I rather suspect that it's simply because SpaceX needs less money to finalise their space flight capability. That's typically how government contracts work - su

I rather suspect that it's simply because SpaceX needs less money to finalise their space flight capability. That's typically how government contracts work - suppliers make bids and the government chooses the winner based on price and other criteria. Presumably SpaceX's bid was lower than Boeing's. Off topic: it's "making do", not "making due". Non American English speakers pronounce the two quite differently, so this is a really startling error for us...