Summary: In recent years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has experienced a variety of development and performance problems with expensive space hardware. These problems have been a primary impetus behind the mounting Congressional pressures for NASA to improve its procurement practices. NASA has partly or fully implemented all but one of the eight key procurement management improvement initiatives it was working on in June 1993. Some were developed slowly and implemented quickly or achieved goals ahead of schedule. GAO questions whether some of the initiatives will be fully effective as a result of planning and implementation problems. Specifically, (1) the proposed contractors' liability policy will be hard to administer, may produce higher contract prices, and could harm subcontractors who are unwilling or unable to risk increased liability; (2) the potential effect of the proposed contractor liability policy on small and disadvantaged businesses has not been evaluated; and (3) the policy guidance for the training of contracting officers' technical representatives is incomplete.
