
There's good AND bad there...
NASA doing research and then passing (licencing, I hope) that to the Private Sector? Great.
NASA doing large projects WITH the Private Sector? That's a bad idea. NASA struggles to act consistently because too many politicians can input into their decision-making, which means that as a partner, they're likely to 'go soft' or even pull out suddenly as budget levels and allocations change year-on-year.
NASA just dumped ESA when pretty much all they had to do was provide the ride for ESA's Mars Probe.