- Monday, 16 November 2009
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Litigation is a machine which you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage - Ambrose Bierce, allegedly
NASA cancels spacesuit contract
NASA HAS KILLED off a contract with a Houston company to supply the space agency's next-generation hi-tech space suit.
Oceaneering International got the contract earlier this year. It is best known for providing deep water services and products to the oil and gas industry.
NASA muttered something about a "compliance issue" and said that the decision was "for the convenience of the government".
The $745 million contract called for 109 suits, 24 of which would have been lunar models.
The contract award was protested last month by Exploration Systems & Technology which has made space suits and components since the 1960s.
It claims it never received adequate information from NASA about why its bid did not win. In fact it is starting to look like the contract has had to be looked at again because of several errors in the way the tender was run.
There have been a few successful challenges to technology contracts lately. It seems that the procedure of the US Government handing contracts to whoever the hell it likes is getting a bit of a drubbing. ยต
L'Inq
AFP
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Makes you wonder if someone else that is from Texas might have to give back a kickback.
Given that the scuttle's all but worn out and the americans won't have anything else to get them into space for many years, you've got to wonder what they thought they needed spacesuits for in the first place.
'nuff said
Sounds like Oceaneering International didn't offer as much of a kick back if any to (some senator(s) fund) as Exploration Systems & Technology might have. This is not fact - just expected as that tends to be the way these days. A little open to the public on the reasons would be expected unless there is something to hide, gov.
Anything that reminds a government that the rules it has set actually apply is a good thing.
We have much too many rules and nobody thinks twice about making yet more since most of them are just ignored once the media effect is gone.
This is not acceptable. I'd wager that things would change pretty quick if ALL the laws theoretically "in force" were actually enforced and people could judge them by the impact on their lives.
My bet is that a fair number of the laws would be repelled and, just maybe, we could then cut the number of laws down to a more manageable size.
The private sector reached space with spaceship one. And plus the negative backlash from the U.S. government saying they have a say in who space travels! I loved the Astronaut Farmer movie BTW.