Tuesday, September 18, 2012
About a month ago I wrote about legislation being developed to make NASA a more independent agency.
On Thursday the architects of that legislation, including U.S. John Culberson, Frank Wolf, Bill Posey, and Pete Olson, will introduce the bill, which they have called the “Space Leadership Act.”
According to a news release, the bill will “change business as usual at NASA by enacting important management reforms and result in a more stable and more accountable space program.”
As I wrote in August, the bill attempts to remove some of the politics from NASA:
Still in draft form, the legislation would restructure NASA’s management and funding to make it more professional than political, advocates say. They envision creating a management style more like the FBI, in which the president appoints the director to a 10-year term.
Under the proposal, NASA’s budget would be developed with less input from the president’s Office of Management and Budget. This independence would allow NASA to plan contracts across multiple years and use a process known as multi-year procurement, which saves money, allowing it to do more with less.
NASA did not comment on the proposed legislation in August, but it has at least one supporter in Johnson Space Center director Mike Coats.
