2. North American rated third out of five contractors in the Weighted Total column, yet was awarded the contract. How did that happen? What are the lessons from this example?

Five proposals were submitted to NASA to design and build the Apollo spacecraft. An evaluation board of more than 100 specialists reviewed the proposals and ranked them as follows (maximum = 10).

The board unequivocally recommended to NASA senior management that Martin be awarded the contract but suggested North American as the next-best alternative based upon NA’s experience in developing high-performance military and research aircraft. This experience (technical qualification)
sufficiently impressed the board that it put NA ahead of General Dynamics, despite NA’s lower ratings on technical approach (design of the space capsule) and business strength (organization and management). The board mentioned that any shortcomings in NA’s technical approach could be corrected through additional design effort. Seeing the board’s recommendations—and aware of NA’s long, close association with NACA (NASA’s predecessor agency),

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Technical Approach (30%) Technical Business Weighted Qualification Strength (30%) Total (40%) Martin Company 5.58 6.63 8.09 6.90 General Dynamics 5.27 5.35 8.52 6.59 Astronautics North American 5.09 6.66 7.59 6.56 Aviation General Electric 5.16 5.60 7.99 6.42 Company McDonnell Aircraft 5.53 5.67 7.62 6.41 Corporation