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25 Fed. Cir. B.J. 101 (2015-2016)
Shifting Spaces: The Success of the SpaceX Lawsuit and the Danger of Single-Source Contracts in America's Space Program

handle is hein.journals/fedcb25 and id is 111 raw text is: Shifting Spaces: The Success of the SpaceX Lawsuit and the Danger of Single-Source Contracts in America's Space Program Alexander Rogosa* Introduction On December 18, 2013, the United States Air Force awarded a multi-year, sole-source, thirty-six core Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract to United Launch Alliance (ULA). This EELV contract secured rockets to launch the most important satellites developed by the Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, the Navy, NASA, and a few commercial customers.2 At an estimated cost of approximately $11 billion, many touted the 2013 EELV contract as saving America $4.4 billion. However, this as- sessment disregarded allegations that the government drastically overpaid for ULA's services. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) claimed that they could perform this contract for $6.6 billion less, with the same assurances of mission success.' The government projected the $4.4 billion in savings against conservative estimates for launch-by-launch pricing over the * Alexander Rogosa (arogosa@law. gwu.edu) is aJ. D. candidate at The George Washington University Law School and a member of the Federal Circuit Bar Journal. Alexander would like to thank his Note professor Ben Cassady, his Note editor Madalyn Murtha, and the entire student editorial board for its support and guidance throughout the publication process. ' See Amended Complaint at 27-28, Space Exploration Techs. Corp. v. United States, 116 Fed. Cl. 68 (2014) (No. 14-354C). 2 National Security Space Launch Program: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Def of the S. Comm. on Appropriations, 113th Cong. 1 (2014), (statement of Sen. Richard Durbin, Chairman, S. Subcomm. on Def.), available at http://www.cq.com/doc/congressionaltran- scripts-4435442?4 [hereinafter Launch Program Hearing]. Mike Gruss, SpaceX LawsuitAgainst U.S. Air Force Encounters Jurisdictional Challenge, SPACE NEWS (Dec. 8, 2014), http://spacenews.com/42882filing-suggests-jurisdictional- challenge-in-spacex-lawsuit-against-us; William Harwood, SpaceX, ULA Spar Over Military Contracts for Rocket Launches, CBS NEWS (March 5, 2014, 7:26 PM), www.cbsnews.com/ news/spacex-says-it-could-launch-military-rockets-for- less- than-ula. ' See Amended Complaint, supra note 1, at 29-31.