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# **NASA Engineering & Safety Center**

**Management Plan**

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####### Revision A

####### Effective Date: November 1, 2003

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Bryan D. O'Connor Theron M. Bradley, Jr.

Associate Administrator NASA Chief Engineer

Office of Safety and Mission Assurance

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Roy D. Bridges, Jr. Ralph R. Roe, Jr.

Director Director

Langley Research Center NASA Engineering and Safety Center

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G. Scott Hubbard Kevin L. Petersen

Director, Ames Research Center Director, Dryden Flight Research Center

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Julian M. Earls Alphonso V. Diaz

Director, Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field Director, Goddard Space
Flight Center

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Jefferson D. Howell, Jr. James W. Kennedy

Director, Johnson Space Center Director, Kennedy Space Center

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David A. King Michael Rudolphi (Acting)

Director, Marshall Space Flight Center Director, Stennis Space Center

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Charles Elachi

Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

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William F. Readdy J. Victor Lebacqz (Acting)

Associate Administrator Associate Administrator

Office of Space Flight Office of Aerospace Technology

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Edward J. Weiler Mary E. Kicza

Associate Administrator Associate Administrator

Office of Space Science Office of Biological and Physical Research

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Ghassem Asrar

Associate Administrator

Office of Earth Science

####### **Table of Contents**

###### Purpose

I.  Scope

II. Roles and Responsibilities

III. Principles of Operation

IV. Organization

V.  Processes

###### Related Documentation

I.  **Purpose**

This management plan documents the operation of the NASA Engineering and
Safety Center (NESC) and represents a contract between the NESC and its
primary customers.

The NESC is being formed to ensure that NASA's safety and mission
assurance (SMA) organizations will have adequate technical expertise and
resources for independent, in-depth, technical reviews of NASA's
programs. One of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board findings was
that the overall safety organizations previously lacked the expertise
and resources to adequately conduct independent technical reviews. In
order to bring the Country's outstanding technical experts to bear on
the problems and challenges of NASA programs, the NESC will be comprised
of the best engineering expertise from across the Agency and will
include partnerships with expert consultants from other government
organizations, National Laboratories, universities, and industry.

###### **Scope**

The NESC will:

1.  Perform independent in-depth technical reviews, assessments and
    analyses of high-risk projects for SMA organizations, engineering
    organizations and programs.

2.  Perform independent engineering and SMA trend analysis.

3.  Provide independent systems engineering analysis.

4.  Facilitate or lead selected mishap investigations.

5.  Support programs or institutions in resolving the Agency's high-risk
    technical issues.

The NESC will perform these functions across all major NASA programs
and/or as directed by the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission
Assurance and/or NASA Chief Engineer. To ensure successful
implementation of the NESC, initial operations will be focused on the
Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs and other
selected high-risk, high-visibility programs.

Rather than relieving NASA program managers from their responsibility
for safety, the NESC will complement the programs by providing an
independent technical review, assessment or analysis with additional
technical expertise, using independent funding. These activities will be
prioritized and selected based upon a formal risk assessment and will
encompass both NASA and contractor programs, processes and facilities.

The NESC will provide an independent engineering chain-of-command in
commissioning and conducting independent technical reviews, assessments
and analyses. In addition, it will function as an independent line of
communication to ensure and encourage communication for all NASA
employees and consideration of all points of view on critical technical
issues.

###### **Roles and Responsibilities**

**Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance**

The Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance will
provide policy and funding authority for the NESC. The Office of Safety
and Mission Assurance and the SMA organizations at the Centers will be
the primary customer, and funding source, of the NESC and can request
the NESC to perform independent technical reviews, assessments and
analyses, based on safety and mission success concerns. The NESC will
report the results of these activities to the Associate Administrator
for Safety and Mission Assurance.

######## **NASA Chief Engineer**

The NASA Chief Engineer will, with concurrence from the Associate
Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, have policy authority
for the NESC. The NASA Chief Engineer and the engineering organizations
at the NASA Centers will also be primary customers of the NESC. The NASA
engineering organizations will be the primary source of engineering
expertise that will make up the NESC. The NASA Chief Engineer will
review and approve the lessons learned, best practices, and engineering
policy that the NESC develops. The NASA Chief Engineer, in consultation
with the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance, can
request the NESC to perform independent technical reviews, assessments
and analyses, based on safety concerns. The NESC will report the results
of these activities to the NASA Chief Engineer.

