Description of Driving Event:
The Project chose a commercial vendor to build a unique piece of hardware for a one-shot NASA launch mission. In addition to its contract with NASA, this vendor had several repeat high volume customers. Therefore, as commitments to other customers taxed the vendor's resources, the vendor demoted NASA's requirements to a lower priority and were not able to meet schedule or cost. An alternate vendor had to be brought in to help in the recovery and the Project was forced to accept additional risk in the flight hardware.
Lesson(s) Learned:
The risk involved between using in-house hardware manufacturing shops and commercial vendors should be weighed carefully. For several reasons including attrition and Center priorities, In-house capabilities may lack the experience and resources to meet Project requirements. However, their proximity and familiarity with NASA missions may overcome this. On the other hand, while a commercial vendor may appear to have both the experience and resources to meet Project requirements, they actually may have less capability than their NASA in-house counterparts to devote to the Project due to their non-Project commitments.
Recommendation(s):
When developing NASA unique and/or one-shot hardware for launches and missions, strongly consider using in-house shops and processing instead of commercial manufacturers who may give priority to their repeat high volume customers and thereby increase the risk to NASA's interest. In cases where a commercial manufacturer is used, monitor the work during the process closely to ensure it remains on schedule, meets specifications for materials, environmental stresses, and tolerances.
Evidence of Recurrence Control Effectiveness:
N/A
Documents Related to Lesson:
N/A
Mission Directorate(s):
- Exploration Systems
- Science
- Space Operations
- Aeronautics Research
Additional Key Phrase(s):
- Administration/Organization
- Flight Equipment
- Hardware
- Procurement Small Business & Industrial Relations
- Risk Management/Assessment
Additional Info:
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