Summary: In response to concerns raised in an oversight hearing, GAO reviewed the extent of carryover balances for the Mission to Planet Earth and other NASA programs. Carryover balances consist of unobligated funds and uncosted obligations. Unobligated balances represent the portion of its budget authority that NASA has not obligated. Uncosted obligations represent the portion of its authority that NASA has obligated for goods and services but for which it has not yet incurred costs. Carryover balances in NASA's Human Space Flight and Science, Aeronautics, and Technology programs totaled $3.6 billion by the end of fiscal year 1995--an amount equal to almost one-third of the budget authority provided for these programs in fiscal year 1995 that will be used to cover costs that will accrue in fiscal year 1996 or beyond. Individual programs carried over varying amounts, ranging from the equivalent of one month to 16 months of fiscal year 1995's new budget authority. The Mission to Planet Earth carried $695 million, or more than six months, of budget authority into fiscal year 1996. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: NASA Budget: Carryover Balances in Selected Programs, by Thomas J. Schulz, Associate Director for Defense Acquisitions Issues, before the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, House Committee on Science. GAO/T-NSIAD-96-207, July 18 (four pages).
