NASA, working with a reduced budget from Congress, was not interested in negotiating.
Bezos quickly submitted a complaint to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Concurrently, a “letter to NASA” was released to try and manage public perception. And Bezos was doing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lobbying in Washington DC.
The GOA decision was to uphold the NASA bid process. And to deny the Blue Origin protest. And it confirms “the [contract] announcement reserved the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no award at all.”
Space Cowboy is a gambler
NASA’s Response to Blue Origin’s lawsuit claims it should have been awarded the Artemis Human Landing System contract. But NASA says Blue Origin was gambling on the lunar lander bid. And that “Blue Origin made a bet and it lost.”
NASA attorneys claim that Blue Origin did not submit a proposal with its best price. The company, was instead, assuming “the Agency’s HLS budget, built its proposal with this figure in mind, and also separately made a calculated bet that if NASA could not afford Blue Origin’s initially-proposed price, the Agency would select Blue Origin for an award and engage in post-selection negotiations to allow Blue Origin to lower its price.”
