Whatever happened to competition in space agency procurement? The case of NASA

Using the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a case study, this paper examines how conflicting objectives in procurement policies by public space agencies result in anti-competitive procurement. Globally, public sectors have actively encouraged mergers and acquisitions of major contractors at the national level, since the end of the “Cold War”, following largely from the perceived benefits of economies of size. The paper examines the impact the resulting industrial concentration has on the ability of space agencies to follow a pro-competitive procurement policy. Using time series econometric analysis, the paper shows that NASA’s pro-competitive policy is unsuccessful due to a shift, since the mid-1990s, in the share of appropriations in favour of its top contractors.procurement, space industry, space agencies, NASA

Integrated Approaches in Economics of Contracting and Knowledge Management

Knowledge management (KM) in the space sector is a particularly interesting study owing to the specific characteristics of lack of patenting and recording of information associated with security considerations, as well as the sectoral age pyramid and the obsolescence of equipment that results in significant KM transaction costs and loss of information. Coupled with the custom-made nature that is typical of space projects, the analysis in this paper focuses on contractual mechanisms that incorporate transfer of KM within and beyond a project’s life-cycle and the implications for specific types of contracts that are typically used -mostly in procurement. This leads to incentives for contractors to enhance also inter-firm transfer of knowledge and develop the management tools that will sustain virtual skills of past project teams. The paper shows that this approach can result in significant benefits for all stakeholders, despite challenges associated with potential transaction costs in contracting and lack of standards and relevant experience in usage of such mechanisms. Finally, a critique of the industry tradition of cost and performance assessments prior to end of lifetime is emerging

European Policies and the Space Industry Value Chain (Note 1)

The economics of contracting have received rather limited attention insofar as the implications for efficiency from the selection of types of contracts employed in the aerospace and defence sector are involved. The paper analyzes the challenges confronting the cost-plus/cost-reimbursement type of contracts of European Commission and intergovernmental organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA), who are involved in security and defence projects with significant multiplier effects within defence and security networks. The analysis indicates how institutional limitations result in contractual choice inefficiencies and anti-competitive practices that may affect the whole of the aerospace industrial base, including subcontractors. The paper concludes with policy implications and further research recommendation

The Importance of Co-ordination in National Technology Policy: Evidence From the Galileo Public Private Partnership.

Policy makers seek to identify an institutional framework that facilitates the commercialization of publicly funded R&D. In the space industry, the formation of such a framework is complicated by certain non-economic factors, such as national security considerations and the fact that numerous sovereign nations are often included in the commercialization process. In this paper, a model is outlined, that incorporates both economic and non-economic factors. The paper then demonstrates the importance of co-ordination in national technology policy to achieve an optimal result. The benefits of co-ordination are illustrated through a case study of the design of a major European public-private partnership (PPP) in the space industry, referred to as Galileo.

The impact of the us strategic defence initiative on the space race

This paper models the space race between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War using time series econometric modelling. The analysis shows that, post the Vietnam-war era, military considerations play a key role in explaining the behaviour of US space expenditure. In particular, the US Department of Defense (DoD) Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) of the early 1980s is shown to result in a changing structure of the space race. This is expected to continue in the future with the current anti-ballistic missile (ABM) programme and the withdrawal of the US from the ABM treaty of on space militarization.Space expenditure, Space race, Strategic Defense Initiative,

The importance of co-ordination in national technology policy: Evidence from the Galileo project

We assess the benefits from transatlantic collaboration in technology policy for publicly-funded R&D space projects such as Galileo, a proposed European radio-navigation space project. An industrial organisation methodology is employed to model negative security spillovers of 'unilateral' space projects such as Galileo, or space-based anti-ballistic missile defence, on the public sector of the other region (the US vs. the European Union). The findings imply that transatlantic co-ordination in technology policy is required to allow the respective space industries (in the US and the European Union) to exploit the benefits of cross-border strategic research partnerships (SRPs). This coordination not only reduces the costs of the respective programmes, but also addresses security concerns.Galileo, navigation, space, technology policy, transatlantic,

Technology, security, and policy implications of future transatlantic partnerships in space: Lessons from Galileo

Policy makers seek to identify an institutional framework that facilitates the commercialization of publicly funded R&D, while simultaneously addressing innovation market failure. In the space industry, the formation of such a framework is complicated by national security considerations and the fact that numerous sovereign nations are often included in the commercialization process. This paper analyses how multi-public partnerships with industry can promote commercially viable space programs, resolve market failures, and address transatlantic security concerns. The benefits and policy implications of the formation of such transatlantic multi-public-private partnerships (TMP3) are illustrated based on a case study of the design of a major European public-private project in the space industry: the Galileo space-based navigation system.

THE IMPACT OF DEFENCE INTEGRATORS AND STANDARDS ON VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL INNOVATION IN THE DEFENCE INDUSTRY

This paper analyses the extent and character of product innovation in defence technologies where there are strong network effects, but where there is not a generally accepted system of open standards. Specifically, we examine the implications for innovation from the development of network-centric defence agencies accompanied by the creation of system integrators in the defence industry. The results show that although these developments are expected to have a number of positive impacts, such as enhanced security and gate-keeping of the relevant technologies, they are also likely to have an adverse effect on the available variety of new defence products.Defence industry, Innovation, Integrators, Network, Standards,

Erratum to: Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) (Autophagy, 12, 1, 1-222, 10.1080/15548627.2015.1100356

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