NASA's New Workforce Strategy: Reducing Contractor Dependence and Boosting In-House Expertise
NASA is taking bold steps to reshape its workforce and reduce its reliance on contractors. After a significant loss of civil servants in the past year, NASA's administrator, Jared Isaacman, has announced a comprehensive directive aimed at addressing the agency's technical competency challenges. In a social media post, Isaacman revealed a plan to bring expertise in-house and streamline operations.
The core issue, according to Isaacman, is the outsourcing and loss of core engineering and operational competencies that once made NASA a pioneer in air and space exploration. He highlights a concerning statistic: approximately 75% of NASA employees are contractors, employed by multiple primes and hundreds of subcontractors, leading to excessive management layers and inefficiencies. This situation results in program delays and unnecessary expenses, costing NASA nearly $1.4 billion annually.
To address this, the directive outlines a two-pronged approach. Firstly, it involves a rapid assessment and onboarding process for new civil servants. Within 30 days, field centers and mission directorates will identify technical and operational roles that should be brought in-house. This will be followed by a 60-day period of 'rapid onboarding' to integrate these new employees.
Secondly, the directive emphasizes the development of a strategy to transition work from contractors to civil servants. This includes a plan to convert or add targeted roles to civil service, managing contract changes, renegotiations, and terminations, while considering timelines and cost implications. NASA aims to improve its 'talent pipeline' by collaborating with the Office of Personnel Management on the 'Tech Force' initiative, bringing private-sector engineers for two-year assignments.
Additionally, the directive calls for enhanced training programs and expanded internship opportunities. Isaacman also emphasizes the importance of 'right-to-repair' provisions in future contracts, ensuring NASA has access to the tools and intellectual property needed to maintain contractor-provided equipment. Makerspaces will be established at all field centers for hardware prototyping.
Isaacman's directive comes after a challenging year where NASA, under acting leadership, offered deferred retirement programs, leading to the departure of about one-fifth of its civil servant workforce. Despite downplaying the magnitude of these departures, Isaacman acknowledges NASA's overreliance on contractors. He emphasizes the need to rebuild essential capabilities internally, stating that certain competencies have been degraded, lost, or outsourced over the years.
The directive is a result of Isaacman's visits to all NASA field centers, where he reviewed employee and contractor suggestions and addressed over 300 questions during town hall meetings. This approach ensures that the workforce's perspectives are considered in shaping NASA's future.
As NASA embarks on this transformative journey, it aims to reclaim technical autonomy and optimize resources for the most critical objectives. The directive's success will be a testament to NASA's ability to adapt and thrive in an ever-evolving space exploration landscape.
