Recent News: US-Russian Space Agreement, DOE Contracting Reforms

US, RUSSIA SIGN SPACE STATION AGREEMENT:

With the signing of an agreement on June 23 by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and Russian Space Agency (RSA) Director General Yuri Koptev, the way is paved for Russian involvement in the international space station. The “Interim Agreement for the Conduct of Activities Leading to Russian Partnership in Permanently Manned Civil Space Station” was signed in Washington, DC, as part of the recent meeting of the US-Russian Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation. It will allow RSA to begin participation while negotiations are completed on an Intergovernmental Agreement and a NASA-RSA Memorandum of Understanding. Russia will be included on the Space Station Control Board and the Multilateral Coordination Board along with the other international partners.

Also signed was a separate contract by which NASA will pay RSA approximately $100 million a year over the next four years for Russian hardware, services and data. The contract will support an ongoing cooperative Human Space Flight program. This program enables astronaut-cosmonaut exchanges on the US space shuttle and the Russian space station MIR, as well as rendezvous between the shuttle and MIR. Additionally, the contract will fund some preliminary activities for the international space station.

DOE REVAMPS CONTRACTING PRACTICES:

On July 6, the Department of Energy announced plans to reform contracting practices at its nuclear weapons complex, as part of Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary’s attempt to deal with waste and mismanagement at DOE facilities. The Department spends approximately 70 percent of its annual budget on contractors, using them to run most of its national facilities. DOE has been heavily criticized for its lax oversight and management practices, which had their roots in the World War II era and were designed to protect contractors from liability.

Over the next several years, DOE will open up to competition expiring contracts at five of its nuclear weapons sites: Savannah River, South Carolina; Hanford Reservation, Washington; Rocky Flats, Colorado; Nevada Test Site; and Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Additional contracts will be renegotiated. DOE intends to divide up some of the larger contracts and make use of more fixed-price agreements. The reforms are intended to make contractors more accountable for their performance and save taxpayer money.