NASA is planning to hold a competition in February of this year for a third round of private funding for the development of a private spacecraft, which will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station later this decade.
The US space agency will issue a request for proposals (RFP) under the previously announced revised contracting strategy.
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Nasa issued the RFP under a revised strategy after its Commercial Crew Programme received $406m this year, half of the amount originally requested from the US Government.
The agency expects that a single company may emerge as the winner due to limited funding to transport crews to the International Space station, according to floridatoday.com.
The US Government Accountability Office reported: "The main premise of (Nasa’s) procurement approach to control costs – competition – may no longer be viable."
Nasa scrapped its original plan to award a 21-month contract to provide designs for at least two crew commercial systems.
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By GlobalDataAs an alternative, Nasa planned to sign a new set of Space Act Agreements (SAA) that allow multiple companies to be paid incrementally as they meet technical milestones for a unspecified period.
SAA guided two previous rounds of funding of about $365m and also $316m split among four companies the previous year.
Companies competing for future contracts will be provided with a set of standards that they must meet.
Kennedy Space Centre commercial crew programme manager Ed Mango said the revised approach provided the flexibility necessary to maintain competition amid the budget uncertainty.
"We have to make progress toward a commercial (crew) capability, and we wanted to do that as soon as we possibly can," Mango added.
Image: NASA is planning to hold a competition in February this year for a third round of private funding for the development of a private spacecraft. Photo: MrMiscellanious
