The US Court of Federal Claims has denied Sierra Nevada’s request to halt work by Boeing and SpaceX on NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) programme.
Having lost out in the contract award process for CCtCap, which is worth a…
The US Court of Federal Claims has denied Sierra Nevada’s request to halt work by Boeing and SpaceX on NASA’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) programme.
Having lost out in the contract award process for CCtCap, which is worth a total US$6.8bn, Sierra Nevada filed a legal challenge with the US Government Accountability Office in late September citing inconsistencies in the source selection process.
The protest triggered an automatic stoppage to work on the programme until 9 October when NASA, under the statutory authority available to it, intervened and decided to proceed with the contracts awarded.
Justifying its decision, the agency stated that “failure to provide the CCtCap transportation service as soon as possible poses risks to the International Space Station (ISS) crew”.
This prompted Sierra Nevada to file an application with the US Court of Federal Claims to once more suspend work on CCtCap. The company argued that NASA’s override was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and is contrary to law”.
It added: “Plaintiff SNC respectfully requests that this temporary retraining order remain in force until the court enters a preliminary injunction or a final judgement on the merits of this case.”
However, federal judge Marian Blank Horn disagreed and accepted NASA’s view that work on the CCtCap programme was pressing. She stated in the court order: “Given the urgency to resolve the override issue, the court provided the parties with a verbal decision declining to overrule the override.”
The crux of Sierra Nevada’s complaint over the award process is that the contract prioritised price as the primary evaluation criteria for the proposals. It argues that its Dream Chaser vehicle bid represented the second-lowest priced offer, significantly less than Boeing’s.
Sierra Nevada estimates that, with the current awards, the US government would spend up to US$900m more than it would have if NASA had selected its proposition.
The GAO has until 5 January 2015 to decide on the challenge.
