NASA Cost and Schedule Symposium

Dear Colleagues,

Please be advised that the 2025 NASA Cost and Schedule Symposium has been canceled and will not be rescheduled.

This decision was made in direct response to, and in full compliance with, the President’s Cost Efficiency Executive Order issued on February 26, 2025. NASA leadership is committed to ensuring responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources and adhering to all applicable federal directives.

We understand that the NASA Cost and Schedule Symposium provided valuable opportunities beyond a typical conference setting, including peer-to-peer recognition, critical training, and vital community collaboration. We are actively exploring alternative methods to mitigate the impact of the symposium’s cancellation and ensure the continuation of these essential knowledge-sharing functions. Our commitment to maintaining these opportunities is unwavering, and we are working diligently to find compliant and effective solutions.

Specifically:

• Peer-to-peer acknowledgements – We remain dedicated to recognizing the outstanding work within our community through peer-to-peer awards. While the previous award plans are on hold pending review, we are actively evaluating alternative approaches that align with the Executive Order. We will provide an update on these plans as soon as possible.
• Critical training opportunities/community collaboration – To address the absence of training and collaboration opportunities usually provided by the symposium, we are focusing on enhancing our existing working groups (e.g., EVM WG, SCoPe, CAWG, PPC SG). We are exploring ways to leverage these groups to facilitate knowledge transfer, skill development, and continued collaboration in a cost-effective and compliant manner.

Housekeeping:

• Registration: If you registered through NCTS or the Symposium Eventbrite systems, no action is needed to “unregister.” If you have already paid to attend the Awards Banquet, a full refund will be issued automatically.
• Travel: Please remember to cancel any travel arrangements you have already made. NASA is not responsible for non-refundable travel costs incurred prior to this cancellation, in accordance with NPR 9770.1A.

We recognize that the cancellation of the symposium is disappointing to many who were looking forward to this year’s event. This decision, while difficult, reflects our unwavering commitment to fiscal responsibility and compliance with all applicable executive orders and federal regulations. Thank you for your understanding and continued dedication to NASA’s mission.

Cheers,

Charley

NCSS Overview

Each year, the NASA HQ OCFO Strategic Insights and Budget Office sponsors the NASA Cost and Schedule Symposium (NCSS), uniting the programmatic PP&C community across all Centers and HQ. This event allows participants from NASA, its contractors, other U.S. government agencies, and partners like universities and national laboratories to share their work and exchange ideas, best practices, methodologies, and lessons learned. The Symposium highlights the contributions of analysts and estimators, fostering professional growth and enhancing the overall quality of analysis at NASA. Attendees engage through professional paper submissions, briefings, presentations, live demonstrations, and training sessions. We look forward to seeing the tradition of the Agency’s finest analysts and estimators at NASA continue to make NASA better. 

Symposium Email: hq-ncss@mail.nasa.gov

NCSS Points of Contact

• James Johnson, Conference Coordinator

• Charles Hunt, Call for Abstracts, Papers, and Guest Speakers

• Kristen Kehrer, Call for Awards and Awards Committee Chair

• Jon Fleming, Venues and Facilities Coordinator

• Michele King, Email Announcements and Distribution List

• Victoria Nilsen, Procurement and Support Contractor Task Monitor

• Robin Smith, “Keeper of the Wisdom”

For all NCSS Points of Contact, please use hq-ncss@mail.nasa.gov.

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