HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Elected officials and business and community leaders heard an overview of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s activities, budget and outlook from Center Director Patrick Scheuermann and other key Marshall leaders during an event today that celebrated the vital importance of the center’s partnerships with industry, government and academia.
Scheuermann, who became the Marshall Center director in September 2012, said the theme of the event, “We Do the Hard Stuff Together,” is particularly appropriate for the “Marshall Team.”
“Thanks to the management team in place, the people of Marshall and this community, we’re ready for the challenges of the future by focusing on partnerships and affordable solutions,” he said.
The Marshall Team is unified behind NASA’s exploration goals, Scheuermann said, which include development of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, and the first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid. Support for Marshall was evident, he said, during the recent Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce trip to Washington to meet with key members of Congress, and at meetings with state leaders and lawmakers during Marshall’s NASA Day in Montgomery and NASA Day in Baton Rouge, La.
He said the proposed fiscal year 2014 NASA budget request is basically the same as the administration’s fiscal 2013 request. It includes $2.18 billion for the Marshall Center to continue its essential role in NASA’s exploration and other programs, including International Space Station operations and proceeding with testing of the James Webb Space Telescope.
“The agency has shown its commitment to Marshall and our technical capabilities by giving us a stable budget and the workforce needed to deliver on critical NASA missions,” Scheuermann said.
The 2012 Marshall Contractor Excellence Awards also were presented during the breakfast meeting at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. For the awards, eligible contractor companies are evaluated on a number of criteria, including contract technical performance, cost and schedule performance, leadership and quality improvement, customer satisfaction, innovation, safety, diversity and outreach.
Dynetics Technical Services was honored in the “Small Business” category for providing Information Technology services to Marshall. The company was praised for taking on additional work despite the fixed-fee nature of its contract, for being on time, significantly under budget and for helping Marshall to do more while reducing costs.
SAIC was honored in the “Large Business” category for its work for Marshall under three separate contracts. The company’s approach to software development and support for the small business community were noted, as was its performance during the April 2011 tornadoes, when SAIC implemented mission-essential and emergency coverage in support of NASA computer and data center systems.
For more information about the Marshall Space Flight Center, visit us on the Web: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall
