I disagree, actually. NASA Space Science still does superb work, and much of it is work that there would be very little incentive for a private-sector company to do on its own, which means the private-sector companies have no accumulated body of experience doing it.
That said, I would be entirely in favor of NASA issuing contracts for heavy lift capacity to be able to put a payload X meters in diameter by Y meters long massing Z tons into LEO (probably for several ranges of X, Y and Z), or a payload X' meters in diameter by Y' meters long massing Z' tons into lunar transfer orbit, on the understanding that it will not be a winner-takes-all contract — all suppliers having boosters meeting the specification for a particular mission will be eligible to submit bids to fly that mission.
no subject
That said, I would be entirely in favor of NASA issuing contracts for heavy lift capacity to be able to put a payload X meters in diameter by Y meters long massing Z tons into LEO (probably for several ranges of X, Y and Z), or a payload X' meters in diameter by Y' meters long massing Z' tons into lunar transfer orbit, on the understanding that it will not be a winner-takes-all contract — all suppliers having boosters meeting the specification for a particular mission will be eligible to submit bids to fly that mission.