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The home page of contractor NSTXL, the National Security Technology Accelerator.

WASHINGTON: After The Washington Post questioned the choice of the nonprofit National Security Technology Accelerator to run the public-private Space Enterprise Consortium, the Space Force delayed the contract award while it reviewed the concerns. Two weeks after the Post article appeared, the service today officially gave the contract to NSTXL, saying it had found no issues that would affect the firm’s performance.

“The United States Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) competitively awarded the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC) consortium manager agreement to National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL) on Jan. 15, 2021,” SMC announced earlier today. “SMC previously delayed award to further evaluate a judgment against NSTXL that occurred separate from the source selection of the consortium management agreement. SMC assessed the matter with due diligence as part of the responsibility determination, and concluded the filing would not affect the company’s ability to execute the terms of this contract in the best interest of the Government.”

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The digital version of the Washington Post story on NSTXL.

The judgment against NSTXL came in a Texas court, which ruled the firm in breach of contract with an events manager. The matter had no direct relation to the Space Force, though it did touch on a Navy project NSTXL was working on in 2014. But the Post headline blared that the company had been “found to have acted fraudulently,” and the story consistently described the company’s actions as “fraud” – despite “fraud” not having been the actual charge.

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Part of NSTXL’s rebuttal of the Post story.

NSTXL said it would appeal the Texas judgment and bitterly denounced the Post story on the company website as “rife” with errors. As of today, there is no correction posted to the Post story.

The Post piece also had a wider agenda: calling for “fresh scrutiny,” not just of NSTXL, but of the wider practice of using public-private consortia, managed by independent contractors, to award R&D contracts under a streamlined system known as Other Transaction Authority. OTA awards have exploded in popularity at the Pentagon, soaring 712 percent since 2015, with most awards being managed by a small number of consortium management firms. Their rise has led to calls for stricter oversight by Congress.

Will Congress now trust the Space Force award of the contract, after review, has settled the matter? Or will it press for stricter oversight of OTA consortia anyway? We’ll be watching.