One of the recommendations of the Aldridge Commission last year was that NASA convert some of its field centers into federally-funded research and development centers (FFRDCs), operated by universities or non-profits, in much the same way JPL is run by Caltech. The commission proposed that because it seemed a more politically-expedient solution than suggesting that one or more centers be closed. The new NASA administrator, though, doesn’t seem fond of the recommendation, based on comments he made during a visit Friday to NASA Langley:
Griffin said he’s received no directive from Bush to carry out the recommendation of last year’s Aldridge Commission, which suggested turning NASA research centers into privately run institutions like the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“I’m not wasting five seconds on that thought,” Griffin said. “I think we’re getting at the point of being a little silly about this.”
Griffin has previously commented on the FFRDC idea. Check the transcript either for his nomination hearing or his first press conference (probably the latter). He said the same thing.
The Aldridge Commission did a poor job of supporting that recommendation. They simply said to do it because it was a good idea, without proving that it was a good idea. But Aldridge previously ran an FFRDC, so it was not a big leap for him.