Use of Support Service Contractors: NASA Office of Inspector General

The following assessment reports have been posted to the NASA Office
of Inspector General web site: Agencywide Use of Support Service
Contractors at NASA (G-00-016) and Use of Support Service Contractors
at Glenn Research Center (G-99-017).

To access the entire reports, please go to:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/inspections/G-00-016.pdf

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/inspections/G-99-017.pdf

Synopsis: The OIG recently reviewed the use of support service
contracts at the Glenn Research Center (Glenn). As a result of this
Center specific review, we subsequently identified changes that could
be made to improve the use of support service contractors across the
Agency. We issued two separate reports, the first addressed our
concerns related to Glenn and the second identified steps to be
implemented Agencywide.

We found that civil servants and contractors work very closely together
in order to ensure the success of the Agency mission. Many times
distinguishing between contractors and civil servants is very
difficult. Glenn, like other NASA Centers, has always depended heavily
on contractors to meet its needs. This level of dependence on the
commercial sector is only expected to increase. Therefore, NASA must
ensure that it obtains this support within the existing regulatory
environment, which places some constraints on how service contractors
are managed.

Performance by contractors of personal services and/or inherently
Governmental functions is prohibited. These prohibitions exist to
prevent agencies from circumventing civil service hiring ceilings and
to prevent an unacceptable transfer of official responsibility from
Executive Branch officers and employees to Government contractors. NASA
must take steps to properly balance the need for outsourcing
significant portions of its mission requirements and comply with
regulations related to management of these contracts. We believe that
this balance is best achieved by establishing adequate separation for
the tasks performed by civil servants and contractors.

Management Response: NASA Management concurred with the
recommendations in each report.

To comment on these reports, please send an email to
igrelease@hq.nasa.gov.