House Committee Scolds NASA for Contract Award

Leaders of the U.S. House committee that oversees NASA chastised the agency for awarding a $1.2-billion contract today that was still under investigation for possible conflicts of interests.

"I am disappointed that NASA chose to award this $1.2 billion contract while both the Committee and the NASA Inspector General's Office are investigating serious allegations of conflicts of interest that may have affected the procurement," said Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, in a statement.

"Chairman (Brad) Miller and I had specifically asked NASA not to do this until our investigative work was finished. I hope that a new Administrator would want to review the SCNS procurement process."

In letters last month to acting NASA administrator Chris Scolese, Gordon and Miller requested records concerning the Space Communications Network System contract awarded last October to ITT Corp.

The five-year SCNS contract covers the operation and maintenance of satellites and ground-based facilities - including the Merritt Island Launch Annex in Florida - providing telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions including the space shuttle, International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope, according to NASA.

The losing bidder alleged a conflict of interest because NASA's former deputy associate administrator for space communications, Robert Spearing, had joined ITT after retiring from NASA in April 2007.

The congressmen said their committee was "increasingly concerned about the role private contractors play in support of government officials, both in establishing future agency requirements and in managing other contractors."

Here are links to the committee's letters, dated March 6 and March 19, 2009.

NASA offered the following statement:

"Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. filed a bid protest in October 2008 with the Government Accountability Office, objecting to NASA awarding a Space Communications Network Services contract to ITT Corporation, Advanced Engineering and Sciences of Herndon, Va. As a result of that protest, GAO recommended that NASA reevaluate ITT's past performance consistent with its decision.

"NASA now has completed that corrective action and, based on the review of mission suitability, cost, and the reevaluated past performance, NASA has selected ITT Corp. to perform this contract for telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions. The contract has an estimated maximum value of $1.26 billion."

Here's the NASA press release announcing ITT as the contract winner last October:

NASA Selects ITT for Space Communications Network Services
WASHINGTON -- NASA has selected ITT Corporation, Advanced Engineering and Sciences of Herndon, Va., to perform telemetry, tracking and command services for near-Earth missions under the Space Communications Network Services contract.

The contract, with an estimated maximum value of $1.26 billion, will support NASA's Space and Near Earth Networks, which provide most of the communications for a wide range of NASA's science-based Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the International Space Station, the space shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Earth Observing System satellites.

This cost-plus-award-fee core and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a basic period of performance of five years and three months, including the phase-in period. The contract also includes two one-year options.

The core portion of the contract provides for the operation and maintenance of NASA's Space Network, comprised of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites and associated ground systems located primarily at White Sands, N.M., and Guam. The contract also provides support to ancillary Space Network sites located in American Samoa, Ascension Island and Australia.

The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion of the contract provides for operation and maintenance of NASA's Near Earth Network, including operations at Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.; the White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M.; the Merritt Island Launch Annex in Florida; and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It also includes commercial tracking and data-acquisition operations worldwide, and the Electronics Systems Test Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. This portion of the contract also includes support for the Satellite Laser Ranging network and the global Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network. Support in the areas of systems and sustaining engineering, logistics, facilities management and hardware and software development for the Space Network and the Near Earth Network also will be provided.

IMAGE NOTE: Above: A tracking and data relay satellite, and ground-based tracking equipment based at White Sands Complex near Las Cruces, N.M. Source: NASA. A 2005 photo of Bob Spearing, then NASA's deputy associate administrator for space communications. Source: NASA.