From the same article, this is also worth noting:

EDITOR'S COMMENTARY: Venture capitalists reviewing the business proposals of launch ventures basically have to perform their "due diligence" inquiries by contacting NASA officials to get their opinion. Interestingly enough, such new potential ventures would compete with well-established launch companies that incidentally lobby in favor of NASA's pork-laden programs. Such established companies also have the resources to offer NASA bureaucrats well-cushioned positions in the private sector like the one former Administrator Dan Goldin now seeks. Consequently, considering how so many new companies fail in just about any industry, how favorably do you think any NASA official will recommend such a new venture? Do you know many people at NASA who are willing to risk biting the hand that feeds them?

Boy, did we run across THIS more than once while trying to finance a private space venture. Almost everyone a potential investor would ask about the technical and financial feasibility of our project had a vested interest in the NASA/gold-plated way of doing things. That, and we were competing against the computer and internet companies for investors which were (at least back then) a license to print money.

...NASA promptly responded by doing what some critics are at least silently claiming is paying for companies' silence on the matter. Below is a conveniently timed subsequent press release regarding NASA's brand new awarding of another round of Space Launch Initiative program (SLIp) contracts.

Disclaimer: I am currently earning my mortgage money working on a (very small) NASA contract. Does this mean I got bought off too?