Document Says "No Justification" For 40-Rocket Five-Year Purchase Plan

A Congressional watchdog report issued Monday raises questions for taxpayers about a proposed five-year block buy of 40 rocket booster cores being advocated by the rockets' manufacturer, United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA is a joint venture between aerospace giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
 
The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan, investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, found what some call serious flaws with a proposal that would guarantee ULA's monopoly over Department of Defense (DoD) launches. The report states that while ULA is pushing the 40-rocket purchase, the methodology and data used by ULA to justify the purchase were severely flawed, there is no justification for the five-year timeline, and a block purchase could kill opportunities for competition by forcing the government to commit to more boosters than are actually needed.

In a news release, SpaceX says that some of the GAO's findings include no justification for the contract period. When asked why a block buy period of 5 years was optimal, "ULA [was] at a loss to explain the rationale," according to the report.

The report also states that, although no U.S. commercial launch capability for EELV-class payloads other than Atlas V and Delta IV existed when the previous EELV acquisition strategy was developed, domestic commercial launch providers are emerging that may satisfy some of DOD’s EELV-class launch vehicle needs. According to DOD officials, these newer providers (such as SpaceX) have not yet demonstrated adequate reliability to provide launches for critical satellites, but may be poised in the future to compete with the current sole-source EELV provider, ULA. Such competition could incentivize ULA pricing and efficiencies, potentially yielding cost savings to the government.

FMI: Read The Report