Originally posted by PsionEdge:
They underbid a fixed price contract
Unfortunately, it seems that this is the only way to win contracts. Even for cost-plus.
Very true. They significantly underbid that contract... or severely underestimated the costs of the modifications they needed to make (or some of both).
I feel like the government agencies for all acquisitions, be it space...
I whole-heartedly agree. I'm not sure what to about it though to solve the problems. Maybe a previous history with meeting goals (cost, schedule) and extra points. Though at times it seems like previous history does play a role in who gets a contract awarded.
However, part of the reason of over-budget/late projects is unclear and changing requirements. And major changes at that. And given what I've seen from some of the government acquisitions offices it's because they either ignore inputs from the people they're supposed to get input from, or they don't involve them at all.
Not long ago I saw a study from the GAO that basically every current satellite program is over budget. GPS (as a whole) was the closest (though II-F was not doing well) followed by WGS as the least overrun (though I believe that's a pretty straightforward system, not secure-comm).
Established programs with long runs seem to be the closet to on-budget. Generally because they're not "one-off" programs and they're at the closest thing to an assembly line that satellite building has to offer. Startup/design costs are the killer. But the Government no longer buys the long contracts any more. They try, and then because of cost, kill off some of the tail end satellites, reducing the number and then having to go through the design/new contract phase again. For instance, the POES/TIROS mission just launched their last satellite, NOAA-19. It was the 15th in the series of TIROS-N and Adv. TIROS-N spacecraft. Built by LMSSC and RCA since the mid-70's. Followon to that program is NPOESS... which is 100% overbudget (costs are at $11 Billion now I believe), and that's after cutting multiple satellites from the constellation and numerous instruments.
Though I'm not sure how the contract stuff is going on up at NASA about GOES-R. I can tell you that it's frustrating for everyone bidding on the damn thing, especially since staffing needs to start, milestones are soon, etc., and with the award being in limbo it screws everything up.
Canceling programs sucks a lot (like CSAR-X, new presidential helo, TSAT) but even worse is the fact that these government agencies can't seem to do a fair evaluation, at least on these high profile programs.
Canceling programs is almost a non-starter at times. Jumping back to NPOESS for a moment, (basic background for everyone: NPOESS is the next generation polar orbiting weather satellite run by NOAA partnering with DOD and NASA. Basically it was designed to integrate two previous constellations; POES(NOAA) and DMSP(Air Force); into one.) the schedule can't really account for the huge slip that would happen in the program was canceled. As the schedule goes, the first NPOESS satellite is scheduled to launch in 2014. The last POES bird just launched. Design life is 2 years, with extended operational life for another 5 (extended meaning most things work). That gives it very little overlap and assumes that it doesn't die on orbit (which does happen from time to time). Were NPOESS be canceled, it leaves the requirement for polar weather satellites unfulfilled, which would mean a new contract, and new design. Probably close to 12-13 year turnaround at a minimum. Start that now, means no new NOAA polar weather satellites until 2022. Given the economic and environmental impacts that would occur makes such a situation untenable. Which means throwing more money at the problem.
So many protests have been upheld. I'd have no issues with protests being issued nearly all the time (though it's sad that's the case) but on these big contracts and having them be upheld means the government is seriously lacking in this crucial area of acquisition.
At the same time, it seems like every big contract getting awarded has a protest on it now, and not all of them are being upheld. I think the entire system has issues and needs a lot of work.