Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) on Wednesday sued to ensure work on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is stopped while the company’s bid protest plays out, according to a filing in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
SNC on Sept. 26 protested with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) NASA’s awards to Boeing [BA] and
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) for work on the next-generation system to get astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA on Sept. 16 awarded Boeing $4.2 billion and SpaceX $2.6 billion.
NASA on Oct. 9 decided to proceed with CCP contracts notwithstanding the bid protest because it believed stopping work would jeopardize the future of ISS, would delay meeting critical crew size requirements and might have resulted in the United States failing to perform the commitments it made in international agreements. NASA said it has statutory authority to proceed with work, despite the bid protest.
SNC disagreed in its filing, saying NASA’s decision to override the automatic stay imposed by the Competition in Contracting Act was illegal. SNC said NASA failed to establish in its override memorandum that performance of the contract was in the best interests of the United States or that it could not wait until the bid protest ran its course.
Michael Listner, attorney and founding partner of Space Law and Policy Solutions in New Hampshire, told Defense Daily Thursday that the suit is to stop payment to SpaceX and Boeing during the bid protest and that the two companies could proceed with work with internal funding if they so choose.
“They don’t have to stop work on their respective capsules, but they can’t expend any funds made under that award until GAO makes a ruling,” Listner said.
SNC has a hearing Friday at 10 a.m. EST.