don’t know about the ‘bad faith’ bit. Seems like it’s business as normal for U.S. companies in this industry where the losers seem to automatically cry fowl and let loose the lawyers.

      Anyway now we can get back to watching AND commenting on the real story – Starship and Super Heavy. Onward and upward.

      Cheers
      Neil
      PS it’s a saying. Don’t take the ‘upward’ literally.

      • Alan Ladwig says:
        0
        0

        Protesting awards are hardly “bad faith.” A routine part of bid strategies.

        • fcrary says:
          0
          0

          The bad faith part isn’t about the protest itself. It’s about the basis for the protest. Arguing, for example, that NASA should have selected two proposals (or recompeted the whole thing, once they found out they wouldn’t have money for two landers) is arguing in bad faith. The solicitation clearly said NASA would like to select two, but might only select one, or none at all, depending on available funds. Blue Origin’s protest claimed NASA changed the rules of the competition after the proposals were submitted, which isn’t true. Protesting awards is a common practice. Protesting the them on obviously false grounds isn’t (or shouldn’t be.)

  4. Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
    0
    0

    Hopefully given the acceleration of the sustaining contract neither company will file a protest with federal court of appeals. This win for SpaceX is just one lander crew flight. It is time to stop talking about going to the moon and start going. More than a generation has been wasted in PowerPoint engineering studies it is well beyond time to get back out there

  5. space1999 says:
    0
    0

    Let’s get this show on the road now!

  6. Half Moon says:
    0
    0

    Not surprised. Protests only succeed if it can be shown NASA did not follow the requirements in the FAR, i.e. ‘the process’. NASA is pretty good at following the FAR process. Which doesn’t mean they always make the best choice, just that it was done legally.

  7. Bad Horse says:
    0
    0

    Nothing is stopping BO from building a lander. He just has to pay for it. One idea would be for BO to cover the total cost and upon completion of a test program, NASA agrees to buy an n number of rides. But ONLY after, proven safe and beyond what SpaceX won.

    • fcrary says:
      0
      0

      There aren’t n rides available. NASA’s plan is to shift to a more capable lander after Artemis III. SpaceX plan is to simply provide that capability from the start, with Artemis III, and use the same lander for later missions. Blue Origin’s plan was to develop an enhanced version of the one they proposed for Artemis III (although it sounded like those “enhancements” would be big enough changes that it would be effectively a new design.) What you’re suggesting would probably mean Blue Origin has to go directly to the enhanced lander, or develop the proposed version (which would never be used by NASA) as a stepping stone towards providing the enhanced landers.

  8. Vladislaw says:
    0
    0

    Can’t wait for the Appendix N contract .. will it be BO or Dynetics ?