######### Director, Langley Research Center

The NESC will be located at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA.
The Center Director, Langley Research Center, will direct the
implementation of the policy and guidance provided by the Associate
Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance and the NASA Chief
Engineer. The Director, Langley Research Center, will make the required
Langley Research Center resources and facilities available for the NESC
to carry out its mission. The NESC will fund Center activities performed
on behalf of the NESC. The Director, Langley Research Center, can
request the NESC to perform independent technical reviews, assessments
and analyses with concurrence of the Associate Administrator for Safety
and Mission Assurance. The NESC will report the results of these
activities to the Director, Langley Research Center.

######### Director, NASA Engineering and Safety Center

The Director, NASA Engineering and Safety Center will implement the
direction, policy, and guidance as provided by the Director, Langley
Research Center, NASA Chief Engineer, and the Associate Administrator
for Safety and Mission Assurance. The Director, NASA Engineering and
Safety Center, will manage the resources of the NESC to perform
independent technical reviews, assessments and analyses of NASA's major
programs, based on safety and mission success concerns and prioritized
by formal risk assessment. The Director, NASA Engineering and Safety
Center, will ensure the NESC obtains, through accepted full cost
practices, the technical capability, resources and facilities to conduct
its activities for its customers.

######### Directors, NASA Centers

The Directors of the NASA Centers will make the required resources and
facilities at their respective Centers available for the NESC to
complete its mission. The NESC will fund Center activities performed on
behalf of the NESC. Directors of NASA Centers can request the NESC to
perform independent technical reviews, assessments and analyses. The
NESC will report the results of these activities to the respective
Directors.

#### **Principles of Operation**

The NESC will perform independent in-depth technical reviews,
assessments and analyses as requested by its primary customers. These
activities will be performed across major NASA programs and NASA
Centers. The NESC will set the example for a strong safety culture by
providing knowledgeable leadership to perform technical reviews,
assessments and analyses in an open environment and attacking the
problems and issues with unequaled tenacity. By being independent, the
NESC will be able to focus on potential or current trouble spots in
three ways: proactive, active and reactive.

In being proactive, the NESC will be trained in, and use, new techniques
and tools for uncovering potential problems before they occur. The NESC
will review trends, not only within programs but also across programs,
to identify potential concerns before they become major problems. The
areas to be reviewed will be based upon criticality and risk, regardless
of whether a program has requested an independent review. The NESC will
also perform test and analysis of issues that no particular program is
currently working. In addition, the NESC will document and maintain a
compilation of lessons learned, communicate lessons learned to all
programs and Centers, and work with programs and Centers to incorporate
lessons learned into new programs and activities.

The NESC will remain active by participating in major program reviews
and boards to gain insight into program decisions and technical
rationale. This insight will be used to determine if an independent
technical review, assessment or analysis of known risk areas is
warranted. The NESC will provide the agency a second look at these known
high-risk areas of programs and projects. In addition, the NESC will
work technical issues in real-time with the programs as needed.

The NESC will be reactive by independently leading, or facilitating,
investigations of selected mishaps and close calls, as requested.

The NESC will also encourage, cultivate, document, review and
disposition dissenting opinions across the technical community. The NESC
will set an example for the Agency in seeking out and evaluating
differing points of view.

In order to fulfill these functions, the NESC will establish, and
maintain, a "ready" pool of critical skills from within NASA and from
outside organizations such as other government organizations, National
Laboratories, universities, and industry. The NESC will strive to
develop a diverse personnel base, in order to ensure the broadest
possible insight and perspective is maintained.

The NESC senior leadership positions may be limited in length (2 years
with up to three 1-year extensions) in order to maintain competencies in
the both the NESC and at the Centers. In addition, a set of metrics will
be established and maintained for the NESC to assess its own
performance.

