I've no idea why Ritchey has licensed his system to who he has. It appears indie builders have access to the components though.
Owning both an S&S and a Break Away bike, and having flown dozens of times with each (so assembling and disassembling each dozens of times), I'll absolutely pick the Break Away system over the S&S next time, and would encourage others to do the same. There might be design reasons why you couldn't use the Break Away system, but for a "standard" diamond-frame style bike (which includes every Bilenky I've ever seen), it should work fine. And the Break Away hardware should be a fraction of the cost of the S&S ... the S&S coupler is a bunch of finely machined chunks of stainless steel, while the Break Away is mostly a cast lug cut in half with two pinch bolts.