NASA: We can't compete

Via DVICE, NASA confirms that SpaceX can do the job of NASA for half the price.:

In a report estimating the hypothetical cost of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle for a government agency, NASA looked at it from two angles: the agency's traditional approach, and a "more commercial" one. Guess what won?

The government agency pegged the cost of building the heavy lifter at around $3.98 billion. We're used to hearing about space projects costing billions, but maybe this will put it in perspective: a "more commercial development culture approach" that cuts up all the red tape turned up a figure of $1.7 billion, well less than half.

 Go figure.  Now if only they could get that research done at the post office.

UPDATE: Link added.