##### **Organization**

The NESC will be a decentralized organization with a management office
located at the Langley Research Center. To build a diverse organization,
the NESC will draw upon expertise both internal to NASA, and from
outside the agency. The NESC will utilize the engineering resources
(both personnel and facilities) resident at each of ten NASA Centers,
leveraging off each Center's areas of expertise (Figure 1). The NESC
will procure additional engineering expertise as required, by
contracting consultants and partnerships with other government
organizations, National Laboratories, universities and industry. By
involving the external community, the NESC will ensure that a broad and
diverse perspective is maintained. The NESC will have strong technical
representation located at each of the NASA Centers to provide insight
into programs and projects.

![](media/image2.wmf){width="6.3597222222222225in"
height="3.973611111111111in"}

**Figure 1**

The NESC organization will be comprised of the following offices (see
Figure 2):

-   Office of the Director (resident at Langley Research Center)

-   Business Management Office (resident at Langley Research Center)

-   Systems Engineering Office (resident at Langley Research Center and
    NASA Centers)

-   Principal Engineers Office (resident at Langley Research Center)

-   NESC Chief Engineers Office (resident at NASA Centers)

-   Discipline Chief Engineers Office (resident at NASA Centers)

The resources reporting to each Discipline Chief Engineer will be
matrixed from across the Agency by formal task agreements. Non-NASA
experts will also be acquired through appropriate mechanisms.

Maintaining the technical expertise of its personnel and providing
insight into the Agency's high-risk programs and projects is critical to
the success of the NESC. To accomplish both of these objectives, NESC
personnel must be co-located within the programs, projects and
engineering organizations. In addition, NESC personnel must maintain
positions of prominence within their parent organizations and must
participate as formal members of the respective boards and reviews.

![](media/image3.wmf){width="6.479861111111111in"
height="3.9479166666666665in"}

**Figure 2**

######### Office of the Director

The Office of the Director is responsible for implementing the direction
and policy established by the Associate Administrator for Safety and
Mission Assurance and the NASA Chief Engineer, under the direction of
the Director, Langley Research Center.

The Director, NASA Engineering and Safety Center will distribute
technical resources, as required, to perform independent in-depth
technical assessments, reviews and analyses of NASA programs. The
Director will chair the NESC Review Board. Through the NESC Review
Board, the Director will approve requests for independent assessments
and will approve the final documentation for all independent reviews,
assessments and analyses performed by the NESC, prior to release to the
customer. The Director, or designee, will be a non-voting member of the
highest-level review board (such as Flight or Launch Readiness Reviews)
for selected programs, with authority to request action from the
program/board.

The NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison will be detailed to the
NESC by the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance and
will serve as the NESC SMA engineering discipline expert and senior SMA
advisor to the Director, NASA Engineering and Safety Center. In this
capacity, the NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison will facilitate
communications and coordination among Center SMA organizations and NESC
Chief Engineers, and will serve as a point of entry for Center SMA
organizations to obtain access to NESC technical resources. The NESC
Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison, through the Office of Safety and
Mission Assurance, will be responsible for accessing the SMA technical
and engineering discipline experts from across the Agency, other
government organizations, universities, and industry (including systems
safety engineering, reliability and maintainability engineering, quality
engineering, software quality assurance, quality control and industrial
safety) necessary to support NESC technical reviews, assessments, and
analyses. The NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison and will also
provide the technical leadership of the safety and mission assurance
technical resources supporting NESC activities. In addition, the NESC
Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison will serve as day-to-day
representative of the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission
Assurance. The NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison will
communicate Agency SMA policy interpretations to the NESC and support
the selection of reviews, assessments, and analyses through the
appropriate involvement of the Associate Administrator for Safety and
Mission Assurance. The NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison will
serve on the NESC Review Board and will also represent the NESC in all
Agency-level SMA boards and reviews.

The Chief Astronaut will assemble and lead a "Flight Operations" Super
Problem Resolution Team for all operational independent technical
reviews, assessments or analyses involving human space flight operations
(both aerospace and aeronautic). Depending on the nature of the
activity, a different leader with the appropriate skills and experiences
will be selected to lead a specific flight operations team. The Chief
Astronaut will serve on the NESC Review Board.

