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Open Recommendations (34 total)

Artemis Programs: NASA Should Document and Communicate Plans to Address Gateway's Mass Risk

GAO-24-106878
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator, in coordination with the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, should ensure that the Gateway program documents its overall mass management plan and shares it with its projects ahead of the program's planned September 2024 critical design-informed synchronization review. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

NASA Cybersecurity: Plan Needed to Update Spacecraft Acquisition Policies and Standards

GAO-24-106624
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should ensure that the Chief Engineer, the Chief Information Officer, and the Principal Advisor for Enterprise Protection develop an implementation plan with time frames to update its spacecraft acquisition policies and standards to incorporate essential controls required to protect against cyber threats. (Recommendation 1)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements

GAO-24-105980
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should ensure that the agency updates and approves the agency's plan to achieve consistency with EO 13960 section 5 for each AI application, to include retiring AI applications found to be developed or used in a manner that is not consistent with the order. (Recommendation 33)
Open
NASA concurred with our recommendation. In May 2024, NASA provided a letter that lays out the actions the agency plans to take to address the recommendation. NASA expects to finalize these actions by December 2024. When we confirm what actions the agency has taken to address this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements

GAO-24-105980
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should ensure that the agency updates its AI use case inventory to include all the required information, at minimum, and takes steps to ensure that the data in the inventory aligns with provided instructions. (Recommendation 34)
Open
NASA partially concurred with the recommendation. In May 2024, NASA provided a letter that lays out the actions the agency plans to take to address the recommendation. NASA expects to finalize these actions by the end of the first quarter of FY2025 (December 2024). When we confirm what actions the agency has taken to address this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Cybersecurity: Federal Agencies Made Progress, but Need to Fully Implement Incident Response Requirements

GAO-24-105658
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration should ensure that the agency fully implements all event logging requirements as directed by OMB guidance. (Recommendation 17)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Small Business Subcontracting: Some Contracting Officers Face Challenges Assessing Compliance with the Good Faith Standard

GAO-24-106225
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator should work with relevant contracting staff, such as small business specialists, to develop and implement just-in-time training for contracting officers related to good faith assessments. (Recommendation 9)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Privacy: Dedicated Leadership Can Improve Programs and Address Challenges

GAO-22-105065
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1 Open Recommendations
1 Priority
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Priority Rec.
The Administrator of NASA should fully define and document the role of the senior agency official for privacy or other designated privacy official in reviewing and approving system categorizations, overseeing privacy control assessments, and reviewing authorization packages. (Recommendation 49)
Open
NASA stated that it agreed with our recommendation and was developing plans to address it. As of March 2024, NASA had provided evidence to demonstrate actions taken to implement this recommendation. We are following up with NASA to collect additional information and verify whether implementation has occurred.

Privacy: Dedicated Leadership Can Improve Programs and Address Challenges

GAO-22-105065
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Administrator of NASA should incorporate privacy into an organization-wide risk management strategy that includes a determination of risk tolerance. (Recommendation 48)
Open
NASA stated that it agreed with our recommendation and was developing plans to address it. As of March 2024, NASA had provided documentation of efforts taken to address this recommendation. We are following up with NASA to collect additional information and verify whether implementation has occurred.

NASA Lunar Programs: Improved Mission Guidance Needed as Artemis Complexity Grows

GAO-22-105323
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The NASA Administrator, in coordination with the relevant mission directorates, should ensure that NASA conducts a schedule risk analysis for the Artemis II mission as close as possible to completion of the Artemis I mission and update it as needed to incorporate schedule updates and new risks. (Recommendation 2)
Open
NASA agreed with this recommendation and recognized the importance of performing an Artemis II schedule risk analysis. In July 2024, NASA officials told us that they completed a preliminary schedule risk analysis for Artemis II in January 2023, which allowed the agency to validate its scheduling methods and identify critical path items. As of August 2024, NASA officials told us they planned to provide documentation to demonstrate the work completed later in 2024.

Research Reliability: Federal Actions Needed to Promote Stronger Research Practices

GAO-22-104411
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1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
National Aeronautics and Space Administration The Administrator of NASA should take steps to collect information to determine whether current policies and requirements are adequate to achieve transparency by ensuring research results and data are findable, accessible, and usable, and implement programmatic or policy changes, if needed. (Recommendation 6)
Open
NASA partially concurred with this recommendation. On January 17, 2023 NASA stated that it is already engaged in two efforts that will accomplish the objective of this recommendation. First, NASA's Science Mission Directorate has initiated its Year of Open Science, whose goals include enhancing access to NASA-funded publications by applying the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) principles. Second, NASA is revising its Scientific Integrity policy with the aim of increasing transparency and accessibility of NASA-funded research.
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