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At least 19 records

Using SCOR as a Supply Chain Management Framework for Government Agency Contract Requirements

This paper will present a model that uses the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) model as a foundation for a framework to illustrate the information needed throughout a product lifecycle to support a healthy supply chain management function and the subsequent contract requirements to enable it. It will also show where in the supply chain the information must be extracted. The ongoing case study used to exemplify the model is NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Ares I program for human spaceflight. Effective supply chain management and contract requirements are ongoing opportunities for continuous improvement within government agencies, specifically development of systems for human spaceflight operations. Multiple reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reinforce this importance. The SCOR model is a framework for describing a supply chain with process building blocks and business activities. It provides a set of metrics for measuring supply chain performance and best practices for continuously improving. This paper expands the application of the SCOR to also provide the framework for defining information needed from different levels of the supply chain and at different phases of the lifecycle. These needs can be incorporated into contracts to enable more effective supply chain management. Depending on the phase of the lifecycle, effective supply chain management will require involvement from different levels of the organization and different levels of the supply chain.

Paxton, Joseph↗

NASA's Role in Gas Turbine Technology Development: Accelerating Technical Progress via Collaboration Between Academia, Industry, and Government Agencies

Given the maturity of the gas turbine engine since its invention and also considering the limited and flattened level of resources expected to be allocated for NASA aeronautics research and development, we ask the question are NASA technology investments still needed to enable future turbine engine-based propulsion systems? If so, what is NASA’s unique role to justify NASA’s investment? To address this topic, we will first review the accomplishments and the impact that NASA Glenn Research Center has made on turbine engine technologies over the last 78 years. Specifically, this paper discusses NASA’s role and contributions to turbine engine development, specific to both 1) NASA’s role in conducting experiments to understand flow physics and provide relevant benchmark validation experiments for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code development, validation, and assessment; and 2) the impact of technologies resulting from NASA collaborations with industry, academia, and other government agencies. Note that the scope of the discussion is limited to the NASA technology contributions with which the author was intimately associated, and does not represent the entirety of the NASA contributions to turbine engine technology. The specific research, development, and demonstrations discussed herein were selected to both 1) provide a comprehensive review and reference list of the technology and its impact, and 2) identify NASA’s unique role and highlight how NASA’s involvement resulted in additional benefit to the gas turbine engine community. Secondly, we will discuss current NASA collaborations that are in progress and provide a status of the results. Finally, we discuss the challenges anticipated for future turbine engine-based propulsion systems for civil aviation and identify potential opportunities for collaboration where NASA involvement would be beneficial. Ultimately, the gas turbine engine community will decide if NASA involvement is needed to contribute to the development of the design and analysis tools, databases, and technology demonstration programs to meet these challenges for future turbine engine-based propulsion systems.

Suder, Kenneth L.↗

Applications of remote sensing data in Alaska: A cooperative program of the University of Alaska with user organizations, including local, state and federal government agencies

The development of the coastal-zone-related issues is generating an increasing need for information which is greater in quantity of natural resource data, greater in quality of detail of data, and more frequent in collection of data owing to the need to monitor certain aspects of programs. The array, detail, and frequency of information acquisition required to develop natural resources and to implement and maintain the resulting programs demand improved techniques of data gathering, processing, and interpretation which is conducive to the use of remote-sensing techniques. As Alaska, both in the state and federal domain, gears up to meet the energy-related issues facing the nation there will be a growing role for efforts which adapt state-of-the-art tools to solving existing problems.

Miller, J. M.↗

Ceiling and visibility instrumentation within government agencies

The key systems requirements for ceilometer systems are described. The following items are included: range must be 10,000 ft.; laser emission must conform to the bureau of radiological health class I performance; system must detect two lowest cloud layers; display must be in either English or metric units; and system must be capable of self monitoring and testing performance. Based upon the requirements competitive prototype cloud height indicator systems are to be built.

Bonner, R. S.↗

Using SCOR as a Supply Chain Management Framework for Government Agency Contract Requirements

Enterprise Supply Chain Management consists of: Specifying suppliers to support inter-program and inter-agency efforts. Optimizing inventory levels and locations throughout the supply chain. Executing corrective actions to improve quality and lead time issues throughout the supply chain. Processing reported data to calculate and make visible supply chain performance (provide information for decisions and actions). Ensuring the right hardware and information is provided at the right time and in the right place. Monitoring the industrial base while developing, producing, operating and retiring a system. Seeing performance deep in the supply chain that could indicate issues affecting system availability and readiness.

