Sec. 702. Termination liability sense of Congress
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It is the sense of Congress that: The International Space Station, the Space Launch System, and the Orion crew capsule will enable the Nation to continue operations in low-Earth orbit and to send its astronauts to deep space. The James Webb Space Telescope will revolutionize our understanding of star and planet formation and how galaxies evolved and advance the search for the origins of our universe. As a result of their unique capabilities and their critical contribution to the future of space exploration, these systems have been designated by Congress and the Administration as priority investments.
In addition, contractors are currently holding program funding, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to cover the potential termination liability should the Government choose to terminate a program for convenience. As a result, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are unavailable for meaningful work on these programs. According to the Government Accountability Office, the Administration procures most of its goods and services through contracts, and it terminates very few of them.
In fiscal year 2010, the Administration terminated 28 of 16,343 active contracts and orders—a termination rate of about 0.17 percent. The Administration should vigorously pursue a policy on termination liability that maximizes the utilization of its appropriated funds to make maximum progress in meeting established technical goals and schedule milestones on these high-priority programs.