Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

In an effort to increase the affordability of Artemis, NASA is preparing to award a sole-sourced services contract, known as the Exploration Production and Operations Contract (EPOC), to Deep Space Transport, LLC (DST)—a newly formed joint venture of The Boeing Company and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation—for the production, systems integration, and launch of at least 5 and up to 10 Space Launch System (SLS) flights beginning with Artemis V scheduled for 2029.

What’s the view of NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and its recommendations?

The OIG analysis shows a single SLS Block 1B will cost at least $2.5 billion to produce—not including Systems Engineering and Integration costs—and NASA’s aspirational goal to achieve a cost savings of 50 percent is “highly unrealistic.”

Out of sight SLS costs.
Image credit: NASA

Potential cost reduction

That said, moving SLS production from separate cost-reimbursable contracts to a combined commercial services approach may “potentially reduce” SLS production costs in the long term if a fixed-price contract is used to codify a reduced price. However, the Agency has yet to determine the extent to which fixed-price contracts will be used with Deep Space Transport, LLC, the OIG report observes.

Considering the $4.3 billion cost increase NASA Incurred with cost-reimbursable contracts used to build the space flight systems for the first Artemis mission, continuing to use this type of contract under EPOC calls into question the suitability, affordability, and effectiveness of NASA’s contracting approach to SLS production, the OIG report points out.

Also, NASA’s ability to negotiate less costly services with Deep Space Transport, LLC will be hindered by the lack of competition given EPOC is not subject to competition but rather sole sourced to the existing SLS contractors, the OIG report notes.

Read the full NASA OIG report at: https://oig.nasa.gov/docs/IG-24-001.pdf