NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—United Launch Alliance (ULA) submitted a bid for the Air Force’s Global Positioning System III-3 (GPS III-3) launch mission, potentially giving the service competition for launch it so desperately wants.
ULA spokeswoman Lyn Chassagne said Sept. 21 though the company submitted a proposal, it remains concerned that price is “once again” the determining factor in this competition. Chassagne said ULA believes that a traditional “best value” procurement approach that gives more appropriate weight to critical technical factors like reliability, schedule assurance and orbital precision should be restored. These, she said, would deliver better value to the Air Force.
This news will certainly be welcomed by Air Force Secretary Deborah James as she has made infusing competition into Defense Department launches one of her core endeavors. ULA did not bid for the previous mission, GPS III-2, and a $83 million contract was eventually awarded to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) in April for a 2018 mission. ULA was the sole provider of DoD launches, called Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) missions, for almost 10 years from 2005-2015.
Proposals were due Sept. 19 for companies interested in bidding for GPS III-3. SpaceX spokesman John Taylor on Sept. 21 declined to say if the company bid for GPS III-3.
There is an additional opportunity available for companies interested in bidding for Air Force launches. A draft RFP was posted in August on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) for an Air Force mission called Phase 1A Space Test Program-3 (STP-3). Responses to this solicitation were due Aug. 31.
James on Sept. 20 said she would remain steadfast in pushing for competition, regardless if she only had one bid for GPS III-3. James declined to say whether she considers one company submitting two bids for one solicitation a form of competition. SpaceX was rumored to have submitted two bids for the GPS III-2 mission.
“I am anticipating a competition in the traditional sense,” James told reporters on Sept. 20 at the Air Force Association’s (AFA) annual convention. “You can’t absolutely guarantee whether one company or two companies bid or whether one company puts in two bids.”
Lexington Institute COO Loren Thompson said Sept. 21 the Air Force, if it truly wants competition, should better write its solicitations if it isn’t getting competition. He said if ULA didn’t bid, then there was no incentive for SpaceX to offer an attractive price since those are the only two companies the Air Force has certified for launching military payloads. Thompson, on the other hand, said there is no incentive for ULA to bid if the only way its price can be competitive is if it loses money on each launch. Chassagne deferred to another ULA spokeswoman when asked if the company would profit from the GPS III-3 mission if it won the contract.
Blue Origin announced in early September it was developing a reusable first stage rocket bigger than both SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and ULA’s Delta IV Heavy. The company, via a spokeswoman, declined to say if it intended to use the new rocket, called New Glenn, to compete for Air Force missions. Orbital ATK [OA] is also rumored to be developing a EELV-class rocket. A company spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment by press time Sept. 21.
ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Boeing [BA].