The Government Accountability Office has said it will continue to disagree with the Pentagon over the technological readiness levels used in acquiring space-based capabilities to support military and other governmental operations as long as GAO bases its reviews on best practices and the Pentagon continues to initiate product development before critical technologies are mature.
GAO said that in fiscal 2007 the Department of Defense expects to spend nearly $7 billion to acquire space-based capabilities, but that such systems have seen costs go up over the past several decades by billions of dollars, schedules stretched by years, increased performance risks, and undelivered capabilities even after decades of development.
From the point of view of program managers, the main obstacles to achieving program success are funding instability, requirements instability, staffing problems, excessive oversight and inexperienced leadership, according to GAO-06-776R.
For example, it said estimated costs have been high and have grown for DoD’s Space Based Infrared System-High, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Satellite Program, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, and the Space Based Infrared System-Low program – and that the SBIS programs have over-promised capabilities.
GAO said it is assessing some of the actions DoD has taken to address cost estimating.
It also said DoD has decided to delay developing the Transformational Satellite Communications System until technology needs are better understood, has committed to deliver new capabilities incrementally so that acquisition efforts can be more executable and the science and technology base can be more engaged.
GAO said program managers should ensure that the right validation events occur at the right times, that each validation event produces quality results, and that the knowledge gained from an event is used to improve the product.
It also said program managers need assurance that all testing that has been done is reflective of the capabilities that the program is trying to offer.