NASA: Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects, GAO
“Of the 15 projects in implementation, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has reported the most significant cost and schedule changes since last year. The development cost and schedule growth reported for JWST is not typical of the cost and schedule changes NASA has reported for its other major projects this year. Specifically, the JWST project has had over $3.6 billion–or 140 percent–in development cost growth and a schedule delay of over 4 years. To put the JWST project’s development cost growth into perspective, its cost increase is over $443 million greater than the total life-cycle cost of the seven smallest major projects included in our review.”
Mismanagement should be its own reward. Up to this point, JWST hasn’t paid an appropriate price for its ongoing series of mistakes.
Wow, from the report we have: “NASA has been implementing initiatives to reduce acquisition management risk, which has been on GAO’s high risk list for more than 20 years.” Maybe in anoter 20 or 30 years they’ll get it right. Without accountability in this process it will continue to be a best effort, lower the bar, declining enterpise. The bright spot is at least we seem to be wasting money equally on both the east and west coasts which has to be some kind of stabilizing effect on the cosmos. I suppose you can think of it as economic stimulus.