Nasa Reimbursable Agreements

In addition to these two initiatives, NASA has entered into five other agreements under the Commercial Space Transportation Capabilities (CSTC). [unverified in body] The three Space Act Agreement initiatives, COTS, CSTC and CCDev, are for the development, development and testing of design concepts, but CSEC differs from the other two initiatives because no funding is provided. CSTC agreements are merely instruments that require NASA to strengthen cooperation and provide information and other entities to private sector companies, but this obligation has no financial impact and both parties (nasa and private companies) should themselves guarantee the necessary resources to their respective parts of their activities. [11] Four of the cooperation agreements signed in 2010 have a maximum period of three years. In the fifth, SpaceDev, the period is censored. [8] In recent years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has increasingly relied on its authority under the Space Act of 1958 to enter into agreements commonly known as Space Accords (ASAs) to promote the development of private sector systems capable of transporting cargo and crew to the International Space Station and to assist partner companies in developing their technologies. The Reintegratible Space Act Agreement includes the use of NASA facilities, personnel or equipment for the benefit of the contractor. NASA supports repayable work when it has unique goods, services or facilities that can be made available to another party in a manner that does not affect NASA mission requirements and is consistent with the Agency`s mission. According to NASA`s guide, the agency typically collects the full refund for the costs of a refundable agreement. These types of agreements are referred to as “fully eligible SAA.” However, in some cases, NASA may accept less than the full refund, z.B. if the reimbursement is fair and reasonable, when compared to the benefits THAT NASA receives from the work. If NASA waives the cost of a refundable ASA, NASA guidelines designate it as a partially refundable ASA.

At the time of our review, NASA had internal controls in place to ensure that it received a fair refund under these agreements and that the activities of the partners did not intervene and would align with the Agency`s mission. These controls included the development of a cost estimate, obtaining the necessary authorizations from financial and legal officers, documenting the reasons for the waiver of costs, the inclusion of a non-interference clause in all agreements, and the description of the allocation clause of any fully refundable agreement, as the work to be done is consistent with NASA`s mission. In response to your request, we audited the refundable agreements to identify internal controls put in place by NASA and assessed the extent to which the Agency complies with its controls on 1) a fair reimbursement by the contracting parties and 2) ensures that the use of the partner is in accordance with NASA`s mission and that the refundable space law agreements do not affect NASA`s use of its facilities. On April 26, 2011, we made available to your offices a draft briefing in an appendix. At the time of our review, NASA had requirements and controls related to fair reimbursement of space law agreements and generally followed those controls. However, ambiguous guidelines that existed at the time of our review may have contributed to a change in the level of detail and format of cost debt relief. In December 2010, NASA issued an interim directive that strengthened surveillance and provided additional guidelines for determining when to waive costs.