Blue Origin Lunar Lander Protest Rejected by US Government

Blue Origin's Lunar Lander Protest Dismissed

A challenge lodged by Blue Origin with a U.S. government oversight body regarding NASA’s awarding of a substantial contract to SpaceX for lunar lander development has been turned down.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced on Friday its denial of both Blue Origin’s protest and a related challenge submitted by Dynetics, another defense contractor vying for the contract. The GAO determined that NASA adhered to all applicable laws and regulations when it designated SpaceX as the sole recipient of the award.

GAO Findings and SpaceX's Proposal

“Consequently, the GAO dismissed the arguments asserting improper conduct by NASA in awarding the contract exclusively to SpaceX,” the agency stated.

The formal protest centered on NASA’s decision to grant the Human Landing System Program contract – intended to facilitate the return of humans to the moon, marking the first such mission since the Apollo program – solely to SpaceX. Originally, the plan was to select two companies. SpaceX’s bid for the program was valued at $2.9 billion, significantly less than Blue Origin’s proposal of $5.99 billion.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, recently authored an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, proposing a $2 billion reduction in their bid to address the “near-term budgetary issues” that led NASA to choose a single contractor.

Deviation from Standard Practice

While NASA’s decision to award the contract to a single entity represented a departure from typical procedures, the GAO affirmed that “the [contract] announcement explicitly reserved the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no award whatsoever.”

Blue Origin contends that they were not afforded the opportunity to amend their proposal after NASA indicated insufficient funding for supporting two awards. The company argued in its protest that “Blue Origin suffered demonstrable prejudice due to the Agency’s failure to communicate this shift in requirements.”

They further stated that they “could have and would have” taken steps to refine their proposed approach, lower their price to align more closely with available funding, and/or suggest alternative schedules.

Both Blue Origin and Dynetics filed their respective protests in April.

Responses and Future Outlook

Update: A Blue Origin spokesperson conveyed to TechCrunch the following response to the decision:

“We maintain our conviction that fundamental flaws existed within NASA’s decision-making process, but the GAO’s limited scope prevented a full examination of these issues. We will persist in advocating for the selection of two providers, as we believe this is the optimal course of action.”

The spokesperson also highlighted the encouragement drawn from lawmakers including a provision in a Senate bill that would mandate NASA to choose two providers for the HLS program.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, offered his own commentary on the outcome.

TechCrunch has contacted Dynetics for a statement and will update this article upon receiving a response.