GAO Report On NASA And Its Big Telescopes
NASA: Lessons from Ongoing Major Projects Can Inform Management of Future Space Telescopes, GAO
“The projects in NASA’s current portfolio of major space telescopes–JWST, Roman, and SPHEREx–have roots in past decadal surveys on Astronomy and Astrophysics from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. NASA is now considering the results of the National Academies’ 2020 decadal survey, which may spur new projects in this portfolio. NASA has made improvements in acquisition management in recent years, but it remains a long-standing challenge for the agency. … In prior work, GAO has made recommendations to improve NASA’s acquisition of major projects. NASA generally agreed with most of those recommendations and implemented changes in response. As of November 2021, NASA has not fully addressed eight open priority recommendations related to monitoring program costs and execution. Those recommendations were detailed most recently in a report to the NASA Administrator in June 2021.”