NASA should stop relying on contractors to do all their project management, design, and manpower. Reagan fucked over most of government, but especially NASA by requiring that nearly all functions be bid out to commercial sources. Now congress not only fights over where the contact administration is located (aka the various Space Centers, scattered into as many congressional districts as possible regardless of efficiency) but which fat-cat, for profit entities will get those contracts. NASAs entire mission now is just wealth program for contractors.
SLS seems like it has 0 benefits of being public or private. NASA doesn’t own the full design anymore, so they can’t even take it to other manufacturers, but they also aren’t insulated from any cost issues, and the manufacturers have no incentive to improve anything. It really feels like the worst of both worlds.
As a side note, I’m still pretty new to the industry (as in, new to working in, but having followed it for a lot longer) and the program management and systems engineering contracting/outsourcing going on was mindboggling to me when I started to hear about it from former coworkers moving into those roles. Of all the things to outsource, those two things seem like the last two that really need to stay in house.
NASA should stop relying on contractors to do all their project management, design, and manpower. Reagan fucked over most of government, but especially NASA by requiring that nearly all functions be bid out to commercial sources. Now congress not only fights over where the contact administration is located (aka the various Space Centers, scattered into as many congressional districts as possible regardless of efficiency) but which fat-cat, for profit entities will get those contracts. NASAs entire mission now is just wealth program for contractors.
SLS seems like it has 0 benefits of being public or private. NASA doesn’t own the full design anymore, so they can’t even take it to other manufacturers, but they also aren’t insulated from any cost issues, and the manufacturers have no incentive to improve anything. It really feels like the worst of both worlds.
As a side note, I’m still pretty new to the industry (as in, new to working in, but having followed it for a lot longer) and the program management and systems engineering contracting/outsourcing going on was mindboggling to me when I started to hear about it from former coworkers moving into those roles. Of all the things to outsource, those two things seem like the last two that really need to stay in house.