Who do you think is capable of competing, given that they didn't win the bid the first time round?

Regardless of capability, it's in NASA's best interests and our best interests to encourage others to try. I think we are better off if the rocket industry (and every industry) is not dominated by a single organization, even if we believe that organization is altruistic and excellent.

Well, NASA tried that originally but didn't have the budget, and in that sense it's better late than never to fund something different. The reasoning as presented just doesn't reflect reality.

They did. They held a bidding process. SpaceX won the bid. As Americans you didn't vote for a government that wanted to fund multiple bids.

I don't really care, give Carmack ten billion dollars and at least it'll run DooM.

Armadillo Aerospace did a mediocre job at best with its funding.

I think it did amazingly well with its shoestring funding.

They didn't handle the scale up in vehicle size well. They didn't have a guy who really understood electronics. I'd say those were the biggest problems. They did have an amazing metal worker (and I don't think they ever understood how important that was) and an amazing programmer.

They should just get an Apollo lander, maybe strap on some rockets from Nike Ajax missiles, buff it up a bit, maybe throw a shuttle windscreen on it too. Job done.

Too bad Orion can't get to Lunar Orbit to meet the lander.

All hail the cislunar transporter.