Space Development Agency chief Derek Tournear (R) addresses the audience at the Space Foundation’s 2024 Space Symposium. (Space Foundation)
WASHINGTON — While the Department of the Air Force has not revealed the impetus behind its unusual Jan. 16 announcement that Space Development Agency chief Derek Tournear has been placed on administrative leave, Breaking Defense has learned that the move is related to an ongoing bid protest by Viasat over an recent SDA contract award.
According to several sources involved, Tournear allegedly stepped afoul of DoD contracting procedures in the runup to SDA’s Aug. 16 award of two prototype agreements worth approximately $424 million in total to York Space Systems and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems, a subsidiary of Terran Orbital, out of a field of eight competitors. For the award, each contractor was tasked with building 10 Tranche 2 Transport Layer (T2TL) – Gamma variant prototype space vehicles. (Terran Orbital was bought by Lockheed Martin in October.)
SDA has explained that the Gamma satellites will not be part of the operational Transport Layer of data relay satellites, but instead are related to the agency’s efforts to develop fire control capabilities for missile defense and the experimental FOO Fighter program.
Viasat protested the award in September in the US Court of Federal Claims, alleging its offering was unfairly weighted and that its competitors were improperly given a helping hand in the bid process. The protest has resulted in a re-evaluation of the awards by the Department of the Air Force and SDA.
The exact nature of Tournear’s purported misstep is unclear, as is its precise relation to the protest case. He is not named in publicly available court documents reviewed by Breaking Defense, nor has there been any public indication that Tournear is being accused of any criminal violation of the Procurement Integrity Act, which lays out ethical constraints for federal government officials involved in buying goods and services.
The Defense Department implements the act through the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), directives related to ethics and acquisition. Compliance is overseen by individual DoD agencies and the military departments that hold procurement authorities.
An SDA spokesperson referred all questions to the Department of the Air Force. An Air Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense on Tuesday that the department had “no releasable information” as to the reason for Tournear’s administrative leave.
The decision to place Tournear on administrative leave while an investigation is undertaken was made by then-Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration Frank Calvelli, the Air Force spokesperson said. Calvelli today declined to comment for this report.
Viasat did not respond to request for comment about the proposed relook of the contract awards; both York and Lockheed Martin declined to comment and referred questions to SDA.
A number of key members of Congress were also briefed on the issue, sources said, but the Hill has been basically silent about the issue despite long-standing support for SDA and Tournear personally among House and Senate Armed Services and Appropriations Committees.
“The Committee was informed that Dr. Derek Tournear has been placed on investigative administrative leave pending the results of an investigation. While this process plays out, we expect the Space Force and SDA will continue to fulfill its vital mission,” a HASC spokesperson told Breaking Defense on Tuesday.
While the decision to sideline an official was not necessarily out of line with DoD precedent, the move to publicize the decision via a Department of the Air Force press release was highly irregular, according to a handful of former and current government officials and long-time industry players.
And that has raised speculation about the possibility of politics at play as the change-over in administration begins. Two observers with no skin in the game called the timing of the announcement, coming on the last working day at the Pentagon before President Donald Trump’s inauguration, “suspicious.”
It is an open secret in industry circles that Tournear was being considered for a role under the Trump administration, with sources saying he had been in the running for Calvelli’s post — and, according to one source close to the deliberations, also was a contender for replacing Frank Kendall as Air Force secretary. (Trump on Jan. 16 nominated the second-in-command at the National Reconnaissance Office, Troy Meink, for the SecAF job.)
Both Kendall and Calvelli were appointed by President Joe Biden but also have had long careers in government under administrations of both political stripes, and both had voiced a willingness to stay on in the second Trump Pentagon. Tournear was named SDA director in 2019, under the first Trump administration.
Viasat’s Case
Viasat’s Sept. 23 protest was filed in claims court rather than with the Government Accountability Office because the award for prototypes was made under Other Transaction Authority, rather than the FAR, which governs acquisition of major DoD programs of record.
The lawsuit alleges that SDA unfairly overvalued the bids from Tyvak and, in particular, York, while undervaluing Viasat’s offer.
Further, Viasat made a claim that SDA gave assistance that could be read as potentially unethical to its competitors.
“Indeed, SDA provided detailed comments to both Tyvak and York on how they could improve their proposals. Also, during their in-person negotiations meeting, SDA spoon-fed Tyvak the exact change it needed to make to receive an award,” according to a court filing by Viasat.
On Dec. 2, the US Attorney General’s office filed a document with the court saying that the Defense Department and SDA intend to take “corrective action” regarding the award, including re-evaluating the bids.
According to the document, the initial corrective option offered by DoD and SDA would:
- Reevaluate proposals, establish a new competitive range and negotiate with each company that qualified for the competitive range.
- Halt work for awards to Tyvak and York.
The document further stated that “SDA will also mitigate any issues arising from ex parte communications between SDA personnel and bidders before establishment of the competitive range.” One of the ways a federal procurement official can violate the Procurement Integrity Act is by providing “inside information” to one bidder that is not available to others.
The government filing explained that should the re-evaluation result in a decision to re-award York and Tyvak, then SDA will “lift the stay” on the current OTA awards, and issue any modifications deemed necessary. And if the decision is instead to make an award to another firm, then one or the other of the current awards would be terminated and a new one to the new vendor issued.
The government on Jan. 3 provided the court with an update on SDA’s corrective action plans, but the details were put under seal. A further update is due on Jan. 27. So, it’s possible that a different course of action could be taken with regard to re-evaluating the earlier awards; for example, only re-evaluating one of the winners as opposed to both.
