Report: GAO Performance and Accountability Series: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

To download the full report, go to
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-03-114

For more information, contact Allen Li at
(202) 512-4841 or lia@gao.gov.
Highlights of GAO-03-114, a report to
Congress included as part of GAO’s
Performance and Accountability Series

Why GAO did this report

In its 2001 performance and
accountability report on NASA,
GAO identified important
management, oversight, and
workforce issues facing the agency.
The information GAO presents in
this report is intended to help
sustain congressional attention and
an agency focus on continuing to
make progress in addressing these
challenges – and others that have
arisen since 2001 – and ultimately
overcoming them. This report is
part of a special series of reports
on government-wide and agency-specific
issues.

To make its improvement
initiatives fully successful, GAO
believes that NASA will need to

• move to a results-oriented
  culture and provide the
  sustained attention needed
  to make sure human capital
  reforms stay on track;
• overcome barriers facing
  implementation of its financial
  management system and
  transform its financial
  management organization so
  that it better supports NASA’s
  core mission; and
• successfully follow through
  on planned oversight
  improvements so that costs
  and scheduling risks can
  be mitigated.

What GAO found

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues to
face challenges that threaten its ability to effectively run its largest
programs. NASA is taking steps to address these challenges. But because
they are rooted in NASA’s culture and long-standing ways of doing business,
NASA will need to make a major transformation.

• Strengthening strategic human capital management. NASA is
  facing shortages in its workforce, which could likely worsen as the
  workforce continues to age and the pipeline of talent shrinks. This
  dilemma is more pronounced among areas crucial to NASA’s ability
  to perform its mission, such as engineering, science, and information
  technology. NASA is addressing this challenge through strategic
  planning, a new workforce planning and analysis system, and requesting
  additional personnel flexibilities, among other initiatives.
• Controlling International Space Station costs. Development costs
  for this premier project have soared to the point where NASA has had
  to cutback the program substantially, including reducing construction,
  the number of crew members, and scientific research. This has raised
  concern among NASA’s international partners, who have a large stake
  in the scientific research to be performed on the station. NASA is
  instituting management and cost-estimating reforms. But it must still
  reach agreement with its partners on its planned cutbacks.
• Reducing space launch costs. NASA recognizes the need to reduce
  the costs of space launches and replace its aging space shuttle. The
  administration recently submitted an amendment to NASA’s fiscal year
  2003 budget request, which (1) extends the life of the space shuttle
  and enhances its reliability, (2) funds the development of a new vehicle
  for ferrying crew to and from the space station, and (3) alters the
  time frame for a shuttle replacement. Accomplishing these and other
  goals related to space launches will be difficult and risky in light of the
  technology advances NASA would like to pursue and the high degree
  of communication and coordination required among industry and
  government partners.
• Improving contract management. NASA spends most of its funds
  on acquisitions. Yet, for many years, it has been unable to oversee
  contracts effectively, principally because it lacked accurate and reliable
  information on contract spending and it placed little emphasis on end
  results, product performance, and cost control. NASA has addressed
  many acquisition-related weaknesses and is beginning to tackle one of its
  most formidable barriers to sound contract management – the lack of a
  modern, integrated financial management system. Considerable work
  remains to be done since NASA is only in the early stages of designing
  and implementing this new system, and NASA reported that it is already
  facing challenges in terms of cost, interoperability, and security.