Sec. 602. Implementation of science mission cost-caps
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It is the sense of Congress that— NASA science missions address compelling scientific questions prioritized by the National Academies decadal surveys, and often such missions exceed expectations in terms of performance, longevity, and scientific impact; the Administrator should continue to pursue an ambitious science program while also seeking to avoid excessive cost growth that has the potential to affect the balance across the Science portfolio and within the Science Divisions; audits by the NASA Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office have reported that early cost estimates for missions in the preliminary phases of conception and development are immature and unreliable, and the cost of a mission typically is not well-understood until the project is further along in the development process; cost growth of a mission beyond its early cost estimates is a challenge for budget planning and has the potential to affect other missions in the Science Mission Directorate portfolio, including through delays to future mission solicitations; and relying on early cost estimates made prior to preliminary design review for science missions which then experience such cost growth may disincentivize program and cost discipline moving forward.
Not later than 12 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall transmit to the appropriate committees of Congress a review of NASA practices related to establishment of and compliance with cost caps of competitively-selected, principal investigator-led science missions. The review shall— assess current cost cap values and determine whether existing cost-cap amounts are appropriate for different classes of missions; consider the effectiveness of cost caps in maintaining a varied and balanced portfolio of mission types within the Science Mission Directorate; describe the information NASA requires as part of a proposal submission related to project cost estimates and proposal compliance with cost caps, and assess whether such required information provides sufficient insight or confidence in the estimates; consider NASA processes for assessing proposed cost estimates and the accuracy of such assessments for past competitively-selected, principal investigator-led science missions; and for the period starting on January 1, 2000, and ending on the date of the enactment of this Act— a list of— competitively-selected, principal investigator-led science missions for which costs have exceeded the associated cost cap; and reason the mission costs exceeded the cost-cap; an assessment of NASA’s role in predicting, preventing, or managing competitively-selected, principal investigator-led science mission cost increases; and a description of the impact of increased competitively-selected, principal investigator-led science mission costs beyond the cost caps on— the missions for which the cost cap has been breached; and other missions within the applicable division and within the Science Mission Directorate.