NASA somehow has gotten hold of $50 Million of the 9% of the federal stimulus money being spent in 2009 and is using it “to seed development of commercial passenger transportation service to space.”
NASA does some good stuff, but they couldn’t agree on the basic specs without spending more than $50 million dollars. Given that the shuttle fleet is being retired next year, and that will leave the US government without a reliable method for getting men safely into space, handing the problem over to the private sector makes damn good sense.
Urbin Technology 
Keep in mind, that the planned replacement for the shuttles, named Orion, goes online in 2014.
Orion, from what I read, is planned to service the ISS, only if commercial launch systems are not available.
The focus on Orion is getting back to the Moon, which I believe could be done for half the cost, in half the time, by commercial firms.