NASA’s $1.8 Billion COSMOS Contract Award Overcomes Protest Bid

ASCEND Aerospace & Technology LLC can move forward and procure NASA’s $1.8 billion contract to support human spaceflight missions despite a protest from KBR Wyle Services LLC, the US Government Accountability Office said in a decision released Wednesday.

KBR failed to show NASA improperly evaluated the contract proposals under multiple criteria, including mission suitability, past performance, and cost/price, the GAO said in the decision. The contract is a part of NASA’s Contract for Organizing Spaceflight Mission Operations and Systems, or COSMOS, and is slated for a five-year window with two option periods to extend it to 2034, according ...