More problems for NPOESS

A major satellite project that’s over budget and behind schedule? That’s hardly news in Washington these days. Still, the problems associated with the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) warranted the attention given them during a hearing of the House Science Committee on Thursday. The hearing was coordinated with the release of a report by the Commerce Department’s Inspector General which criticized the management of the program. One issue was that an “executive committee”, or EXCOM, comprised of officials from the agencies involved or NPOESS failed to “effectively challenge” optimistic assessments about the status of a troubled instruments. Moreover, despite the continued problems with the program, the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, was still receiving most of the possible incentive payments: 84 percent as of last fall, when the project notified Congress of a Nunn-McCurdy breach. (The Nunn-McCurdy review of the program is ongoing, and the committee plans another hearing next month once the review is complete.)

The release led to the expected amount of Congressional hand-wringing. “This program is in complete disarray,” said Bart Gordon (D-TN), ranking member of the full committee, said in a press release. He said he had sent a letter to the president asking him to “engage the White House in the Nunn-McCurdy process to guarantee that a broad perspective on our nation’s security is used by DOD in their review and certification process.” “So clearly, changes are desperately needed for NPOESS to succeed, and succeed it must,” Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chairman of the committee, said in opening statement. Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, administrator of NOAA, said that the program was being more tightly managed and that the agency was reconsidering the payment of incentive fees to Northrop. It’s hardly the last word you’ll hear about NPOESS, though.