March 30, 2009 Vol. 2, Issue 3
Acting Administrator Chris Scolese testified before the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics about cost and schedule growth on NASA programs and projects.
The hearing focused on a recent report by the General Accountability Office (GAO) that assessed 18 NASA large-scale projects. GAO found that of the 13 selected projects that had entered the implementation stage, 10 had experienced significant cost and/or schedule growth. These ten projects experienced an average cost growth of 13% over baseline cost estimates. While noting NASA’s need to improve its performance in these areas, GAO acknowledged that “NASA has developed a comprehensive plan to address systemic acquisition management weaknesses and is in the initial stages of implementing the plan,” and that “NASA recently incorporated best practice criteria for system development in its acquisition policy.”
The Acting Administrator pointed to efforts NASA continues to make to address the concerns GAO raised. “We already have some tools in place, but we also have plans to incorporate additional tools and make better use of existing tools and processes to improve our delivery of missions on cost and on schedule,” Scolese said. He drew a distinction between cost and schedule overruns that occur within the control of a project and those that take place because of external factors. Noting that some missions continue to provide valuable data far beyond their planned lifespan, he explained that prolonging these missions requires the reallocation of resources from projects in development.
“Who could have guessed that the Terra Earth Science mission — approaching its 10th anniversary — would operate over twice its design life, or that the Voyagers — at over 30 years in space — would still be operational outside of our solar system?,” he asked. He also cited national manifest priorities, loss of contractor expertise, and launch vehicle delays or price increases as factors beyond NASA’s control that could drive cost and schedule overruns for projects.
Read the Acting Administrator’s testimony. (PDF)
Read the GAO report “Assessments of Large-Scale Projects.” (PDF)
Read a summary from the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.
