Final Memorandum, COVID-19 Impacts on NASA’s Major Programs and Projects (IG-21-016; A-20-010-00), NASA OIG
“A top-line estimate of the cost for these delays and challenges across NASA is estimated to be nearly $3 billion. However, NASA will not be able to quantify the complete impact of the pandemic on its programs and projects until after the COVID-19 emergency has subsided. This memorandum presents a snapshot of the reported estimated impacts to 30 of the Agency’s major programs and projects (defined as those with life-cycle costs of at least $250 million) at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2020.”

Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member...

4 replies on “NASA OIG: Total COVID Cost To NASA: $3 Billion”

  1. Interesting how little it cost Commercial Crew with it’s fixed-price contracts. $2.2 millon in FY 2002 / $2.3 million Future, with no Schedule Impact, no Technical Impact, and the costs coming from the use of NASA’s aircraft for mission-essential travel, as well as socially distanced lodging for crew members and other essential personnel.

    1. Yeah, I was about to say the same. From my world, it seems like everything carried on with minimal disruption. Most meetings are virtual and involve multiple centers already, so WFH hasn’t been much of a change.

      1. That’s mostly the case for me (although I’m at a university and working on NASA grants, not working for NASA directly.) But I can think of some NASA and aerospace company managers who might be very unhappy.

        For example, I know one scientist at JPL who, a decade ago, decided to take early retirement for personal reasons and move out of state. Her manager talked her out of that and said moving would be fine. As long as she could work from home, and fly in to spend a day or two at the lab per week, he’d be fine with that. (She wasn’t actually moving too far out of state…) That worked well for a few years, until she ended up with a new manager. One who said that working from home was unacceptable, and felt it was impossible for someone to be a functional part of the lab’s “community” without being at the lab five days a week. So she just retired, got a job with a company which allows people to work from home, and took her research grants with her. That worked out well for her, but I think JPL lost both money and talent as a result. But I’m pretty sure that manager who didn’t approve of working from home is having problems dealing with COVID-19 related mandatory working from home. And he isn’t the only manager with similar views, and (I suspect) difficulty dealing with the new reality.

  2. Would there been same costs without covid? Seems like every major program has delays which has huge costs. I think losses (costs) are missed opportunities such as Ames which has been decreasing in size through the years, covid has accelerated it. With smaller staff and everything that goes with it, what will outlook be 20 years from now?

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