Questions Raised About Safety, Security, Tax Expenditures

Some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are looking closely at NASA contracts that are designed to bolster the agency's Commercial Crew and Commercial Cargo programs, saying they could compromise safety and security. Questions are also being raised about the amount of tax money being spent on the programs.

NASA IG Paul Martin has started an audit of the 1,500 agreements NASA has reached with its partners both domestic and international, according to a report in Florida Today. The Obama administration has allocated some $1.5 billion for the contracts, and some lawmakers are questioning the use of taxpayer funds to fulfill them.

Under the Space Act agreements, private companies are allowed to retain rights to the intellectual property that they may develop. Companies are paid to achieve milestones, but some lawmakers, such as Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby say that they amount to no more than "blank checks" to private companies because they are largely left to their own devices as to how they are to achieve those milestones. During a hearing held last month on NASA's 2014 fiscal appropriation, Shelby said the agreements "lack transparency and incorporate significant schedule leniency."

NASA administrator Charles Bolden defended the practice, saying that the agency is not "in the dark with any of the contractors." He said the Space Act agreements enables the agency to "do much more than any other agency in the government can do for the budget that we have. We use them as a budget tool."

Congress has provided only about half the funds requested this year for Space Act agreements, seen by some as a threat to funding for the development of the heavy-lift SLS program intended for deep-space missions. Virginia Republican Congressman Frank Wolfe, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a recent letter to Bolden that he is concerned that NASA may be sharing sensitive information with foreign governments that "may not share our national interests in space."

The results of the audit are not expected before next year.

FMI: http://oig.nasa.gov