NASA has to be trolling with the latest cost estimate of its SLS launch tower
NASA's mobile launch tower project for the SLS rocket has ballooned to $2.7 billion, delaying completion to September 2027 and the Artemis IV mission to mid-2029 due to underestimated labor costs.
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NASA's mobile launch tower project for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is facing significant cost overruns and delays. The estimated cost has surged to $2.7 billion, nearly double the original contract awarded to Bechtel National, Inc. for $383 million five years ago. The project, intended to support the larger Block 1B version of the SLS rocket, is now projected to be completed by September 2027, with the Artemis IV mission launch date likely pushed to mid-2029. The inspector general's report indicates that Bechtel underestimated the labor hours required, leading to a doubling of overtime hours. NASA's current cost-plus contract limits its ability to hold Bechtel accountable for delays and budget overruns, as the agency has opted not to convert the contract to a fixed-price model. This decision raises concerns about future budget impacts, as any fixed-price proposal from Bechtel is expected to exceed NASA's budgetary capacity. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has previously criticized the cost-plus contracting approach, emphasizing the need for fixed-price contracts to foster competition and reduce costs.
- NASA's mobile launch tower costs have escalated to $2.7 billion, significantly higher than initial estimates.
- The project is now expected to be completed by September 2027, delaying the Artemis IV mission to mid-2029.
- Bechtel has underestimated labor requirements, resulting in increased overtime hours.
- NASA's cost-plus contract limits its leverage over Bechtel, as it has chosen not to pursue a fixed-price contract.
- NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has expressed frustration with the cost-plus contracting model.
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12 commentsAs a reminder, for SLS they decided to modify an exiting launch tower (ML-1). The original estimate to modify the tower was $54 million. Final cost will likely be $1 billion. And delayed of course. It's only going to get a few launches.
You can see where this is going.
Then they decided to do a new launch tower, ML-2. This tower is only 7 feet taller. They planned to incorporate lessons learned from the mess of ML-1 (haha). Started at $400M. Now going to be $2.7 billion (and delayed of course badly).
These cost+ deals especially with multiple contractors are like rotting fruit that attracts maggots that glom on and provide negative value. Something that would take a day to a week elsewhere could be literally months. Every incentive is to move slowly. The contractor layers and paperwork needs on even basic changes are totally massive. The other thing that really jumps out is usually speed - these things will take FOREVER.
I once even saw something about 8 track data recording in a govt contract, It's wild what is stacked into these things. The overhead to do anything can be wild. I once worked a govt job, and we needed an ipad for whatever reason (think something like foreflight on an ipad - most normal people would just buy an ipad to run foreflight). For all sorts of dumb and dumber reason, an ipad could not be purchased. I'd estimate $25K - $50K maybe went into trying to buy this damn ipad and coming up with workarounds. Can only go through central IT which wasn't even selected for price performance, has no customer service, and doesn't have apple SKU's. That's just the beginning. By the time you've wasted attorney time, contracting teams time on this ipad purchase and your own time, your managers time, all the downline folks time... the mind boggles. I think the final solution was to do a contract with a third party for a service, who could then buy the ipad and install the app on it as long as that part of the contract was less than some capital item threshold, and then that third party could enter into another agreement to make it available for their use. But the time to do this, then the time to come up with the agreement to use the ipad owned by this third party... total joke! I understood why teachers buy their own pencils. I'm sure a school can provide them, but a teacher probably doesn't want to deal with the headaches!
> NASA officials informed us they do not intend to request a fixed-price proposal from Bechtel
They know besides the unrealistic high price they’d get shoved in their face by Bechtel, it would seriously jeopardize their chances of “retiring” at Bechtel with a comfortable salary later on.
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Boeing's Starliner program has lost $1.6 billion since 2016, with delays pushing the first crewed flight to June 2024. NASA may clear Starliner for return, but operational missions are delayed until February 2025.
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