CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is trying to subdue small businesses' concerns that its plan to consolidate International Space Station contracts will not shut them out of the project.
As construction nears completion and NASA attempts to control costs in a project nearly $5 billion over budget, the space agency plans to merge work done under 26 contracts into seven broader deals. Some contracts specific to designing and building ISS will disappear.
In written comments to NASA, some of the existing contractors expressed concerns about the effect on small companies. While not identifying which contractor said what, companies' comments are summarized in the latest NASA strategy documents about the issue.
Among the comments:
"The ISS contract strategy went too far in consolidating. Significant harm to small businesses. Recommend breaking up the work into more groups to allow more prime awards to small businesses."
"The consolidation of ISS contracts will negatively impact the industrial base. Fewer companies in long term contracts means no competition to reduce costs."
In an update contract-strategy document, NASA said it will not break up the contracts but will take other steps to make sure small businesses benefit from the space station project, as either primary contractors or subcontractors handling specialized tasks for larger companies. Among the ideas is setting performance rules that will "ensure valuable work flows to small businesses."
Reducing the number of space station contractors was among the recommendations of a task force that investigated the cost overruns on the station. In general, NASA has said fewer contracts will make the program easier to manage, reduce duplicated services and cut costs. Currently, one job might be done by several different companies. The other reason is timing. Design and development are all but finished. Now the jobs that need to be done involve managing and maintaining the station in orbit.
All of that affects the contracts, NASA procurement specialist Lucy Yates said.
"It's a different request for different kinds of skills now," she said.
A consulting firm is helping Johnson Space Center officials design the new contracts. That work is supposed to be complete by the end of September.
The written comments from contractors addressed a wide range of issues, not just protecting small businesses. In fact, some companies suggested the agency fold even more jobs into the existing contracts. The bulk of the contractors' concerns were about which kinds of work should be included under which contracts.
Most of the contractors did not return telephone calls from reporters or referred questions to NASA. Art Sulkin, vice president for business development at station contractor Muniz Engineering, said the restructuring of the contracts and the bidding process by which companies compete for the work could affect smaller companies like his.
But Sulkin said the smaller firms still will have a chance to compete for work by getting hired as subcontractors. He and Yates said smaller firms should not count themselves out of landing a prime contract.
Everything depends on the detailed statements of work, documents which will outline the tasks to be done under each of the new contracts, Yates said. Once those details are released, firms involved will see that small to mid-sized companies will be able to compete for both prime and subcontracting work, she said.
"Sure, I would rather just have our contract extended and sole-sourced to us for another five years, but given what they are doing, we think we can be in concert with the ends the government is trying to reach," Sulkin said. "Working with them, we can create opportunities for growth."
That's the kind of cooperative attitude NASA was looking for when it made the extra effort to involve the existing, and potential, contractors in the development of the strategy, Yates said. She received 32 formal responses, some of which represented the concerns of more than one firm.
"It did cause us to think about what we were doing" and make adjustments, Yates said.
Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2002 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
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