The Chief Scientist will assemble and lead a "Flight Operations" Super
Problem Resolution Team for all operational independent technical
reviews, assessments or analyses involving non-human flight operations
(both aerospace and aeronautic). Depending on the nature of the
activity, a different leader with the appropriate skills and experiences
will be selected to lead a specific flight operations team. The Chief
Scientist will serve on the NESC Review Board.

######### Business Management and Support Office

The Business Management and Support Office (BMSO) is responsible for all
the business management and administrative support for the NESC.
Responsibilities of the BMO include:

-   Establishing and developing partnerships and/or contracts with other
    government agencies, National Laboratories, universities and
    industries.

-   Establishing, maintaining, and managing formal Task Agreements with
    each NASA Center for the matrix support of technical experts.

-   Providing technical writers for NESC reports and briefings.

-   Performing configuration control for NESC documentation and boards.

-   Providing NESC knowledge-capture and communication of lessons
    learned across the Agency.

-   Establishing a training regimen for NESC personnel.

The Manager, Business Management and Support Office will be responsible
for establishing the NESC Operating Plan, acting as the Contracting
Officers Technical Representative (COTR) for contracts established to
carry out the duties of the NESC and serving as a member of the NESC
Review Board.

**Systems Engineering Office**

The Systems Engineering Office (SEO) will be responsible for conducting
independent systems engineering reviews of NASA programs. As
appropriate, the reviews will include independent assessment of program
practices and processes, as well as systems engineering analysis. In
addition, the SEO will perform independent trending of problems, mishaps
and close calls within, and across, programs. The SEO will have a core
membership resident at the Langley Research Center and will be
full-time, hard-lined NESC employees. The SEO will also include
participation of matrixed systems engineering experts from across the
Agency and appropriate external organizations. The Manager, Systems
Engineering Office, will be a member of the NESC Review Board.

**Principal Engineers Office**

The Principal Engineers Office (PEO) will provide leadership for teams
of discipline specialists performing independent technical reviews,
assessments, and analyses of complex, multi-disciplinary systems. The
Principal Engineers will reside at the Langley Research Center and will
be full-time, hard-lined NESC employees. The Principal Engineers will be
responsible for leading teams in the performance of established
processes for Independent Technical Assessments, Technical Inspections,
Technical Support, Technical Advocacy, and Mishap Investigations. The
Principal Engineers will also be responsible for maintaining a catalogue
of interdisciplinary tools, methods, and resources. Each Principal
Engineer will be a member of the NESC Review Board.

**NESC Chief Engineers Office**

The NESC Chief Engineers Office (NCEO) will provide the NESC with
technical insight into NASA's programs. The NESC Chief Engineers Office
is comprised of recognized experts who reside at each of the NASA
Centers and are full-time, hard-lined NESC employees. The primary duty
of the NESC Chief Engineers will be to evaluate technical decisions and
rationale in order to recommend to the NESC when an independent
technical review, assessment or analysis is warranted or requested by
the respective programs or institutional engineering. The NESC Chief
Engineer provides the direct insight into high-risk programs and
projects. By residing at the Centers, the NESC Chief Engineers will be
able to stay current on all issues and will continue to support their
home programs, projects and/or institutions. The NESC Chief Engineer
will utilize additional full-time, hard-lined engineering support to
cover all the Center's high-risk programs and projects, as required. The
NESC Chief Engineer will foster regular, open communication with the
program's SMA and engineering communities. The NESC Chief Engineers will
be non-voting members of their respective program's technical review
boards, with authority to request action from the program/board. Each
NESC Chief Engineer will be a member of the NESC Review Board.

######### Discipline Chief Engineers Office

The Discipline Chief Engineers Office (DCEO) will be comprised of
experts who will reside within their respective NASA Center's
engineering organizations, but will be full-time, hard-lined NESC
employees. The DCEO provides the technical leadership of the NESC
technical resources in order to perform independent technical reviews,
assessments and analyses. The core set of Discipline Chief Engineers
will be established to perform the initial technical assessments on
Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and other selected Programs.
Additional Discipline Chief Engineers will be added as required to
perform additional assessments as the scope of the NESC expands. Each
Discipline Chief Engineer will be responsible for establishing a Super
Problem Resolution Team (Super PRT) that will consist of the Agency's
best experts in that particular discipline, augmented by external
experts from other government organizations, National Laboratories,
universities, and industry, as required. While each Discipline Chief
Engineer will report to the Director, NASA Engineering and Safety
Center, the remaining Super PRT personnel will be matrixed through
formal Task Agreements. Non-NASA experts will also be acquired through
appropriate mechanisms. These Super PRTs will be called into action
depending on the skills required for a particular independent technical
assessment.