Paxton, Joe↗

Expanded Guidance for NASA Systems Engineering. Volume 2: Crosscutting Topics, Special Topics, and Appendices

Historically, most successful NASA projects have depended on effectively blending project management, systems engineering, and technical expertise among NASA, contractors, and third parties. Underlying these successes are a variety of agreements (e.g., contract, memorandum of understanding, grant, cooperative agreement) between NASA organizations or between NASA and other Government agencies, Government organizations, companies, universities, research laboratories, and so on. To simplify the discussions, the term "contract" is used to encompass these agreements. This section focuses on the NASA systems engineering activities pertinent to awarding a contract, managing contract performance, and completing a contract. In particular, NASA systems engineering interfaces to the procurement process are covered, since the NASA engineering technical team plays a key role in the development and evaluation of contract documentation. Contractors and third parties perform activities that supplement (or substitute for) the NASA project technical team accomplishment of the NASA common systems engineering technical process activities and requirements outlined in this guide. Since contractors might be involved in any part of the systems engineering life cycle, the NASA project technical team needs to know how to prepare for, allocate or perform, and implement surveillance of technical activities that are allocated to contractors.

Steven R Hirshorn↗

Effects of radiation on immune system and latent virus reactivation

The purpose of this NCRP commentary is to provide the current state of knowledge on the effects of ionizing radiation on the immune system and on latent herpes virus reactivation to the scientific community and government agencies. Its purpose is to better understand radiation-induced latent virus reactivation, which is possibly an underestimated consequence of ionizing radiation exposure. This activity should involve the radiation research community (academia, industry and regulatory agencies) and government agencies (NASA, DOD, CDC).

Plante, Ianik↗

Systems Engineering and Management Applications of ISO 9001:2015 for Government

The manufacturing segment of the business world is busy assessing the impact of ISO 9001:2015, and updating their management systems to meet the required compliance date. What does the new revision mean for government agencies that deliver large engineering projects rather than mass production? In fact, the standard, especially the new revision, can be used quite readily for government agencies, or applied to specific projects, once it is understood in terms of the similarities with systems engineering and project management. From there it can be extrapolated to "mission realization" systems, and a Quality Management System (QMS) is a logical result that can bring order to processes and systems that likely already exist in some fashion. ISO 9001:2015 is less product-oriented than previous versions. It can be more broadly applied to public organizations as well as private; and to services (missions) as well as products. The emphasis on risk management in the revised standard provides the needed balance for weighing decisions with respect to cost, schedule, technical, safety, and regulatory compliance; so if this is not part of agency governance already, this is a good place to start, especially for large engineering projects. The Systems Engineering standard used for this analysis is from NASA's NPR 7123.1 NASA Systems Engineering Processes and Requirements; however, those who are more familiar with ISO/IEC 26702 Systems Engineering-application and management of the systems engineering process, or SAE/EIA 632 Processes for Engineering a System will also recognize the similarities. In reality, the QMS outlined by ISO 9001 reinforces the systems engineering processes, and serves to ensure that they are adequately implemented, although most of the ISO 9001 literature emphasizes the production and process aspects of the standard. Rather than beginning with ISO 9001and getting lost in the vocabulary, it is useful to begin with the systems engineering lifecycle. Identification of stakeholder expectations, identifying solutions, creating specific product or service designs, production of the product or service, delivery to the public, and the associated management, planning, and control processes, are a familiar place to begin thinking of the overall system of identifying, designing, and competing a project or mission. Lining up this lifecycle with the ISO requirements (see Figure 1) illustrates how a quality management system is concerned with the same processes, and provides a governance and assurance function. If implemented properly, there are cost savings resulting from less rework, repair, reprocessing, failures, misplaced documents, and similar types of deficiencies1. Starting with an organization's systems engineering processes allows the organization to use their own terminology for a QMS plan, and tailor the plan to their own project or organization, so that it is more easily developed, understood, and implemented.

