Cost, schedule and systems engineering research and analysis support. The deputy director for planning and business management flight projects directorate (FPD) at the NASA goddard space flight center…

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center issued a delivery order to The Aerospace Corporation on July 20, 2016, with a ceiling value of $3,126,213.46 for cost, schedule, and systems engineering research and analysis support through September 30, 2019.

The order supports the Deputy Director for Planning and Business Management at the Flight Projects Directorate in developing business change initiatives to improve cost and schedule performance across the center's flight project portfolio. Work includes Class D mission research and analysis, assessment of schedule growth contributions to cost growth, quantification of threat assessments for project risks, and historical technical and programmatic growth analysis with contingency assessment recommendations. Place of performance is El Segundo, CA. The Aerospace Corporation self-performed all labor on the order, invoicing $857 thousand in FY2018 under the Service Contract Inventory.

Cost, schedule and systems engineering research and analysis support. The deputy director for planning and business management flight projects directorate (FPD) at the NASA goddard space flight center (GSFC) has been developing a series of business change initiatives (BCI) focused at improving the cost and schedule performance of missions executed at the center. This position has the responsibility for managing the centers diverse and complex flight project portfolio to ensure that cost and schedule constraints are met while meeting required technical objectives. Task description 1. Class D research and analysis a. Summarize lessons learned from USAF and NASA class D missions; B. Review NASA and center documentation regarding requirements for NASA class D science missions; and C. Develop recommendations for consistent terminology and practices for NASA class D missions 2. Assess contribution of schedule growth to cost growth. A. Identify contribution of schedule growth to cost growth by assessing historical NASA mission science cost and schedule data; B. Work with goddard personnel to identify specific examples of schedule growth impact on cost growth; and C. Develop briefing/paper to present results. 3. Quantification of threat assessments a. Identify threat assessment quantification metric and propose process to present at code 400 post monthly status review (MSR) briefing; B. Actively work with project(S) to take risks from existing risk list and quantify cost and schedule threats; C. Define and establish a framework for identifying robust threat reporting commensurate with risk reporting; and D. Streamline active threat mitigation to avoid cost and schedule growth across the flight projects portfolio. 4. Historical technical and programmatic growth, and contingency assessment a. Leveraging off of existing work, identify spacecraft mass and power, and cost and schedule growth for historical science missions including GSFC and other NASA centers; B. Identify averages, variability and trending data separated by center and science theme; C. Identify the historic spacecraft mass and power contingency and cost and schedule reserve posture at each major milestone for the mission investigated; and D. Develop guidelines to be used for assessment of new spacecraft as a function of each major milestone. 5. Support the BCI action teams a. Participate in and provide research and analysis support to existing BCI action teams as requested; B. Leverage aerospace corporation tools, methods, and processes to perform assessments and analysis to support project control, as well as assist in identifying and defining project control best practices; and C. Support programmatic analysis as needed for center projects.