294 HISTORY OF 1111 COMMITTE1 ON S< 1! N< E AND TECHNOLOGY 



tract for the main engine. The chief competitors were North American 

 Rockwell Corp. and Pratt cN Whitney Aircraft Division of United 

 Aircraft. 



When NASA announced July 13, 1971 that the Rocketdyne Divi- 

 sion of North American Rockwell had been awarded a contract of half 

 a billion dollars for the development of 33 Space Shuttle main engines 

 by 1978, Representative William R. Cotter (Democrat of Connecticut) 

 protested the award and he also requested an investigation by the 

 General Accounting Office. Congressman Cotter and the committee, 

 as well as the G.A.O., asked NASA for the reports of their Source 

 Evaluation Board. It is interesting to note the different fashion in 

 which NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher responded, as 

 contrasted with two of his predecessors, Administrators Dr. T. Keith 

 Glennan and James E. Webb. Dr. Glennan and Webb had adamantly 

 insisted that any release of Source Evaluation Board data to the com- 

 mittee would compromise the confidentiality of their private-source 

 assessments of the companies that were bidding. Dr. Fletcher blithely 

 went ahead and furnished the committee with the requested informa- 

 tion, including the detailed analysis showing the point totals of the 

 competing companies in various categories, and precisely how the 

 decision was reached to award the contract to the Rocketdyne Divi- 

 sion. Interestingly enough, the dire predictions made by Dr. Fletcher's 

 predecessors about destroying the confidentiality of the evaluation 

 system never materialized. And the G.A.O. on March 31, 1972 con- 

 cluded that the NASA award "was consistent with applicable law and 

 regulations." Subsequently, on July 26, 1972, North American's 

 Rocketdyne Division was awarded a $2.6 billion, 6-year contract for 

 the Shuttle. 



Understandably, all members of the Science Committee fought 

 like tigers (no pun intended) for their states and congressional districts 

 when it came to the awarding of contracts. Congressman Wydler 

 was an effective advocate for Grumman Aerospace Corp., and joined 

 the Manned Space Flight Subcommittee in order better to represent 

 his district's interest in the Long Island firm's role in developing the 

 Space Shuttle. Fuqua and Frey worked long and hard to help stress 

 the preferable location of Cape Canaveral as a launching and recovery 

 site for the Space Shuttle. Chairman Miller, despite his frequent 

 admonitions that "the space program is no WPA program," un- 

 abashedly touted the superior advantages of California aerospace 

 concerns. In a letter to Dr. Fletcher dated January 28, 1972, Chairman 

 Miller urged NASA to get on with the final award of the main engine- 

 Space Shuttle contract: 



