NASA: Compliance with Cost Limits (02-APR-04, GAO-04-648R).	 
                                                                 
Section 202 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
(NASA) Authorization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-391) requires that GAO
verify NASA's accounting for amounts obligated against		 
established limits for the space station and related space	 
shuttle support. Under the act, obligations are limited to $25	 
billion for the space station and $17.7 billion for shuttle	 
support.							 
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-04-648R					        
    ACCNO:   A09671						        
  TITLE:     NASA: Compliance with Cost Limits			      
     DATE:   04/02/2004 
  SUBJECT:   Accountability					 
	     Appropriation limitations				 
	     Budget administration				 
	     Budget obligations 				 
	     Financial management				 
	     Financial management systems			 
	     Noncompliance					 
	     Reporting requirements				 
	     Space exploration					 

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GAO-04-648R

United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548

April 2, 2004

The Honorable John McCain
Chairman
The Honorable Ernest Hollings
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Commerce, Science,

and Transportation United States Senate

The Honorable Sherwood L. Boehlert
Chairman
The Honorable Ralph Hall
Ranking Minority member
Committee on Science
House of Representatives

Subject: NASA: Compliance with Cost Limits

Section 202 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Authorization Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-391) requires that GAO verify NASA's
accounting for amounts obligated against established limits for the space
station and related space shuttle support. Under the act, obligations are
limited to $25 billion for the space station and $17.7 billion for shuttle
support. In the past, we reported that NASA was unable to provide detailed
support for the amounts it had reported as obligated against the limits.
Thus, we could not verify the amounts NASA reported to Congress in its
fiscal year 2002 through 2004 budget requests.

NASA's did not report obligations to date against the space station and
shuttle cost limits as part of its fiscal year 2005 budget request.
Therefore, there was nothing for us to audit this year and we were unable
to perform the audit called for by section 202 of the act. As a result, we
have no basis for verifying NASA's charges against the limits. We have
provided a copy of the slides to NASA officials and they agreed with our
conclusion.

As discussed with your staff, the enclosed slides summarize current and
past reporting issues on these legislative restrictions. If you or your
staff have any

                  GAO-04-648R NASA Compliance With Cost Limits

questions about the slides, please contact me at (202) 512-9505 or by
e-mail at
[email protected] or Diane Handley, Assistant Director, at (404) 679-1986 or
by e-mail at
[email protected].

Gregory D. Kutz
Director, Financial Management and Assurance

Enclosures

              Page 2 GAO-04-648R NASA Compliance With Cost Limits
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