Shuttle Rocket Motor Program

NASA Should Delay Awarding Some Construction Contracts Gao ID: NSIAD-92-201 April 27, 1992

Even though the President has proposed terminating the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor program, NASA is proceeding with all construction planned for fiscal year 1992 to avoid schedule slippages if Congress reinstates the program. GAO believes that NASA could delay some construction for at least a few months without affecting the launch data schedule. Starting all construction activities as originally planned could result in unnecessary additional costs and termination liability if the funding for fiscal year 1993 is not provided. If Congress decides to continue the program, construction could still be completed in time to avoid schedule slippages.

GAO found that: (1) although the President has proposed terminating the ASRM program, NASA is proceeding with all construction activity planned for fiscal year (FY) 1992 to avoid schedule slippage if Congress reinstates the program; (2) NASA estimates that it will cost between $200 million and $325 million in new obligational authority to terminate the ASRM Program, depending on when the contractor efforts cease; (3) in FY 1992, NASA plans to obligate $200 million for ASRM construction, but NASA must complete much of the construction on time to meet its current launch date; (4) some construction activities that will have to be completed earlier than necessary to fully meet ASRM completion schedules include construction on three docks a motor storage facility, and a space center rotation processing and surge facility; and (5) starting all construction activities as originally planned could result in NASA unneccessarily incurring additional costs and termination liability if Congress does not provide FY 1993 ASRM funding. GAO believes that NASA can complete the construction in time to avoid schedule slippage if Congress decides to continue the program.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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