No, he worked for United Space Alliance up until about a month ago, the Contractor that actually builds the shuttle...now he left them to work on the next generation at A.S.R.C. The shuttle program is slated to end in 2010.

NASA is the Governmental side of things that oversees U.S.A.

I don't know if its "from suppliers offering the lowest quoted price" I do know it is an amazing brain trust. When you consider the magnitude of the project it makes you stop and wonder when we will reached the limit of how many complex systems and precision parts we can put together at one time before, just by sheer volume, it gets out of the scope of mans control and "Murphy’s law" starts overtaking the show.

Regards,
Bob