Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, has filed a federal court complaint against NASA, claiming that the agency wrongfully granted a lucrative contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year.
Blue Origin’s lawyers noted in their court filing, “This bid protest challenges NASA’s unconstitutional and inappropriate appraisal of proposals.”
The sealed protest, which was filed in the United States Court of Federal Claims on Monday, is the next step in the company’s bid to get NASA’s decision overturned.
Blue Origin’s court move comes only weeks after the US Government Accountability Office rejected the company’s complaint, confirming NASA’s decision.
SpaceX was up against Blue Origin and Dynetics for what was supposed to be two contracts, but NASA only granted one due to Congress’s lower-than-expected funding for the program.
NASA had awarded over $1 billion in concept development contracts prior to the April contract award, with SpaceX receiving $135 million, Dynetics $253 million, and Blue Origin $579 million.
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