NASA is returning the commercial crew development programme
(CCDev) to its original contracting mechanism, the Space Act Agreement (SAA),
after indicating otherwise for several months.
In a 15 December announcement, NASA deputy administrator
William Gerstenmaier announced the agency would continue to use SAAs instead of
federal acquisition regulations (FARs) it had
planned to use.
The FAR vs. SAA battle has been ongoing for some time, and
received no small amount of press, but for what might be considered a minor issue
it actually has an outsize impact.
FAR is the standard way the government purchases goods and services. They allow NASA to describe exactly what it wants, when it wants it and how the thing should be built. Penalties can be imposed if the contracted firm can't deliver the goods on time.
SAAs, on the other hand, are much more flexible. Under a funded SAA - several
unfunded ones have been signed - NASA can't dictate standards or process, just
award money when certain actions are deemed completed by both NASA and the
contractor. For CCDev, NASA decided to award money based on a checkpoint
system: the contractor gets NASA money for completing certain tasks, finishing
wind tunnel testing, for example, or completing a component review.
The companies, of course, much prefer SAAs to FAR. It makes things less expensive, as they don't necessarily have to built to NASA's standards, allows greater leeway for payments, and generally makes government interactions easier.
Gerstenmaier said that NASA decided to return to SAAs due to budget concerns. CCDev was awarded just over $400 million in the latest budget, well under the $850 million that President Obama requested. Further cuts are possible as the government struggles with mounting financial difficulties, an ever-increasing deficit resulting in increasing budget pressure.

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