NASA misses Grassley deadline

NASA misses Grassley deadline

	Published : Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:49 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - NASA failed to meet a deadline this week imposed by the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee to provide information on a disputed $5.2 million software contract.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, earlier this month asked NASA to explain why it did not conduct a new competition after protests were sustained against the September 2005 data management contract awarded to Needham, Mass.-based Parametric Technology Corp., which makes computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering software.

Grassley gave the space agency until April 19 to provide his office with details about inconsistencies in the original contract award and all related decisions made since that time, but a spokeswoman for the senator on Friday said no response has been received.

A NASA spokesman did not return requests for comment on Thursday or Friday.

In his April 4 letter to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, Grassley chronicled the history of the deal. In November 2005, the space agency's general counsel responded to a protest filed with Government Accountability Office by saying that NASA planned to conduct a new acquisition competition within three to six months. The GAO, Congress' auditing arm, subsequently dismissed the procurement protest.

But NASA then created a workaround in February 2006 to maintain the contract without notifying the GAO. After further complaints about the procurement, NASA's inspector general issued a memo in August questioning the plan to renew Parametric Technology's licenses without an open competition, Grassley wrote. The investigators also said the agency should suspend any efforts to increase the number of licenses and notify the GAO of any changes to its plans.

A spokeswoman for Parametric Technology said earlier this month the company would bid again when the space agency issues its next solicitation.

Shares of Parametric Technology rose 24 cents to close at $19.16 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.