ABSTRACT
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected the Thiokol Corporation for award of the contract to design, develop, and manufacture the solid rocket motors for the space shuttle program. Shortly thereafter, the Lockheed Propulsion Company protested the selection to the General Accounting Office (GAO) and Lockheed raised the legal and factual issues for the GAO to resolve. From the outset, several important factors combined to influence the GAO's handling of the protest and contributed greatly to the general counsel's utilization of extensive audit assistance. The information developed in the audit review was critically important in determining the GAO's position on the bid protest. The GAO decision concluded that a fair and impartial evaluation of proposed costs would have found that the difference between the Thiokol and Lockheed proposals, while favoring Thiokol, was substantially less than the NASA estimate of $122 million.
