Cost Management Issues in NASA’s Acquisitions and Programs

Opening Statement By Chairwoman Gabrielle Giffords

Good morning. I’m pleased to welcome everyone to this the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in the 111th Congress.

I’m very much looking forward to working with Ranking Member Olson and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle this year to tackle the important space and aeronautics issues facing the nation.

We have a lot to do, but I am confident that we will have a productive—and collegial—year ahead of us.

I think all Members of the Subcommittee will agree with me that NASA is one of America’s greatest achievements.

As we look to the next two years, Congress and the American people will be looking to NASA to help solve some of our greatest challenges: the development of our next exploration vehicle as the shuttle is scheduled to retire in 2010 the ability to forecast and understand changes in climate as our planet continues to warm; other countries competing in space exploration for both military, technological and scientific purposes; the continuing decline in numbers of STEM field graduates as are not graduating enough students inspired to pursue a career in these important areas;

This quote that appears above us – where there is no vision the people perish

So as we look to the next two years

I want the American people to continue to look to NASA for that vision, and our job as members of Congress is to ensure that NASA has the resources and tools you need to carry out the vision including the many tasks that we have given you.

With that, however, goes the responsibility of ensuring that NASA is being a good steward of the resources provided to you by our constituents.

I take that responsibility seriously, as I know my colleagues do, and that is why we are kicking off this legislative session with today’s hearing—a hearing that is also being webcast, as are all of the Science and Technology Committee hearings.

The topic of today’s hearing—cost management issues in NASA’s acquisitions and programs—is an appropriate one with which to begin the subcommittee’s oversight activities.

It is clear that good cost and schedule management will be critical to the success of NASA’s planned robotic and human space flight activities.

That is only good common sense, given that NASA will always be working with constrained budgets and competing priorities.

As has been summarized in numerous reports and studies, NASA has suffered cost growth and schedule delays in a number of projects and programs in recent years.

The stated causes of the cost growth and delays have varied, and the prescriptions to fix the problems offered by individuals inside and outside of the agency have also varied—and indeed sometimes have been in conflict.

I want to use this hearing to start to sort out the facts and to explore what can and should be done to reduce the instances of cost and schedule growth that we see at NASA.

As was noted in the charter for today’s hearing, cost and schedule growth has been a concern at NASA since the early 1980s, if not earlier.

Moreover, from my vantage point on the House Armed Services Committee, it is clear that our military space programs suffer from similar problems.

However, it is also clear that NASA, DoD, and the other agencies of the federal government involved in space activities have many dedicated and competent scientists and engineers working long hours to try to deliver successful projects.

That tells me that dealing with these cost and schedule issues is hard, and that there’s no simple fix or the situation would have been resolved long ago.

We need to find out why preventing cost and schedule growth in our space projects is so hard, and more importantly, what we can do to put us on a better path for the future.

I suspect that getting on that better path will involve the need for improved practices within NASA, in the agency’s oversight of its contractors, and in its collaborations with its international partners—as well as better efforts by Congress and the White House to reduce the vagaries of the budgeting process that introduce additional instability in NASA’s program planning.

It may not be possible to achieve perfection, but we certainly need to do our best to ensure that NASA is making the best use of the funds that it is given.

We owe that to the American taxpayers, as well as to those who are working so hard to advance the nation’s agenda in space and aeronautics research.

Today’s hearing should be viewed as simply a first step in this Subcommittee’s oversight of NASA’s acquisition and program management.

I am very pleased that we have a very knowledgeable panel of witnesses here today to help us in that work.

I want to welcome each of you, and I look forward to your testimony.

With that, I will now yield to Mr. Olson for any opening statement that he would care to make.
 

Witnesses

Panel

0 - Mr. Christopher Scolese
Acting Administrator NASA NASA
Download the Witness Testimony

0 - Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain
Director Acquisition and Sourcing Management Government Accountability Office Acquisition and Sourcing Management Government Accountability Office
Download the Witness Testimony

0 - Mr. Gary P. Pulliam
Vice President Civil and Commercial Operations The Aerospace Corporation Civil and Commercial Operations The Aerospace Corporation
Download the Witness Testimony