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GAO-21-574PR 1 (2021-06-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaolwf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 1Oo U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
A Century of Non-Partisan Fact-Based Work
441 G St. N.W.                                               Comptroller General
Washington, DC 20548                                          of the United States
June 21, 2021
The Honorable Bill Nelson
Administrator
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
300 E Street Southwest
Washington, DC 20546
Priority Open Recommendations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Dear Administrator Nelson:
The purpose of this letter is to provide an update on the overall status of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) implementation of GAO's recommendations
and to call your personal attention to areas where open recommendations should be given high
priority.1 In November 2020, we reported that, on a government-wide basis, 77 percent of our
recommendations made 4 years ago were implemented.2 NASA's recommendation
implementation rate was 97 percent. As of April 2021, NASA had 52 open recommendations.
Fully implementing these open recommendations could significantly improve agency
operations.
Since our April 2020 letter, NASA has implemented one of our 12 open priority
recommendations, and we closed two recommendations as not implemented.
 In June 2020, NASA approved new cost and schedule commitments for the Space
Launch System (SLS) program and documented them in an updated Agency Baseline
Commitment decision memorandum. In preparing the decision memorandum, NASA
calculated SLS program developmental cost growth using a baseline adjusted to reflect
the scope of work currently planned for the first mission. These calculations indicate the
SLS program's estimated development cost has increased by greater than 30 percent.
For programs that exceed this percentage, Congress may authorize continuation of the
program, and if authorized, the Administrator must submit a new baseline report for the
program.3 We believe these agency actions satisfy the intent of our June 2019
recommendation for NASA to calculate the development cost growth for the SLS
1Priority recommendations are those that GAO believes warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or
agencies. They are highlighted because, upon implementation, they may significantly improve government operation,
for example, by realizing large dollar savings; eliminating mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or making progress
toward addressing a high-risk or duplication issue.
2GAO, Performance and Accountability Report: Fiscal Year 2020, GAO-21-4SP (Washington, D.C.: Nov. 16, 2020).
351 U.S.C. § 30104(f).

GAO-21-574PR NASA Priority Recommendations

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