The Space Development Agency will recompete a contract awarded last year to Tyvak, a small satellite manufacturer, following a lawsuit claiming the agency violated procurement rules.
Last August, SDA awarded contracts to Tyvak and York Space Systems to develop prototype satellites to demonstrate advanced tactical satellite communication capabilities that could inform future technology development within the agency. Tyvak received $254 million and York $170 million to build and operate 10 satellites each.
The next month, Viasat, one of the losing bidders, filed a protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims alleging SDA did not fairly consider its proposal and that other firms were given an unfair advantage in the process.
As part of an internal review, the Air Force determined that an SDA official violated the Procurement Integrity Act in its communication with Tyvak and other contractors, and in an update filed Feb. 14, SDA said it would re-compete the firm’s contract but leave York’s intact.
Tyvak, a subsidiary of Terran Orbital that is now owned by Lockheed Martin, has been under a stop work order since mid-December, an SDA spokesperson told Defense News. York’s work, however, has not been disrupted.
SDA declined to provide details on the schedule for awarding a new contract and said a solicitation will be released soon. According to the court documents, the competition will be managed by personnel not involved in the original awards.
The court filings note that re-opening competition for the effort could have implications for SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a constellation that will include hundreds of data-transport and missile-tracking satellites. Because the prototypes are meant to inform future technology for that constellation, a delay to their delivery could be a setback for the effort.
An SDA spokesperson refused to elaborate on the impact of the delay.
The documents claim that an SDA procurement official influenced the source selection by revealing to one of the competing contractors that its bid was the second highest the agency received and wouldn’t be selected. The official also instructed Tyvak to partner with an unnamed contractor and conveyed “expectations regarding their proposal pricing.”
The Air Force in its review called the communication “prejudicial.”
Following the review, the service placed then-Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear on administrative leave, and on Jan. 16 appointed Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, who leads Space Systems Command, as acting director. Garrant has since been replaced by William Blauser, who is now leading SDA in an acting capacity.
The Air Force’s inspector general, meanwhile, is investigating Tournear, and the Pentagon’s acquisition executive Steven Morani has directed the Air Force to establish an independent review team to evaluate SDA’s performance, organizational structure and acquisition approach.
Courtney Albon is C4ISRNET’s space and emerging technology reporter. She has covered the U.S. military since 2012, with a focus on the Air Force and Space Force. She has reported on some of the Defense Department’s most significant acquisition, budget and policy challenges.
