WASHINGTON -
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin said his agency would abide by the restrictions
the U.S. Congress has imposed on the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
(COTS) program, a $500 million demonstration project aimed at fostering
private-sector solutions to NASA's space station re-supply
quandary.
"We
will, of course, comply with the laws that are passed, but we certainly will
redress this issue with Congress," Griffin said Dec. 20 in a written
response to a query from Space News. "NASA will fight for
this program, which is critically important to America's future as a
space-faring nation. COTS is intended to help spur the development of
commercial space capability, particularly transportation services to and from
the International Space Station, which would enhance strategic U.S. access to
Earth orbit and ultimately provide substantial savings to taxpayers."
A $555
billion domestic
spending bill that cleared Congress Dec. 19 and now heads to the White
House where President George W. Bush is expected to sign it into law includes
the $17.3 billion Bush requested for NASA. But the bill also cuts about a third
of the $236 million NASA had requested for the COTS program for 2008 and bars
the space agency from making a new COTS award until it resolves
its dispute with one of the two original COTS awardees, Rocketplane Kistler
(RpK) of Oklahoma City.
"[T]he
Appropriations Committees note that one of the two COTS contracts is currently
in dispute, and are concerned by NASA's recent decision to re-compete the
disputed contract before all challenges have been resolved," the bill's
provision states. "In doing so, NASA could potentially create a liability
to fund three proposals instead of two as originally envisioned, increasing the
costs of this program to the taxpayers."
RpK
appealed its COTS
termination directly to NASA to no avail this fall and threatened to sue
NASA in federal court, but so far has not done so. In parallel, RpK also has
filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office not because of
the termination itself but because of NASA's intent to use a Space Act
Agreement rather than a traditional government contract when it selects a new
COTS contender for funding.
Eight
companies submitted bids to NASA by Nov. 21 for the $175 million that was freed
up after the agency terminated RpK's COTS award.
While it is
unclear whether NASA will be able to make a new award come February in light of
the pending restrictions, NASA spokeswoman Beth Dickey said the agency
continues to press ahead with proposal evaluations.
"NASA
is still working toward a February 2008 selection date, keeping in mind
that this any selection depends on resolution of the protest at the
Government Accountability Office," she said Dec. 20 in an e-mail message.
The
restrictions on the COTS money came as no surprise to NASA. Rocketplane Kistler
had threatened this fall to lobby Congress for the restrictions unless the
agency agreed to give the company $10 million it felt it was owed for progress
it had been making on the K-1 reusable rocket before NASA terminated its COTS
agreement.
A Senate
source said Nov. 19 that the COTS provision was intended first and foremost to
prevent NASA from re-directing money it no longer needed in light of RpK's
termination.
"The
landscape changed for this program and when the landscape changes the money
situation can change," the Senate source said.
The COTS
cut is not going over well with space commercialization advocates.
"COTS
is the critical path to station utilization for Americans. It needs more money
not less," said Bob Werb, the Space Frontier Foundation's chairman.
"If we aren't going to stimulate the creation of cheap access to station
and aren't going to fund station utilization, we might as well just cancel the
[international space station] now."
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