When not supporting NESC activities, the matrixed personnel will perform
their normal duties within their respective engineering organizations.
Priorities will be negotiated and established between the Director, NASA
Engineering and Safety Center and the Directors of the respective
engineering organizations.

If an independent technical review, assessment or analysis involves a
single discipline; the cognizant Discipline Chief Engineer will lead the
activity. If an independent assessment requires the involvement of
multiple disciplines, a Principal Engineer will lead the assessment,
with support from the appropriate Discipline Chief Engineers.

The Discipline Chief Engineer will maintain a catalogue of critical
skills and facilities available for their discipline. Each Discipline
Chief Engineer will be a member of the NESC Review Board.

##### **Processes**

######## **Insight and Requests**

The NESC will gain insight into the programs through six separate paths:

1.  Direct participation of the NESC Chief Engineers in their respective
    Center's boards and reviews. It will be imperative that the NESC
    select and maintain a strong corps of senior engineers as NESC Chief
    Engineers. The NESC Chief Engineers will be located at the program
    sites and participating with the programs or projects during reviews
    and boards to gain insight into program decisions, technical
    rationale and problem resolutions. To provide formality and
    discipline to this insight process, the NCE will be non-voting
    members of the programs technical boards and reviews with authority
    to request action by the program or project. This will give the NESC
    Chief Engineers access to program decisions and in turn will give
    the programs access to the NESC Chief Engineer's experience.

2.  SMA participation in the programs. SMA insight into the programs has
    been previously defined in SMA documentation. The SMA organization
    will now have access to the NESC technical resources through the
    NESC Safety and Mission Assurance Liaison or by direction from the
    Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance.

3.  Institutional engineering participation with the programs, as
    previously defined in program documentation. The institutional
    engineers will now have an alternate path to request independent
    technical review through the NESC Chief Engineers.

4.  NESC systems engineering review and independent analysis and
    trending of program problems, issues, mishaps and close calls both
    within and across programs.

5.  The broad technical community, through a new NESC web site or the
    existing NASA Safety and Reporting System (NSRS) web site. Hidden or
    underlying opportunities may be best uncovered by a well-advertised,
    simple web site for anonymous requests, which may, or may not,
    represent an immediate safety concern.

6.  NASA Senior Management.

Requests for an independent technical review, assessment or analysis may
result from any of these six insight paths. The NESC Review Board will
review these requests as they come in for technical merit and prioritize
them through a simple risk assessment described below.

######## **Independent Technical Assessments** 

Once a request for independent technical review, assessment, or analysis
(ITA) is made, either internally or externally, a formally documented
process will be followed. Depending on the nature of the review, a NESC
Principal Engineer will assemble and lead a multi-disciplined team to
perform the assessment. The composition of the team will include the
appropriate Discipline Chief Engineers, with appropriate representation
from their respective Super Problem Resolution Teams, as well as SMA,
flight operations, and ground operations, and other independent
assessment organization representatives, as required. For example, the
NESC might partner with the independent verification & validation (IV&V)
facility for those activities involving flight, ground or test software.
The Principal Engineer will develop an Independent Assessment Plan
(including schedule for completion), present an in-briefing for the
program being assessed, lead the assessment (including any necessary
testing and analysis) and present an out-briefing to the program. During
the assessment, the Principal Engineers, and their teams, will conduct
intermediate reviews with the NESC Review Board to get a peer review of
the activity. The Principal Engineer will also be responsible for
completing a final written report. For those technical assessments
involving a single discipline, the Discipline Chief Engineer will lead
the assessment, present the briefings, and complete the final report.
Assessments of facility or ground systems will be conducted in the same
manner as flight system reviews.

