The Department of Defense has opened an investigation into United Launch Alliance contracts after a now former executive said the company refused to bid against SpaceX for a launch despite efforts by the Air Force to help ULA succeed.
At the Defense Secretary’s request, the department’s inspector general will look into the remarks “relating to competition for national security space launch and whether contracts to ULA were awarded in accordance with DoD and Federal regulations,” according to a March 22 memo to Air Force personnel from Randolph Stone, deputy inspector for policy and oversight, which was obtained by FLORIDA TODAY.
The investigation will include site visits, interviews and document reviews.
The memo was sent days after U.S. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, requested an investigation into what he called “disturbing statements” by Brett Tobey, ULA’s former vice president for engineering.
ULA said it would cooperate and blamed Tobey, who was forced to resign last week, for expressing “unauthorized and inaccurate views” during a seminar last Tuesday at the University of Colorado about “ULA’s Competitive Transformation.”
“None of the views, comments or inaccurate statements Mr. Tobey presented at his recent speaking engagement reflect the views, positions or direction of United Launch Alliance,” said Jessica Rye, a ULA spokeswoman. “ULA is committed to serving all our customers with excellence and transparency. As a part of this commitment we look forward to fully supporting any investigation into launch service procurement to address concerns.”
In the seminar, Tobey said ULA had chosen not to bid on a contract to launch a Global Positioning System satellite last fall because it couldn’t compete with SpaceX’s significantly lower price and didn’t want to participate in a “cost shootout.”
ULA at the time cited concerns about compliance with accounting rules and uncertainty about how many Russian engines Congress would let it use for national security launches.
The non-bid was a setback for the Air Force because the GPS contract was supposed to be the first high-value military launch opened to competition in nearly a decade.
According to Tobey, the Air Force was upset that ULA bowed out because “they felt that they’d bent over backwards” to give ULA an advantage.
A day after Tobey’s talk, ULA CEO Tory Bruno called his comments “ill-advised,” and Tobey resigned later the same day. ULA says Tobey was not involved in contract negotiations.
The controversy did not distract ULA from completing another Atlas V rocket launch Tuesday night, of an International Space Station supply mission. It was the company’s 106th successful mission since the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture was formed in 2006.
Another Atlas V is being preparing to launch a Navy communications satellite on May 5.
ULA is in the early stages of designing the new Vulcan rocket to end its reliance on Russian RD-180 engines that power the Atlas V, and to try to lower its costs to compete better with SpaceX and international launch providers.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.
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