spacetoday.net: NASA resumes work on commercial crew contracts

Posted: Fri, Oct 10, 2014, 8:12 AM ET (1212 GMT)
NASA announced Thursday that it has lifted a stop-work order to two companies that won commercial crew contracts last month despite an ongoing protest by a third company. In a statement posted on the agency's Commercial Crew Program website, NASA said it had instructed Boeing and SpaceX to resume work on Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts it awarded to them on September 16. Sierra Nevada Corporation filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on September 26, arguing there were problems with the selection process; NASA issued a stop-work order to Boeing and SpaceX shortly thereafter. In its Thursday statement, NASA said it was using "statutory authority available to it" to permit work to resume on the contracts, arguing that a delay could jeopardize International Space Station operations and US commitments to its international partners. GAO has until January 5 to rule on the Sierra Nevada protest.