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Open Recommendations

International Space Station: Opportunities Exist to Improve Communication with National Laboratory Users
GAO-22-105147
Jun 07, 2022
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4 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure the CEO of CASIS obtains input from the UAC regarding ISSNL resource allocation decisions. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure the CEO of CASIS works with the UAC to agree upon the types of data and information on past resource allocations that the UAC needs to support CASIS. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure the CEO of CASIS provides ISSNL users visibility into the entirety of CASIS's planned resource allocations, including the flight queue. (Recommendation 3)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure the CEO of CASIS establishes a timeframe for finalizing a succession plan for the UAC that allows current and new members' terms to overlap. (Recommendation 4)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

U.S. Space Command: Air Force Should Develop Guidance for Strengthening Future Basing Decisions
GAO-22-106055
Jun 02, 2022
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and Environment develops guidance for future strategic basing decisions that is consistent with GAO's Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) best practices, and determines the basing actions to which it should apply. (Recommendation 1)
Open
The Air Force neither agreed nor disagreed with this recommendation, and, as of June 14, 2022, it has not provided additional information on actions taken to implement it. We will update the status of this recommendation once we confirm what actions the department has taken.

Space Command and Control: Opportunities Exist to Enhance Annual Reporting
GAO-22-104685
Dec 22, 2021
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2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that the Department of the Air Force include additional contextual information in its annual reports related to significant changes from the previous report, such as the reasons for changes to short-term objectives. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
Department of the Air Force The Secretary of the Air Force should ensure that, for describing return on investment in future annual reports, the Department of the Air Force include user perspectives on operational benefits of Space C2 program efforts. (Recommendation 2)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

NASA Lunar Programs: Significant Work Remains, Underscoring Challenges to Achieving Moon Landing in 2024
GAO-21-330
May 26, 2021
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4 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator, in coordination with the Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, should ensure the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) project office includes relevant development costs from the Resource Prospector project and the cost of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order for the delivery of VIPER to the lunar surface into its cost baseline. (Recommendation 1)
Open
NASA did not agree with this recommendation stating it did not include development costs for the Resource Prospector project in the baseline because VIPER's mission was significantly different, its design is much more capable, and a different mission directorate funded the project. In addition, NASA stated that it chose not to include the Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order costs in the VIPER project's cost baseline because the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative differs from other launch services procured for NASA missions. We continue to believe that the relevant costs incurred for the VIPER project's development under the Resource Prospector project are important because they provide visibility into the total cost of developing the rover and some of its instruments. Further, the cost of Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order to deliver VIPER to the Moon is a key cost of the project's life cycle, even if the project is not responsible for managing the task order.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure that the NASA Office of the Chief Engineer develop guidance to mitigate risks associated with delaying the establishment of high-level requirements early in the acquisition process when using service-type contracts and incorporate it in its reference guide or a similar document. (Recommendation 2)
Open
NASA agreed with this recommendation. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator, in coordination with the Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, should ensure the Gateway program, in advance of the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) project's confirmation review, assesses the solar electric propulsion thrusters' technical risks and determine whether off-ramps—such as reduced requirements for PPE—are needed or whether the project's schedule should be reassessed. (Recommendation 3)
Open
NASA agreed with this recommendation. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
This is a priority recommendation.
The NASA Administrator, in coordination with the Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, should ensure the Advanced Exploration Systems Division documents the process used to determine the program and technical management practices and tools that it will apply to the Artemis III and later missions, in the absence of establishing a formal Artemis program. (Recommendation 4)
Open
NASA agreed with this recommendation. In September 2021, NASA said that the Advanced Exploration Systems Division reviewed the set of products that will be used to govern the integration of the Artemis III and later missions. NASA recently created the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and the Space Operations Mission Directorate, and is evaluating the structure within each organization including the execution and operation of the Artemis missions. NASA, as part of this reorganization, is also assessing the possibility of establishing an Artemis program or campaign office. To fully implement this recommendation, NASA needs to provide evidence that it documented the program and technical management practices and tools that it will apply to the Artemis III and future missions.
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