In this document, the Source Selection Authority (SSA) stated that NASA was forced to go with one contractor due to budget considerations. This was in reference to what NASA indicated in their Source Selection Statement, which accompanied the Apr. In a separate filing by Dynetics, they indicated how the selection of one company represented a failure on the part of NASA to consult all the parties involved. In addition, Blue Origin claimed that NASA had acted in bad faith, choosing to go with one design when initially, they indicated the desire to select two. Here too, Blue Origin claimed that a flawed evaluation was why Blue Origin was passed over in favor of SpaceX. This followed an appeal made by Blue Origin and Dynetics (another finalist for the HLS contract) to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Apr. Blue Origin filed suit with them back in August, claiming that NASA had selectively enforced safety requirements in the HLS bidding process, claiming that the Starship HLS was a risky design.
government, mainly where federal contracts are concerned.
Court of Federal Claims (as it exists today) was established in 1982 to address monetary claims against the U.S. While this means that SpaceX can get back to developing their concept – the Starship HLS – in preparation for the Artemis III missions, it is unclear if that mission will happen on schedule. This puts an end to nearly seven months of legal proceedings and gridlock following SpaceX’s selection back in April. Court of Federal Claims officially shot Blue Origin’s protest down. In a recently-announced decision, the U.S. This system is a vital piece of the Artemis Program mission architecture, which will be used in the coming years to transport crew and cargo to the lunar surface. This was none other than the legal action filed by Blue Origin in response to NASA selecting SpaceX to execute the Human Landing System (HLS) contract worth $2.9 billion. GAO ultimately dismissed the case, concluding that NASA's evaluation of all the proposals for the mission "was reasonable and consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation, and the announcement's terms." Before GAO revealed its decision, though, Jeff Bezos wrote an open letter to NASA, telling the agency that Blue Origin is willing to waive up to $2 billion in payments in return for a fixed-price lander contract.For months, the commercial space sector has waited for a pivotal case to be resolved. Blue Origin argued that the selection process was unfair, because it wasn't given the opportunity to revise its bid like SpaceX was able to.
As The Verge notes, that complaint put the SpaceX contract on hold for 95 days, so this is the second time NASA and Elon Musk's company have to temporarily halt the project. However, it only received a fraction of the budget it requested for the Artemis lunar lander, which will be designed to carry human astronauts to the surface of the moon from the Orion spacecraft, and chose to forgo awarding a second contract.īezos' company first challenged the decision back in April and filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The agency historically works with more than one contractor for each mission to ensure that it can launch in time. "In exchange for this temporary stay of work, all parties agreed to an expedited litigation schedule that concludes on November 1st," the space agency said in a statement.īlue Origin sued NASA over its decision to award a lunar lander contract to SpaceX alone when it originally planned to award two contracts.
The space agency told Reuters that it temporarily ceased all work on the project after Jeff Bezos' company Blue Origin filed a complaint against it with the US Court of Federal Claims. SpaceX won't be working on its $2.9 billion lunar lander contract for a while after NASA agreed to put the project on hold.
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