During the course of the assessment, the NESC may issue requests,
non-conformance reports or other appropriate actions, which will become
constraints to proceed beyond a selected milestone. The NESC will use
the documentation and closure process for the respective program or
project. The constraint will be removed with the concurrence of the
NESC. If the issue represents a critical safety issue, the NESC may
issue a "Stop Work" notice until the program resolves the discrepancies
to the satisfaction of the respective program board, with NESC member
concurrence.

######## **Technical Inspections** 

Based on insight into the programs gained by the NESC, as previously
described, the NESC may perform Technical Inspections (TI) to evaluate
the technical adequacy of a particular area within program, even if a
problem has not yet been detected. Examples of these potential
inspection areas include: math models, analytical tools, manufacturing
procedures, test procedures, vehicle processing, troubleshooting
techniques, manufacturing tooling, ground support equipment, or special
test equipment. As with the Independent Technical Assessments, a
Principal Engineer would assemble and lead a multi-discipline team to
perform Technical Inspections. The composition of the team will include
the appropriate Discipline Chief Engineers, with representation from
their respective Super Problem Resolution Teams, as well as SMA, flight
operations, ground operations and other independent assessment
organizations representatives as required. Technical Inspections would
be performed on short notice to the program, in order to ensure a
real-time evaluation. Although there would not be an in-briefing, there
would be an out-briefing to the program or Center. The NESC will allow
programs and projects the opportunity to correct any identified
technical inadequacies prior to publishing the final report.

During the course of the inspection, the NESC may issue requests,
non-conformance reports or other appropriate actions, which will become
constraints to proceed beyond a selected milestone. The NESC will use
the documentation and closure process for the respective program or
project. The constraint will be removed with the concurrence of the
NESC. If the issue represents a critical safety issue, the NESC may
issue a "Stop Work" notice until the program resolves the discrepancies
to the satisfaction of the respective program board, with NESC member
concurrence.

######## **Technical Support** 

On limited occasions a program or NASA Center may be confronted with a
problem that is so complex that it would warrant assembling all the
resources available to the Agency to resolve the problem in a timely
manner. In this case the NESC, with approval from the Associate
Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance and NASA Chief Engineer,
could be used as direct technical support to a program or NASA Center
foregoing the role of independence. The requesting program or NASA
Center would then fund those resources, and would utilize an outside
team for an independent review of the activity. In this case the program
could request specific Super Problem Resolutions Team support, with or
without the NESC playing a leadership role. Use of NESC resources in
this manner should be extremely rare to avoid diluting the primary
charter of the NESC of providing independent technical assessments.

Alternately, the NESC will make its catalog of resources, (personnel and
facilities) and network of experts, available to programs and NASA
Centers. In this case, the requesting programs can seek assistance
directly; through appropriate contracting channels and/or agreements.
The NESC would remain independent of the activity and any individuals
called upon by the requesting program or NASA Center would not be
available to perform an independent technical assessment on the same
issue.

######### Technical Advocacy

The NESC will provide technical advocacy to SMA organizations,
institutional engineering, program and projects as deemed necessary.
This advocacy may include, but is not limited to, the endorsement of:
suggested additional testing, maintaining critical skills or facilities,
or programs fulfilling in-line functions. In addition, the NESC will
promote the positive actions taken by individuals, programs or projects
to correct identified technical inadequacies.

######### Independent Technical Assessment, Technical Inspection, or Technical Support Selection and Prioritization

Critical skills will always be a limited resource. Therefore the NESC
must focus its critical skills on those issues with the highest risk.
The prioritization of NESC activities will be accomplished through a
consistent formal risk assessment, based on likelihood and consequence.
In addition, a checklist of questions will be used when determining
likelihood and consequence, in order to provide consistency and to
uncover the less obvious risks. This approach, as illustrated in Figure
3, is currently being used in most programs and projects and is
described in Agency polices.

![](media/image4.wmf)

**Figure 3**

######## **NESC Review Board**

The Director, NASA Engineering and Safety Center will Chair the NESC
Review Board. Membership will include the Deputy Director, NESC Chief
Engineers, Principal Engineers, Discipline Chief Engineers, NESC Chief
Astronaut, NESC Chief Scientist, Manager, Systems Engineering Office,
Manager, Business Management and Support Office, NESC SMA Liaison and
NASA Chief Engineer's Office.

