NASA Sued by Blue Origin Over Denied Moon Lander Contract

NASA is involved in a lawsuit filed by Blue Origin, which argued that the agency was not able to properly evaluate the company’s proposal for the Human Landing System program.

SpaceX won the contract to support the program aimed at building the final mode of transportation that will take astronauts to the surface of the moon through the Artemis lunar exploration initiative.

Blue Origin filed its suit on Aug. 13 in the Court of Federal Claims, which is responsible for taking bid protests after reviews by the Government Accountability Office, SpaceNews reported.

On Aug. 16, the court granted the company a protective order that sealed documents filed in the case. 

The protective order was requested to “protect confidential, proprietary, and source selection information contained in the Complaint, and other filings and hearing transcripts in this bid protest,” Blue Origin said.

The aerospace company only explicitly stated in its motion to seal filings that the case was about the HLS Option A award, which NASA gave to Elon Musk’s SpaceX in April.

According to the motion, the bid protest challenges NASA’s “unlawful and improper evaluation proposals” submitted under the HLS Option A broad agency announcement.

In a statement to SpaceNews, Blue Origin, which was founded by Jeff Bezos, said that the suit was filed in an attempt to “remedy the flaws” in NASA’s acquisition process for the HLS program.

“We firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes must be addressed to restore fairness, create competition, and ensure a safe return to the Moon for America,” the Kent, Washington-headquartered space contractor said.