From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: 2018 NASA Major Projects Quick Look Description: It's time for GAO's annual review of NASA's biggest projects. From human space flight to telescopes, we discuss issues and improvements. Related GAO Work: GAO-18-280SP: NASA: Assessment of Major Projects Released: May 2018 [ Background Music ] [ Cristina Chaplain: ] What we did see was NASA really focusing on the very troubled projects. [ Matt Oldham: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Matt Oldham. This is the tenth year GAO has reported on NASA's major projects. It's an annual assessment, including costs and schedules for big budget items. I'm here with Cristina Chaplain, a director in our Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team, to talk about GAO's look at NASA's major projects over the past year. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Cristina. [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Thank you. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, what's this year's big news? [ Cristina Chaplain: ] We've been looking, as you said, at NASA for ten years, now. Big projects. And they've generally been on an upward curve in terms of reducing acquisition; less risks, lowering costs, lessening schedule delays. But there's been a downturn. And this year really kind of shows that. The schedule delays are well up. There's an average schedule delay of a year. And then, there's cost growth, but we're not even able to determine the full amount of cost growth for the first time, because one of the key projects, the Orion Crew Capsule, is in flux in terms of a cost estimate. And it's been eight or nine months and we still don't have an answer from NASA, yet, about what their true cost is. Because that project's so big its cost growth will have a significant impact on the total cost growth for the portfolio. [ Matt Oldham: ] How do you figure out which projects make it on this report? [ Cristina Chaplain: ] A project has to be big, which is $250 million or more. So, that includes all the big human spaceflight projects, not just the Orion Crew Capsule, but the launch system for that and the ground systems for it. It includes the big telescopes, such as James Webb Telescope, as well as some smaller telescopes that still fall above that threshold. It includes Mars explorers. It includes satellites that monitor the earth's climate. [ Matt Oldham: ] I'm assuming some of these projects have been on these reports over the past few years? [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Some leave our report because they actually leave the earth and go into space. And then, new ones come on. But we've been tracking some of them, like James Webb, for a long time. [ Matt Oldham: ] Speaking of the James Webb Telescope, it's been in the news since last year's report came out. Mostly, about delays in its production. Was this addressed in this year's report? [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Yes. So, we included our recent findings. And as we were preparing this report a new delay was announced on top of a delay that was announced earlier this year. So, we're looking at a delay in the launch of James Webb from October 2018 to now around May 2020. Which is substantial. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] Since these annual assessments of NASA's major projects started ten years ago, there haven't been longer average delays for projects than what we've seen over this past year. I asked Cristina if her team saw any areas that NASA improved in. [ Cristina Chaplain: ] In the ten years that we've been looking at the big projects, NASA's made considerable systemic improvements in things like cost estimating and technology development and gathering the information it needs to manage programs. That has kind of held steady, those types of improvements. So, we didn't see new systemic improvements this year. What we did see was NASA really focusing on the very troubled projects and taking actions like charting independent studies to assess their business case for going forward. Or even taking the step of canceling the project. So, they are kind of interfering more when projects are going off the rails and really trying to exercise more oversight over them. Still, the trend is what it is, and that we're seeing a downward trend. [ Matt Oldham: ] So, Cristina, what do you believe is the bottom line of this report? [ Cristina Chaplain: ] The bottom line is the news doesn't look as good this year for NASA. Much of that is in, reflects the inherent nature of what they're doing. A lot of big complex projects, they're entering the phases where they are expected to encounter a lot of technical problems. So, we've been expecting this for a few years, that they'd be entering this difficult phase for some of the key projects. But we still see management issues that need to be addressed. Overall, NASA is in a much better position than it was when it went on our high risk list in 1990. But it still needs to address the management issues that we keep pointing out in our reports. [ Matt Oldham: ] Cristina Chaplain is the director in our Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team. And she's the signer of a GAO report assessing NASA's major projects. Thank you for your time, Cristina. [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Thank you. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To hear more podcasts, subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. [ Background Music ] [ Matt Oldham: ] For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, visit us at gao.gov.