Shepherd, Christena C.↗

Just being on the Internet is Old News

E-Gov is an idea that is very popular these days. Many government agencies are adopting electronic information technology to improve both their internal and external capabilities to communicate with stakeholders and customers. This is an area where the Internet offers huge improvements in responsiveness. Unfortunately, Internet outreach traditionally has not been a budget area that received strong support in most agencies. Today, almost every government agency has some Internet presence: some extensive; others minimal. However, if you really want to reach your stakeholders and customers, just putting information out is not enough to assure it is useful. The most effective outreach sites are those that have moved beyond first generation static designs and concepts to newer communications approaches that stress two-way communication and collection and analysis of customer-oriented performance metrics. This talk discusses a few basic concepts in customer/stakeholder interaction as practiced by the very successful NASA family of websites, Science@NASA. Started 7 years ago as a single website, focusing on the science output of the Space Science Lab at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Science@NASA in 2002 consisted of 6 websites with 450,000 subscribers and garnered over 700 million hits (approx. 64 million visits) in 2002 plus 3 international awards in the past 3 years. Focused content, tying presentation techniques to advanced communications concepts, managing and soliciting subscribers lists, automatic collection of performance metrics, soliciting and responding to customer feedback, and subscriber surveys are among the topics to be discussed. The successful NASAKids Club and the interactivity offered to children will also be covered. The attempt to make the customer/stakeholder DO SOMETHING is critical to our success.

Koczor, Ronald J.↗

Enabling Future Science and Human Exploration with NASA's Next Generation near Earth and Deep Space Communications and Navigation Architecture

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is studying alternatives for the United States space communications architecture through the 2040 timeframe. This architecture provides communication and navigation services to both human exploration and science missions throughout the solar system. Several of NASA's key space assets are approaching their end of design life and major systems are in need of replacement. The changes envisioned in the relay satellite architecture and capabilities around both Earth and Mars are significant undertakings and occur only once or twice each generation, and therefore is referred to as NASA's next generation space communications architecture. NASA's next generation architecture will benefit from technology and services developed over recent years. These innovations will provide missions with new operations concepts, increased performance, and new business and operating models. Advancements in optical communications will enable high-speed data channels and the use of new and more complex science instruments. Modern multiple beam/multiple access technologies such as those employed on commercial high throughput satellites will enable enhanced capabilities for on-demand service, and with new protocols will help provide Internet-like connectivity for cooperative spacecraft to improve data return and coordinate joint mission objectives. On-board processing with autonomous and cognitive networking will play larger roles to help manage system complexity. Spacecraft and ground systems will coordinate among themselves to establish communications, negotiate link connectivity, and learn to share spectrum to optimize resource allocation. Spacecraft will autonomously navigate, plan trajectories, and handle off-nominal events. NASA intends to leverage the ever-expanding capabilities of the satellite communications industry and foster its continued growth. NASA's technology development will complement and extend commercial capabilities to meet unique space environment requirements and to provide capabilities that are beyond the commercial marketplace. The progress of the communications industry, including the emerging global space internet segment and its planned constellations of 100's of satellites offer additional opportunities for new capability and mission concepts. The opportunities and challenges of a future space architecture require an optimal solution encompassing a global perspective. The concepts and technologies intentionally define an architecture that applies not only to NASA, but to other U.S. government agencies, international space and government agencies, and domestic and international industries to advance the openness, interoperability, and affordability of space communications. Cooperation among the worlds space agencies, their capabilities, standards, operations, and interoperability are key to advancing humankind's understand of the universe and extending human presence into the solar system.

Communications↗

Enabling Future Science and Human Exploration with NASA's Next Generation Near Earth and Deep Space Communications and Navigation Architecture

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is studying alternatives for the United States space communications architecture through the 2040 timeframe. This architecture provides communication and navigation services to both human exploration and science missions throughout the solar system. Several of NASA's key space assets are approaching their end of design life and major systems are in need of replacement. The changes envisioned in the relay satellite architecture and capabilities around both Earth and Mars are significant undertakings and occur only once or twice each generation, and therefore is referred to as NASA's next generation space communications architecture. NASA's next generation architecture will benefit from technology and services developed over recent years. These innovations will provide missions with new operations concepts, increased performance, and new business and operating models. Advancements in optical communications will enable high-speed data channels and the use of new and more complex science instruments. Modern multiple beam/multiple access technologies such as those employed on commercial high throughput satellites will enable enhanced capabilities for on-demand service, and with new protocols will help provide Internet-like connectivity for cooperative spacecraft to improve data return and coordinate joint mission objectives. On-board processing with autonomous and cognitive networking will play larger roles to help manage system complexity. Spacecraft and ground systems will coordinate among themselves to establish communications, negotiate link connectivity, and learn to share spectrum to optimize resource allocation. Spacecraft will autonomously navigate, plan trajectories, and handle off-nominal events. NASA intends to leverage the ever-expanding capabilities of the satellite communications industry and foster its continued growth. NASA's technology development will complement and extend commercial capabilities to meet unique space environment requirements and to provide capabilities that are beyond the commercial marketplace. The progress of the communications industry, including the emerging global space internet segment and its planned constellations of 100's of satellites offer additional opportunities for new capability and mission concepts. The opportunities and challenges of a future space architecture require an optimal solution encompassing a global perspective. The concepts and technologies intentionally define an architecture that applies not only to NASA, but to other U.S. government agencies, international space and government agencies, and domestic and international industries to advance the openness, interoperability, and affordability of space communications. Cooperation among the worlds space agencies, their capabilities, standards, operations, and interoperability are key to advancing humankinds understand of the universe and extending human presence into the solar system.

