Sierra Nevada Corporation announced on Friday that they've filed a legal challenge with the Government Accountability Office over NASA's decision to select Boeing and SpaceX for its Commercial Crew program to develop spacecraft that will deliver astronauts to the International Space Station.
Sierra Nevada was one of three finalists for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), along with Boeing and SpaceX. Unlike those two companies, which are both developing capsule spacecraft to transport astronauts, Sierra Nevada is developing what it calls the Dream Chaser - an airplane-like spacecraft that's capable of landing on a runway.
One of the reasons for the company's challenge is the cost difference between its proposal and that of Boeing's proposal, and noted that its proposal was the second-lowest priced of the three.
"With the current awards, the U.S. government would spend up to $900 million more at the publicly announced contracted level for a space program equivalent to the program that SNC proposed," the company said in a statement. "Given those facts, we believe that a thorough review must be conducted of the award decision."
Sierra Nevada also noted that in terms of NASA's other mission criteria, it believes there's very little difference between the three proposals, making cost a primary issue. In its statement, the company said that "NASA’s own Source Selection Statement and debrief indicate that there are serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process. SNC, therefore, feels that there is no alternative but to institute a legal challenge."
The GAO has until January 5th to make a decision about Sierra Nevada's challenge.
