WASHINGTON – Tomorrow [11 May 2006] the House Science Committee will hold a hearing about a report by the Department of Commerce Inspector General (IG), “Poor Management Oversight and Ineffective Incentives Leave NPOESS Program Well Over Budget and Behind Schedule.”  The IG report will be officially released at the hearing, which will be the first public discussion of the report’s conclusions.  

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) satellites are under development and are designed to become the nation’s key weather satellites, replacing the current generation of both civilian and military weather satellites as they reach the end of their useful lives.  Yet the program is more than 25 percent or as much as $3 billion over budget and as many as three years behind schedule, creating a possible gap in weather satellite coverage (if current satellites fail before new ones can be launched).  

The IG report examines how the NPOESS program got so off track and has two primary findings and related recommendations.  The first finding is that the top officials at the agencies responsible for NPOESS did not exercise sufficient oversight and did not seek sufficient information from sources who were independent of the NPOESS program.  The second is that the way the contract for NPOESS is written and the way it was implemented enabled the contractor to receive sizable award fees even when the program was not performing well. 

The agencies in charge of NPOESS are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).  The IG report only examines actions by NOAA (which is the only NPOESS agency within the Commerce Department IG’s jurisdiction) NOAA is responsible for overall program management of NPOESS and, during most of the period under review, a NOAA employee was the day-to-day official in charge of the NPOESS program. 

The IG report includes comments from NOAA and the IG’s responses to those comments.  Under Department rules, NOAA also must, within 60 days, develop a plan to remedy the concerns raised by the IG.  That period may be extended because the NPOESS program is already undergoing a top-to-bottom review required by law because of the cost overruns.  This review, known as a “Nunn-McCurdy review,” is described in greater detail below. 

Thursday, May 11, 2006
Full Committee on Science – Hearing
Inspector General Report on NOAA Weather Satellites
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
2318 Rayburn House Office Building (WEBCAST)

Witnesses:

  • Mr. Johnnie E. Frazier, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Commerce; and

  • Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr. (Ret.), Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  All Full Committee and subcommittee hearings and markups are webcast live on the Committee website: www.house.gov/science.  The website also includes an archive of webcasts from previous hearings.