The Growing Shutdown Impact on NASA
Testimony of Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Marion Blakey
“For support contractors working at NASA locations, this means they are unable to do their jobs. To compensate, larger companies are forced to encourage workers to take unplanned vacation time off or try to find other work that they can do elsewhere. Smaller firms often do not have this flexibility; in many cases September 30th marked the end of a contract period of performance. With no funding and no contract in place, small firms are keeping their workforce together at their own risk with no assurance the workers will be paid for the work done during the shutdown. For companies of all sizes, if the shutdown persists, these workers will face furloughs and, unlike furloughed Federal employees, there is no guarantee that will be reimbursed for lost wages. There is a real potential for a negative ripple effect throughout local economies in these regions. Other work that contractors are doing at NASA facilities – including preparations for the first Orion space capsule test launch in 2014 are shut down since contactors are not allowed access to the NASA facility where the work must be performed.”
I’d like to hear from other on-site contractor employees out there. On my contract, hundreds of on-site engineers were simply told to stay home, not do any work, and take it as vacation if available or leave-without-pay. Either way, nobody is doing any work and likely will not be compensated. This is the second article I’ve read implying that NASA contractors are still doing work (off-site, obviously) and “may” be furloughed soon. Is this situation more common than I realize, or are most contractors just sitting at home unpaid since Oct. 1 as my colleagues and I are?
It’s a mixed bag at KSC. As a NASA guy, I know my organization is trying hard to find valid work for contractors with forward funding to do during this time. Some functions are easier to justify than others – contract activity that is solely related to on-site support is difficult. I know many contractors here are using vacation time or are taking leave-without-pay. And forward funding doean’t last very long, end of the month is where most will be expired if not before.
My last paycheck was about half of normal. I’m blessed to be a civil servant who is likely to be back-payed. My heart goes out to our awesome contractor community – without whom NASA couldn’t perform. And even the younger civil servants, who don’t have much financial cushion, are feeling the pain.
This is no way to run a railroad. If you don’t want our Nation to have a space program, just let us know and we’ll go do something else to make a living. We may be disappointed, but at least we’ll know what we need to do to take care of our families. But if you want a Space Program, let us get back to work.
I am one of the lucky few contractors who currently work off-site full time. Several other contractors I know can work remotely from off-site locations assuming no on-site support is required. I am assuming however that some sort of funding bubble will eventually halt all work, depending on the contract payment schedules. With the layoff at the end of the Shuttle program, NASA divested itself of the majority of its manned spaceflight skillbase. The current situation is making matters worse. People will be making decisions to support themselves and their families. They won’t be coming back.
I’m working remotely as well. God forbid the IT infrastructure go down. But the present mess in the government, coupled with the lack of focus in US space policy is making me, and others I’m sure, think long and hard about our futures in space. I’ve come to grips with the fact that a man will probably not be on the Moon in my working lifetime. That realization hurts a bit…
From my studies in Clear Lake, I’d say USA is probably shuttered, as without their NASA counterparts, they can’t get much if anything done.
Could you imagine getting the go ahead to RAD test parts at the Texas A&M cyclotron without NASA first approving the test dynamics and variables. Anyone associated with parts and systems configurations has probably been sent home.
If I may borrow from Bob Dylan (from Blowin’ in the Wind):
How many times [will] a man turn his head
Pretend[ing] that he just doesn’t see?
And how many deaths will it take until he knows
That too many people have died?