Stokes Examines NASA Program Management
As NASA gears up for another attempt at redesigning Space Station Freedom (see FYIs #30 and #31), some in Congress are wondering whether the space agency has learned any lessons from a number of costly mistakes in its past. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio), the new chairman of the House appropriations VA/HUD subcommittee, held a March 17 hearing to examine unanticipated cost growth in a variety of projects, including the space toilet, the advanced turbo pump for the shuttle, and the Mars Observer, as well as the space station. Stokes seemed well suited to this oversight role. His questions were well-informed and probing, rather than accusatory. The witnesses, NASA head Daniel Goldin and many of his top managers (most of whom were not in their present positions when the projects were initiated), analyzed past errors and offered useful measures for avoiding similar problems in the future.
The most pervasive problem, the officials testified, was NASA’s tendency to put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) before adequately defining a project’s requirements and understanding its technical risk. This led to overly optimistic bids by contractors and later design changes by NASA. Another problem, which afflicts many government agencies, was the use of contracts which do not hold contractors liable for the ultimate performance of their product. Other problems cited included design changes made during completion of a project, and budget instability due to underfunding by Congress.
Based on last summer’s “Red and Blue Team” exercises to uncover problems and recommend reforms, Goldin has devised plans to deal with the agency’s management and procurement deficiencies. He intends that all new starts will have adequately-defined requirements, as well as well-understood technical risks and costing over the full life of the project, rather than just the development phase. If Congress will not provide sufficient funding up front, Goldin stated he would consider terminating a project rather than repeat the mistake of stretching it out and taking money from the reserves to save near-year dollars, resulting in a higher total project cost in the long term.
Goldin plans to implement a “yellow light trigger system” by which technical problems and uncontrolled costs would bring about a program review, and possible cancellation. He is also developing new procurement rules which would penalize a contractor if the product did not perform as intended. The new regulations will appear in the Federal Register for public comment in April, with a final version completed this summer. Subcommittee members gave little indication-- positive or negative-- of how effective they thought the reforms might be.
On the basis of testimony that program delays and redesigns increase costs, Alan Mollohan (D-West Virginia) questioned, regarding the space station, “How in the world could you save any money by going from this pretty advanced stage to almost ground zero?” Goldin replied that one of the White House requirements for redesign was that NASA utilize, to the maximum extent possible, the work that has already been completed. He also acknowledged the concern of many on Capitol Hill over the effort, but promised, “we’re going to do the very best job we can.” He said the redesign would include “deconvolving” the space station’s unwieldy management structure. It was brought up that George Brown, chairman of the House science committee, had written Goldin a letter requesting that the space station as currently designed be one of the options considered. Goldin remained close-mouthed over potential outcomes, insisting that he “would not like to prejudge the results.”
Update on FYI #25 - Clinton Administration Request for Additional NSF Money
Last night the House of Representatives approved the Clinton Administration’s request for supplemental funding for current year operations. A component of this $16.2 billion package is $206.6 million for the NSF, a large share of which would be spent on Research and Related Activities. NSF proposes to augment Mathematical and Physical Sciences funding by $40.55 million, and Geosciences funding by $43.78 million. NASA would receive an additional $4.7 million under this proposal. The House vote was largely along party lines.
This legislation is now under consideration in the Senate, which is due to vote on the stimulus legislation next week. Passage in the Senate is more doubtful, with Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) declining to make any predictions about the outcome. In order to assure passage, 60 votes will be needed to block an expected filibuster against the bill.
