NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION ACCOMPANYING REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW

[David Farber <>]

       NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION


               ACCOMPANYING REPORT OF
           THE NATIONAL PERFORMANCE REVIEW


             OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT




                  Washington, DC
                   September 1993




 ***************************************************
 This accompanying report, prepared by the staff of
 the National Performance Review (NPR), laid the
 groundwork for the recommendations in the NPR report
 "From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government that
 Works Better and Costs Less," released on September
 7, 1993. This report is based on the best information
 available at that time. The specific recommendations
 within these reports have been and will continue to
 be given priority as part of the FY95 Budget,
 legislative proposals, or other Administration
 initiatives, as appropriate.


 ****************************************************
 Contents


 Executive Summary..........................................1


 Recommendations and Actions


 NASA01: Improve NASA Contracting Practices.................5


 NASA02: Increase NASA Technology Transfer Efforts
         and Eliminate Barriers to Technology Development..11


 NASA03: Increase NASA Coordination of Programs with
         the U.S. Civil Aviation Industry..................17


 NASA04: Strengthen and Restructure NASA Management........19


 NASA05: Clarify the Objectives of the Mission to
         Planet Earth Program..............................25


 Agency Reinvention Activities.............................29


 Summary of Fiscal Impact..................................37


 Appendix


 Accompanying Reports of the National Performance Review...41


 Abbreviations


 ADP Automated Data Processing
 AO Announcement of Opportunity
 CPAF Cost Plus Award Fee
 CRA Cooperative Research Agreement
 DOD Department of Defense
 DOE Department of Energy
 DTC State Department Office of Defense Trade
 Controls
 EOS Earth Observing System
 EOSDIS Earth Observation System Data and
 Information System
 FMFIA Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act
 FOIA Freedom of Information Act
 FTE Full-Time Equivalent
 GCDIS Global Change Data and Information System
 GSA General Services Administration
 ITAR International Traffic in Arms Regulations
 KSC Kennedy Space Center
 LAB Laboratory
 MTPE Mission to Planet Earth Program
 MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center
 NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
 NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 NMI NASA Management Instruction
 NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
 NPR National Performance Review
 NSDD National Security Decision Directive
 OMB Office of Management and Budget
 PL Public Law
 PMC Program Management Council
 R&D Research and Development
 RPV Remotely Piloted Vehicle
 RTOP Research and Technology Objectives and Plans
 TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
 TQM Total Quality Management
 USGCRP U.S. Global Change Research Program
 VMV Vision-Mission-Values Statement


 *************************************************
 Executive Summary


 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 (NASA) was established in 1958 in response to the
 Soviet challenge in space. However, the realities of
 the Cold War that shaped NASA's mission no longer
 exist. Today, NASA and many other federal agencies
 are reconfiguring themselves to meet the realities of
 the 1990s. Both NASA's missions and its methods are
 changing in response to increasing global competition
 in the high technology arena and decreasing federal
 resources.


 Today, NASA and other government agencies struggle to
 be constructive players in an era of new national and
 global challenges and corresponding political
 imperatives. Increasing congressional oversight,
 annual or biannual budget cycles, and centralized
 administrative controls all impose frequent
 accountability and political mediation on already
 overburdened government agencies.


 Until now, a compelling and encompassing purpose for
 NASA comparable to that which challenged the agency
 in the early 1960s has been elusive. NASA needs to
 develop a mandate much like that of the 1960s to draw
 NASA scientists and engineers again toward a single
 purpose. NASA's commitment to fulfill Mission to
 Planet Earth represents an important aspect of NASA's
 broad commitment to enhance the quality of all human
 life through scientific endeavors. To prepare for the
 challenges of the 21st century, NASA is also
 committed to staying at the forefront of technology
 development through its pursuit of the humans in
 space program, aeronautical science, cutting-edge
 technologies, transfers of those technologies to
 industry, and the search for commercial applications
 of its programs wherever possible.


 The National Performance Review (NPR) has worked
 closely with NASA to explore innovative ways for the
 agency to clarify its missions and strengthen its
 management. Ultimately, NPR and NASA found ways to
 reduce bureaucracy, cut costs, and improve
 efficiency. The NPR has identified five issues for
 discussion in this report, and made recommendations
 for further action. These issues and recommendations
 highlight fundamental concerns facing the agency, as
 well as key reinvention principles.


 To get the best possible return on the taxpayer's
 dollar and to overcome the red tape that seriously
 inhibits NASA from effectively competing in a fast-
 paced technological arena, the NPR encourages NASA to
 use performance-based contracts, to contract wherever
 possible for data instead of hardware, and to use
 cooperative research agreements to effectively
 exploit high-performance computing technologies.
 These recommendations should allow NASA to benefit
 from market dynamics by becoming a more viable
 competitor.


 In the face of legal and administrative obstacles
 that often discourage industry from working with
 government to develop technologies, the NPR
 recommends: (1) temporary protection for certain data
 collected from joint NASA-industry research and
 development (R&D) activities; (2) faster reviews of
 technology export applications; and (3) expanded
 technology transfer activities that encourage,
 instead of discourage, R&D partnerships. NPR also
 supports NASA in its initiatives to develop a
 stronger relationship with the U.S. civil aviation
 industry to maintain U.S. leadership in the global
 aeronautics arena.


 The NPR also recommends that NASA apply the
 management principles developed for the redesigned
 space station program agencywide. Therefore, the NPR
 encourages NASA in its efforts to restructure program
 management to reflect the agency's strategic plan, to
 identify facilities actually needed, and to initiate
 staff reductions. Since the Mission to Planet Earth
 Program (MTPE) represents a major investment in a
 long-term research program, NASA must take steps to
 ensure that the program is properly managed to
 provide the greatest possible benefit to this country
 and the international community.


 NASA has an ongoing program to restructure itself.
 These efforts have taken on a greater impetus with
 the advent of the NPR. The NASA reinvention labs
 initiated reforms in management, procurement, the
 MTPE program, and shuttle and payload processing at
 the Kennedy Space Center.


 The post-Cold War highly competitive technological
 era provides NASA with a compelling opportunity to
 combine the strengths that led to the dramatic
 technological advances of a decade ago with the
 wisdom required to maintain this nation's leadership
 in the global arena. Through MTPE, one of NASA's
 highest priority programs, the agency will take the
 lead in greatly expanding human understanding of the
 earth's environment using the unique perspective of
 space and high-altitude atmospheric vehicles. NASA,
 restructured for the 1990s and beyond, will stay on
 the forefront of a continual commitment to humans in
 space, pursue aeronautical science and cutting-edge
 technologies, contribute new knowledge and tools to
 enhance the nation's society and economy, and achieve
 these goals effectively and efficiently.