From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: NASA Commercial Crew Program Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management Related GAO Work: GAO-17-137 NASA Commercial Crew Program: Schedule Pressure Increases as Contractors Delay Key Events Released: February 2017 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's February 2017. NASA contracted with two companies, Boeing and SpaceX, to develop and produce vehicles to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. But first, NASA has to certify that the vehicles meet its requirements and are safe for human space flight. A team led by Cristina Chaplain, a director in GAO's Acquisition and Sourcing Management team, recently reviewed the progress of NASA's Human Exploration programs. Sarah Kaczmarek sat down with Cristina to talk about what they found. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Are Boeing and SpaceX on track to meet their original certifications for NASAEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Well, both contractors are making good progress in developing their vehicles. There are significant delays. They had originally anticipated being certified in 2017, and now it looks like it could be as late as 2019. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And, what are some of the causes of these delaysEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] The schedule was fairly ambitious to begin with, and on top of that you have technical issues that have come up that are kind of inherent with this kind of issue. Our report mentioned one about engine cracks for SpaceX, which is one of the contractors. But that's just one risk among many, and our point in talking about that kind of risk was it's just the normal type of technical risk that comes up that NASA and a contractor have to work through. And, NASA has its requirements for how, to the extent it wants an issue like that addressed, and SpaceX has its own standards for that so they have to come to some sort of agreement, and that takes some time. At the same time, we have risks that face Boeing, the other contractor. They mostly dealt with the type of data that NASA needed to really confirm safety and soundness of the vehicle, including such things as parachutes, and how effectively they come out of the vehicle and perform. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And, what are the implications of these delays on the timingEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] The implications all go to maintaining and utilizing the International Space Station. We need a capability to get up and down and maintain the station. We would like for that to be a U.S. capability, but if it's not ready by 2019, we may have to resort to continuing to use the Russian vehicles to get up and down from the space station. That requires another contract, and you need some prep time before that, for it to take place. So, NASA should be planning now to renegotiate that contract. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] In addition to the timing, your team also looked at safety. What kind of oversight does NASA have to help ensure the safety of these vehicles for astronautsEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] That's a good question. This is a different type of contracting arrangement. It's one that may not necessarily include a lot of data and insight that you would normally need for human space flight and high safety standards, but NASA did take care to build that data insight into its contracts. So, in addition to having a lot of knowledge about technical issues with both contractors, it also has processes where it can really be involved in the quality assurance process and some of the decision-making when it comes to problems that might arise. So, we feel like there were a good level of insight on NASA's part, a good process in place. There's also numerous safety requirements, each of which have to be signed off before the vehicle can be certified. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] So it sounds like there is a good process in place, but your team did make some recommendations in this report. Could you tell me about thoseEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Yes. Our recommendations do focus on the International Space Station and ensuring its continuity, so we recommended that NASA develop a contingency plan to be able to continue to service the station in the event that these commercial vehicles are delayed. [ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And finally, what do you see is the bottom line of this reportEUR [ Cristina Chaplain: ] Our bottom line is, we know this is a very challenging endeavor. NASA's doing it differently. It's giving the contractor more flexibility, but you have to balance that flexibility with the need to make these vehicles safe, and we feel that there's a very good process in place to do that, but NASA just needs to plan for the delays that may happen, and have a contingency in place. [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] To learn more, visit GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next episode of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S. Government Accountability Office.