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That's not a subsidy. That's progress payments. Many industries other than space have progress payments. In fact you see some private contracts which are exact
by greglindahl 9y ago
That's not a subsidy. That's progress payments. Many industries other than space have progress payments.
In fact you see some private contracts which are exactly like that NASA contract: "We want to pay you to create a much cheaper product than we can already buy, and here are some early progress payments so you don't have to finance it yourself."
You may think this is a moot point, that's totally fine. The difference between subsidies or not is important to others.
- notahacker 9y agoYou'll find private sector contracts which pay in instalments for hitting milestones, but not ones which give companies hundreds of millions of non-reimbursable research dollars without the obligation to buy or sell any actual services or transfer IP or equity. Phase I of COTS was a series of grants for hitting planning milestones with a right to terminate before Phase II. The procurement contracts were separate and subsequent to this.