NASA GAO Report: NASA’s Compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act for Fiscal Year 2021 “We found that NASA was not in compliance with PIIA for FY 2021 because it did not publish improper payment estimates for the Space Launch Sy stem (SLS) program in the accompanying materials to the AFR as required by the statute. In our FY 2019 improper payment compliance audit, we reported that NASA failed to […]
NASA Statement on Nomination of Margaret Vo Schaus for Agency CFO, NASA “[Margaret Vo] Schaus is a career member of the Senior Executive Service. Over the past decade, she has held numerous leadership roles with responsibility for the financial management and business operations of science and engineering organizations at the Departments of Energy and Defense. She currently serves as the director for business operations in the Office of the Under […]
NASA’s Management of the Gateway Program for Artemis Missions, NASA OIG “NASA selected Maxar in May 2019 to provide the PPE under a fixed-price contract because the Agency anticipated few design and development changes. However, the contract value has increased by $78.5 million since the award, with more increases expected to accommodate additional evolving requirements and technical challenges. PPE has also experienced other contract management challenges, including the collapse of […]
NASA OIG: NASA’s Management Of Its Acquisition Workforce “In addition, 95 percent of NASA’s certified acquisition workforce met continuous learning requirements needed to maintain their certification in the reporting periods we evaluated. However, the Agency’s migration to the Federal Acquisition Institute Training Application System (FAITAS), the official system of record for acquisition programs, is incomplete. As such, NASA relies on multiple systems and stakeholders to manage these certification programs, reducing […]
OIG announces an audit assessing the effectiveness of NASA’s cost estimating and reporting practices for large, multi-mission programs such as those supporting the Artemis program. — NASA OIG (@NASAOIG) October 8, 2020 Keith’s note: This audit is stating the obvious. Its nice to see that OIG has finally decided to audit “NASA’s cost estimating and reporting practices for large, multi-mission programs” given that all of its audits of “NASA’s cost […]
NASA Announces Ninth Consecutive Clean Financial Audit Opinion “The NASA Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) has led the way for an unmodified audit opinion on the agency’s fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019) financial statements. This represents NASA’s ninth consecutive “clean” opinion from an independent accounting firm – the highest opinion possible. “This audit opinion is an affirmation of NASA’s commitment to its fiduciary responsibility for maintaining the public […]
NASA Is Delaying The Launch Of Its $9 Billion Space Telescope — Again, Buzzfeed “Make no mistake, I’m not happy sitting here telling you this,” NASA’s Thomas Zurbuchen told reporters on a briefing about the delay. He deflected criticism from spacecraft contractor Northrop Grumman, saying, “we are part of the team that caused this problem and we are going to have to solve it together.” Blowing the budget cap for […]
NASA’s Management of Reimbursable Agreements “NASA has made improvements in the way it manages reimbursable agreements, but still cannot provide Congress and other stakeholders with fully accurate and complete information on their use. Specifically, half of the PAM and SIERA records we sampled contained substantial errors, such as incorrectly listing reimbursable agreement values and waived costs (i.e., costs incurred for which the partner does not reimburse NASA). For example, while […]
Keith’s note: NASA CFO nominee Jeff Dewitt has been confirmed by the Senate. NASA Statement on Nomination for Agency Chief Financial Officer, earlier post “The following is a statement from acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot on Wednesday’s announcement of the intended nomination by President Donald Trump of Jeffrey DeWit to serve as the agency’s Chief Financial Officer: “It is encouraging to see more members of the agency’s leadership team being […]
NASA OIG: Audit of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute “We found that NSBRI delivered research products that helped NASA make progress toward the goal of mitigating human health and performance risks associated with space travel. However, while most NSBRI charges complied with applicable laws and the award’s terms, NASA improperly permitted NSBRI to use $7.8 million of research funds to renovate and pay rent for laboratory space in a […]
NASA Office of Inspector General Annual Report April – September 2017 “Specifically, despite spending almost $200 million on three spacesuit development efforts, NASA remains years away from having a spacesuit capable of replacing the suits used on the ISS or suitable for use on future exploration missions. Furthermore, given the current development schedule, there is significant risk a next-generation prototype will not be sufficiently mature for testing on the ISS […]
NASA’s Fiscal Year 2017 Financial Audit Result “NASA has received an unmodified audit opinion on its Fiscal Year 2017 (FY 2017) financial statements, making this the seventh consecutive year of “clean” opinions. The agency released its FY 2017 Agency Financial Report (AFR) Wednesday, which provides details on its financial results and performance highlights.” NASA FY 2017 Financial Report “NASA did not substantially address deficiencies in its vulnerability management program, which […]
NASA OIG: NASA’s Efforts to “Rightsize” its Workforce, Facilities, and Other Supporting Assets “Through the TCAT and CLM processes, NASA has established a framework that should improve the Agency’s ability to manage its technical capabilities and help make the difficult decisions regarding infrastructure and personnel required to optimally position itself for current and future missions. However, after more than 4 years, the Agency has yet to make many concrete decisions […]
NASA OIG: Notice of a new system of records: Data Analytics System (ADAS) “In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) publishes this notice of a new system of records entitled “The Office of Inspector General Advanced Data Analytics System (ADAS)” (System Number NASA 10IGDA. This system will store individually identifying information from a variety of individuals who have […]
NASA Receives Fifth Consecutive Clean Audit Opinion “NASA has received an unmodified audit opinion on its Fiscal Year 2015 (FY 2015) financial statements, marking the fifth consecutive year of “clean” opinions. The agency has released its FY 2015 Agency Financial Report (AFR), which provides details on its financial results and performance highlights. The auditor’s unmodified opinion is that NASA’s financial statements fairly present the agency’s financial position and results of […]
The bind on federal travel, Sandra Magnus/AIAA, Washington Post “In response to the new rules, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has joined with more than 100 scientific and engineering organizations to advocate the immediate easing of travel restrictions on federal employees seeking to attend science and technology conferences. Coalition members have held meetings with key policymakers and are working with Congress and the White House to reduce […]
NASA OIG: Costs Incurred on NASA’s Cost-Type Contracts “We found NASA is at increased risk of paying unallowable, unreasonable, and unallocable incurred costs and of losing the opportunity to recoup improper costs because Agency contracting officers rely too heavily on DCAA’s incurred cost audit process. Under its new, risk-based methodology, DCAA has significantly decreased the number of contractor proposals it audits in an effort to reduce its 6-year backlog of […]
OIG Report: NASA’s Use of Blanket Purchase Agreements “NASA Contracting Officials Using GSA Schedule Agreements Did Not Maximize Competition or Seek Vendor Price Discounts. Our sample included 23 orders obtained using 14 different GSA schedule agreements. We found deficiencies in 12 of these 14 agreements. Specifically, for 9 of the agreements NASA contracting officials established single- rather than multiple-award agreements without preparing written justifications or failed to request price discounts […]
NASA Proposed Rule: Profit and Fee Under Federal Financial Assistance Awards “NASA is revising the NASA Grant & Cooperative Agreement Handbook to clarify that NASA does not pay profit or fee on Federal Financial Assistance awards, i.e. grants and cooperative agreements, to non-profit organizations. This proposed rule would make changes to NASA regulations to reflect that revision.” “… There appears to have been some confusion with regard to the term […]