In addition,  the program was experiencing major technical problems with the  VIIRS sensor and expected to delay the launch date of the first  satellite by almost 2 years. Major Restructuring Activities Have Been Completed, but Key Remaining Activities Could Affect Funding and Schedule

The program office has completed major activities associated with  restructuring NPOESS, but key supporting activities remain— including obtaining approval of key acquisition documents—and  delays in completing these activities could affect the program’s  funding and schedule. During the past year, the program redefined the program’s  deliverables, costs, and schedules, and renegotiated the NPOESS  contract. In addition, even though  DOD has had a role in delaying  these documents, the Department has stated it would not release  fiscal year 2009 funds to the program if these acquisition documents  are not completed by the new due date. Without executive approval  of key acquisition documents, the program lacks the underlying  commitment necessary to effectively manage a tri-agency program. Program Has Made Progress, but Key Milestones Have Been Delayed and Risks Remain

Over the last year, the NPOESS program has made progress by  completing planned development and testing activities on its ground  and space segments, but key milestones for delivering the VIIRS  sensor and launching NPP have been delayed by about 8 months. Moving forward, risks remain in completing the testing of key  sensors and integrating them on the NPP spacecraft, in resolving  interagency disagreements on the appropriate level of system  security, and in revising estimated costs for satellite operations and  support. This late delivery will in turn delay the  satellite’s launch from late September 2009 to early June 2010. The $12.5 billion estimated life cycle cost for  NPOESS includes a rough estimate of $1 billion for operations and  support. The program office is aware of program risks and is working to  mitigate them, but these issues could affect the program’s overall  schedule and cost. Agencies Have Undertaken Preliminary Steps to Restore Key Sensors, but Lack Timely Plans to Ensure Long-Term Data Continuity

When the NPOESS restructuring agreement removed four climate  and space environment sensors from the program and degraded four  others, it led NASA, NOAA, and DOD to reassess their priorities and  options for obtaining climate and space environment data. Since the  June 2006 restructuring decision, the three agencies have taken  preliminary steps to restore the capabilities of selected climate and  space weather sensors that were degraded or removed from the  NPOESS program by prioritizing the sensors, assessing options for  restoring them, and making decisions to restore selected sensors in  order to mitigate near-term data gaps. However, the agencies have  not yet developed plans to mitigate the loss of these sensors on a  long-term basis. Until such plans are developed, the agencies  may lose their windows of opportunity for selecting cost-effective  options or they may resort to an ad hoc approach to restoring these  sensors. Specifically, there are as yet no firm plans for obtaining most of this  data after 2015. GAO Made Recommendations To Ensure That Future Climate Needs are Addressed and to Complete Restructuring Activities

Because of the importance of effectively managing the NPOESS  program to ensure that there are no gaps in the continuity of critical  weather, environmental, and climate observations, in our  accompanying report we made recommendations to the Secretaries  of Commerce and Defense and to the Administrator of NASA to  establish plans on whether and how to restore the climate and space  sensors removed from the NPOESS program by June 2009, in cases  where the sensors are warranted and justified. In summary, over the past year, program officials have completed  major activities associated with restructuring the NPOESS program  and have made progress in developing and testing sensors, ground  systems, and the NPP spacecraft. However, multiple risks remain. In addition, the agencies made decisions to restore two  sensors to the NPP satellite and one to the first NPOESS satellite in  order to mitigate near-term data gaps.
Why GAO Did This Study

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is a tri-agency acquisition--managed by the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)--which has experienced escalating costs, schedule delays, and technical difficulties. These factors led to a June 2006 decision to restructure the program thereby decreasing its complexity, increasing its estimated cost to $12.5 billion, and delaying the first two satellites by 3 to 5 years. GAO was asked to summarize a report being released today that evaluates progress in restructuring the acquisition, assesses the status of key program components and risks, and assesses the agencies' plans for obtaining the data originally planned to be collected by NPOESS sensors, but eliminated by the restructuring.

What GAO Found

The NPOESS program office has completed most of the major activities associated with restructuring the acquisition, but key activities remain to be completed. In the past year, the program redefined the program's deliverables, costs, and schedules, and renegotiated the NPOESS contract. However, agency executives have not yet finalized selected acquisition documents. Without executive approval, the program lacks the underlying commitment needed to effectively manage a tri-agency program. In addition, given that DOD has stated it would not release fiscal year 2009 funds to the NPOESS program if key acquisition documents are not completed by August 2008, delays in completing these documents could affect the program's funding and schedule. In the past year, the NPOESS program has made progress in completing development and testing activities associated with the spacecraft, sensors, and ground systems. However, key milestones have been delayed and multiple risks remain. Specifically, poor workmanship and testing delays caused an 8-month slip in the delivery of a complex imaging sensor called the Visible/infrared imager radiometer suite. This late delivery caused a corresponding 8-month delay in the expected launch date of the NPOESS Preparatory Project demonstration satellite, moving it from late September 2009 to early June 2010. Moving forward, risks remain in completing the testing of key sensors and integrating them on the spacecraft, resolving interagency disagreements about the appropriate level of system security, and revising outdated operations and support cost estimates--which program officials say could increase the lifecycle cost by about $1 billion. The program office is aware of these risks and is working to mitigate them, but these issues could affect the program's overall schedule and cost. When the NPOESS restructuring agreement removed four climate and space environment sensors from the program and degraded four others, it led NASA, NOAA, and DOD to reassess their priorities and options for obtaining climate and space environment data. Since the June 2006 restructuring decision, the three agencies have taken preliminary steps to restore the capabilities of selected climate and space weather sensors that were removed from the NPOESS program by prioritizing the sensors, assessing options for restoring them, and making decisions to mitigate near-term data continuity needs by restoring two sensors to the demonstration satellite and one sensor to the first NPOESS satellite. However, the agencies have not yet developed plans on whether and how to replace sensors on a long-term basis as no plans have been made for sensors or satellites after the first satellite of the program. Until such a plan is developed, the agencies may lose their windows of opportunity for selecting cost-effective options or they may resort to an ad hoc approach to restoring these sensors. Almost 2 years have passed since key sensors were removed from the NPOESS program; further delays in establishing a plan could result in gaps in the continuity of climate and space data.