deep space↗

Evaluating Process Effectiveness to Reduce Risk

It is well documented that government agencies do not have the same incentive as the private sector to focus on process effectiveness and continual improvement of those processes. It is also well documented whenever government agencies fail to deliver efficient, effective, consistent, and fair services to the citizens. In spite of the various "reinventing government" and "effectiveness initiatives" of the past decades, and in spite of the efforts on the part of many agencies to improve, government in general still lags behind industry in creating a culture of effective processes and systems. While the tragic events that unfolded recently in Flint, Michigan, teach us that running government "like a business" does not always take the needs of the citizenry into account, there are many lessons and techniques from the private sector that government agencies can use to improve. The incentive to improve, while mandated by various administrations1, needs to come from within the workforce, in order to effectively take root. The best, most effective incentive is to reduce, control or eliminate risk. Government agencies face some of the same risks as the private sector, while some are unique. While ISO 310002 has been around since 2009, risk has taken on increased visibility within the private sector with the advent of the emphasis on risk-based thinking in ISO 9001:20153. The relationship between risk-based thinking and effective processes is simple and direct. Those processes that are well thought out and standardized (i.e. Plan-Do-Check-Act), will have taken into account the applicable policy, statutory, regulatory, safety, quality and technical parameters, which may not occur to someone performing the process with minimal experience or training; and thus protect the employees, the public and the agency from statutory and regulatory violations; delay in providing services; non-delivery of services; harm to public or employee safety and health; cost overruns; breaches in security; loss of confidence in government; failure of publicly funded projects; damage to the environment; ethics violations, and the list goes on; with local, national and even international consequences. The Plan-Do-Check-Act process, also known as the "process approach" can be used at any time to establish and standardize a process, and it can also be used to check periodically for "process creep" (i.e., informal, unauthorized changes that have occurred over time), any necessary updates and improvements. While ISO 9001 compliance is not mandated for all government agencies, if interpreted correctly, it can be useful in establishing a framework and implementing effective management systems and processes.4 Another method that can be used to evaluate effectiveness is the scorecard definitions in Mallory's Process Management Standard5 as a basis for evaluating work on the process level on effective, and continuously improved and improving processes. With processes on the lower end of the scale, agencies are vulnerable to a great many risks, with employees and managers making up many of the rules as they go, leading to the above listed negative results. Without clear guidance for nominal operations, off-nominal situations can, and do, increase the likelihood of chaos. In an increasingly technical environment, with inter-agency communication and collaboration becoming the norm, agencies need to come to grips with the fact that processes can become rapidly outdated, and that the technical community should take on an increased role in the maturation of the agency's processes. Industry has long known that effective processes are also efficient, and process improvement methods such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, 5S, and mistake proofing lead to increased productivity, improved quality, and decreased cost. Again, government agencies have different concerns, but inefficiencies and mistakes can have dire and wide reaching consequences for the public that they serve. While no one goes to work planning to cause harm, it is up to agencies to establish upper level systems, which make establishment and compliance with processes possible. Again, Mallory provides us with a Systems Management Standard6, similar to the Process Management Standard, with a scale of 0-5 for systems effectiveness and maturity. Deming determined that "eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individual employees to do better." 7 It is not just the working level employees who need effective processes, but the mid-and upper level managers as well. A disciplined management culture sets the tone for the employees, aids both routine and off-nominal decision-making, and incorporates risk -based thinking into the systems and processes as a matter of normal activity. Figure 1, illustrates the relationship between ineffective and effective processes and risk, through the use of the "stoplight" colors that are commonly used to show serious situations (red), situations which may be improving or deteriorating depending on trends (yellow), and situations that are under control and continuously improved (green).

Shepherd, Christena C.↗