Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) efforts to improve its procurement assessment and performance measurement processes, focusing on whether those efforts have been sufficient to warrant removing NASA contract management from the Comptroller General's high-risk list.
GAO noted that: (1) removing NASA contract management from the high-risk list is premature at this time because the agency has delayed initial implementation of its integrated financial management system by 8 months; (2) further, NASA has not implemented its procurement metrics initiative; (3) while NASA is making progress evaluating its field centers' procurement activities based on international quality standards and its own procurement surveys, it has not issued formal requirements for this evaluation; and (4) taken as a whole, GAO believes this record does not provide sufficient evidence that NASA has met the standard GAO established in its May 1997 report; namely, that NASA has a demonstrated capability to consistently produce accurate and reliable procurement-related information in order to better assess and oversee its procurement activities.
