The aerospace
magazine Aviation Week and Space
Technology (AWST) reports
that an internal document by William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s Associate
Administrator, sheds light to the selection criteria that NASA used to award to
Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) contracts on Commercial Crew
Transportation Capability (CCtCap), in order to transport NASA astronauts to
the International Space Station (ISS) as of 2017. The main criteria were the maturity
of concepts proposed and the degree of risk to schedule.
Boeing, SpaceX
and Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) had competed for contract awards, worth of
6,8 billion USD, to develop crew transportation vehicles to the ISS. Currently,
the only means to transport crewmembers to the ISS is the Russian Soyuz vehicle,
which costs
NASA 76,3 million USD per astronaut roundtrip. This fact, combined with the
recent US-Russian political tension on the Crimea annexation, has accelerated
US efforts to develop autonomous crew transportation capability. Therefore, NASA
runs a program called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), which
funds the development of new vehicles. CCtCap is part of the wider Commercial
Crew Transportation (CCT) program.
In September
2014, NASA awarded 4,2 billion USD to Boeing and 2,6 billion USD to SpaceX,
thus excluding SNC from further funding. Details on the selection criteria and
the reasons for the different amounts awarded were not released. AWST claims to possess an internal
document drafted by NASA’s Associate Administrator, which offers some
clarifications.
SNC’s proposal
was deemed to be less technically mature than the proposals of the other
competitors, hence creating greater risks for schedule overruns. Boeing was found
to have the most reliable technical and management approach, combined with very
good past performance. SpaceX’s proposal was the most cost attractive, while its
management received also very favorable comments. As a result, SNC’s proposal
was judged to be weaker in relation to Boeing’s technical reliability and
SpaceX’s cost attractiveness.
SNC has filed
a protest against NASA’s decision before the US Government Accountability
Office claiming “inconsistencies in the selection process”.
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