We don’t need to multi source our ability to get to the moon…
I could buy a second car as a backup in case I have car troubles. Heck, I could buy 2 spare cars. What I shouldn't do is pretend those extra cars are free.
SpaceX got picked because they were reasonably plausible and fit the budget. The other contenders best argument seems to be, "Oh, we didn't know just how little of your money we were going to get to spend. Can we try again with a smaller budget?"
Competition is a good thing and builds more resilient systems.
> This decision was based on NASA’s longstanding Option A acquisition strategy of making two Option A contract awards. While it remains the Agency’s desire to preserve a competitive environment at this stage of the HLS Program, at the initial prices and milestone payment phasing proposed by each of the Option A offerors, NASA’s current fiscal year budget did not support even a single Option A award. Working in close coordination with the CO, it was therefore my determination that NASA should, as a first step, open price negotiations with the Option A offeror that is both very highly rated from a technical and management perspective and that also had, by a wide margin, the lowest initially-proposed price—SpaceX.
[0] https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/option-...
Look at Apollo. Clearly it was sourced from all over the country in way that created jobs everywhere. Everyone was happy and we put a man on the moon.
Now look at SLS. Clearly it's sourced from all over to create jobs, however it's such a good job creator - it works so well political that the politics have stopped being a parasite on the goal; instead the politics are the goal. SLS is does nothing other then spend money.
There's a funny story involving corruption in 2 countries. In one the minister involved points at a bridge off in the distance and with a wink says "I got 10% of the cost of the bridge in my bank account." In the other country a ministry points to an empty space devoid of anything beyond wilderness. "Hah! I got 100% of the cost of our bridge!"
Politics does get stuff moving but it needs to be a tail being wagged by a dog not the other way 'round.