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Commercialization

GAO: FAA Can't Justify Commercial Space Budget Increase

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 21, 2015
Filed under ,
GAO: FAA Can't Justify Commercial Space Budget Increase

GAO: FAA Commercial Space Launch Industry Developments Present Multiple Challenges
“For fiscal year 2016, FAA requested a 16 percent increase in staff for its commercial space launch activities to keep pace with industry growth. Office of Management and Budget guidance indicates that if an agency is requesting significant changes in full-time positions, it should provide a detailed justification of the changes and discuss alternative implementation strategies. However, FAA’s fiscal year 2016 budget submission does not provide a detailed justification of the staffing changes and does not consider alternatives to hiring additional staff. Because FAA has not done this, Congress lacks information that would be helpful in making decisions about the resources needed for the agency’s commercial space launch activities. FAA officials said that the agency lacked additional workload metrics, which officials are now developing to include in future budget submissions for its commercial space launch oversight activities.”

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16 responses to “GAO: FAA Can't Justify Commercial Space Budget Increase”

  1. DTARS says:
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    When SpaceX has their commercial space port in Texas, will FAA employees do the range safety?
    If not who will?

    • Daniel Woodard says:
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      Yes, FAA is responsible for regulating commercial spaceflight at all Non-DOD us sites, just as they are for commercial airports. A full set of regulations is already on the books. SpaceX would rather, given the choice, deal with the FAA because FAA is used to regulating commercial industry and DOD is not.

      The GAO is just criticizing FAA for not wasting enough man-hours generating the useless position-justification paperwork. New civil service slots are very hard to get; just ask NASA. No doubt GAO would rather have the new slots itself.

      • John Thomas says:
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        Yes, it’s always good to let agencies set their budgets with no review.

        • Daniel Woodard says:
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          Even if you have the budget you have to fight to get a CS position. Congress sets the budget. The agency should have the autonomy to decide what to do with it.

          There is a bit of duplication between DOD and contractors. in Texas the FAA will set the rules but SFAIK the actual range safety is done by the company, and although the rules are still evolving it looks like the operations are leaner without sacrificing safety, as for example when the SpaceX terminated a booster stage flight test.

      • ProfSWhiplash says:
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        I think that’s the irony here, about GAO arm waving over insufficient metrics. I had to deal with pollution-prevention metrics in the AF, and it ate into everyone’s time — and I’m talking about large Groups or Wings who could at least spare a few poor souls to work this! Now imagine a small office that’s already burdened with its mandated mission, that can’t really spare the people, yet still being told to perform these metrics.

        So, how’s this for irony: I wonder if it’s their having to work on these very same metrics that may be interfering with their ability to perform the work items that they are trying to measure.

      • Todd Austin says:
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        To be fair, the cost of creating and staffing a new position for at least several years is far above the cost of doing routine justification paperwork.

      • fcrary says:
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        I’m not sure if that was the question. Range safety is a launch operations job not a regulatory one. I think it includes management of the ranges radars, tracking cameras and (I think) some telemetry. It definitely includes monitoring launches and destroying the vehicle if it ends up too badly out of control. I believe that’s traditionally been done by an Air Force officer, even for civilian launches. Is the FAA getting into that business?

        • DTARS says:
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          That was my question, I was wondering if some these new staff were going to down in Brownsville clearing boats out of the launch path and blowing up wayward rockets???
          I have heard that SpaceX may start pushing dirt down there this fall.

    • Steve says:
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      Perhaps the FAA should charge license fees that cover their costs at each spaceport. I assume the FAA infrastructure that supports airline traffic was paid for with user fees. This should be no different. Once the FAA can justify the additional FTEs based on the additional revenue, expansion of the office becomes a no-brainer.

      • Todd Austin says:
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        That’s precisely how airports are handled (Airport and Airway Trust Fund). It’s an excellent idea for spaceports, though they may want to underwrite the expense initially, just to encourage development and expansion.

        ftp://ftp.publicdebt.treas….

  2. ProfSWhiplash says:
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    Their office is in the mid-70’s — comparatively teeny-tiny for all the work that they have to do, as compared to the rest of the massive FAA.

    They have been stuck around that number for nearly 10 years, I think, while the Industry they’ve been tasked to watch over has been expanding and upping its tempo.

    Anyway, a 16% increase would be at best… 12 people.

  3. NASA Taxpayer says:
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    Cripes… a 56-page report complaining that an agency did not consider outsourcing a handful or two of FTEs over an inherently governmental function like launch regulation. Really? Now which agency is the one wasting federal employee time and taxpayer dollars?

  4. lookingup says:
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    So, the real question is as this agency is ramping up to regulate and provide oversight, what agency is ramping down and releasing regulative and oversight authority?
    Actually, I know the answer….

  5. Daniel Woodard says:
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    The FAA woul like to add 13 FTEs for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, although the overall FAA budget is actual declining. The main thrust of the GAO report appears to be that the actual number of launches is not as high as was previously predicted, so more people should not be needed. This seems simplistic since the primary FAA responsibilities involve oversight at the planning and R&D stages.

  6. Daniel Woodard says:
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    deleted