The GAO also said that while NASA considered the three proposals fairly and acknowledged that NASA had improperly waived a requirement for SpaceX, this error was not serious enough to merit a remake of the competition.
“Despite this finding, the decision also concludes that the protesters failed to establish a reasonable possibility of competitive bias arising from this limited inconsistency in assessment.” GAO said in a statement..
The award for SpaceX is given only for the first moon landing planned for 2024, but few expect it to happen soon. “GAO’s decision will allow NASA and SpaceX to establish a timeline for the first manned landing on the moon in more than 50 years,” NASA said in a statement.
NASA officials have said they will hold another moon landing contest open to Blue Origin, Dynetics and all other companies.
In his letter, Mr. Bezos said NASA must choose now to ensure competition. “Competition will prevent any single source from having insurmountable power over NASA,” he wrote.
After the decision, Blue Origin said in a statement: “We remain firm in our belief that there are fundamental issues with NASA’s decision, but GAO was unable to address them due to their limited jurisdiction. We will continue to advocate for the two immediate providers as we believe they are the right solution.”
In an effort to encourage NASA to reopen competition, Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, a Democrat from Washington, where Blue Origin is headquartered, added a bipartisan provision requiring the agency to select a second contractor to an expanding research and technology bill. Passed the Senate by an overwhelming majority in June. Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, meant “recovery” For Mr. Bezos’ company. But powerful senators on the Commerce Committee backed it up, arguing that NASA always intended to award two awards.