Public Private Partnerships and the Development of Space Launch Systems in the United States

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Notes

1. See http://www.acquisition.gov/far/current/html/FARTOCP15.html (accessed October 2014). The FAR dictates an intense process to ensure fairness in government acquisitions of goods or services.

2. See Lack of Disciplined Cost-Estimating Processes Hinders Effective Program Management, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-04-642, 28 May 2004, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-04-642 (accessed October 2014).

3. See GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Managing and Developing Capital Program Costs, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-09-3SP, March 2009, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d093sp.pdf (accessed October 2014).

4. 2008 NASA Cost Estimating Handbook, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/263676main_2008-NASA-Cost-Handbook-FINAL_v6.pdf (accessed October 2014).

5. See DFARS at http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/about_dfarspgi.html (accessed October 2014); and see “Interim DOD Instruction 5000.02, Operation of the Defense Acquisition System,” 25 November 2013. This instruction updates and replaces DODI 5000.02 from 8 December 2008.

6. See, for example, The Long-Term Implications of Current Plans for Investment in Major Unclassified Military Space Programs, U.S. Congressional Budget Office, 12 September 2005, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/66xx/doc6637/09-12-militaryspace.pdf (accessed October 2014); and Long-Term Implications of the 2014 Future Years Defense Program, U.S. Congressional Budget Office, November 2013, http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/44683-FYDP.pdf (accessed October 2014).

7. See “Defense Acquisitions: Assessments of Selected Weapons Programs,” U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-14-340SP, March 2014, http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/662184.pdf (accessed October 2014).

8. Ibid.

9. Implementing Effective Affordability Constraints for Defense Acquisition Programs, Institute for Defense Analysis, IDA Paper P-5123, Alexandra, Virginia, March 2014.

10. An additional benefit here is that of maintaining successful operations and sustainment of the EELV program so that the program does not incur breaks in production lines.

11. See Performance of the Defense Acquisition System, 2014 Annual Report, U.S. Department of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, 13 June 2014, http://www.acq.osd.mil/docs/Performance-of-Defense-Acquisition-System-2014.pdf (accessed October 2014).

12. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics issued an ADM in 2012 directing the USAF to introduce a competitive EELV acquisitions strategy with initial contract awards for up to 14 launch missions to commence as early as 2015.

13. See http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/USA007183-10-DPAP.pdf (accessed October 2014). Also, (according to the GAO) commercial companies that plan to compete for EELV-based NSS launches, including SpaceX, prefer FAR 12 acquisitions to focus the competition on price. DOD is reluctant to adopt this approach as it is an unfamiliar one, acquisition management is not in place for FAR 12, and oversight/compliance with regard to cost and performance data is inadequate as compared to FAR 15 acquisitions. However, DOD is open to consider FAR 12 acquisitions by 2018 after the end the block-buy contract with ULA.

14. See Coordinated Strategy Among the United States Air Force, the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for New Entrant Launch Vehicle Certification [undated memorandum of understanding], signed October 2011; and see Launch Services Risk Mitigation Policy for NASA-Owned and/or NASA-Sponsored Payloads/Missions, NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 8610.7D, http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPD&c=8610&s=7D (accessed October 2014).

15. Phases are drawn from the NECG. The NECG document is unavailable to foreign governments due to U.S. export controls policies and laws. For insights on the NECG, see Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-13-317R, 7 February 2013, http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/652037.pdf (accessed October 2014).

16. Payload risks are based on NASA’s Procedural Requirements 8705.4.

17. See National Space Transportation Policy, President of the United States, 21 November 2013, http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/national_space_transportation_policy_11212013.pdf (accessed October 2014); and the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/media/PL108-492.pdf (accessed October 2014).

18. See https://acquisition.gov/far/current/html/FARTOCP12.html (accessed October 2014).

19. NASA Headquarters acknowledged this new way of business by revising NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 1000.5, the Policy for NASA Acquisition, to recognize the role that partnerships can play in meeting the space agency’s mission needs. This new approach required NASA to “consider the full spectrum of acquisition approaches,” including procurement, grants, cooperative agreements and Space Act Agreements. See odis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPD&c=1000&s=5B (accessed October 2014); and see Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, NASA/SP-2014-617, February 2014, http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/SP-2014-617.pdf (accessed October 2014).

20. “NASA was not acquiring a good or service for the Agency’s direct benefit. Therefore, COTS was not procurement. Neither was it a grant or a cooperative agreement often used when NASA provides funding to a university for research. See Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, NASA/SP-2014-617, February 2014, http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/SP-2014-617.pdf (accessed October 2014).

21. Ibid.

22. ESMD-CCTSCR-12.10 Revision-Basic, http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/504982main_CCTSCR_Dec-08_Basic_Web.pdf (accessed October 2014). In addition, NASA has put forward a series of Commercial Crew Transportation System Certification Requirement documents that include CCT-PLN-1100 (Crew Transportation Plan), CCT-DRM-1110 (Crew Transportation System Design Reference Missions), CCT-PLN-1120 (Crew Transportation Technical Management Processes), CCT-REQ-1130 (Crew Transportation Certification and Services Requirements), CCT-STD-1140 (Crew Transportation Technical Standards and Design Evaluation Criteria) and CCT-STD-1150 (Crew Transportation Operations Standards).

23. See http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/displayDir.cfm?t=NPR&c=8705&s=2B (accessed October 2014).