Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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NASA will award Boeing a cost-plus contract for up to 10 SLS rockets
17 Oct 2019
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...851d72&cndid=&esrc=&utm_term=ARS_RocketReport
The principle behind a cost-plus contract is simple. Occasionally, the US government needs something exceptionally difficult, complex, and unprecedented to be built. In those cases, with technical challenges all but certain to arise, the government pays a contractor the entire value of the development costs, plus a fee—often 10 percent.
This is a useful tool to get the best contractors in the country to focus their efforts on large programs the government deems valuable. But it's not a good way to encourage a company to move quickly on a program, especially as businesses seek to maximize profits. This is because the longer a contract goes, the more money it costs, and the greater fees it generates.
Nine years ago, NASA began the process of building the Space Launch System rocket, choosing Boeing as the vehicle's core stage prime contractor. Although much of the booster used mature technology, including space shuttle main engines, conventional rocket fuels, and side-mounted boosters derived from the shuttle, NASA awarded cost-plus contracts for the rocket's development. Building the core stage and pulling all of the rocket's technology together was difficult, complex, and unprecedented, the agency said.
It appears as though the rocket has lived up to what critics say about cost-plus contracts in terms of urgency. Already, the rocket is three years late for its first launch, and it's unlikely to fly before at least mid- or late 2021.
However, SLS builders say the rocket is now in production, as Boeing is nearly complete with the first core stage, and work is beginning on a second vehicle. “SLS is the only rocket powerful enough to send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon on a single mission, and no other rocket in production today can send as much cargo to deep space as the Space Launch System rocket," John Honeycutt, NASA's SLS program manager, said this week.
On Wednesday, NASA announced that it is negotiating a contract with Boeing to purchase up to 10 SLS core stages. The news release does not mention costs—NASA and Boeing have never been transparent about costs, but certainly production and operations cost for a single SLS launch will be well north of $1 billion. It also does not mention the mechanism of the contract.
17 Oct 2019
https://arstechnica.com/science/201...851d72&cndid=&esrc=&utm_term=ARS_RocketReport
The principle behind a cost-plus contract is simple. Occasionally, the US government needs something exceptionally difficult, complex, and unprecedented to be built. In those cases, with technical challenges all but certain to arise, the government pays a contractor the entire value of the development costs, plus a fee—often 10 percent.
This is a useful tool to get the best contractors in the country to focus their efforts on large programs the government deems valuable. But it's not a good way to encourage a company to move quickly on a program, especially as businesses seek to maximize profits. This is because the longer a contract goes, the more money it costs, and the greater fees it generates.
Nine years ago, NASA began the process of building the Space Launch System rocket, choosing Boeing as the vehicle's core stage prime contractor. Although much of the booster used mature technology, including space shuttle main engines, conventional rocket fuels, and side-mounted boosters derived from the shuttle, NASA awarded cost-plus contracts for the rocket's development. Building the core stage and pulling all of the rocket's technology together was difficult, complex, and unprecedented, the agency said.
It appears as though the rocket has lived up to what critics say about cost-plus contracts in terms of urgency. Already, the rocket is three years late for its first launch, and it's unlikely to fly before at least mid- or late 2021.
However, SLS builders say the rocket is now in production, as Boeing is nearly complete with the first core stage, and work is beginning on a second vehicle. “SLS is the only rocket powerful enough to send Orion, astronauts and supplies to the Moon on a single mission, and no other rocket in production today can send as much cargo to deep space as the Space Launch System rocket," John Honeycutt, NASA's SLS program manager, said this week.
On Wednesday, NASA announced that it is negotiating a contract with Boeing to purchase up to 10 SLS core stages. The news release does not mention costs—NASA and Boeing have never been transparent about costs, but certainly production and operations cost for a single SLS launch will be well north of $1 billion. It also does not mention the mechanism of the contract.
