Lockheed Martin plans to assemble the space shuttle’s replacement in Florida if it wins the contract, not in Colorado, the company revealed Wednesday.
Lockheed’s Jefferson County workers have been leading the company’s proposal to build the crew exploration vehicle, or CEV, but Florida offered Lockheed $45.5 million in incentives to bring up to 400 new final-assembly jobs there.
Lockheed didn’t ask Colorado officials for an incentive proposal for those jobs, and the state didn’t offer one because it felt Florida had an advantage with its existing Cape Canaveral spaceport operations, said Jeff Holwell, division director of business development for the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.
The state is, however, preparing an incentive plan to lure as many as 300 engineering and other CEV jobs to Jefferson County, Holwell said. He wouldn’t disclose specifics.
The multibillion-dollar CEV project would employ as many as 1,600 people. Texas and Louisiana are expected to land jobs connected to the project as part of Lockheed’s bid.
Colorado has historically been frugal about spending money to attract jobs.
“It is frustrating,” said Preston Gibson, president of the Jefferson Economic Council. “To be competitive, we need to step up to the plate and develop an incentive program that puts us on a more level playing field with some of these other states.”
Lockheed is competing against an El Segundo, Calif.- based team led by Northrop Grumman and Boeing for the contract.
Florida put on a full-court press to win the final assembly work as soon as the project’s finalists were selected last year, said Florida Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings. The state spent $3 million creating a team to capture the project’s final assembly work, Jennings said.
Florida is offering the same incentives to the Northrop-Boeing team, but Northrop-Boeing hasn’t yet announced its plans.
“We’ve been watching the CEV opportunity for almost a year,” Jennings said. “We think it is very important.”
Florida’s incentives include $35 million in infrastructure improvements and $10.5 million in employee-training assistance. The package still requires legislative approval.
“These incentives played a key role in our current decision process,” said John Karas, vice president of space exploration for Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed.
Karas added that conducting the final assembly and testing at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., will allow the team to be closer to related operations, such as the launch vehicle. NASA plans to launch the new spacecraft from Kennedy.
About 150 employees at Lockheed’s Waterton Canyon plant are currently working on the proposal. Another 200 to 300 jobs could be added here if Lockheed wins, said spokeswoman Joan Underwood.
Lockheed also unveiled a rendering of its crew exploration vehicle Wednesday.
Final proposals are due to NASA by March 20, and a winner is expected to be selected by August. The first CEV mission could come as early as 2012.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
