Independent Verification and Validation of Software

The audit report “Independent Verification and Validation of
Software” (IG-03-011) has been posted to the NASA Office of Inspector
General Web site at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/ig-03-011.pdf

Independent verification and validation (IV&V) is a critical
management control for minimizing the risk of software-related
catastrophic mission failure. Verification ensures that the software
product complies with specifications, while validation ensures that a
software system will perform as expected under operational conditions.
The NASA IV&V Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia, is a technically
independent organization that helps to ensure that software
verification and validation activities are unbiased and based on
objective evidence.

Results of Audit

We found that NASA had not effectively ensured that all applicable
software development projects were assessed to determine their
appropriate level of IV&V. Specifically, NASA did not provide the IV&V
Facility a complete list of all applicable software development
projects to enable the Facility to identify projects for which IV&V
assessment criteria should be applied and, in turn, advise the
cognizant project managers to apply the criteria to those projects.
As a result of this condition, the safety, quality, and reliability of
some of the Agency’s programs and projects, including mission-critical
programs and projects, could be compromised.

Recommendations

We recommended that NASA establish a process that provides the IV&V
Facility, on a recurring basis, a complete and accurate list of the
Agency’s programs and projects. We also recommended that NASA verify
that the IV&V Facility initiates appropriate actions to ensure that
the programs and projects identified on the list comply with the
Agency’s software IV&V policy.

Management’s Response

Management concurred with the intent of the recommendations and
initiated corrective actions. We consider management’s planned or
implemented actions responsive.

To comment on this report, please send e-mail to igrelease@hq.nasa.gov