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GAO-03-294R 1 (2002-12-02)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptapfm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I ~G A 0 Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548 December 2, 2002 The Honorable Barbara Boxer United States Senate Subject: Relocation of Space Shuttle Major Modification Work Dear Senator Boxer: At your request, we assessed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) rationale and documentation to support its decision to relocate Space Shuttle Orbiter Major Modification (OMM) work from Palmdale, California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida. OMM work entails alterations to improve the Space Shuttle's safety, operational quality, and long-term support and to extend its life. To make our assessment, we reviewed NASA's cost analysis and supporting documents and held discussions about NASA's analysis with agency officials in Washington, D.C.; Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas; and Kennedy Space Center, Florida; as well as NASA's prime contractor, subcontractor, and union officials representing hourly workers at the maintenance facility in Palmdale, California. At the conclusion of our work, we met with NASA officials at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C., to confirm the accuracy of the information we collected. Background NASA maintains a fleet of four orbiters (Space Shuttles) in its space transportation system. The vehicles are taken out of service for OMM about every 3 years or after no more than eight flights. Structural inspections and major modifications are performed during OMM. Boeing, a subcontractor to United Space Alliance (USA), at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, has performed maintenance and modification on each of the four orbiter vehicles. Vehicle processing-preparing the Shuttle for launch-is currently performed at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. In May 2001, the Associate Administrator for Space Flight and the Space Shuttle Program Manager directed the Vehicle Engineering Office at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, to conduct a cost analysis to determine whether OMM could be performed more cost effectively at Kennedy Space Center or Palmdale. Results in Brief NASA had a sound basis for its decision to relocate OMM work to Florida based on our assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of NASA's cost analysis and potential savings. However, NASA needs to do a better job in preparing and documenting the cost analysis and methodologies used in its decision-making process so that it can further strengthen its basis for making future decisions. The documentation provided by NASA was not of sufficient GAO-03-294R Relocating Space Shuttle Modification Work Page 1

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