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Congress

Morhard Confirmation Process Begins

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
August 16, 2018
Filed under

Nomination Hearing: James Morhard for NASA Deputy Administrator
“U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a hearing at 10: 15 a.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2018, to consider three presidential nominees.”
Nomination questionaire

https://media2.spaceref.com/news/2018/morhard.quote.jpg

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

11 responses to “Morhard Confirmation Process Begins”

  1. JaxToSpace says:
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    Where’s that word ‘Science’ in his response?

    • Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
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      The third issuse touches both science and human missions without explicitly stating jwst and other science missions.

  2. Nick K says:
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    Sounds like Morhard knows what needs to be done if they are going to become relevant again. I am hoping he and Bridenstine can politically maneuver to drag NASA out of its current bureaucratic morass.

    • Paul451 says:
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      It’s worth remembering that Bridenstine explicitly didn’t want Morhard. Insiders seem to think that Morhard is there to control, or if necessary isolate, Bridenstine.

      • Neal Aldin says:
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        If Morhard helps to do what he said in his statement and responses, then he is on the right track and NASA, including the Administrator need to get onboard. I for one, do not take issue with anything he said. Bridenstine seems to be thinking similarly though he has not been quite as outspoken; maybe that’s the politician controlling his speech? If the two of them get together maybe they could do more than either can alone?

  3. Michael Spencer says:
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    I guess he know the portfolio is larger than HSF?

    • Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
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      The current crop of lunar lander companies and asteroid mining are robotic not hsf related. Plus the procurement challenge (#3) is applicable to both hsf, telescopes, satellites and robotic missions.

  4. Daniel Woodard says:
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    “We need to innovate at the speed of relevance”…. radically reduce cost, improve schedules _and- safety, exceed performance expectations and bring NASA back to the “cutting edge”, while adhering to the Federal Acquisition Regulations process.” I don’t mean to dismiss Mr. Morhard’s claims, but while he is proficient at including the political buzzwords, I do not detect any actual insight into the technical or strategic arena. For example, the radical advances of the Commercial Space efforts have come largely from circumventing the FARs.

    • sunman42 says:
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      At least it proves part of his mind lives in a fantasy world.

    • fcrary says:
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      The statement is certainly thin on specific details. But I don’t really expect anything different from response to a questionnaire from a senate committee. When he mentioned following FAR requirements, he was certainly doing the right thing. Ignoring federal regulations is illegal and also wouldn’t have helped his chances of confirmation.

      FAR allows for firm fixed price contracts, and that’s what the commercial space efforts used. Previously, NASA wouldn’t have used those sorts of contracts for something that major, but that’s just a matter of which part of FAR they chose to apply. I’m not sure, but FAR probably also includes rules on when to use fixed price versus cost plus contracts, and it may have taken some mental gymnastics to justify going with fixed price. But I’m confident there was nothing illegal about the commercial cargo or commercial crew contracts.

      • Daniel Woodard says:
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        Commercial Crew and Cargo began under Space
        Act Agreements, not FARs. It was the first use of the Space Act for programs of this scale. Legal but innovative. people were naturally uncomfortable with the loss of NASA control of work they were, at least in part, paying for. Despite the titular homage paid to innovation in the political wordcloud, it sounds like Morhard wants to make sure nothing so innovative occurs in the future.