The NESC Review Board will: review and approve all requests based on
selection and prioritization process; provide peer reviews of on-going
assessments; ensure the consistency and technical adequacy of all
reviews, prior to release to the customer; determine if any follow-on
activity is required after the review, and provide direction for use of
all resources including critical skills, facilities, testing, and
analysis.

######### Knowledge Capture and Communication

The NESC will capture and communicate knowledge through five
complementary processes: periodic reports; lessons learned; training;
annual workshops, and a web site.

Periodic Reports: Beginning on October 1, 2004, and recurring at the
beginning of each fiscal year, an annual report will be delivered to the
Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance. The annual
report will summarize the activities for the preceding year and will
establish goals and metrics for the coming year. In addition, an
internal reporting system will include quarterly reports from the
Discipline Chief Engineers and NESC Chief Engineers, with emphasis on
progress against the metrics of that year, for analysis by the NESC
Review Board.

Lessons Learned: One of the principal missions of the NESC is to bring
system and order to the effective retention and utilization of lessons
learned. To that end, three of the other processes in this section -
training, annual workshops and web site - will, as their principal
purpose, document and disseminate the results of NESC investigations,
reviews and other activities.

Training: NESC personnel will receive training to promote and establish
innovative techniques to proactively uncover potential problems and
issues in NASA's programs and projects. The NESC will utilize existing
tools for traditional purposes, such as maintaining and enhancing
specific discipline skills. Selected NESC members will receive formal
training for independent assessments and mishap investigations. The NESC
will also advocate improved training programs specifically engineered to
affect System Safety Awareness in the workforce, including technical
safety training based on NASA successes and failures (e.g. Lunar
Landings, Space Shuttle flights, ISS construction, Apollo 1 fire, Apollo
13 hardware failure and response, the loss of crews and orbiters on,
Challenger and Columbia flights,). Training resources available from
other government organizations will be surveyed for application to the
NESC.

Annual Workshops: The NESC will sponsor an annual workshop to discuss
processes for proactively identifying and solving engineering problems
before they occur. While serving to publicize and record the
accomplishments of the NESC, through papers and proceedings that
document significant NESC activities, the workshop will also feature
invited lectures and papers from non-traditional fields. In concert with
the NESC training activities, the workshop will initiate and perpetuate
the proactive identification of potential problems before they occur.

Web site: In addition to the functions described in other sections of
this plan, the NESC Website will provide a central repository and a tool
for disseminating the periodic reports, lessons learned, training
modules, and workshop proceedings outlined above.

**Mishap Investigation**

The NESC may be requested to lead or support selected Agency mishap
investigations. As such, Principal Engineers, and other key NESC
employees, will be formally trained in mishap investigation. The
Principal Engineers will lead most of the investigations that are
conducted by the NESC. Mishap investigations will be performed in
accordance with Agency policy and procedures.

**Dissenting Opinions**

The NESC will cultivate an environment that encourages and seeks out
dissenting opinions. In order to encourage this open environment, and to
solicit alternative perspectives, the NESC will establish a disciplined
process for addressing dissenting opinions. As a matter of practice,
each independent technical review, assessment and analysis will seek out
dissenting opinions for review and evaluation. These dissenting opinions
will also be documented and dispositioned in each report and/or
briefing.

**Awards**

The NESC will establish NESC Awards, given periodically for outstanding
technical achievement during independent technical reviews, assessments
or analyses. In addition, the NESC will utilize existing Agency awards
to reward and encourage the safety culture that the NESC is trying to
cultivate.

**Internal NESC Reviews**

Initially, it is anticipated that the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight
Task Group will review the NESC organizational and implementation
concepts to ensure proper independence and implementation. The NESC will
be subject to periodic reviews by an external organization to ensure
proper independence is being maintained. In addition, the NESC will
develop a set of metrics that will be used to monitor the organizations
progress and effectiveness.

###### **Related Documentation**

NESC Charter

NESC Implementation Plan

NPG 8621 -- Mishap Investigations Procedure and Guidance

NPG 8000.4 - Risk Management Procedure and Guideline