Note from Keith: When Senator Bill Nelson came to NASA, Mobile Launcher 2 was thought to cost $500 million. The NASA OIG now says it will have cost $2.7 billion by the time Bechtel delivers it. Add in delays and cost overruns throughout the Artemis project and the ever-slowing launch frequency between missions, and you have to ask why NASA is building something it simply doesn’t need and probably never needed. And when the OIG suggests that NASA turn this into a fixed-price contract to lock in the final cost, NASA says “no.”. Bill Nelson is upset that China beat the US to the moon, even though NASA is doing a great job making it possible. According to the OIG: “NASA expects the ML-2 to cost more than three times as much as planned. In 2019, NASA estimated that the entire ML-2 project, from design to construction, would cost less than $500 million if construction was completed and the ML-2 was delivered to NASA by March 2023. In December 2023, NASA estimated the cost of the ML-2 project at $1.5 billion, including $1.3 billion for the Bechtel contract and $168 million in other project costs, with the launch vehicle delivered to NASA in November 2026. In June 2024, NASA set the Agency Baseline Commitment (ABC)—the cost and schedule baseline committed to Congress against which a project is measured—for an ML-2 project cost of $1.8 billion and a September 2027 delivery date. Even by setting the ABC, NASA intends to hold Bechtel to the costs and schedules agreed to in December 2023. Despite the agency’s increased cost projections, our analysis suggests costs could be even higher, in part due to the significant remaining construction. Specifically, our projections suggest total costs until Bechtel delivers the ML-2 to NASA could reach $2.7 billion. Given the time NASA will need to prepare the launch vehicle after delivery, we expect the ML-2 to not be ready for launch until spring 2029, exceeding Artemis IV’s planned September 2028 launch date. NASA officials disagree with our analysis and expect cost growth to moderate over time as Bechtel has begun construction of the launch vehicle. The agency believes this is an area of ​​expertise for the contractor. While progress has been made with the start of construction of the ML-2, it is too early to assess the impact on further contract cost growth and whether Bechtel can achieve and maintain improved performance levels throughout the construction phase.” Full report: NASA’s management of the Mobile Launcher 2 project