The Government Accountability Office has found that most of NASA’s projects are being implemented within their schedule and cost baselines and that the space agency continues to build up its project management platforms to handle acquisition-related risks.
GAO said in a report published Tuesday that eight of NASA’s programs are in the developmental stage in which cost and schedule issues are likely to emerge.
Those programs include the Space Launch System and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
The congressional watchdog also found that three of NASA’s four projects that reached the preliminary design review phase transitioned into a technology maturity level that meets GAO’s best practices.
The report said NASA has cited resource constraints for its failure to execute a GAO-recommended best practice to track contractors’ performance and that the agency continues to encounter funding and workforce difficulties that could have an impact on its schedule and cost performance.
