Priority Open Recommendations: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

What GAO Found

In June 2024, GAO identified five priority recommendations for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Since then, NASA implemented two of those recommendations. First, NASA took steps to identify a range of missions for future variants of the Space Launch System rocket, which will improve understanding of how these variants will support upcoming Artemis missions. Second, NASA took steps to fully define and document the role of the senior agency official for privacy or other designated privacy official in reviewing and approving certain information to be used in systems with personally identifiable information, or PII. By taking these steps, NASA has greater assurance that privacy protections are applied to systems with PII.

As of August 2025, GAO did not identify any additional priority recommendations for NASA, leaving the total number at three. These recommendations involve the following areas:

• monitoring program costs and execution, and
• using federal contracting metrics.

NASA's continued attention to these issues could lead to significant improvements in government operations.

Why GAO Did This Study

Priority open recommendations are the GAO recommendations that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could save large amounts of money; improve congressional and/or executive branch decision-making on major issues; eliminate mismanagement, fraud, and abuse; or ensure that programs comply with laws and funds are legally spent, among other benefits. Since 2015, GAO has sent letters to selected agencies to highlight the importance of implementing such recommendations.

For more information, contact Timothy J. DiNapoli at Dinapolit@gao.gov.